 |
|
 |
 |
     
|
 |
By Allan Hoffman
[ More Job Q&As ]
Elena Sarango arrived in Houston from Lima, Peru, in the early Nineties on a scholarship to the University of Houston's graduate school of hotel and restaurant management. She graduated in 1994, but even before graduation, she had started working in the hotel industry. Sarango, 29, worked at a Marriott in Houston, then at the city's Ritz-Carlton Hotel, holding positions ranging from front desk agent to reservations manager. She is now training manager at Houston's St. Regis, part of Starwood Hotel & Resorts.
Monster.com: How did you end up in the United States?
Elena Sarango: I got my business degree at the University of Lima, looked for a job for six months with no success, and then decided to apply for a scholarship to universities in the U.S. I thought a master's degree or a graduate degree would help me in going back to my country to find a job. I applied for a scholarship at the University of Houston's hotel and restaurant management school, and I got it. That's how I ended up here in Houston.
Mc: Did the graduate program lead to a job here?
ES: When you're in a graduate program you need to work and do your internship somewhere, so while I was going to graduate school I got a job with a Marriott hotel here in Houston. I started as a waitress in the restaurant, which I hated, and they transferred me to the front desk. I was a front desk agent for about a year and a half. Later, I got a job at the Ritz-Carlton hotel. I started as a front desk agent on the overnight shift.
Mc: Was it difficult working the overnight shift?
ES: That was very difficult, but I went through it for eight months. It helped me, actually. Since school was in the evenings, I could sleep in the mornings, instead of going straight from work to school. But I slept only like five hours every day. It helped me as far as gaining experience, improving my English and becoming more extroverted. I was very shy when I got to this country, and being a front desk agent on overnight and the manager on duty, as well, I had to solve a lot of problems. I also had to go through a lot of weird situations.
Mc: Weird situations? Like what?
ES: The Ritz-Carlton is a five-star hotel, and we had very high-caliber guests, including rock stars and actors and actresses. I saw a lot of celebrities and had to respond to any needs they had immediately, especially after they came from concerts or other functions. They would come in late and they would ask for anything you could imagine, like a massage therapist at three in the morning. Or a certain kind of food -- if we didn't have the ingredients, we would go to a 24-hour store.
Mc: What were some of the cultural challenges, especially at the start, when you were both working and going to school?
ES: At the beginning it was very difficult. I don't know if it was shyness or intimidation, but I was afraid of speaking English, even though I learned English [when] I was little, as I went to a bilingual school. But I think it was the fact that I wanted to succeed. I had left everything in Peru, and being a woman and Hispanic, I wanted to prove to my family and myself that I could succeed with the decision that I had made. So whatever it took, I would go through it. It wasn't that painful or anything like that, because I knew it was the right thing to do, and I was enjoying my job and I was enjoying going to school.
Mc: What were some of the challenges?
ES: English. Though I had learned it [from the time] I was five years old, I had never really practiced it until I came here. In my first class, the professor, for the first question that he asked -- in my very first class -- he came straight to me. I didn't say anything, and tears started coming down. I was so scared. Then I talked to him, and he became kind of like my mentor. I still keep in touch with him. After class, he talked to me, and he helped me understand that if I would not venture to say anything, then I would not succeed and learn English. It's definitely important to have a mentor -- that helps a lot.
Mc: What about the cultural differences between the U.S. and Peru?
ES: Another challenge was not blending with the American culture. Latin culture is very different in so many ways, like the food and the way people party here. In Latin America we're very touchy-feely, and we kiss each other on the cheek; here, just the fact of shaking hands felt very cold me. Relationship-wise it was very difficult to blend -- and it still is.
Mc: Do you have any advice for someone coming over the U.S. for the first time?
ES: I see a lot of people trying to get to America, trying to find a job before they get here, which is great. But I know, from talking to people, that they are not aware that there are many scholarships available from colleges in North America, especially for people from countries such as mine. One of the reasons why I got the scholarship was that a certain percentage [of students] were selected for certain countries. A lot of people are not aware that it's not that difficult to get a scholarship, and that that's one way of getting here. Just come prepared to go through a lot of things, the culture shock and the English barrier. But if you have the energy and the desire to accomplish your goals, you can make it.
Mc: Anything else?
ES: Just being yourself, not trying to become an American or a typical worker here. Being myself has allowed me to move up the ladder. I'm definitely not a typical conservative South American, but I have my culture and my roots very deep in me, and I've been very proud of who I am and where I come from. I always keep the values I was taught since I was little -- both in my personal life and my professional life. If you are proud of your heritage and who you are and what you want to accomplish, you should be that person and remain that person forever. You need to adapt, yes, but not change your personality.