Hospitality is known for being fast-paced, diverse, and people-focussed – it takes a certain type of person to thrive in an environment that can be so different each day.
During your job search or career in hospitality, you might have heard or read some of the terms used to describe the ideal hospitality employee.
Though each role will have a different focus and require different approaches to be successful, there are still multiple traits that can make you ideally placed for working in hospitality, especially for senior roles.
In fact, these traits could be your competitive advantage when searching for a hospitality role!
So, which traits are perfect for working in hospitality?
1. Emotional intelligence
Emotional intelligence – a term popularised by psychologist Daniel Goleman – relies on a sense of self-awareness that can contribute to your ability to show empathy and provide strong customer service.
The benefits of having strong emotional intelligence are twofold.
Firstly, emotional intelligence lends itself to adaptability and the skill to anticipate other people’s needs.
In hospitality, this means being able to provide personalised service for customers by anticipating what their needs are and adapting your service accordingly.
Secondly, emotional intelligence is an ideal skill for senior leaders as it can be vital in managing a team as it can help to make team members feel valued because their feelings are understood.
When keeping in mind that a third of hospitality workers think that feeling valued is a top priority, emotional intelligence can go a long way in successfully managing a team and keeping them engaged and content.
2. Interpersonal communication
Your ability to both understand and interact with people is classed as interpersonal communication, which can also cover sub-skills such as speaking, listening or questioning skills.
Few roles will be quite as reliant on people-facing skills as hospitality, so having the capability to communicate effectively on several fronts – listening, verbal, non-verbal, problem-solving – can enhance your ability to have a rapport with customers and keep yourself (and your team, if applicable) organised and efficient.
There won’t always be additional time to thoroughly understand a customer’s needs or to convey information to your team, which makes strong interpersonal communication a necessity to keep the day-to-day demands of your job moving swiftly.
97% of employees believe communication impacts their task efficacy on a daily basis – hardly an insignificant statistic for those in senior roles!
3. Resilience
The hospitality industry itself has had to be resilient due to the numerous changes that have, in many ways, changed the entire face of it.
From the Great Resignation and the pandemic to shifting employee priorities, the hospitality industry has endured many changes, and hospitality employees have also had to utilise their resilience through this period.
In a broader work sense, resilience is a key factor in how successfully a team and workplace will respond to changes and unexpected events.
Employees that are highly resilient are not only likely to weather any potential storms during their job but also to truly thrive and guide others through tumultuous periods effectively.
4. Teamwork
Teamwork as a skill might often be perceived simply as being able to work with others, yet it is a far more complex skill than that, particularly for senior management.
Generally, the businesses with the strongest performance and loyalty are businesses in which employees feel a strong emotional engagement with a brand promise or mission.
Teamwork in that regard is more about building a sense of trust and respect in a team so that there is increased emotional engagement – building and maintaining strong relationships is reliant on strong teamwork skills.
It is equally important to be supportive and provide guidance for a team, so those with strong problem-solving abilities will also likely have success from a teamwork perspective.
Additionally, in such a competitive market, those who can make employees feel as though they are being invested in and valued are an immensely beneficial asset to any hospitality organisation.
5. Creativity
In an IBM study of more than 1,500 CEOs from 60 countries and 33 industries worldwide, creativity was concluded to be the most important leadership quality for success.
Depending on which area of hospitality you’re currently in/looking to be in, creativity can be applied to branding, customer experience, and internal processes – generating fresh ideas is vital to hospitality’s innovation-driven industry.
Creativity also goes hand-in-hand with adaptability, as the best forms of creativity come as a result of acting with change rather than against it.
Given that the hospitality industry has experienced so much change in recent years, having the ability to stay ahead and relevant is a significant asset to a hospitality business.
6. Familiarity
Are you familiar with fast-paced and dynamic work environments?
Though the above traits are valuable, familiarity from experience is equally important in being able to fully understand the role and any potential issues that occur.
It can be difficult to go from jobs that are relatively the same day-to-day versus a hospitality role that can usually vary significantly due to the nature of the industry.
Those who are not only familiar with, but thrive in, dynamic work environments will be right at home in most hospitality roles as this is a skill that can bolster other traits you have – familiarity can make your ability to adapt and be resilient more effective, for example.
For leadership roles, soft skills have never been in greater demand due to their usefulness across sectors and in managerial roles – backing up these skills with some experience can help to add context to your skills.
In conclusion
Hospitality candidates are in high demand, yet the above skills can contribute positively to your active (or passive) job search because of their transferability.
Individuals who are highly communicative and personable will always find hospitality to be an ideal environment to thrive in because of the customer-facing nature of the industry.
If you’re looking for a job role in hospitality, why not take a look at our vacancies or get in touch with the Talent Hive team?