'You lost me at 30'
Service focussed positions have a shelf life for most of us. Sure there are the die hards - the lifers - but can you make 'post-kids life' work while in service AND have a balanced & healthy life?
‘You lost me at 30’, it’s what many of us would say to our previous hospitality employer as we look back. The service focussed positions have a shelf life for most of us. Sure there are the long timers - the die hards - the lifers. But maybe they’re married to the industry, didn’t want kids anyway or as a minimum have had to work for themselves to achieve the balance. But it shouldn’t have to be the way for everyone. Can the average Joe make a post-kids life work, employed in a service focused role and it remain balanced and healthy? That really is the rarest occurrence, and I haven’t seen it yet.
Maybe that’s fine? Maybe the employers who expect 50 hours each week from their teams, incl. weekends and evenings each week are ok with that? No parents or anyone over 35 required? It’s easier that way? Maybe that’s why they say they want ‘young and dynamic’ people to apply for their jobs because by dynamic they mean able to come in at the drop of a hat, manage the workload of two people and barely break a sweat.
I think if we all asked ourselves honestly - we all want a team built on diversity, across all ages, bringing a richness of life experience and the ability to relate to all of our guests. As a young manager I never prioritised the cleaning of highchairs or the baby changing station because ‘who cares?’. I got sacked from my first restaurant job for poisoning someone who had an allergy because I didn’t get the importance of it and didn’t know anyone with one. I do now, my kids.
If you are one of the owners who says that it’s fine to have quite young management teams because they are more dynamic, are you also the same ones who say you need someone more experienced at that level, because the team are very green and are quite hard work to train? What a big job to ask someone young to train, lead, coach, develop, manage, appraise, reward, discipline and progress a team of inexperienced people their own age. It’s no wonder more 20 somethings are coming to us looking for anything away from the stresses of service.
We posted an ad this week for a part time manager job, it was in an ordinarily unpopular part of town (for our network) and was quite a standard management role, other than the fact the hours were flexible, between 20-35. It was our most popular job in months, with over 60 applications. Maybe there’s something in that..