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 24th, 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?
