Night Auditor is that person all hotel staff leave behind after every transaction from every revenue centre has been collected and this man sift through,analyses,checks and reports the sales into financials of the hotel that day. He goes to work at night ,that's the only time the sales process may give alittle bit of quietness for this man to concentrate. Night Auditor has the last say on sales of the hotel. He has to be careful because all these happen in 8 hrs to audit and report the financials and opinion.
This is a story of that person,that young boy who set out on a trip in search of a nice career.Six years has elapsed on this shift,doing same things. Gooddays and bad days makeup this period of years. A career that was meant to pay well and narture the wellbeing as well. The time this young boy was doing his third year and last attachment, lady luck smiled at him. A norwegian lady called Evelyn Eriksen who was on a research-educational visit in Malawi was happy with the dinner service he gave her at Hotel Masongola.She promised a scholarship but never materialised due to other visa logistical hitches.
This lady marketed the guys' skills to another Hotel where her team had dinner one night. He received a call and that was a life changing call. Both positively and negatively.Firstly because it was a Job,secondly -negative because the career path seemed gloomy. No one takes a look at you when they plan issues of career growth. You are the expert they think you should stay rooted at this job because its acrucial position that involves financials of the hotel.Its my opinion because I have seen most Night Auditors rot at it.
This is bad,worse for career minded individual. Oh ! Back to Evelyn appreciation of service. At Masongola he was just doing what he learnt in school,Malawi Institute of Tourism.In the Food and Beverage department,Restaurant in particular Using their names atleast twice ,asking for feedback,asking them each time they seem lost in the service.They loved every bit of it.
This experience landed him a job. He was headhunted for the next top job at athree star hotel as a Night Auditor.
He did not know the system but he knew the hotel standard procedure this meant he can learn it in days. Honesty paid its dues. He went on trainning for 2weeks and was back as a Night Auditor. Most people did not like it,this young man from nowhere to the top ?, What they did not know is how much he studied atleast and how long he can stick to the industry because its what he studied.They did not know his ambition and how many nights he dreamed about this job.
This was a mammoth task because those with rich experience were his juniors,he had to catch up.Some had to test him through fraudulently playing with figures on sales,thank GOD he caught them,he was a star . A lot happened. In this period of dedication but with the nature of the job,while you know the stuff and know how the hotel is run,reports,technical know how of occupancy,advising the managers on revenue management and whole lot of issues,it seemed that was all.Time stalls when the career starts boring. Routine jobs are uninteresting if you don't change the tasks for long. To him this was a long period to be stuck at Night Auditing.
He might had all the mistakes made in this career but having won supervisor of the year twice in this period it was enough evidence that he was good at his job.Therefore it was wrong to magnify and carry forward some mistakes made on the job to the present. He respected and thanked all who contributed to his success and reminded all who negatively slowed down his career growth that it was just a delay not complete hinderance to his dream of becoming a Manager of a top hotel in the nearest future. Watch the space-thats what he said.
The problem with most seniors in hotels is they want everyone to use the same path they used to go to the top and will do anything to discredit one poised to climb the ladder faster than they did. It seemed the hotel industry was full of people who would not accept and manage change. Were not ready to accept young people who had the academic knowledge and lucked the experience.
There is still a generation in the hotel system that think if you have a degree YOU KNOW every angle. What happens to young graduate is they get ostracised and left out in the process because they are frustrated. Every mistake done by them is regarded a gross sin because they hold a degree or masters ,hold your horses. You have kids they might need these people.
Through this journey no one in the world will stop his destiny for top job but a delay is acceptable.
TO ALL YOUNG PEOPLE KEEP WORKING HARD despite disappointments and politics. Keep serving. Its a story of a young hotelier beating challenges in his career. Keep going the future is calling.
Sent from my BlackBerry® smartphone powered by Airtel Malawi.
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