Taking Risks — A must do for any JWU Student

A Junior Hotel & Lodging Management student shares his journey of risk taking while at JWU

Brian Goodman, Student Assistant - School of Hospitality 

In life there are plenty of tough decisions that you will have to face – for me, the biggest decision that I have made was to come to Johnson & Wales University – Providence.

However, just being a student at JWU isn’t enough – pretty soon, you will start to get comfortable, and while that might be great for the short term, in the long run, you will most likely regret getting too comfortable. So, what should you do?

Take risks.

As a freshman in The School of Hospitality, during my seventh week at the University, I decided to attend the Fall Career Fair. I had just polished up my incredibly small resume, and I was nervous, as I was about to encounter over 100+ recruiters from large corporations.

I remember the date like it was yesterday – it was October 24^th, 2013. I spent the entire four hours at the Career Fair like a kid in the candy store – I didn’t know what I was doing, but I sure as heck had a good time.

It was captivating.  Seeing companies that I have only could dreamed of working for in person, made the dreamer inside of me come alive. I was in awe.

I handed out my resume to almost every Hotel Company that was in attendance; however, I received rejection – for the most part.

One November afternoon, I received a call from a 212 area code – yes, that’s right – New York City. It happened to be Starwood Hotels & Resorts Worldwide, Inc. The recruiter asked me to complete a phone interview – my first ever phone interview, by the way.

I completed the interview over the phone a few days later for Starwood’s Externship Program. I was only in my ninth week at the University at the time. I got accepted for the Externship Program and spent my Freshman Spring Break at The Westin New York at Times Square as a Housekeeping Extern – in an 873 room four-star hotel in the heart of Times Square.

The Westin New York at Times Square 

My dream came alive, and I was incredibly lucky to be living my dream – working in a hotel; working in my major - Hotel & Lodging Management – during my freshman year.

From there, my Starwood journey grew, and I have been lucky to travel around the country working in Starwood Hotels – such as the St. Regis San Francisco, and the W Atlanta – Midtown. I have also returned back to my ‘home’: The Westin New York at Times Square twice – once as a Finance Summer Intern, and last summer as a Revenue Management Intern. I have grew, both personally and professionally as a result.

The Westin New York at Times Square Summer 2015 Interns at Starwood Corporate

This wouldn’t have happened without taking risks and being a student at JWU Providence.

Take risks, explore, and get out of your comfort zone. President Obama said, “Change will not come if we wait for some other person or some other time. We are the ones we've been waiting for. We are the change that we seek.”

If you’re a Hotel & Lodging Management student, you will learn about change in HOSP3005 – Leading Service Excellence in the Hospitality Industry.

So, if you’re thinking of taking a risk, do it: what’s the worst that can happen?