Webinar on 'Career at Front Office' at WGSHA

On the 13th of May, 2020, the students of WGSHA were privileged to attend a webinar on the Microsoft Teams app, by Mr. Mrudu Nair - as a Senior Duty Manager at the Jumeirah at Etihad Towers, West Corniche. Sir is an alumnus of WGSHA, part of the 15th Course BHM. Mr. Nair started off the lecture by reminiscing about his college days in Manipal, and how great of a campus it was. Mr. Nair spoke about the diversity he experienced in Manipal and the kind of exposure the college provided. Originally aspiring to become a chef, sir spoke about his journey from the Kitchen to Front Office, after gaining some exposure to the industry.

Sir spoke about the rewards and challenges of the industry. He spoke about the harsh truths behind the industry, but how on the other hand, every day was different and had different challenges. Despite being a rewarding industry, one needs to have passion, patience and determination. These points were beautifully brought up in sir’s speech. Sir then went on to talk about the challenges the industry is going to face in the coming months, due to the global pandemic. Sir gave us a live demonstration of the safety procedures that his hotel was following. Apart from the usual face mask, all employees were also required to wear gloves and a face shield to protect themselves and guests. This was a very interesting portion of the webinar, as students got to experience. First hand, how the future of the industry was going to shape out to be.

Sir then proceeded to give some insights into the business his hotel was experiencing. He said that although the service residences are at 95% occupancy, the guest rooms were at an all-time low of 0%. Sir continued with his experiences faced in the past. He spoke about hoe earlier, people staying in hotels preferred privacy over their own security. But the 26/11 attacks in Mumbai changed their perspective, and customers started wishing for more security features in hotels.

The last portion of sir’s speech focused on the difficulties that college graduates will face, finding jobs in today’s conditions. Sir advised everyone to believe in themselves and their talents, and that it would guarantee them success. The webinar was concluded with an insightful Question & Answer session where sir thoroughly answered everyone’s doubts.

The webinar concluded on a rather warm note, with Mr. Nair interacting with his old college professors and reminiscing old times and the memories eh shared with them. This was truly a heart-touching moment for all the students to see, as it truly shows us that college days are the best days!