As the retail and hospitality sectors are expanding, so are the etiquette and grooming schools. Especially with foreign direct investment in multi-brand retail on the cards, finishing schools are gearing up to meet the growing industry demand for quality manpower.
“The inability of 1,000 applications to fill 100 positions clearly shows the quality manpower crunch in the hospitality sector,” said Bhavana Kumari, managing director of Sri Sanskar School of Etiquette and Career Development, an accredited institute in Noida, next to Delhi.
According to estimates, the hotel industry in India suffers from a 30 per cent supply deficit, as far as demand for quality manpower is concerned. A report of accounting and consulting firm Deloitte shows 400 projects are under various stages of development. As for grooming and finishing schools, it is difficult to get a fix on the number, as a large number of these are not registered.
Pria Warrick, president and executive director, Pria Warrick Finishing school, said the deficit scenario persisted because majority of the quality manpower preferred working with the shipping industry and earning in dollars rather to working on long and erratic shifts on a much lower salary at the entry level in the hospitality and retail sectors. “The other section prefers to work with business process outsourcing companies as executives,” she said.
While most finishing schools have shut shops in Europe, the growing demand in the retail and hospitality sectors here would ensure that the trend for these schools stays for long. The etiquette school cult in India gained momentum only after 2005. On an average, these courses here come at one-tenth of the price in Europe (€45,000 for a nine-month course).
Finishing schools are doing quite well in China, with majority willing to learn English to keep up with the global demand. “To deal with the quality manpower requirements, international retail and hospitality brands in India would possibly outsource people from neighboring countries,” Warrick pointed out.
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Kumari has a different view: “With the opening of retail, kirana store owners would fill the demand-supply gap, and we are here to provide the skills. Working in the organised sector would also give them a life of dignity.”
A trend that started with the opening of the economy is no more just about aviation academies, rather grooming schools are catering to diverse industries. These schools are like a one-stop-shop - not only providing job-oriented skills, but also confidence, motivation, social business etiquette, and the list goes on.
Today, hospitality is not restricted to five-star hotels only. The emerging mall culture, and the expanding aviation and tourism industries are also creating demand space. India ranks 41 in the world in terms of tourism arrivals, with potentials to be in the top-20, According to a report by HVS India. It hosts five million tourists annually. The number is slated to go up to 18 million by 2016.
According to Arvind Singhal, chairman of retail consultancy Technopack Advisors, vocational schools are required much more than finishing schools to meet the quality manpower shortfall in the retail and hospitality industries. “In developed countries, there are vocational institutes, which are industry specific and have qualified trainers, unlike in India,” said Singhal. But a career counselor said finishing schools definitely had a role to play in bridging the manpower gap in retail and hospitality. But one should watch out for the fly-by-night operators, she cautioned.