Summary
The purpose of this career plan is to identify the career goals that need to be accomplished in China Red Restaurant’s workplace. I will be working as a Food and Beverage attendants’ team leader. China Red Restaurant is a busy restaurant offering Chinese traditional foods and Australian local food. China Red Restaurant in the city has 18 waiters. Every day, 10 of these waiters report to work. My main goal is to start in the short term as a team member – working as a food and beverage attendant at China Red Restaurant, and this will be achieved because I was an intern in the same position as an intern. Another goal that I would like to achieve is to achieve high levels of customer satisfaction through increased quality of customer service at China Red Restaurant. I also plan to become a catering manager at an international hospitality company, which will be attained through improved level of education and effective networking. I will mainly be faced by challenges of inadequate time and resources, but I will plan for time well and make use of resourceful people to achieve my career goals, e.g. parents and lecturers. I recommend a good online research and personal study and revision to improve at work and in class.
Table of Contents
Conclusion and Recommendations. 3
Introduction
The purpose of this career plan report is to provide some of the career goals that need to be achieved in the hospitality industry including the timeline, employment options, and consideration of the prevailing working conditions in the industry. The career plan will also consider some of the qualifications and requirements for the position of Food and Beverage attendant. China Red Restaurant is an ideal place for me to carry out my work-integrated learning because it is a large company in the Hospitality industry. It is busy and it has essential resources needed for my work-integrated learning. With a team of 10 waiters, I get the opportunity to work as both a team member and team leader, and integrate the ideas and knowledge I have developed in class into real work-related experiences. Spowart (2011) suggests that graduates with both theoretical understanding and practical application of hospitality concepts are able to adapt and face new challenges at the workplace. China Red Restaurant offers the experience and practical application of hospitality theory and concepts.
Career Goals
My future career will be to become food and beverage attendant leader in hospitality industry. I have an experience in this position as I have worked as an intern in China Red Restaurant. The following are some of the short term, mid-term and long term goals that I plan to pursue. The goals are based on the SMART principles of goal setting – Specific, Measurable, Attainable, Realistic, and Time-bound.
Short-term goals
My first goal is to join the team of waiters (food and beverage attendants) of China Red Restaurant by the end of the year. This position will involve various activities including welcoming customers, showing them to their seats, offering menus, taking their orders and passing them to the kitchen staff, serving the customers, and clearing the tables. In order to carry out these activities, I will apply theory into practice. These activities also require soft skills such as communication skills, interpersonal skills, teamwork, and problem solving skills (Hughes, Mylonas and Benckendorff, 2013).
The second short term objective is to attain a minimum of B in my education in order to secure my position in the company. The strategy to achieve this is to increase my study time by 2 hours per day. One hour will be spent for research in the library while the other hour will be used to revise lecture notes and attempt some questions. Such a good performance in academics will be a selling point for me because employers use academic performance as a primary qualification and indication of an individual’s capabilities, knowledge and skills (Barr and McNeilly, 2000).
Mid-term goals
One of my midterm goals is to increase quality of customer service at China Red Restaurant and improve customer satisfaction by reducing customers’ wait time and meeting their expectations within the next two years. This will be achieved through the use some of the concepts I learn in class to enhance quality customer services, e.g. courtesy and respect for customers, responding quickly to customer requests, communicating effectively, and working effectively in a team (Hughes, Mylonas and Benckendorff, 2013).
The second mid-term goal is to have connections to at least four other restaurants as a way of preparing myself for a possibility of a team leader in other organisations. I will achieve this goal by attending seminars, workshops, forums and other activities that involve other organisations in the hospitality industry. This is supported by Venables and Tan (2009) who argue that hospitality work-integrated learning boost transferable skills such as networking, which enable graduates to increase their chances of employment.
Long-term goals
The first long term goal that I will pursue is becoming the team leader of food and beverage attendants team at China Red Restaurant within the next 3-5 years. I intend to achieve this by performing the best in my team through increased customer satisfaction and trust, as well as increased sales within my line of service. Gault et al (2000) suggest that career success can be enhanced through good performance in internships.
The second long term goal is to become the catering manager of a bigger, international company in the hospitality industry in the next 5-10 years. I intend to do this by improving my education levels to higher post-graduate levels. I will take courses on catering and customer service in order to increase my chances in that field. I will also work on my networking skills to improve my network of international employers.
Managing my career
In order to achieve my career goals, I will rely on my persistence and self-drive. I will become patient under all circumstances to eye on the ultimate prize. There will be various challenges and barriers including inadequate time and resources. However, through the help of resourceful people such as lecturers and parents, I will succeed in my goals. Another challenge that I am likely to face is competition from other graduates. There are more graduates coming out of the university each year and my career may flop if I fail to achieve what the company expects of me. Therefore, I will use my knowledge and skills to meet customer needs within my capacity so that I can win the trust of my employer.
Conclusion and Recommendations
In conclusion, work-integrated learning has become an essential element in boosting my career. My future career will be to become food and beverage attendant leader in hospitality industry. I have an experience in this position as I have worked as an intern in China Red Restaurant. I will be working and studying part time for my postgraduate education. My career plan of becoming a food and beverage attendant will be achieved through effective soft skills, good grades in my studies (minimum of B), increased networking, and good performance and teamwork at the workplace as noted in this career plan report.
One of the recommendations for career plan is that I should engage keenly with other graduates and lecturers to enhance my work-integrated learning experience. These individuals will offer me a good team to learn from and collaborate with. As a result, I will improve my networking, communication and negotiation skills because these skills will enable me to achieve my career goal of becoming a catering manager and a team leader in future. The second recommendation is that I need to study online materials on catering during my free time in order to make my goal of achieving good grades to become a reality.
References list
Barr, TF & McNeilly, KM 2002, ‘The value of students’ classroom experiences from the eyes of the recruiter: information, implications, and recommendations for marketing educators’, Journal of Marketing Education, vol. 24, no. 2, pp. 168-73.
Gault, J, Leach, E & Duey, M 2010, ‘Effects of business internships on job marketability: the employers’ perspective’, Education+ Training, vol. 52, no. 1, pp. 76-88.
Hughes, K, Mylonas, A & Benckendorff, P 2013, Students’ reflections on industry placement: Comparing four undergraduate work-integrated learning streams”, Asia-Pacific Journal of Cooperative Education, 14(4), 265-279.
Lester, S and Costley, C 2001, “Work-based learning at higher education level: value, practice and critique”, Studies in Higher Education 35 (5), pp. 561-575.
Spowart, J. (2011). Hospitality students’ competencies: Are they working ready? Journal of Human Resources in Hospitality and Tourism, 10, 169-181.
Venables, A., & Tan, G. (2009). Realizing learning in the workplace in an undergraduate IT Program. Journal of Information Technology Education, 8, 17-26.
