Over the past few years of working in the industry, one of the greatest pleasures was being able to have an instant connection with anyone who has studied in Les Roches – be it in Bluche, Marbella or Jin Jiang campuses.
The joy of working at the Four Seasons Kuala Lumpur this year was the opportunity to be able to work with Les Roches graduates across different departments. The best part was that we knew each other during our time in Les Roches in 2014, so the fact that we were now all in the same property was like a big reunion party. The first to join was Jane in the PR & Marketing department, then myself in Front Office, followed by Ken in Finance and Giovanni in Food & Beverage, and also Sim Wei who joined the Residences Team. While neither of us knew Vinod, the hotel manager, during his time at Les Roches, he served as an inspiration of how far our careers can reach over time.
The benefit of working with friends is that since we cared for each other, we all had a vested interest in making each other’s lives easier. Despite the challenges of opening a hotel, we constantly communicated, and because of our friendship, it allowed us to be more honest, and it helped to reduce misunderstanding.
Working together also allowed us to know each other better and challenged us to be more rounded hoteliers, given that we had to problem solve on the same issues and see from the perspective of a department other than ours. For example, as someone who specialises in Front Office, I now have a better understanding from Ken, who is the Income Auditor, on why it is important to ensure that any financial rebates are mapped to the correct transaction codes. Furthermore, despite the 5-year age gap, I also learnt that I have been quite out of touch with the latest photography trends as Jane taught me how to use the Boomerang feature on Instagram!
[quote]The benefit of working with friends is that since we cared for each other, we all had a vested interest in making each other’s lives easier. [/quote]
There are quite a few Les Roches alumni within Kuala Lumpur, and through the power of Facebook and our own personal network, we had the chance to meet up fairly regularly with other alumni. It was great to have a network inside and outside of work, as we shared our work experience and also reminisced about our time together across different generations in Bluche.
Despite only being in Les Roches for one year, I feel that my life has been enriched because of the people that I have met: with the world being ‘small’, it’s been a very positive experience to be meeting and working with Les Rochians across different generations, different campuses and different properties!
Discover more alumni stories:
http://www.lesroches.edu/alumni/creating-restaurant-empire-mexico/
http://www.lesroches.edu/alumni/alumni-tackle-poor-customer-service/
http://www.lesroches.edu/alumni/alumni-success-story-head-operations-wework/
