How do you know you have what it takes for career opportunities knocking on your door? Or when was the last time you checked on competency levels expected in a career choice you have been considering for yourself or another or just looking, out of curiosity?
Competencies are the building blocks for employee selection and development, usually driven by industry.
If you are in the active age of looking for job openings particularly interested in this series of careers in conducting tours or similar areas, you may be carrying out some form of desk top research, considering that the internet allows us access to information with the touch of a button. What has been your frustrating moments with that exercise? Not framing your search words appropriately and/or not finding adequate Ghana- specific information. Is there a formally approved, functional competency model for the Hospitality, Tourism and Events industry in Ghana?
I’ve come across a few works from academia, among them, Matching the Competencies of Hospitality Graduates with the Expectations from the Hospitality Industry in Ghana: A Case Study by Vida Commey (Mrs) Dr. and Hospitality management competency requirements of the hospitality industry in Ghana by Ishmeal Mensah, Prof., both of the University of Cape Coast, but not quite what I was looking for. Perhaps the closest is the National TVET Qualifications Framework (NTVETQF) administered by the Commission for Technical and Vocational Education and Training (CTVET), aiming to improve and increase the different pathways for TVET graduates.
I’ve come across an impressive Hospitality, Tourism, and Events Competency Model-developed by the Employment and Training Administration (ETA), working with the National Travel and Tourism Office of the Department of Commerce and with technical and subject matter experts from education, business, and industry to develop a comprehensive competency model for the Hospitality, Tourism, and Events industry, of the US.
The model identifies the knowledge, skills, and abilities that provide a foundation for industry workers, as well as competencies specific to key sectors.
As I conclude my series on Conducting Tours: A Career to Explore, I’m elated to be wrapping it up with Mr. Cosmos Ata Sracooh, co-author with Mr. Passah, Snr. of, Tour Guiding: The Ultimate Guide to Theory & Practice, the other of the ‘two seasoned practitioners’, I made reference to about 3 weeks ago.
Mr. Cosmos Ata Sracooh is a freelance Senior Tour Guide, who takes on more complex and specialized tours, training and supervising junior guides, and often acting as a point of contact for clients. He practices as a tour guide, handling groups within Ghana as well as to neighboring Togo, Benin and Burkina Faso (when that country was politically safe and peaceful). He works for various companies and is a member of TORGAG (Tour Guides Association of Ghana).
I invited Mr. Sracooh to share his views as my Guest expert and content partner on the illustration of the Tour Guide Career Progression below, particularly since it is generated from a foreign-based source
Like me, you may want to find out how career progressions in this area are for Ghana!
I didn’t hesitate to take a critical look at it. My industry ‘gurus’ always have an interesting career journey. I share a brief one below on Mr. Sracooh before we take a look at the illustration.
Earlier, I had engaged him in the conversation which follows:
HOST: What candid observations have you made about developing careers in tour guiding in Ghana?
GUEST: Until recently, tour guiding did not generally feature at all as an important player within the tourism supply [and delivery] chain. Hence, the few who ventured into it did not see it as a career.
HOST: Did you study any tour guiding related course before entering this field?
GUEST: Not really, except I had studied a foreign language at the University of Ghana, completed 1990 and diverted into tourism studies.
Mr. Sracooh joined HOTCATT (Hotel, Catering & Tourism Training Institute) in July 1995 as part of the training team. He taught tour guiding and tour operations at the institute from 2009 – 2012. He was at GIMPA as a Chief Instructor in tourism, following the merger of GIMPA and HOTCATT under the name “Gimpa-Hotcatt”
* He has trained over 70 per cent of qualified and licensed tour guides in the country, and has mentored several of them;
His values are self-discipline, empathy and love for humans, fair play, hard work, joy of satisfying guests through enhanced experiences and his motivations lie in making people happy: as a trainer, empowering people in career opportunities; and as a tour guide, seeing people happy by way of having enhanced, fulfilled and satisfying experiences.
For Mr. Sracooh, passion underlies everything he does [and has been able to do] in the sector.
HOST: So, what influenced your choice to enter this field?
GUEST: My French knowledge
HOST: What do you like about working in this field?
GUEST: The opportunity to showcase our identity (cultural, ecological and social) to others and asserting our worth.
HOST: What don’t you like about working in this field?
GUEST: The fact that some of our foreign guests are too rooted in their bag of prejudices and stereotypes.
HOST: Identify significant challenges and describe how you are dealing or have dealt with them.
GUEST: A number of tour operators consistently fail to appreciate the magnitude of the challenge out on the field and hence make the work too stressful. Some also treat guides with disrespect and unfairness. How I dealt with it is to be selective in my acceptance of jobs (I don’t accept tours from some tour operators.)
HOST: What position did you hold when you first entered the industry and how long did it take you to move ahead?
GUEST: Note, in my case, I was already a tourism Trainer/Instructor and hence was doing lots of research. I was undertaking field tour guiding as part-time.
HOST: Have you ever regretted your choice of this career?
GUEST: No.
HOST: What are the variances in guide progression in Ghana compared to the illustration above?
GUEST: The operational system that pertains in Ghana is as follows:
*TOUR COURIER/HOST/HOSTESS
to *SITE GUIDE/COMMUNITY GUIDE
to *TOUR GUIDE
to *SENIOR TOUR GUIDE
to *SPECIALIST TOUR GUIDE
to *TOUR MANAGER
to *TOUR COMPANY OWNER/CEO
The host/hostess‘ main job is to provide meet-n- greet services at port; provide comfort and entertainment to tourists, support the tour guide, etc.
GTA (Ghana Tourism Authority) as at now, however, licenses as (i) Site Guides, (ii) Tour guides and (iii) Tour operators [usually for owners]
TORGAG (Tour Guides Association of Ghana) has delineated the functional positions (from the lowest to the highest) as follows:
1. Community guide/site guide
2. Zonal/regional guide
3. National guide/general guide
4. Specialist guide
HOST: Mr. Sracooh, thank you so much for your time. I truly, appreciate this input.
WATCH OUT FOR A NEW SERIES…