Retail, Hospitality & Tourism

Top Priorities for Education

RHTBay Region

Bay Region Community Colleges

Retail, Hospitality & Tourism Initiative

Industry Forum 2014

Valuable Insight from Industry Leaders

[We need to] train Americans with the skills employers need, and match them to good jobs that need to be filled right now.

That means more on-the-job training...It means connecting companies to community colleges that can help design training to fill their specific needs.

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President Barack Obama2014 State of the Union Address

RHTBay Region

Bay Region Community Colleges

Retail, Hospitality & Tourism Initiative

www.BayRegionRHT.com

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INTERNATIONAL SCOPE

CONTENTS

Introduction: “A Clear Opportunity”

Development Priorities: International Scope Hybrid Employees Integrating New Technology Resume & Interview Skills

Panel Participants

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A Clear Opportunity.

THE RETAIL, HOSPITALITY AND TOURISM (RHT) sectors employ over 3 million people in California and are expected to add an additional 347,000 jobs by 2017. This rapid growth provides a clear opportunity for California Community Colleges, along with K-12 and 4-year educational institutions, to establish diverse educational pathways that provide relevant information, drive excitement, and develop skilled candidates fully prepared to fill open jobs in the RHT industry.

ON MAY 5, the Retail, Hospitality & Tourism Initiative hosted the 2014 Bay Region Retail, Hospitality & Tourism Industry Forum, a meeting where industry leaders informed educators about critical needs and trends in RHT. Andrea Vizenor, Deputy Sector Navigator for Retail, Hospitality and Tourism facilitated a panel of 17 experts from all three industry sectors who shared their unique insights and employment needs with faculty from high schools and community colleges within the San Francisco Bay Region. This collaboration will lead to more targeted education for students that will ultimately assist them in developing the skills necessary to find an exciting career in retail, hospitality or tourism.

WE WANT TO INSPIRE STUDENTS to get excited about their future career and to understand the clear opportunity for career advancement in the RHT industry. By opening up the dialogue about key trends and priorities, we will work to streamline educational processes, identify areas of particular need, and develop curriculum and training programs in our educational entities that guide our students on the path to success.

The expert panel and our faculty attendees discussed vital priorities to drive educational program development that will best prepare individuals for their career in retail, hospitality or tourism.

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The RHT industry is more global today than ever before. California, and the Bay Area specifically, are top destinations for international tourists, bringing a variety of cultures to RHT businesses throughout the region. It’s essential for the RHT workforce to embrace cultural diversity, engage with customers appropriately, and to be prepared to adapt to the needs and expectations of international tourists in order to deliver exceptional service that lives up to the brands they represent.

Our panel highlighted the need for greater language diversity in their employee base. Employees who can speak a second or third language are increasingly in demand in the industry at every level, from bilingual hotel room attendants to restaurant general managers to retail sales associates, the ability to communicate and create a personal connection is key. The value of improving the customer experience through a direct language connection and cultural relations expertise is critical to the success of any business.

In the culinary space specifically, the industry is seeing a shift away from fusion cuisine that draws from a cross pollinization of ingredients and techniques towards a greater specialization of food from different regions that creates a truly authentic culinary experience. This means students must be prepared to demonstrate knowledge of food from a variety of specific regions that in turn depict their own specific cultural identities.

“We see 15-20 different countries represented at our stores every day – our staff has to be fully pre-pared to encounter that diversity in a positive way.”

INTERNATIONAL SCOPE

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Embed cultural etiquette and global relations into customer service training.

Emphasize regional culinary specializations alongside established techniques and cuisines.

Incorporate language studies into existing and future RHT curriculum.

Priorities for Program Development

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Retail, hospitality and tourism require employees prepared to meet a variety of business and customer service challenges, often simultaneously. RHT is a fast paced, ever-changing industry, which means employees must meet their responsibilities with a sense of urgency and speed that never sacrifices the quality of the customer experience. One key issue raised by our panel was the need for “hybrid employees” – potential leaders who grasp not only the customer service or technical skills side of their career, but also understand what makes their brand successful.

Employees should understand how their role fits into the greater scope of a business, how their brand generates revenue, and how their customer interactions influence brand reputation. Recognizing the various business management aspects of their career is one way for employees to demonstrate their readiness for advancement to the next level. Developing their analytical skills, including their ability to understand revenue reports and profit and loss, provide greater incentives for employers to move an employee into a leadership position.

Being a hybrid employee not only makes an employee more indispensible to leadership, it also demonstrates a clear interest in both their career and the brand as a whole. Hybrid skills like time and business management, conflict resolution, and creative problem solving are all hallmarks of potential leaders. Employers are constantly seeking individuals who inspire those around them, are engaged with the customer, and build camaraderie with their colleagues as they step up to meet new challenges.

“We like to see cooks who also understand food costs and the financial impact of what they’re cooking…merging their everyday work with core business values.”

HYBRID EMPLOYEES

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Integrate and train employees in the various areas of leadership crucial to the brands they will represent.

Reinforce why hybrid employees are in demand for leadership positions and drive business success.

Indentify and include business case studies that highlight critical business management competencies.

Priorities for Program Development

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The marriage of retail, hospitality and tourism with innovative technology represents an opportunity to advance the industry as a whole, attract large numbers of additional customers, and create dynamic new jobs in the process. Increased integration of technology with RHT, from booking travel on your phone to ordering food through an app, has lead to a distinct need for employees to understand the technology they’ll be using on the job and the devices their customers use on a daily basis. Customers are looking for an increasingly digital experience – and industry representatives need to be poised to deliver it.

In the race to acquire new customers and greater market share, big brands are incorporating mobile and social technology into their everyday business practices faster than ever before. It is therefore increasingly important for employees to understand these practices in order to connect with the customers they serve. Employees, especially those with an eye towards leadership positions, should be prepared to speak towards a brand’s online presence and direct customers to relevant online, mobile and social resources that can help to improve the customer experience and drive customer loyalty.

Today’s employers are looking for more than positive face to face interactions at a brick-and-mortar location. By encouraging potential workers to examine and understand the swiftly changing bridge between technology and RHT, we can help to create a workforce prepared to offer increased levels of customer service by using technology to create unparalleled customer interactions that build brand loyalty.

“Employees should demonstrate the ability to understand new technology and how that technology relates to acquiring new customers.”

INTEGRATING NEW TECHNOLOGY

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Prepare students to fully integrate online resources that improve customer interactions.

Develop hands-on training opportunities that explore social customer service.

Equip students with the skills and abilities to use mobile and social RHT technologies.

Priorities for Program Development

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Students and prospective job seekers in the consumer-facing RHT industry must pay particular attention to how they establish their personal brand. Consequently, demonstrating people skills and positive personality traits, both in a job-seeker’s resume and in an interview, are essential to securing employment in the industry.

A personal brand includes education and work experience, but also presentation and personality – an individual should align their personal brand with the brand they seek to represent. Successful individuals should not only embody a workplace culture, but also take pride in service and demonstrate strong communication and conflict resolution skills.

Creating a powerful resume is the first step in securing a career in RHT, and yet it constitutes a stumbling point for many job-seekers. A resume should be clear and concise, free of grammatical errors, simply designed, and should reflect a personal brand that relates to the company and reflects an individual’s experience and passion.

Interview skills are equally important, and need to be developed and mastered before students enter the workforce. Job seekers should be professional in appearance and demeanor and be prepared to use critical thinking and problem solving skills to answer questions about the career opportunity and showcase their people skills. While students should be prepared to talk about their educational and work experience, they should also be ready to answer behavioral questions that ask for specific examples or solutions to a problem they might encounter on the job.

“We need to explain to students that they are a brand – and that brand means a lot when it comes to securing a career.”

RESUME & INTERVIEW SKILLS

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Articulate what a “personal brand” means and identify concrete ways for students to cultivate that brand.

Increase workbased learning that will prepare students for real world situations such as internships, job shadows, and mock interviews.

Expose students to sample resumes that demonstrate how to make the most of educational and work experience.

Priorities for Program Development

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9RHTBay Region

Bay Region Community Colleges

Retail, Hospitality & Tourism Initiative

www.BayRegionRHT.comFind Your Passion.

Learn more and get involved in this exciting initiative:BayRegionRHT.com

RETAIL, HOSPITALITY & TOURISM

INDUSTRY FORUM

Allie BowserProgram ManagerGAP Inc. @ Community College

Kim SlavanDirector of Human ResourcesSilverado Resort & Spa

Lester LumGeneral ManagerBon Appetit @ Google

George GundryArea Director of OperationsThe Cheesecake Factory

Art CarlChefThe Cheesecake Factory

Dave AckermanDirector of Marketing & Biz DevLivermore Premium Outlets

Leland CheungChefBon Appetit @ Google

Lance LaxsonGeneral ManagerThe Cheesecake Factory

Nigel LorDirector - Human ResourcesHilton SF Airport Bayfront

Xina KuriharaDirector of Human ResourcesComplex SF Bay Area

Lisa KronePHR Director of Human ResourcesMarriott Burlingame

Chris ChandlerExecutive DirectorLivermore Winegrowers Assoc.

Rachael RaduHR Business PartnerTarget Investigations Team

Ernie CatanzaroGeneral ManagerEmbassy Suites Burlingame

Esmeralda Florez-PrietoDirector of HRRitz-Carlton, Half Moon Bay

Ronny TompotAssistant General ManagerSan Mateo Event Center

Kavita PatelArea Manager - Northern CAExpedia Partner Services

PANELISTS

Funded in part by the California Community Colleges, Chancellor’s Office ‘Learn & Earn’ Grant. Learn more at doingwhatmatters.cccco.edu

RHTBay Region

Bay Region Community Colleges

Retail, Hospitality & Tourism Initiative

For more information, or to get involved in our efforts, please contact:Andrea Vizenor, Deputy Sector Navigator - Bay Region

650-738-7124 | vizenora@smccd.edu

www.BayRegionRHT.com