Making a move to operations management

Question

I am 29 years old and have worked as a trainee manager and as a night auditor in a Hilton hotel. At the Hilton I gained competency certificates in other departments as well as night audit. These were lounge/bar, conference and reception and also as a waiter and chef. I then worked for Moat House as a reception manager and am currently with Ramada where I am in accounts but I will be going to the front desk shortly.

I am looking to move into a wider field away from the front office and am obviously looking at operations management. Do I need to do F&B first or is my CV good enough to work in a small hotel now?

What the expert says

Jane Riches, national programmes manager, Springboard UK

After looking at your CV, I believe that you have a wide knowledge of how a hotel runs. You have good experience of the front of house as well as the F&B departments. I think that you are probably ready for an operations manager role in a smaller establishment. Remember, though, that each hotel is run differently. You will probably need to get a bit of training in the financial side of F&B, but as long as you can work alongside a good general manager this would not be a problem.