Two months at new job!

It's already been two months! I feel like I'm getting into it and getting used to the daily business though there are still the occasional day where I feel like I'm struggling to keep my head above water. I guess that's how it goes when you throw yourself into a brand new business in a position of responsibility.

The first three weeks I was in a state of perpetual confusion. I had never worked in the hotel business before - no experience and no education. My whole life I've been in sales and customer service (and tourist information - that goes under customer service imo). But when I decided it was time to move on from customer service I first tried to apply for jobs in shops but without luck (interestingly enough seeing my experience in that kind of work) and instead I figured the next natural step from tourist information was hotels. So I started looking for those kinds of jobs. Mostly they were entry level jobs, but then there was this one; Front Office Supervisor, that I applied to for the heck of it. And I got it. I'm still not sure how I managed to pull that off, but I did, and I'm so happy that I did. Most days I love it. The job is flexible and no two days are the same and that makes the days pass by so incredibly quickly.

The first month was mainly educational. I got to learn the computer system for making reservations, checking in and checking out. I was also away on one course to learn the closing of the books (which we do every month) and internal controls (which the financial controllers at HQ perform once in a while). Another course was called Pre-step to leadership and was mainly about how to be a good boss and how to manage employees when they don't behave or when they come forward with complaints, or when the boss has to take action on something and how to best go about it. That one was very interesting in educational but since I had only worked for a bit over two weeks at the time it felt a bit too soon and practically non-applicable for me at that moment. Though it was good for me to do because when I get there I will know what to do. And then there was another course a couple weeks back where I learnt the scheduling software that the hotels use, so that I can manage the employees' schedules.

This past month has been hectic and mostly it's been going well. I remember when my first big group of 100 people came to the hotel and I was so nervous and anxious but everything turned out fine. Two weeks ago we had two large tourist groups arrive at the same time and while that was chaotic it also turned out fine.

I've experienced several days where the hotel is so fully booked that it's actually overbooked and we've had to use the spare rooms that are only for "emergencies" like a full house. My first angry guest brought me to tears because I was at that time still so new at the job that I hardly knew what to do, but since then I've gotten more comfortable and now I can deal with angry guests the way I used to deal with angry customers - without getting myself riled up.

Three weeks back we had the inauguration of our newly renovated rooms (that had been in use for something like 5-8 weeks) which was a lot of fun, and only last week we had an annual summer party thing for Circle (the Circle consists of hotels belonging to Stockholm municipality but which aren't actually in Stockholm City). That was also a lot of fun. There are a lot of events like these coming and going and that amkes the months interesting.

This last week it was time for the closing of the books again. It was the second time for me, and while I still felt confused and uncertain with how to go about it, I soon remembered everything I had been told the last time around. The goal is that I should be able to manage on my own and I feel a lot more confident doing it the next time now than I did for this time.

Every time I feel anxious or uncertain the bosses are there to pick me up. I've been told by the hotel manager that she thinks I was brave to jump into a brand new business the way I did. Both the front office manager and the hotel manager have told me how quickly the think I learn, and even the general manager (top boss) has told me she's impressed with me. And hearing that is really helpful and keeps me thinking that I can actually do this.