Crowd at the inaugural Tern event
WITH the tourism industry becoming broader in scope, more employers are considering hires based on potential and attitude rather than years of experience within the industry.
“(When hiring), traditional businesses place more weight on years of experience in the same job type. Emerging businesses are more likely than traditional ones to hire based on what (candidates) can do rather than what they have done,” said Dave Chinwan, product manager APAC, accommodation & destinations at TUI Travel.
Mid-career job seekers are one group who are finding more opportunities to cross over into travel, with diverse skillsets and experience such as those in big data analytics becoming increasingly relevant, according to Soon-Hwa Wong, chairman of PATA Singapore Chapter.
Added Yeoh Siew Hoon, founder of Tern, a career event held and debuted on August 27 in Singapore that brought together travel industry veterans and budding entrants: “Technology does not replace people, in fact, it requires more people.”
This demand for travel-tech manpower has given rise to more personality types being valued within the industry. While acknowledging the importance of networking and related soft skills, Agoda’s vice president, marketing, Timothy Hughes, said at a Tern panel: “(Leaders) also have to learn how to deal with introverts. (Over the years), I have (managed) my extroversion so as not to pass over more introverted personalities.”
Still, for hospitality veteran Jessie Khoo-Gan, executive assistant manager, sales and marketing and rooms at One Farrer Hotel & Spa, “people-orientedness” continues to be one key trait she looks out for when hiring.
Sharing similar sentiments was Graeme Ham, vice president of talent & culture, AccorHotels, who said candidates who lack people skills are better off pursuing other pathways, such as those in engineering.
For hotels, this holds true now more than ever as they find themselves vying against OTAs for bookings, relying on personalised customer service to drive direct bookings from repeat customers.
Explained Chinwan: “Businesses that have been around for a long time focus more on customer service because they want to make their customers feel special and keep them coming back.”
