How to Make it in the Hospitality Industry

By Guest Blogger, Chef Jeff Henderson

If you are reading this blog post you have probably chosen a career in the hospitality industry. When I chose hospitality as my career path, I knew right out of the gate that in order to become one of the best chefs, an effective manager and a motivational leader, I would have to sacrifice to achieve my professional goals.

For many of you who know my story “From the Streets to the Stove,” you know I started in the dish room. While not very appealing, the dish room was where I learned how to work hard under stressful and sometimes harsh conditions in the pursuit of success and my dream. When I speak to people today about career opportunities I tell my story and offer real-life career growth advice. Below are a few career growth tips from my kitchen to yours.

Self-Conditioning

I knew that my physical and mental condition would be the engine to drive my success. I ate healthier, worked out regularly and refrained from late nights so that I could focus my energy on achieving my dreams.

Teamwork

This was the key to my early development. Working with people from diverse backgrounds, races and beliefs was at times like navigating through a minefield but always very rewarding. I quickly learned that accepting people for who they are and understanding their differences would someday help define me as an effective manager and leader. Companies like Sodexo understand the importance of diversity and inclusion – it is part of their company culture. Your career choices should include a company culture that will respect you and that you can respect.

Mentorship

As I quickly moved from the dish room to the kitchen, I positioned myself in a restaurant that allowed me to work alongside top tier talent which, resulted in priceless experiences. Anytime you get an opportunity to work with an industry professional, you are able to study their strengths and understand what makes them who they are. These professionals are able to teach you skills that you may not have learned in college, give you good career advice, and in many cases give you private lessons, which is an advantage over the competition. These mentors will also prove to be valuable throughout your career and can provide excellent references as you advance in your career. And one day, you will be able to pay it forward and become a mentor for someone.

Self-Presentation

Focus on your overall appearance. How you dress, your accessories, hairstyle, and your attitude are as important in the kitchen as they are in the boardroom. Always display a professional attitude even if you are not having a great day. Check a bad attitude at the employee entrance. And everyone knows the power of a great smile, right? This may sound like an obvious career tip but you would be surprised how often I find myself reminding others of the obvious.

Reputation

Establish a consistent reputation from day one. This is where your self conditioning and career focus mentioned above will prove to be most beneficial It’s best to keep all skeletons in the closet and your personal life out of the workplace. Remember perception is reality – if you present yourself as a professional you will be treated as a professional.

Relationship Building/Networking

Building and managing key relationships is a top priority. Conduct strategic networking and socializing to help put you in powerful circles and maintain those relationships for the long term. For example, every year Sodexo employs many alumni chefs and food service managers from organizations like The American Culinary Federation, BCA, ProStart and National Society of Minorities Hospitality. These organizations help you to build your professional network early in and are relevant throughout your career.If you follow through with this work, aggressively seek out potential opportunities; incorporated with what you have learned in school, you will plant the seed for a very long and rewarding career in an industry that will bring you much happiness.

Men crashed many planes before they learned to fly. -Chef Jeff

Chef Jeff Henderson

Jeff Henderson is an award-winning chef, New York Times bestselling author and inspirational speaker. In 2001, Henderson made history when he became the first African-American Chef de Cuisine at Caesars Palace. He has also served as Executive Chef at Café Bellagio at the Bellagio in Las Vegas, and has become one of the most influential chefs in the country.

Jeff’s remarkable story of redemption and finding his hidden passion for cooking was chronicled in his New York Times bestselling memoir COOKED (published by William Morrow). His life story is now being turned into a major motion picture by Columbia Pictures, Overbrook Entertainment and Escape Artist, the team that made “The Pursuit of Happyness.”

As an incredibly inspiring personality, “Chef Jeff” has received widespread national attention on countless TV and radio programs and print publications, including “The Oprah Winfrey Show,” “Good Morning America,” “The Today Show,” “ABC World News Tonight,” People and USA Today. Chef Jeff is the host of the Food Network reality show “The Chef Jeff Project" and the author of a new cookbook Chef Jeff Cooks “In the Kitchen with America’s Inspirational New Culinary Star” (published by Scribner/Simon and Schuster).

Tune in Sunday nights at 10PM to watch the Food Network show, "The Chef Jeff Project."

These books will inspire you and help shape your vision:

• The Art of The Start by Guy Kawasaki
• Reality Check by Guy Kawasaki
• The 48 Laws of Power by Robert Green
• Success Is a Journey by Brian Tracy
• The 8th Habit by Stephen R. Covey
• Winning by Jack Welch
• Kitchen Confidential by Anthony Bourdain
• Cooked by Jeff Henderson

Leveraging Social Media to Land a Job

By Marguerite Granat, Senior Recruiter with Sodexo.

Have you leveraged social media to land your new job? Do you take your online conversations offline?

I did. When I started using Twitter actively, I would have never dreamed that this would be the tool that helped me land my new job with Sodexo. When I started using Twitter, I encountered resistance from a number of people who did not see its value.

It was a leap of faith and I decided to explore this platform realizing that Twitter is another communication tool that can be used to connect with people both online and offline. This is no different than when we went from using faxes to emails or from the telegraph to the telephone. Twitter is not going to replace live conversations but it is a great way to connect quickly with a lot of new people.

Earlier last year I decided to go back to talent acquisition after running my own search firm for over 9 years. One of my criteria for selecting an organization was a company that was innovative and utilizing every tool that’s available to connect with great talent. I had heard about Sodexo and started following Kerry Noone @sodexocareers learning more about the organization and sharing my passion for history with Kerry.

After growing my network on Twitter and as part of my job search, I started inviting key people for phone meetings outside of Twitter. During one of these informational meetings with one of my HR professional Twitter friends, I was referred to Arie Ball (@arie_ball) Sodexo's VP of Talent Acquisition.

I was able to connect with Arie on Twitter and I learned a great deal about Sodexo’s Talent Acquisition team. What impressed me the most was her openness, how proud she was of her team and her vision around Talent Acquisition in general. What I learned was that Sodexo utilizes the most innovative tools to attract and retain the best talent. You can follow our team on Twitter by following our Sodexo Recruiters Twitter List here.

We then stayed connected on Twitter and when I saw a Senior Recruiter position open up I sent Arie a DM expressing my interest. Once I applied in our Career Center I interviewed for the position with Susanne Davis (@suzannedavis) and several Sodexo Senior Directors including Jerry Paulison http://twitter.com/jerrypaulison) whom I now report to.

By connecting on Twitter and building relationships off line, I was able to connect with key people from Sodexo building a solid foundation that helped me land my new job. Twitter like any other form of Social Media is a tool that can enhance our ability to connect with other for personal and professional reasons.



Marguerite Granat is a Senior Recruiter with Sodexo supporting the Hospital Division. She brings more than 15 years experience of talent acquisition experience to her role with a track record of successful placements in both corporate and retained search environments. Marguerite invites you to connect with her on Twitter and Linkedin.

Social Networking Myth Busters

The other day a good friend of mine sent me an invitation to connect on Linkedin. I happen to be in the kitchen fixing dinner but since I recently "digitally double downed" (as @ryanestis would say) I received the email on my BlackBerry through my work email and on my iPhone through my personal email. And, because I'm always curious to see how others are using social networking sites to connect professionally, I accepted the invitation to connect right away and took a peak at her profile.

Do you do this too? Read, review and critique resumes of people who connect with you? I love it when I see new deas that I can "borrow."

I realized as I was reviewing her Linkedin profile that I had never viewed my own from my mobile devices. So as my pot was was boiling over (literally... I was making pasta) I flipped over to my Linkedin profile. I knew from the process of developing Sodexo's mobile careers site that each device is different. Just because it says BlackBerry at the top of your phone does not mean it's going to look the same from one model to the next. And, for certain, there is a difference between the BlackBerry and the iPhone. I was happy to see how well the mobile version of LinkedIn converted - but I also noticed opportunities for improvement thanks to the great ideas I "borrowed" from my friend.

Yes, I did call her to tell her how fabulous I thought her profile was and yes, I did asked her if I could borrow a few of her ideas. For some reason this surprised her and she asked if I was looking for a new job. Which surprised me and made me think about social networking myths that I'd like to address right here right now.

*MY* Top 10 Social Networking Myths:

1. If I join Linkedin my employer will think I am looking for a new job.

Wrong. By now your employer should understand the use of social networks for professionally connecting with your colleagues. If they don't (and there are plenty who do not) then I'm not sure what to say. I take for granted how innovative and supportive Sodexo is sometimes.

2. It's not important to update my profiles to reflect recent accomplishments if I'm not actively looking for a new job.

Wrong. You never know when a career opportunity will pop up with your current employer. If you keep your Linkedin and other online professional profiles up to date the process of applying for a position within your current company will be less painful and you won't find yourself scrambling to update your resume.

3. Online resume services like, Visiual CV, Resume Bear, and DoYouBuzz.com are a sign you are looking to make a career move.

Wrong. See my answer to number 1 and 2. Career growth should be important to you and a company that supports career growth is where you want to start and end your career. Sodexo actually has training classes for current employees to help us update our resume and improve our interviewing skills -- specifically so we are ready for our next promotion.

4. Social networks like Linkedin are time consuming, a waste of time, and "too hard."

Wrong. I hate when I hear people say this but exercise patience and I try not to tell them they are so "2000 and late." If you have an electronic version of your resume (and we all do, don't we?) then it's as simple as copying and pasting. This is true for Linkedin, Facebook, and online resume services. My mother wants to join Facebook to connect with family & friends but I refuse to do it for her because it really is so easy. Does that make me a bad daughter? I don't think so. She has to learn eventually if she really wants to be on Facebook. Unless she thinks she's going to call me and tell me what she's up to so I can update her status for her. Oh wait - she probably does think that's how it will work. No, mom.

5. Linkedin and other social networking sites won't get me a job.

Wrong. Did you read new Sodexo employee, Trish Freshwater's story the other day? She got her job because she was on Linkedin and Twitter. And so did new Sodexo recruiter, Marguerite. I "knew" MG as MGRecruiter and now I also know her as SodexoMG on Twitter. These are just two success stories. There are many, many more success stories in and out of Sodexo. Look for SodexoMG's guest blog post soon.

6. Social networking is all about you.

Wrong. Social networking is like having a conversation with someone who is standing right in front of you. You woudln't stand in front of a colleague and say nothing would you? If you are using these tools to connect with people within your industry then "talk" with them just as you would live at the local chapter of your professional association.

7. More is better.

Wrong. Someone said to me the other day they were busy building their Linkedin profile and hoping to reach 500 connectioins so they could start their job search. It's not about the number of connections you make it's about the quality of the connection. Having 50 of the right connections is more productive than having 600 miscellaneous connects. Right?

8. Facebook is selling my data to advertisers.

Wrong. Not true. I was going to try to explain this one in my own words but this recent blog post by Berin Szoka (@TechLiberation) on his blog, The Technology Liberation Front is better than any of my attempts for clarity.

9. Social Networking is a fad.

Wrong. You know I had to throw this one in. I can't tell you how many people have said this to me over the last 3 years. It's not a fad. Facebook reached 500 million members this week. It's not a fad.

10. My personal and professional lives will collide.

Perhaps. If you are worried about this then create two profiles on Facebook. You can do this by using your work email for your professional profile and your personal email for your personal profile. Or use Linkedin for professional connections and Facebook for your personal connections. As a side note... if you decide to use Facebook for just your personal connections then remember to turn your privacy settings on high so your profile is less likely to appear in a Google search and if it does, you aren't sharing information you did not intend to share.

And by the way, have you Googled yourself lately? If you haven't then why not? Take charge of your digital footprint!

Oh, and P.S. for the record I love the iPhone 4!

Social Media: How I networked my way to a new job

By guest blogger, Trish Freshwater, Sr. Communications Manager for Sodexo's Talent Acquisition Group

Ever wonder if social media could help you land your next job? The good news is that Sodexo’s Talent Acquisition team is actively using several online opportunities to find you. Even better news is that I am one of a small, but growing, list of candidates who were hired thanks to these social interactions.

Earlier this year, I spotted a position for a senior communications manager at Sodexo on the job board indeed.com. Knowing that communications jobs are often flooded with applicants, I knew I needed to do something different to make myself stand out from the crowd. I wanted to be noticed as a strong contender for the position and a savvy communications professional.

Fortunately, my previous job allowed me to experiment and learn the many ways in which a number of social mediums are used for personal, professional and business purposes. So, I decided to put these tools to the test.

My first step was to update my resume and my personal web site. These would serve as the foundation for all information about me. But, much more essential to networking, I needed to update my LinkedIn profile with relevant information and recommendations from former colleagues, and join the Sodexo Careers – Past, Present & Future networking group. Having done some quick searches, I found that key Sodexo people had profiles on LinkedIn – and I wanted them to be able to find my profile, too.

Once I had some names, I then began a number of people searches on Twitter. I wanted to find the official @SodexoUSA Twitter account and the @SodexoCareers account. I started following each of these, plus any individuals who listed a job title related to Talent Acquisition, the department where my job was housed. Perhaps the most influential person I began to follow was @Arie_Ball, vice president of Talent Acquisition, as she and Sherie Valderrama (@SValderrama), senior director for Talent Acquisition, were responsible for hiring for my position.

I remember my excitement the day that I learned Arie was following me back. I took it as a good sign for my progress in the hiring process – and indeed it was. Somewhere between my discreet, yet targeted, re-tweeting of @SodexoCareers posts and my regular communications-related tweeting, Arie saw something she liked. And, she forwarded my profile information to Senior Recruiter Neil Kilgallon (@nmk_1022).

Once Neil reached out to me, the ball started rolling from the initial phone screening to a series of interviews and a writing test. Finally, a month after Neil’s first direct message to me on Twitter, Sherie offered me the job.

Perhaps even more cool, during my second week on the job, @SodexoCareers saw a tweet by @ToryJohnson with Good Morning America. She was seeking examples of people who landed their job through Twitter, and became interested in my story. Read more here.

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Trish is the senior communications manager for Sodexo's Talent Acquisition Group. She brings more than 14 years of communications experience to her role, with interests in social media, traditional public relations and employee communications. Trish invites you to connect with her on Twitter and Linkedin.

The Do’s and Dont's of a Next Level Resume

By guest blogger, Derren Thompson, Manager, Diversity Recruiting for Sodexo. Originally posted on the Student Branding Blog on July 15, 2010.

A good resume is a self-promotion document that presents you in the best possible light, for one simple reason – to be extended an invitation to interview or compete for a job.
Your resume is not simply about your former jobs. It is a visual presentation about YOU, how you performed, and emphasizes the accomplishments that are most relevant to the work that you want to do next.

How do I get started?

You must know what position you are applying for, and understand the requirements for the position. In my last post, “Researching Companies, Yield Results”, we talked about researching companies. This will be key as you develop your resume. As you read the job description, see if this is a position for which you meet the qualifications. Then you will need to craft your resume for that position.

Start with your objective. If you are applying for a position as General Manager, your objective should state that you are seeking a position as a General Manager. As a Senior Recruiter with Sodexo, I have seen great resumes with great job descriptions, and then I have seen some that were not so good. Having an objective helps the recruiter to get an initial glance at your goal for the position for which you are applying.

Next, be able to state clearly what you did or do in your current position or prior positions. For example, if the position that you are applying for says, “The successful candidate will have knowledge of controlling food costs,” you must clearly state you currently control food costs and how you are successful at doing so.

Let’s discuss some definite Do’s for a great resume:

• Be sure to fill in gaps of unemployment (Full-time student, Travel and Study Program)
  
• Create a different Job Objective for each position that you apply/post for.


• Be sure to include internships, volunteer work, and any involvement in student or professional associations to highlight your skills


• If you have a strong GPA, include it!


• Always take a clean, unfolded copy of your resume with you to the interview

A few Dont‘s to consider:

• Do not exaggerate your qualifications to get the interview: State the facts and list verifiable information.


• Do not list salary requirements on your resume


• Do not write on your resume in “texting” language


• Use a professional email address that speaks well of you
  
  

Your resume is a visual presentation of you and your qualifications. Make it the best, as you may not get a second chance to make a first impression. Good luck!

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Derren is the Manager, Diversity Recruiting for Sodexo which is a leader in integrated food service and facilities management. He is responsible for managing the Sodexo Future Leaders Internship Program as well as executing diversity sourcing initiatives for both campus and targeted experienced hires. Derren invites you to connect with him on Twitter, Facebook and Linkedin.

Career Growth at Sodexo

Providing growth opportunities and promoting from within are essential elements of Sodexo's success. Because our employees do so much to support our clients, we do everything we can to support them with career growth opportunities. It's part of our company culture to ensure you flourish in your job at Sodexo.

But don't take my word for it. Listen to just two of our career growth stories below.

Mark - Special Events Coordinator





Vince - Director of Operations



So what do you think? Are you ready to join Sodexo and start your career? Search jobs at Sodexo.

What inspired you to apply for the job?

What inspired you to apply for the Recruitment Marketing Specialist position?
By guest blogger, Darla Mayse,Sourcing & Recruitment Marketing Specialist

The creator, and chief blogger of our Sodexo Careers blog, Kerry Noone, often states “I am not a recruiter. I’m just a marketing type…” Whether or not Kerry knows it, she is a “recruiter type.” She may not have the title of “Senior Recruiter”; however, the manner in which she has collaborated with department leaders to develope of our recruitment market strategy is similar to how we as recruiters partner with hiring managers to develop sourcing strategies to fill positions with top talent - research, collaborate, create and implement. Her efforts to increase the Sodexo Talent Acquisition team’s social media presence have definitely enhanced our ability as recruiters to connect and engage candidates in a different way. Engaging people and building relationships is the essence of being a great recruiter. My point is this: job titles do not define one’s total skill set nor do they always direct one’s career path. Just ask a number of Sodexo employees who began their career with Sodexo as a clinical dietitian and now lead teams having nothing to do with clinical nutrition. The transferrable skills collected over the years enabled them to become the leaders they are today.

In the Celebrating 10 years blog post, I talked about my tenure with Sodexo and that although I have been in recruitment for the majority of my employment here, I’ve grown professionally in so many ways through the various opportunities I have been afforded. As a Senior Recruiter, I have been responsible for developing relationships, designing sourcing strategies, forecasting for future hires, coordinating meetings, career fairs and conferences, conducting presentations, representing the company on panels at industry events, as well as representing Sodexo as a subject matter expert for articles relevant to recruitment and promoting the Sodexo Employment Brand. With all of these responsibilities comes a development opportunity. Needless to say, my leadership, communication, and presentation skills have grown tremendously.

Within in the past year, I’ve had the opportunity to participate on multiple recruitment marketing initiatives and other special projects. It wasn’t until the coordination of the “Your Future, So Sodexo” video shoot and working closely with department leadership along with the videographer to complete the final product that I wanted to turn my interest in this area into a permanent role. The project allowed me to utilize all of the skills and experiences gained throughout my career and develop new ones in the process. It was a totally new experience and I loved the challenge it provided for my creative thinking skills. When the Recruitment Marketing Specialist position became available, here was my opportunity to take all of those transferable skills I’ve gained over the years and utilize them to contribute in way that would be an asset to Sodexo as a whole. So, I applied.

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After more than 10 years of sourcing and recruiting top talent for Sodexo as a Sr. Recruiter, Darla Mayse most recently accepted the role of Sourcing and Recruitment Marketing Specialist. She looks forward to continuing to brand Sodexo as an employer of choice through exciting and innovative marketing initiatives. Connect with Darla via Twitter (@dmayse), Facebook, and LinkedIn.