by Dr. Iain
Corness
It
is always interesting to interview young people on the “way up”. Many
with hopes, aspirations and wondering how they are going to accomplish
them all. This week’s local personality is one of those.
Dylan Paul Counsel has just joined the Pattaya Marriott
Resort and Spa as the assistant F&B manager (food and beverage for the
non-hospitality folk out there). On first meeting he was so personable and
friendly, I decided to look behind the hospitality “front” and see
just what kind of man the Marriott had sent to Pattaya.
Dylan is a young Australian, born in Melbourne, the
capital of Victoria. His parents were both teachers and Dylan spoke of
them with great fondness, even though he admits that he was taken aback
when they came home one day, announced they were taking early retirement
and moving to Western Australia. Usually it is the children who run away
from home, but in Dylan’s case it was the other way round, he laughingly
suggested.
He really enjoyed his schooldays. “I was around the
middle (of the class) because I was having so much fun,” said Dylan.
“I didn’t take it too seriously. I was involved in so many school
activities, leadership roles, sport and plays. I loved school.” After
school he enjoyed himself too, working as a dish-washer in a restaurant in
the Dandenong Ranges outside Melbourne, for some pocket money.
When he finished school he felt that he should do
something related to ‘business’, but that was just a ‘feeling’.
“You finish school with such a broad outlook,” said Dylan, explaining
the indecision that most of us had at that age.
He enrolled in a business course at University, but
left after three months, knowing that dry ‘economics’ were not for
him. However, he did know that he enjoyed the restaurant in the
Dandenongs, so he went to work there, rising from his teenage dish-washer
position to become the restaurant manager while still in his teens.
By now he knew that the hospitality industry was where
he wanted to be, so he returned to university to study hospitality
management for the next three years. I was impressed when Dylan explained
this saying, “I felt I had to have a qualification to better myself at
work. A formal qualification is helpful.”
I asked him directly if he was ambitious and he was
just as forthright in his acknowledgment that he was. He then went on to
say something that marks this young man as being much older than his
years. “Living with a purpose is exciting and motivating!” He
continued by saying, “The weeks go by so fast - I’m stuffed if I’m
going to waste my time!” showing that Australians still do have that
direct way of communicating, which I have always found refreshing. “I
want to look back, to say professionally that I’ve done well, and
enjoyed it on the way,” said the Marriott’s young philosopher.
I asked him if he had some role models who had given
him these (only too rare) concepts and he immediately spoke about his
father and his uncle (an entrepreneur in business). “My uncle gave me a
different way of looking at people, to understand their values and belief
systems. To look for that win-win situation for everybody. My father is a
‘details’ person and incredibly patient. I can’t ever remember him
hitting me. His ‘Dylan, it’s time for us to have a chat’ was much
more scary!”
Now with his formal qualifications, it was time for
Dylan to get some formal experience. “I joined the opening of a football
stadium with a ‘whizz-bang’ F&B area. For me, it was the
experience of the opening of a place. I learned about recruitment and
systems. It was probably the hardest I’ve ever worked, but I learned a
lot there. It was a lot of fun!” He also admitted that he also learned
about the application of a strong work ethic while he was there.
From there he moved to the Sydney Olympics looking
after the media village and the athletes dining. “Imagine a tent that
seats 5,000 people, serving food 24 hours a day,” said Dylan.
When the athletes left, so did he, moving back to
Melbourne, and moving up the hospitality ladder to become the restaurant
manager at the Crown Casino. “It was military-like training. It was all
about ‘quality’ and how to give the customers the ‘Wow!’
factor.”
After 18 months, the young man on the way up felt that
he needed to understand ‘sales’ a little better, so joined a
restaurant marketing company, where he says he learned how to talk to, and
listen to people, to be able to understand their expectations.
After this, he was ready for the world. “It was time
for me to do something serious.” He had kept in touch with a previous
superior who had been at the football stadium and at the Olympic village,
who was now with the Marriott group and based in Bangkok. This resulted in
the opportunity to work in either Singapore or Pattaya. He had been to
Singapore on a holiday, but had never experienced Thailand. That was
enough for him to choose the kingdom.
So now he is here with us in Pattaya, with a thirst for
knowledge which fits in with his expressed aims to experience different
countries and know their languages. After only four weeks here, he has
already begun to speak Thai, and looks forward to his weekly classes!
He finished the interview by saying, “While I am
here, I want to learn how to be a good foreigner.” How refreshing to
hear those words!
Dylan Counsel is a young man who is definitely on the way up. He has
the right attitude to life and not only a desire to succeed, but the
necessary application for it to happen. He will be an asset to the
hospitality industry, and for the next year or so, a very worthy
representative of Australia in Pattaya.
