Sometimes you just get the feeling that as much as you love your job, you’d like to do something more. Maybe you’d like to be in charge for a while, learn high-end skills, maybe even run the entire company? Yes, you may ‘only’ be a leisure assistant, or a junior spa therapist right now, but your potential is screaming at you to move on up.
Then you come up against a brick wall – your company doesn’t have the space for you to grow, it doesn’t offer training opportunities, it doesn’t nurture its staff, and the MD has no plans to move aside any time soon. As good as you may be at your job, it looks like you’re going to be in it for the foreseeable future.
For many people, this isn’t a bad thing at all; job security and stability is a huge plus point, particularly those who need the steady income, but for those who want to grow in skills and earning power, being part of a company that just doesn’t have those opportunities is frustrating, and breeds resentment. It’s time to start looking for a job with better prospects.
A new leisure job for better prospects
Companies that have limited opportunity for development can be stifling environments to those who want to flourish. This doesn’t mean that the company is badly managed at all. In fact, it might be the most stable business around, but for those who value learning and progression over stability, it can start to feel like a prison, and that’s no way to make the most of people’s skills.
But where to go? If you’re looking to progress in your career, then finding a company with room to develop is a good start. You may have to make a sideways move, or even a backwards one to get in to the company, but look at the potential. Starting in a company in a job which isn’t particularly glamourous or taxing can open up huge opportunity. It’s not unknown for someone who starts as a lifeguard to end up as company director, for example. It has been done, but it won’t have been done with a company who isn’t open to bringing on its employees and who doesn’t provide the opportunity to grow and develop.
How to provide better prospects
If your staff are leaving you, and it seems to be the best ones first, then you may have a problem with employee development and engagement – the strongest rats are the ones who can jump from the sinking ship first, and they will!
Providing opportunity for growth and promotion to your best employees isn’t always easy – the jobs have to be there within your company for people to have the chance to do them. However, if the higher-level management jobs do exist then you could, for example, encourage promotion from within the team rather than bring in an external candidate to fill the position. Yes, your existing staff may not have the exact skills you need to be able to fulfil the role, but could you have provided training? This will show your employees that the prospects are there, should they be in a position to consider them.
Think about succession activity in advance of any vacancies. If you know your senior supervisor is going to retire in a few years, then find someone younger who can be trained in the interim as a potential successor, for example. It could be better to keep skilled employees with you who already know the company culture than bring in outsiders who could take some settling in. Not always, but worth considering.
You could provide your own in-house training to employees, or arrange for an external course at a local college or training centre, or try a correspondence course. Different types of training have advantages and disadvantages and you should choose the one which works best for your company, and its employees. It might be that you have to offer different options to employees with differing circumstances, or use a mix of in-house and external. Either way, if your employee takes it upon themselves to arrange their own training and development, they will not have so much as a strong sense of loyalty to you and your company. Ignore training and development at your peril!
Are you looking for better prospects?
If your job feels like it’s going nowhere, and your employers are not listening to your concerns about lack of development opportunities, then it could be time to find someone who will. Give us a call and tell us what you’re looking for in the leisure industry – we may just have the company you’re looking for. 01895 450640