News South Asia

A Job For Life

FOR those looking to work in hospitality, Starwood Hotels & Resorts, Worldwide Inc. (Starwood) has a Starwood Careers Programme waiting for you but beware: a career in hospitality is not for everyone.
 
“Hotels are not easy to work in. The hours, guests and language barriers can all prove to be difficult,” says Le Méridien Kuala Lumpur general manager Harvey J. Thompson, whose career with Starwood has spanned more than 25 years.

“One needs to be self-driven, curious, caring and possess initiative.”
 
Now in its the third year, the programme that is open to both school leavers and degree holders provides training and development at management, supervisor and line levels.

With over 260 hotels in operation under nine brands and more than 30 set to open in 2014, Starwood is one of the largest and fastest growing hotel companies in the Asia Pacific.
 
Under Thompson’s helm, Le Méridien Kuala Lumpur underwent a major renovation to its main areas and won the Starwood Careers Award in 2012.
 
“The programme is structured according to participants’ own personal development needs. So for example, those in the finance department might receive training to upgrade their Microsoft Excel skills,” Thompson explains.
 
“Our goal is that the talents get one thing out of their training which they can then apply to their leadership. We want them all to be leaders.”
 
The programme takes one year to complete but Thompson says he encourages participants to do so in less time.
 
Participants are allowed and encouraged to transfer to related departments within the hotel and to other hotels under the Starwood brand, which include The Westin Kuala Lumpur, Sheraton Imperial Kuala Lumpur and Aloft Kuala Lumpur Sentral.

“We want you to be able to move. It gives you a fresh perspective and it’s invigorating to see something new. All the Starwood brands are different and by moving around you can see which one suits you the most.”

Transferring to Starwood hotels in other countries is possible too, adds Thompson, who himself moved from Australia to Kota Kinabalu and then Kuala Lumpur.
 
“If you have a career in hospitality in Malaysia, you have a job for life. There are so many opportunities to travel and to progress. The hotel industry is growing and the dining experience is getting better and better. And the fact that Malaysians know two, three languages gives them an added advantage.”
 
Le Méridien assistant sales manager (catering) Shah Rizal had his humble beginnings as a part-time waiter at the hotel in 2004.
 
He was among the first batch of talents in 2012, which allowed him to go from supervisor to assistant manager in the food and beverage department before transferring to the sales department last year.

“It’s a well equipped and well organised programme. We get so much support from the management team which is very important.”
 
Shah explains how it was the management which allowed him to see and unlock his potential to push himself and go further, describing it as “empowering.”

It was the same situation for Le Méridien executive sous chef Budiman Bistari Mohamed, who joined the hotel in 2006 as a chef-de-partie and has been in the programme for two months.
 
“I wasn’t confident of making decisions in the beginning but now I am, thanks to constant valuable input from management.

“The programme is geared towards making a new type of modern-thinking chef,” Budiman says, adding that he is now confident to talk to dining guests.
 
No doubt then he will use this new skill to seduce them into sampling his scrumptious-sounding signature dish of braised lamb shank with rendang potato gnocchi.