Milestones: Applying my learning & acquiring more knowledge & skills!

On the 19th of April, I enrolled myself as an On-the-Job Trainee at a casino hotel near where I live to put my newly learned skills into practice and for possible employment in any restaurant or establishment that would see my value.
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Here were my duties during my three-month stay (300 hours):

Kitchen Dept:
• Hands-on training on proper food preparation techniques, and kitchen operations.
• Wash, unwrap, peel, and cut fruits & vegetables.
• Preparation of ingredients for cooking, including chopping, portioning & food storage.
• Cooking & food assembly for customer orders.
• Operate stoves and microwave ovens.
• Wash and sanitizing of dishes, tools, knives & utensils.

Food & Beverage Restaurant/Casino Dept:
• Organizing files and collecting data for requisitions & stock monitoring compilations.
• Making sure that customer orders are delivered as quickly and efficiently as possible.
• Wait for customer orders & other food or service requests.

Housekeeping Department :
• Dusting, mopping floors, & changing of linens.
• Heavy or general cleaning, e.g. windows, furnishing & bathrooms.

What's my take on the knowledge I acquired:
Personally, I felt more accomplished. I also realized that I am happier doing this job and being in this industry. I also see myself getting involved in the food & beverage business when I retire from the call centres. I don't mind mopping floors, greeting or interacting with the guests, and making the beds.

By the time I went to seek opportunities at the big Hotels, and Food & Beverage establishments here in the Philippines, I was turned down because I didn't meet certain employer expectations, and many more experiences:

• I can't sing, even if my life depended on it (the Bakahan and Manukan job application experience). It was a very interesting experience for me, as it didn't occur to me that I would be required to have impeccable showmanship skills because the patrons they cater to are culturally diverse. They want quality and value. Age didn't matter, as long as I could reach a certain pitch and strung a melody.
• I'm overqualified. As self-deprecating as it may be, I applied to work as a housekeeper in a local hotel, where they pay provincial rates. My vision was to land a job where I could demonstrate the skills I learned from my OJT with the casino hotel. All they saw was the high-salaried call centre agent, the sophisticated woman who talks to Americans. They discredited my qualifications in the hospitality industry and denounced me as too professional for the job.
• I'm underqualified. As ironic as this was from my previous point, this time, Hotels & Restaurants denounced me to be lacking the requirement of the kind of employee they seek. They want someone who graduated with a related course (duh, I'm an HRM student and just obtained my certificate and qualification for commercial cooking, with OJT experience in the related field!), someone younger with at least a year of experience in hospitality or hotel jobs. My skills were out of the question, to the recruiter, I was too inexperienced and too old for the job.
• "Great minds discuss ideas; average minds discuss events; small minds discuss people." - Eleanor Roosevelt". If you've been reading my blog for a long time, you'd know how of a demon child I can be: I don't like babysitting anyone's feelings! In this case, when I was finally employed by a small restaurant in our small town, I met the unfortunate acquaintance of gossip and hate-mongers. They have a pack or go in packs. They like bullying people they perceive as weak. Their tally-wagging is just insufferable! It should come as no surprise that after only two weeks of self-torture, I left this employment because I was never really a proper cultural fit with my then-workmates. While I could pick apart the list of reasons why I most likely stick out like a sore thumb, my knowledge about things became a problem with some of the "oldies". As soon as this girl heard me speak in English, she immediately shut me down. She said that foreigners don't like being conversed with. I wasn't having a heart-to-heart with the customers for crying out loud; I was just replying to their inquiries. Basically, the guy was asking me if I was familiar with the golf course in Maragondon (Cavite) and I simply told them how to get there. And many other things that became an issue because they didn't know "how I could store all the things I know in my head." Kkloka! Read, talk to people, talk to foreigners, and watch programs other than telenovelas. The information is there, some of them free of charge!

My journey as an On-the-Job Trainee at a casino hotel has been a valuable experience, shaping my career aspirations and revealing my passion for the hospitality industry. However, despite the skills and knowledge gained, my transition to seeking employment in larger establishments has been met with challenges. From facing unrealistic expectations in terms of showmanship skills to being deemed overqualified or underqualified, and encountering workplace bullying due to cultural differences, each setback has been a lesson in resilience and self-discovery.

Through these experiences, I've come to understand that success in the hospitality industry is not solely about technical skills but also about adaptability, cultural understanding, and effective communication. While the road may be fraught with obstacles and setbacks, I remain determined to pursue my passions, leveraging my skills and knowledge to find the right fit in an environment where I can thrive and contribute positively.