"I'll have what she's having..."
When I was completing my Master’s of Industrial Relations Degree, our program facilitators organised a keynote speaker from our alumni group, to speak to us new grads about career options after the degree.
Obviously, being a nerd for all things career, I was there. The speaker was the Vice President of Global Learning and Development for Four Seasons Hotels and Resorts. Shout out to Natalie Gluic.
Not only was I impressed by how engaging and relatable she was, but I was completely in love with the idea of a global hotel chain with ample opportunities for career centred travel and growth, while staying in super cool hotels. I remember thinking to myself, “Yes, I’ll have one of those please”.
I had worked in hotels before, and in hotel training programs, and restaurants, and generally felt at home in the service industry. I’m a people person. I have often felt that a hospitality career, based around a loose 9-5, would be BLISS.
Turns out the universe takes your requests rather seriously. In my time since completing my degree, I made many choices, mostly aligned with my own career/life values (they aren’t really different after all.) The result is that today I work within a global hotel chain, in a role perfectly suited to my strengths, skills and values. The best bit? I’m learning all the time. Learning is the lifeblood of engaged employment.
Why tell you all about me and how my world of work has turned out so far?
I wrote a LinkedIn article recently about focusing less on what you want to DO at work, and more on how you want to FEEL. Values aligned work completed with skill and strength is a reliable formula for not only satisfying work, but work that continues to challenge and develop you, allowing you to adapt with a changing world of work.
Attitude and intention matter. There’s more than one way to reach a target. There are so many ways (all requiring hard work) to crack into the corporate side of hospitality, but only my way, fuelled by my intention for the work, could have created the sustainable, satisfying, and developmental employment reality I enjoy now.
That VP Global Learning and Development who spoke and sparked in me my intention, had her own drivers taking her into her field. And it is satisfying for her fro completely different reasons. Who you are and how you can show up at work are important variables in achieving a career for years you love, equal to your job title or geographic location.
So it pays to know yourself and WHY you want the things you think you want. Hearing someone else’s experience is a great way to get insight and change your perception. It’s by knowing the options, the experiences you desire, that you can place an order with the universe. Be assured it will arrive for you, because you know how to achieve it. I made my order that day, to have what she was having (Shameless When Harry Met Sally reference). I didn’t know how or when the order would be delivered, but I kept making my value aligned choices until it did. And it did. Time to place the next one.
Book a Career Coaching session with me to learn more about the role your intentions have in your career!