My Career Path Advice

Most of my career experience has been in the restaurant industry. Right out of high school I went to work at local favorite, Red Robin. I always was told that the best job to have that is most accommodating to a school schedule is one in the restaurant. So that’s what I did. It was an easy job to stare. I was tasked with being a host to start, just sitting guests and answering easy questions. After a while I really began to enjoy the environment that I was in. I enjoyed the people and I wanted to do more. Lesson number one: show interest, especially to the management. After I showed interest to the management, they sought me out to become a trainer. Lesson two: This was key because it opened me up to the fast track to promotions. After about two to three months of being a host trainer I was promoted to a server. Server was where it was at. I was able to make tips, I was able to have more freedom around the restaurant meaning I wasn’t confined to a podium, and I developed regular guests, who remember you when they come back and during the holidays. I was doing so well that on my 21st birthday, they promoted me to a bartender. Again, this was key, because of the perks of making better money. At this time, I was also a MID, or Manager in Development. Doing this I was tasked in manager functions, such as running a cost center, making decisions that had an impact on the way the restaurant ran, and I oversaw the host department. These were all important items, because it helped get me into a salary position. Lesson three: take on things that will allow you to learn different skills. At this point I was running a cost center, or supplies. This meant that I was inventorying, ordering, and watching a budget that had significant impact on other manager bonuses. When you’re dealing with profit and loss and other people’s money on top of that, it becomes significant. Lesson four: if it deals with the business’ profit and loss, it goes on your resume. And if you do a good job with it, it generally gets you more opportunities to show off your skills, which usually leads to you getting a promotion. Lesson five: when you get larger responsibilities, seize the opportunity. I was in the spotlight for keeping my numbers inline. I was in charge of running the bar, which not only meant inventorying, ordering, and watching a budget, but also managing people and their schedules. Lesson six: when you manage people, it really shows that you have that something special that involves managing people dynamics, personalities, and can effectively coach people’s behaviors. When you do a good job at it, like I was doing, that’s when they look at you to possibly run a restaurant. After all the skills that I acquired, I went from little peon host to big dog General Manager in a matter of 6 years. This may not sound quick, but trust me, it is. This launched me into a 11-year career with Red Robin, one in which I worked at several locations, was a part of numerous new restaurant openings, was able to travel the country, and called three restaurants home. Lesson seven: be willing to be flexible. I wasn’t so open-minded early in my career. I wanted to stay at my home store and that was it. I passed up many opportunities for growth that may have occurred, but I was stubborn to change. It wasn’t until I filled in at another location that opened my eyes that there are other opportunities outside the four walls of my home store. And, that there were many different ways of doing things that were being utilized at other locations. Once I got out of my own way, I really found that my career took off. I became a leader to the peers in my region and I became one of people that they called to come in and fix restaurants. I had great mentors and I wouldn’t have been exposed to the knowledge I had if I wasn’t open to change. With experiences that I had, transferred to my resume, you can imagine that there were many headhunters, hired recruiters, knocking on my door. I left Red Robin to Buffalo Wild Wings. The sales growth that I saw with BWW was crazy. I thought in my mind that was a place that I wanted to work. They were/are a Fortune 500 company, and that was something else that attracted me to them. I thought, “they must be doing something really right.” Lesson eight: do your research. Soon after I started with BWW, I learned that not every restaurant is for everybody. I was soon burned out and learned that it wasn’t the life for me. They’re expectations for what they wanted a manager to work, no longer fit my lifestyle. The closing shift for a manager was starting at 5:00 p.m. then the restaurant closes at 2:00 a.m. and then you had to finish up with closing paperwork, check out the closing team members to make sure that everything is closed down and cleaned properly, and when all that was done, I’d hope to get out by 3:00 a.m. and home by 4:00 a.m. This was not the life for me. Sure, I was making good money, but at what cost? I was killing myself and had no life because my sleep schedule was so screwed up. After two years, that was enough. That is when I decided to go back to school, and the rest is what they call history.