Love the hospitality industry? Love managing a team? You should be a general Manager…
OK, we admit that there’s much more to the job than that. As a general Manager, you’ll be responsible for the day-to-day running of the establishment, managing everything from budgets and dealing with staff, through to guest satisfaction and even marketing and sales promotions.
Day-to-day responsibilities as a general manager may vary depending on publication, establishment and experience, but typical duties could include:
- Hiring and supervising staff
- Managing budgets and financial planning
- Overseeing and maintenance or renovations necessary
- Setting sales targets and monitoring progress
- Dealing with customer complains and ensuring all staff provide excellent customer service
Excellent team working and leadership skills are absolutely essential in this position. You can have all the business acumen in the world, but if you’re unable to motivate your staff as a general manager, the business is unlikely to be a success.
Listening skills are also essential, especially when dealing with frustrated members of the general public.
Other key skills include:
- Excellent communication skills
- Confidence
- Problem solving
- Good practical skills
- Good organisational skills
- A friendly and welcoming approach
What’s it like to be a general Manager?
If you've ever wanted to work in hospitality and you’re passionate about providing excellent customer service, working as a general Manager would suit you completely. It’s great. Hard work is key to ensure all guests have a great experience. The hours can be long and customers can (occasionally) be difficult to deal with, but overall this career choice will be incredibly rewarding when seeing your team and your establishment flourish.
Now that you know what a General Manager does, how do you become one?
It is vital to gain experience in the industry whilst studying. It would be beneficial to do an internship to help you to put your skills into practice. This will help you to become more employable once you graduate.
You could also look for graduate schemes in the hospitality industry. This will provide you with further training and advancement to a management position. You are likely to need some further experience on your CV such as customer service and any previous management experience is favourable.
How can you develop your career when you are already at a general manager level?
Good question. You could decide to work for a larger company with more responsibilities and a larger team.
If you are getting tired of working for the same company and need a change, you could change which type of establishment that you are working in all together! This is the great thing about hospitality – there are so many different directions you could go in.
You could even take your career abroad – as you know, hospitality and tourism is prominent all over the world. You could learn so much by working in a different environment to what you are used to.