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| Lending a helping hand |
New Delhi, May 9: International hotels are eyeing skilled workforce from India.
Al Jumeirah, a five-star deluxe hotel in Dubai, has recruited 26 students from the Institute of Hotel Management (IHM), Delhi.
“For the first time, an international chain of hotels has come for campus recruitment to India. Nearly 40 luxury hotels are scheduled to come up in Dubai in the next three to five years. Hopefully, most of them will look forward to Indian workforce in hospitality,” said IHM-Delhi principal Alok Shivpuri.
Hotels in Dubai have to pay Indian workforce less than their local counterparts, he said. However, for the Indian students who are cherry-picked, “it is an opportunity of a lifetime”. The salaries paid in Dubai are almost double of what they would get in India,” added Shivpuri.
While graduates are being paid in the range of Rs 20,000-Rs 30,000 per month, pay-packages for chefs in particular may top Rs 40,000. However, graduates recruited by top Indian hospitality chains pay their trainees between Rs 6,000 and Rs 9,000 per month, said industry sources.
Dubai will soon become a hub for travellers, said a spokesperson of the Federation of Hotels and Restaurants Association of India (FHRAI). “It is the future destination. For all you know, Indians who are going to the Gulf for jobs may only be treating it as a gateway to Europe and the US.”
An official from Oberoi Centre for Learning and Development (an in-house training institute which is not open to recruitment either from domestic or overseas market) said, “Indian hotel management institutes provide the right foundation in hospitality both in terms of skills and attitude. International chains from West Asia have also picked up people from leading hotels in India. Also, there are some American and European cruise-liners who are recruiting Indian manpower.”
Khandala-based IMI-Kohinoor principal Rod Bunting said, “There is a demand for both trained professionals and fresh hotel management graduates from Europe, Australia and West Asia. Some Israeli hotel chains have also expressed interest.”
