Dear students – A letter

(Context: Currently, I teach marketing at colleges. I wanted to share my ideas about post-COVID job situations with my students. As my students are pursuing hospitality, the examples are based on the same. I had mailed and forwarded the very same letter to the students.)

Dear students,

I want to share some viewpoints about the job dynamics in the post COVID world.

A lot of things are going to change. I might be completely wrong with my assumptions but prevention is better than cure.

I believe most of the company will ask their prospect staff questions like “How did you cope with the lockdown period?” , “What did you do during the lockdown?”, etc.

I want you to mentally prepare for such questions. I understand from students and the age point of view, most of you might not be that concerned about the situation, which is natural. We have overcome the earthquake, the border blockade, etc. But this is different. This is global.

Paila college ta sakaum, exam sakuam, k tension linay? If I were a student, I would have the same attitude. But I would love to have someone who would talk to me regarding this.

We all know the hospitality/tourism industry is the most hit, so we have to be prepared accordingly.

In no order of importance.

1. One skill dynamic will not be enough – Company will hire people who have multi skills as they would want to cut back on adding more staff. e.g. Understand the basics of digital marketing, handling social media for the company would be beneficial Front office staff. You will have a higher chance of getting the job. A lot of people have already lost their job. Try reading more books, learn extra skills, join online courses, add some technical skills.

Create your own cooking channel, market it. Start writing about things you love or affect you.

(Free Online courses – Google Digital garage , Linkedin learning, Hubspot, Coursera, etc)

(Books – All marketers are liars, Made to stick, Contagious – why things catches on?,Start with why)

2. Remote working – As we have understood online sessions are pretty effective in discussions and all. So try to understand video conference apps like Zoom, Microsoft team, Google meets, etc. Be sincere about the online classes your colleges are arranging, so you can adapt to it for the future. You might be lazy for now but think from 2 or 10 years or less from now, when you are in a leadership position or in a team.

3. Soft skills – Try to learn new skills during free time, especially soft skills like presentations, communication skills, emotional intelligence, empathy. Empathy especially for our hotel industry.

(Emotional intelligence – Follow my dear friend, Sagar’s co-initiative “My emotions matter“)

4. Conference – Try to be part of different online webinars, where you can develop a network. Hospitality conferences, join in, ask questions to the panelists. Believe me, it is much easier, then physically going in events. So grab this “lazy” opportunity.

(Follow Prayas Rajopadhyaya & Jobs Dynamics. They organize conferences on various skillsets, career plannings, etc )

(Follow Umes sir’s initiative on teaching – Empowerment Academy. You guys are students but I want to let you know that some teachers are trying their best to provide education in an amazing possible way. This way you can better understand from teachers’ perspectives for a better learning environment. And also so you can appreciate teachers more haha!)

5. Innovation – I guess most important and difficult is the ability to innovate. Maybe we can develop another disruptive company like Airbnb in the tourism industry. This is the need of the hour. Let us discuss it later, one step at a time.

I am not saying to stress about it. Everybody has their own way of coping with the lockdown. We all have our problems. Initially, I was overwhelmed by the situation. I just could not figure out what to do next.

Try to be mentally strong in the situation. Chill but also give sometime of the day for the above issues.

There are so many other things as well, but going 1 step at a time.

Please do add your view points as well.

Regards,

P.S. You can message me anytime. (Except from 2 am to 10 am, I will be sleeping 😀 )

Comments

  1. Aasha Bhandari

    Dear amul,

    I can totally relate to your thoughts. There will be dynamic change in the market be it education, business, service industry or job. And we need to go with that.
    As I was a student I can so relate to pahila exm sakum, college sakum ani sochumla. Haha that’s most of us or all of us.
    However, every situation comes with an opportunity and I am so excited to see who comes with an amazing idea.

    1. Post
      Author
    1. Post
      Author

Leave a Reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *