Do YOU believe in YOU?

My heart is full of pride as I saw a post from Sheraton Hotel. 

Hardik Mhatre awarded with the “Heart of the House” Award at Sheraton Hotel!

I still remember the first time I met Hardik (Adi for short), young, talented and personable professional. Adi had education in hospitality from some of the most amazing schools in the world and had worked for 5 star hotels, some of which I had personally stayed and worked with in Dubai and India. I immediately recognized his skill set, as those were not easy hotels to get into (after all, I did some of their recruitment). 

I decided that I will help him get a job in the best hotel in Toronto!!

However, it was not that easy. It was the start of a new year, everyone was year-end / new-year mode, and I had a little pressure on placing him at a fast food place to gain that “Canadian" Experience!!

It took me back to my time as a new immigrant, where I was on my way to buy steel-toe boots to work in a factory, when luck changed for me and I got my first job offer at the YMCA. I was not going to allow that to happen to Adi!!

So, we made a plan!! Adi and I were going to work together, extremely hard, to get him into his dream hotel in 4 weeks! He would research on the hotels and their management, and we would together make some “Power-Prospecting” calls.

He did and I did and we were able to get him employed with Starwood Hotels! His dream Hotel! Adi worked hard, grew within the hotel and moved within the hotel, and today, he is the Heart of his Hotel!! I doubt that it was luck. I believe it was his determination, perseverance and hardwork, that got him to where he saw himself! 

Adi and I are still friends, almost a decade since he started working in Toronto. He is a busy guy but always finds ways to give back to the community. He is always there to help others, in any way he can and I know that I can always reach out to him, if I need any help!

However, there are many times that I wonder, what if I would have taken the easy route and placed him in a survival job, what would his story be?? I know that the type of person he is, he would have grown in the job, no matter the organization, but would it have been fair to him, a talented, educated, hardworking and experienced, newcomer to Canada??

Job seekers, please remember, you NEED to BELIEVE in YOURSELF first! Taking an easy route is pretty easy, but is that really why YOU studied so hard, or travelled to a new country?

Let’s take a page from Adi’s career, I know he has numerous anecdotes to share about our cold calls together, but the minute, you give up or lose hope, that’s the minute, your luck fails you! Remember, the harder you work, the luckier you get! So….let’s get lucky eh?!

Happy Canada Day everyone!

Destination CEO: YOU are the CEO of YOUR Destiny!

Meena Dowlwani is an award winning Careers Educator, Job Developer, Writer, Motivational Speaker and CEO. Her unique method on Power Prospecting, Employer Engagement and Destination CEO has assisted 1000’s of professionals with their career aspirations. 

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