Resume, references, referrals and records of employment DO NOT tell well who you are and what can you do.
So what do you get by having a record of your work?
Proving yourself and who you say you are is as old as time. Humans have been trying to figure out how to prove reputation and their skills since forever. In some places, an education with a formal school gave them that right to claim more money for proven skills or knowledge. In some places there were trade guilds, where you could learn the skills necessary for a job and the guild would certify and vouch for your knowledge.
In modern days pilots have their logbook and they vouch for each other. Programmers have Github and other places where they can show their skills and contributions to the art. Chefs have red seal and other certifications that at the least prove they know the basics, although there is no accounting for taste.
But hospitality is a funny beast in that people are assumed to develop skills without a way to really prove them beyond a resume. And we all know that a resume can be embellished, ‘enhanced’ or outright full of lies and it would take time to figure out. Not a good outlook for someone looking for a reliable and trustworthy staff.
Resume
Can only show where you worked, according to your own story. Hard and time consuming to prove all claims are true (place of work, how long, what position, quality of work there?).
References
These can be very biased, and again, hard to prove. People change phone numbers, emails go out of service, enterprises close. There are many factors that could leave you on a lurch and out of a reference. Not very reliable.
Referrals
Similar to above, biased and been done since forever, a little better than a resume, but again, hard to prove until rubber meets the road and then the person giving a referral that turns out to be not great would lose face. A dicey proposition that can work, but again, hard to prove. Still better than nothing, and there is a cost of reputation to be risked with every referral you make or ask for.
Record of employment
Issued by governments, it can only tell a small part of the story. It can only tell where you worked, not the quality of your work. These records may not be recognized by other governments at all, so if you ever wanted to change your country, your record of employment there won’t be worth much.
How do you prove that what you say is true?
Right now, you really can’t.
So what can a record do for you? A record of your talent, directly from the customers that you deal with has major advantages over a traditional resume or record of employment.
A record that YOU OWN and CONTROL gives you a whole different set of possibilities and opportunities limited only by your efforts, not your boss, where you work or your background. A record like this can help you build YOUR own BRAND and in a way, your own COMPANY. You wanna be the Apple of customer service? sure you can. Make more money and get better jobs? It will be possible. It will take time and effort, but by being able to prove without much doubt you have done the work and learned the skills, you can have outcomes that will only benefit you:
Better wages
Better shifts
Better opportunities
Better recognition and more RESPECT.
Would you take a chance getting into an Uber with a 1 star rating? No you wouldn’t. Same for an airbnb. Now imagine someone is trying to hire staff for their dream restaurant or hotel. Would you take a chance on a random person or would you wanna hire a superstar that will make you money and wants to be there? You win, they win, and customers would be happier for it.
And as an employer, would you risk your time, effort and sanity taking a chance hiring random people based on a hunch or a resume that could be well all made up? NO THANK YOU. But we still do it !
So I’d like to invite YOU to JOIN US and make a change, the only way we can really come ahead and change how our jobs are managed is if we can prove that we can do the job well.
YOU can make a change in how hospitality works, beyond politics at work, racism, elitism, ableism or many other -isms that put people down who may be talented but never have the opportunity to prove themselves.
When a hundred people in your city have a record interesting things will happen and talent will be able to earn more and do more with their lives. and the beauty is that it takes a minimal contribution from anyone at any given time. Won’t cost you money, won’t require you to show up anywhere or signup for any seminar. Think of it as a degree that you are building as you work, and that one day will pay out much more than not having this record. In a year you could become the rockstar that people will pay top dollar to hire.
I hope this helps you ultimately to reach the stars.
Yours,
Adrian Marquez
Sommelier, Anthropologist, Founder
Agaru.me