WE ❤️ HOSPITALITY - Helen Moon

The last year has been terrible for the hospitality sector. Most businesses have seen extreme financial challenges and its reputation as an employer has been severely affected. We are now hearing from many, many of our clients about their fears for the future from staff shortages to skills gaps and top mid-senior talent moving to other sectors.

Krishnan Doyle is sharing his conversations with service industry leaders and operators on all that is good about hospitality & catering with the purpose to improve the sector's reputation as one of the largest employer worldwide but also as a great place to develop your career. 

How did you get into hospitality? 

I fell into by accident coming from the PA and secretarial world, and started working in hotels in 1997 at the age of 24 in event management - the rest as they say is history   

Do you think it is important to have studied hospitality to be a success in the sector? 

I chose to study hospitality management and got my diploma when I first started in the industry, and I do believe that it supported and helped to give me a boost in the beginning but is not necessary. If you want to stand out and are new to the industry then a qualification will help with that but experience is just as important and you will pick up plenty when you work in the sector, whatever route you choose be willing to get your hands dirty to get ahead.   

Which leader / figure inspired you and why? 

My first operations manager, a man called John Silker, an amazing manager, character and leader, taught me good solid leadership skills that have stayed with me to this day   

What keeps you in the sector and why to you enjoy working in it?

I truly love what I do, and love our industry, I have customer service and customer at my heart (even two customer service NVQs lol) and it will stay with me for life 

Tell us about the development / training that you give to your teams and management

 A big part of what I do now is mental health and wellbeing so for me it's the importance of self-care when you work in hospitality. You will push yourself more when you love what you do and sometimes that is at the detriment to our health, burn out is a very real thing and we need to talk about it more and take it more seriously 

What advice would you give to those starting out in the sector? 

My new mantra is "work hard - rest hard! and the play will take care of itself". Push yourself forward and work hard, just as I did back then and still do, but remember you also need to rest and take a break! 

If you could go back and tell yourself one piece of advice as you started your career, what would it be? 

There isn't much I would change as I believe that everything in life is a learning curve, but the biggest would be it's ok to make mistakes. I've organised 1,000s of events in hospitality and learnt something new at every single one, still learning to do this day. Be kind to yourself, you're only human!

If you would like to take part as a leader in this thriving sector, get in touch with Krishnan (krishnan@corecruitment.com)