23 September 2008

Stability is the new sexy

By Yeoh Siew Hoon

Okay, so the world is crumbling around us. But letÃ¢â¬â¢s look on the bright side.

Young kids now will no longer automatically cite banking as their first career choice. Why, they may now seriously consider hospitality and travel.

I remember a friend's daughter at 19, seven years ago. All she wanted to be was an investment banker. I asked her why.

Ã¢â¬ÅâœMoney,Ã¢â¬~ she said. At that time, bankers were riding high on the crest of the financial big wave and being paid fat bonuses.

Last year, Lehman Brothers paid out US$5.7 billion in bonuses.

Its CEO Dick Fuld received US$22 million and staff were paid an average of US$219,000 each. Total compensation at Lehman in 2007 was US$9.5 billion, up from US$8.5 billion in 2006. Sixty percent of it was paid in bonuses.

No wonder kids were getting excited about that career choice.

Who wants to toil away in kitchens, wait on tables, work weekends and public holidays and look after difficult customers when you can earn real money for selling paper money?

Talking to headhunters as recently as last week, their constant lament was few young, bright kids wanted to enter the hospitality or travel business.

And even those in the travel business, if you talk to them confidentially, will say the last thing they want is for their sons, daughters, nieces and nephews to join the industry because of the long hours and low wages.

Well, now, job security and stability has become the new black. WhatÃ¢â¬â¢s the point of earning big bucks if you can just crash and burn overnight?

In todayÃ¢â¬â¢s world of instant everything, even bankruptcies are instant Ã¢â¬' in a few mouse clicks and a few whispers, billions are wiped out overnight.

Well, maybe now, sustainability is the new sexy.

The travel and hospitality industry should seize this opportunity to sell themselves to the young. Forget about selling glamour. Glamour is fickle. It comes and goes as fast as Sarah Lewis Parker changes her shoes.

Sell sustainability. Sell stability. Sell global-ness. Sell making people happy. Sell career progression. Sell honest wages for an honest dayÃ¢â¬â¢s work.

My friendÃ¢â¬â¢s daughter, by the way, who has a finance and banking degree, is now working in a hotel. She finds the work hard but hey, at least, sheÃ¢â¬â¢s in an industry that is growing and needs good staff.

Catch up with Yeow Siew Hoon every week at the Transit Cafe - www.thetransitcafe.com