This week we were emailed by a university student in Thailand who is looking for an internship with a Bangkok hotel. He asked if we had any contacts who might be helpful. Designing Leaders has done a lot of work in the hospitality sector, so we reached out to the F&B manager at a major hotel, who replied that they are always looking for local interns, and who provided us with the HR team’s info.

We went back to the student and advised him to contact HR, sending along his CV and also a link to his LinkedIn profile if he has one (and we offered to help with LinkedIn if he doesn’t have a profile yet). His response was,”I don’t know what any of that means,” so we talked about what a CV is (he was used to the term “resume” instead, as it turned out) and we explained what a LinkedIn profile is. He replied, “That sounds like a lot of work,” and we thought that if THAT sounds like a lot of work, how is he going to feel about doing actual work?

Over the years we have noticed a trend among too many people in developing countries who are ready to just do the bare minimum and be content with work that isn’t especially challenging or rewarding. Obviously, everyone needs to decide for him or herself what they want from a career, but something we have observed is that many people are willing to settle for less (and do less) because they don’t realize what’s possible, or don’t know how to do what it takes to have a better life. You can help your employees a lot (and they can contribute more to their country’s development) if you can help them build a sense of professionalism to boost their current work and their future career.

We aren’t talking about a master’s degree program in executive leadership; instead, we just mean helping them develop, and see the value of, things that many people would consider “the basics,” things like:

– having a professional-looking, well-written CV/resume
– being on time for work
– focusing on their work rather than on their phones
– working toward goals
– finding solutions to problems rather than waiting for someone else to fix them

These might sound like common sense to many people, but to many others they aren’t. Whether due to culture, family, education, economic conditions, or other factors, many folks are entering the workforce with a perspective that work is just something you do without caring about it too much. That’s fine for them if that’s what they want to do, but you can help your business (and help these employees have a better life) if you can offer them a chance to develop a more professional approach to work.