In an exclusive interview with Higher Education Review, Pulak Mandal, Principal, IHM Hajipur shares his insights on the Indian hotel management education landscape, the increasing importance of inculcating soft skills in students, the evolving hiring trends in the hospitality domain and more.      

As hotel management jobs especially in the higher positions require managing a group of people, how can hotel management institutions equip the students with the necessary man management skills required to be a successful leader?

The three year (six semesters) course equips students with all the required skills, knowledge and attitude to efficiently discharge supervisory responsibilities in the hospitality sector. The program already involves in-depth laboratory works for students to acquire required knowledge and skills standards in the operational areas of Food Production, Food & Beverage Service, Front Office Operation and Housekeeping. It also provides managerial inputs in Hotel Accountancy, Food Safety & Quality, Human Resource Management, Facility Planning, Financial Management, Strategic Management, Tourism Marketing and Management. Also, during the final year of their curriculum, special emphasis is given on developing the leadership and management skills through extra activities like case studies, assignments, organizing various activities which require interaction with the outside world and various situation handling, etc. All these definitely help the students to equip themselves with the necessary man management skills required to be a future leader.

How have the rapid layoffs and increasing work load in the hospitality industry adversely impacted student enrolments in the hotel management domain? Also, how do you see this trend evolving in the coming years? 

Covid-19 presented a unique challenge to all the businesses, especially the hospitality industry. It was the hospitality industry which got impacted the most due to the pandemic. As this industry solely survives on the guests physically visiting the hotels, it got dealt with a major blow as far as room and other sources of revenue were concerned. As there was zero business for the hotels during the prolonged lockdown and even after that (owing to the stringent restrictions imposed on hotels by the respective state as well as central government, ironically some of which were not even practical) most of them were left with no other option but to get rid of their workforce to a large extent i.e. rapid layoffs. This definitely created a trust deficit later and sent a wrong message to all concerned. Now that the pandemic is more or less over and the hospitality industry is back with normal business, there are simply no qualified people left around who are willing to continue with the hospitality industry. This has concurrently affected the remaining existing workforce in the hospitality industry in the form of too much workload.

Also, thinking of hospitality as career option has definitely taken a severe beating owing to the fact that this year has proved to be the worst year for all the IHM’s in terms of enrolments for the current academic year i.e. 2022. As per an article published recently by a reputed business magazine, even after four rounds of counselling for admission to the IHM’s, more than 60% seats were still vacant. Also, almost every day we receive request from most of the major hotels regarding vacancies which are required to be filled up on an urgent basis. It almost reads out like SOS messages, not to exaggerate the facts. However, as they say, “nothing is permanent” and hopefully “this too shall pass”. But hospitality industry definitely needs to put out an olive branch first by whichever means possible and then try to regain the trust which was lost during the pandemic. It would definitely go a long way in rebuilding everything back to the normal stage.

While real world experience is essential to increase the employability of hotel management students, many institutes have failed to ensure the same. In your opinion, what are some of the most effective methods to ensure proper real-world exposure to hotel management students?  

Talking about IHM’s, during the second year of their curriculum, students are sent for an internship of around four months in any reputed hotel. It is mandatory for every student to successfully complete the internship or else they don’t get promoted to third year. Thus, every student mandatorily gets first time real world experience a year before the completion of their course. Plus, most of the students also undergo Vocational Training during their summer/winter vacation voluntarily. It also helps increase their employability to a great extent.

Owing to the fast-paced nature of the hotel management domain, it can be hard for hotel management institutes to keep abreast of the latest changes. In light of this, how do you view the growing importance of industry-institute collaborations in helping hotel management institutes align themselves with the changing industry trends?   

It’s true that the hotel industry undergoes rapid changes depending on the situation, the latest case being the change in cleaning procedures and standards after the pandemic. The industry came up with lot of sweeping changes almost overnight when the hotels reopened post pandemic. Most of it required innovative and out-of-the-box thinking. The same changes cannot be incorporated in the syllabus of the hotel management institutes overnight, as there is a due process for the same. However, we regularly invite industry experts as “Guest Speakers” who interact with the students and share their knowledge and wisdom about the ongoing changes in the industry which truly is very helpful for the students in keeping themselves abreast of the changes in the industry.

Hotel management professionals might be required to interact with people from across the globe on a regular basis. With that being the case, how do you see the importance of soft-skills and cross cultural learning in helping students become a global citizen?    

Hospitality industry is truly all about mannerisms, etiquettes and soft skills, more than any other recognized industry. With this in mind, one of the eligibility criteria for getting admitted to IHM’s is that the student must have studied English at 10+2 level. Plus, the medium of instruction is also only English. This really helps the students in getting a hold of at least one of the global languages i.e. English. Also, the curriculum of degree students also includes elementary French. Thus, the students actually are multi-lingual before they pass out. Also, throughout their course and especially during the final year of their studies, special emphasis is given on developing the soft skills as well as grooming standards so that the students may match the industry standards after they become a professional.

Owing to the lack of skilled talent, there is an ongoing talent war happening in the hotel management segment. In light of this, how do you see the hiring trends evolving in the industry and what would be your suggestion to students to increase their employability?          

This year has truly been a record of sorts as far as employment in the hotel industry across all levels is concerned. It is very evident from the placement requests being received by us almost on a daily basis. There is a severe shortage of skilled manpower in the hotel industry right now. Many other sectors have made the most out of it and they have went on to employ hotel management pass outs for sectors as diverse as retail, healthcare, facility management, corporate, as well as infrastructure on a higher pay scale and CTC. On an average, there is a difference of almost 40-45% in terms of CTC being offered by the hotel industry and that by other sectors like retail. This has also prompted students to take up newer challenges and jobs previously unheard of. On the other hand it has proved disastrous for the hotel industry. They need to think of some innovative ways and incorporate required changes in terms of pay structure and working hours to reverse this trend.