Hospitality As A Second Career May Be Challenging - Research Paper Example

 A large number of individuals over 40 chose hospitality as their second career. A major reason behind this is that it is often (wrongly) assumed that hospitality requires little formal education and that informal practice is sufficient. Furthermore, the hospitality industry offers a diversity of fields under its banner including franchising, tourism, catering, hotel management and many others. It is not surprising, therefore, that the number of people over 40 who choose hospitality as their second career is increasing. Although this number is growing, the process is full of challenges such as the gap between skills required and skills of individual, lack of prior industry experience as well as a mindset that is less flexible owing to seniority in age. This paper explores the various challenges encountered by these individuals in specific industries including franchising, tourism and hotels, along with potential suggestions to overcome the same. Franchising is a hospitality service that few individuals adopt as their first careers. It is usually adopted as a second career owing to retirement before time, redundancy, failure as an entrepreneur or due to mergers and acquisitions (Lashley, Conrad and Morrison 74). What is important to note is that these individuals come from diverse backgrounds including Defense forces. According to an article, an officer of the U.S Air Force, Stearns, has been the franchisee of the “Decorating Den” franchise since the past few years (Koss-Feder). We would anticipate such individuals to face management problems when their commitment to one career often translates to compromising the other one. Stearns, for instance, was summoned to “active duty” for an operation (Koss-Feder). However, due to the support network that she had in her franchise she was in constant contact with her employees (Koss-Feder). Divided attention due to managing both careers simultaneously may lower efficiency in both careers. However, franchises provide a safe option to such individuals and a lucrative opportunity to those who have been fired due to downsizing or have retired or are pursuing this business as a second career. This is because of several reasons. Firstly, substantial legal progress has been made with the effect that franchise agreements do not entail dictatorship of franchisors. Secondly, relaxation of disclosure requirements at the federal and state level has facilitated entry into the franchise business (Koss-Feder). Most importantly, however, is the fact that in some cases prior experience of the industry is not required, although it may be preferable. This is something that particularly draws individuals over 40 with a different prior experience to this business. Even though prior industry experience is not a mandatory requirement, financial institutions such as banks often give preference to those individuals who have proven record while lending. Furthermore, some studies suggest that qualifications in hospitality management are far less important than prior experience in the industry (Kim 9). This is a challenge for individuals over 40 who may have experience in some other field previously. Although qualification may still be obtained with much ease, the lack of experience cannot be compensated which gives such individuals a permanent disadvantage over others. The task of obtaining hospitality related qualifications remains a daunting task for such individuals. This is because in some cases, such individuals (over 40) may be working part-time in another profession. Hence, it would not be surprising to see a clash of time between the work hours and the time for hospitality related courses offered by institutions making time management a pressing issue for such individuals. Some institutions offer evening classes or classes on weekends to support such individuals. Also, financing such qualification may be difficult. To this end, some colleges such as the Liaison College in Ontario are offering “Second Career Strategy” programs that offer funding for the second career with generous student loans or provisions by the government (Liaison College). Therefore, it is not difficult to obtain qualification for hospitality as a second career, although time management may be a pressing issue. Furthermore, it is also easy for people over 40 to assume that their ‘informal’ experience is sufficient to guarantee them success in the actual work environment. For instance, working in a restaurant as a waiter and enjoying cooking at ‘home’ is not sufficient to pursue a second career as a chef since the latter requires formal certification and training. This, combined with the tough competition these individuals face from the younger working class, poses a threat to their employment. Private organisations in the hospitality sector are most likely to hire young, attractive and flexible individuals as opposed to senior ones. Not only that, the morale of these individuals over 40 is also adversely affected by their incompetence against their younger counterparts who are likely to be more advanced than them in terms of education, grasp and flexibility. However, organisations must acknowledge the fact that such individuals possess the stability and intrinsic motivation that often lacks in the younger lot that mostly strives on extrinsic sources such as income. For instance, McDonalds, under its McMasters program, developed particular jobs and working hours that were suited to availability and talents of these individuals (Ford, Sturman and Heaton 173). Furthermore, the referral program under which the elder workers are trained by an experienced partner is particularly useful for this age group (Ford, Sturman and Heaton 173). They have also discovered that this particular lot is more dependable, loyal and intrinsically satisfied from their jobs which is reflected in their service-oriented nature and commitment to high quality of work (Ford, Sturman and Heaton 173). Job switching is also highly unlikely which individuals over 40 compared to their younger counterparts which provides security to the firms hiring them. Therefore, organisations in the hospitality sector that recognize the worth of such individuals often offer incentives for hiring them such as flexi-time, on-the-job mentoring as well as special jobs that are less psychically demanding, thereby reducing most of the challenges that elder, retired workers face in their second-careers. Nevertheless, restarting a career in the hospitality sector is a challenging task since it requires getting uprooted from the previous mindset and starting from scratch. Specially, individuals who come from retired positions in defense and military take time to accept a paradigm shift in their mindset. This is because in their previous jobs, honor and status was ranked above money; however, self-worth in the hospitality sector is mainly assessed from the salary one gets rather than ones personality and position (Singh 31). Also, working in the hospitality sector may require doing jobs such as clerical and manual work if need be. This may be a difficult task for individuals over 40 who are expecting more skilled work from their second career jobs but end up starting this way. Although the problem of competition with the younger lot can be overcome to some extent by the government fixing a quota for such individuals to ensure equal opportunity, the deeper issue of change in one’s mindset may take time to be resolved. Another major challenge that these individuals face is that they may be used to working in a certain way throughout their lives which makes them less flexible and more rigid, making them less suitable for certain jobs such as those in franchising. Franchising offers little scope for pursuing one’s own thought and strategy because of dominance by the franchisor. Even though laws are changing that have led to greater empowerment of the franchisee, the franchisor continues to dictate various aspects of the business. Nevertheless, for individuals coming from a corporate background, this offers considerably more autonomy than that provided in so-called “corporate slavery” but still less than what entrepreneurial start-ups may offer. Compared to other sectors in hospitality such as tourism, hotel as well as restaurant sector, franchising may offer less autonomy (Koss-Feder). This is simply because the name of the store is not of the individual running it but the individual who owns it. In fact, this particular profession is best suited to those who have team-working skills. There are instances of individuals over 40 who have retired from armed forces and other such disciplines who tend to opt for catering as their second career (Singh 31). This entails a tedious and problematic process of resettling and starting fresh while making a myriad of adjustments and compromises and taking up new challenges at this age. Rigidity is particularly a problem for individuals who have previously worked in non-profit organisations or have backgrounds such as armed forces whereby the profit motive is missing. Such service oriented individuals are used to measuring success with the yardstick of non-monetary benefits such as honor rather than profit, position and status (Singh 30). Suddenly, the transition to the hospitality sector as the second career marks a major transition for such individuals particularly in their “normative pattern” (Singh 31). The habits that have been ingrained in these individuals since a long time take time to die and be replaced by newer ones necessary for jobs in this sector. Unlike other issues that can be dealt with, this one cannot be resolved by anyone other than the individual himself/herself. Any such individual over 40 who wishes to pursue a second career in hospitality must be mentally prepared for the industry dynamics which warrant high level of flexibility to gain customer satisfaction. To conclude, individuals over 40 years who wish to take up hospitality as their second career are confronted with various challenges such as insufficient qualification and lack of experience. Also such individuals suffer from the illusion that informal proficiency at performing a task means that formal training isn’t required. Once the need for education has been realized, however, obtaining education no longer remains a difficult task as most colleges now offer part-time, flexible study programs especially for such individuals. Additionally, companies in the hospitality sector that rely on the elder, dependable, loyal and committed group of workers often invest heavy sums into on-the-job mentoring programs for such individuals. Furthermore, such individuals have the choice whether to opt for tourism, hotel management or franchising as well as other options such as catering and event management depending on their skills and flexibility. Finally, government support in hospitality sectors facilitates such individuals by guaranteeing them equal opportunity in terms of their employment in such sectors. Therefore, the scope for individuals over 40 wishing to work in the hospitality sector is large with various options to overcome the challenges as suggested. Works Cited Ford, Robert Clayton, Michael Craig Sturman and Cherrill P. Heaton. Managing Quality Service In Hospitality: How Organizations Achieve Excellence in the Guest Experience. New York: Delmar Cengage Learning , 2012. Web. Kim, Jung Hee Ginny. "Career expectations and requirements of undergraduate hospitality students and the hospitality industry: An analysis of differences." PhD Thesis. 2008. Web. Koss-Feder, Laura. Franchising: A Recipe For Your Second Career? 03 March 1996. Web. 9 June 2013. Lashley, Conrad and Alison Morrison. Franchising Hospitality Services. Oxford: Reed Educational and Professional Publishihng Ltd., 2000. Web. Liaison College. Second Career Strategy (SCS) – FAQ. n.d. Web. 10 June 2013. Singh, M. K. Resettlement Problems of Retired Army Officers. New Delhi: Mittal Publications, 1985. Web. Read More