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Showing posts from March, 2012

An Interview with the Director of HR at the Sheraton Syracuse University

I invited the Director of Human Resources (HR) at the Sheraton Syracuse University Hotel and Conference Center to speak with us in my HR class this Tuesday. He shared with us what he does in a full-service hotel, which was an important component of my interview with him and had contributed to a great learning experience for students. I, however, believe that many professionals should have known what a Director of HR does in a company. Accordingly, I would rather share with you some career advice suggested by the guest speaker.    First of all, a good HR manager requires certain level of maturity. Because a HR person deals with many secrets on the job, from employee’s salary information, birthday, marriage status, to things like going through a rehabilitation program, s/he must be able to keep secrets while dealing with a variety of employee issues. Second, being flexible becomes even more important during the recession . If a job candidate is flexible in regards to locati...

An Interview with Eric Rattner at Hospitality eBusiness Strategies, Inc.

I had a Skype interview with Eric Rattner , Account Executive at Hospitality eBusiness Strategies (HeBS Digital) in my social media class yesterday. Eric graduated in the Hospitality Management Program at SU in 2011. Before joining HeBS Digital, Eric completed several internships in hotels and restaurants. I felt delightful of speaking with him about his job search tactics as a student, his current position and company, in addition to the internet-marketing and social-media trends. Here are some highlights of our conversation: Job Search Tactics as a Student Eric began building a network both online and offline when he was a student. He was informed by one of his connections regarding the job opportunity at HeBS Digital. Then, he applied for the position on LinkedIn, went through the interviewing process, and secured the job offer. Eric shows us a great example of finding jobs online. As a matter of fact, 89% of the U.S. companies are relying on social networking sites fo...

Some Rules to Follow When Using Pinterest

Founded in 2009, Pinterst is BIG and here to stay. In February alone, Pinterest attracted 17.8 million unique users. As a matter of fact, I see at least one of my Facebook friends is getting on Pinterest every day. People use Pinterest to share “collective ideas” on their pin boards, such as recipes, fashion, décor, and tourist destinations. For companies like restaurants and hotels, Pinterest is a great place to show case their products and services and draw traffics to their websites. Usually, it is not an issue if a user takes a picture and posts it on their pin board(s). The legal issue may arise when users share a picture or video that is produced and owned by somebody else. Accordingly, Therese Poletti at the Wall Street Journal provides some rules that users should follow: The safest way (especially for companies) is to pin the content that is created by the user or anything that the user owns the copyrights. Old photos that are dated in 1923 or before are safe. Post...

HR Challenges Created by Social Media

Last week, I published a paper in Hotel Business Review (HBR) about the HR challenges created by social media . I believe that social media has made significant impact on almost every HR function, including job analysis and job design, recruitment and selection, training and development, compensation plans, performance appraisals, discipline and retention management, social responsibility, and ethics. Here, I am not going to restate my discussion in HBR . I, however, would like to hear your thoughts on this topic by asking some of the questions I raised in the paper.       HR Challenges When companies are adding social media in their daily operations, what responsibilities should be added or deleted from current positions? What positions or departments need to be created or eliminated? Is it necessary to re-design a company’s organizational structure? If so, how can it be done? If it is necessary to create a position called social media manager, wha...

Hotel Gyms: An Extension of Travelers’ Healthy Lifestyle

In the past five years, I have seen many hotel chains putting more money in renovating their workout facilities (e.g. the Sheraton Hotel at Syracuse University and the Courtyard by Marriott in Syracuse ). They are responding to travelers’ demand of having nice gyms in hotels. Some travelers may even choose a hotel over the others because of the hotel’s state-of-the-art workout facility.                                                    This Fox News video takes us to tour some hotels with magnificent gyms and pools. Which one is your favorite? For what reason? How important does a hotel’s workout facility mean to you when you compare it with other factors such as price, location, cleanliness, security, and service?    The ...

International Restaurant and Foodservice Show in NYC

FingerLakes Farm Earlier this week, I was in New York City for The 2012 International Restaurant and Foodservice Show . Usually, I go to the International Hotel, Motel + Restaurant Show in November . So, this was the first time I attended this event. The Restaurant Show in the spring is not as big as the Hotel Show in the fall, but it certainly has a strong F&B (food and beverage) focus. Here are some of my observations: There were two groups that have very strong presence in the show. One represents the farms and wineries in Upstate New York, the other comes from Japan. I am glad to see the promotion for Upstate and the comeback of Japan after last year’s natural disaster .     Natural and healthy food continues to get attention from farmers, food manufacturers, and consumers. I tried several healthy food options --- everything taste very good! Many of them are also available in Whole Food and Wegmans for retail sales. I love that. I was impressed with th...

How Restaurateurs Can Use Blogging and Social Media to Promote their Restaurants (by Kate Manning)

Ten years ago social media was a business novelty, and today it is a corporate standard. This is particularly true of the restaurant industry, as the majority of cafes and eateries currently use online networking platforms to promote their business and reach out to potential customers. As a result, it is more important than ever for restaurateurs to learn how to utilize these tools in order to remain competitive. Luckily there are a number of ways to do so, such as enrolling in distance learning programs like the ones found on this site for online MBA schools or taking classes at a local university. No matter what option restaurateurs pursue they will quickly discover that social media is the best and most effective way to market their business. In a March 2011 article for Huffington Post Business , columnist Wiley Cerilli referred to the Internet as “the great equalizer,” since all restaurants, from franchise chains to singular establishments, are given unlimited ad space and...