The Mandarin Oriental Rising Fan Graduate Programme is the group’s structured way in for people at the start of a hotel career: three stages, the first inside one hotel learning every team, the second at assistant manager level, the third in another hotel or department with a project to lead, and a permanent placement at the end. This page describes the programme as Mandarin Oriental presents it and then turns to what the company’s page cannot give you, which is what three Mandarin Oriental general managers and one of its chefs in my books say about their first years and how they train the people who join them.
The programme, as Mandarin Oriental describes it
Mandarin Oriental built the programme for “emerging talent and colleagues at the start of their career with the potential to become leaders within Mandarin Oriental.” The first stage is spent in one hotel “learning on the job” and meeting “every team in the hotel.” In the second stage the graduate takes on assistant manager responsibility and helps keep a team “working together harmoniously.” In the third the graduate moves to the same department in another hotel, or to a new department in the same hotel, and runs a personal project to build leadership skills. The programme closes with a conversation about the graduate’s strengths and passions and a placement “into the right job for you in one of our hotels,” followed by “regular check-ins about your goals and career path” and “mentoring with senior colleagues from across the company.”
The programme is open to forthcoming and recent graduates, to current colleagues with high potential and to former interns who want to return. “You don’t need any experience of working in hotels to apply,” the company says, though it wants people who are “passionate about our profession,” fluent in English and “open to move to a new city or country.” Openings are advertised on the Mandarin Oriental careers site as Rising Fan Leader in Training roles, in Rooms or Food and Beverage, each attached to a particular hotel. The length of each stage, pay, intake dates and the hotels recruiting in a given year change, so I have left them out; the company page and each listing carry them.
What Mandarin Oriental general managers say about the first years
None of the Mandarin Oriental leaders in my books came in through a graduate scheme. Each came in at the bottom, which is the pattern across the seventy nine careers in the books.
Susanne Hatje, then general manager of Mandarin Oriental, New York, grew up in her parents’ hotel in Hamburg and took her first outside job as an apprentice at a five star hotel in the same city.
“I started out in the laundry room and worked my way up. Starting from the bottom and rising through the ranks is absolutely critical. It teaches you every part of the operation, and you learn to respect and admire the work of your colleagues. Only then do you understand how valuable each individual’s role is to ensuring the overall success of a hotel.” Susanne Hatje, in A Wealth of Insight (2017)
Michael Ziemer, then general manager of Mandarin Oriental, Taipei, wanted to be a chef until the executive chef interviewing him suggested hotel management instead. “My first job in the industry was as a Banquet Captain for an outside catering company in Sydney.” What stayed with him was the team: “It was the epitome of a team effort, and that was an early leadership lesson.”
Torsten van Dullemen, then general manager of The Landmark Mandarin Oriental, Hong Kong, began in a local bistro in the Netherlands. “If they needed me to peel potatoes, I peeled potatoes.” His first luxury post was as a reservations agent at The Savoy in London, and he is honest about the cost: “It was a very tough work environment, and my rent was higher than my salary.”
Richard Ekkebus, chef of Amber at The Landmark Mandarin Oriental, found his vocation the same way: “Only later on, when I was a student, did I have a weekend job helping out in a kitchen doing dishes and as a kitchen porter. At that moment, I knew.”
Mandarin Oriental as a training ground
Two of these general managers describe how they bring new people in. Van Dullemen tests whether a recruit has made the effort to belong:
“However, one of the ways we make sure a new employee is indeed making an effort themselves to integrate is by giving them a questionnaire after the first six weeks. How many hotels are there in the group? What are our pillars? What is our vision statement? Who is our CEO? And who are our most regular guests? If somebody could not provide that information after six weeks, that person has not made enough of an effort to settle in.” Torsten van Dullemen, in A Wealth of Insight (2017)
Ziemer puts development on the department heads, which is where a Rising Fan graduate will sit from the second stage on:
“This is not simply a function relegated to human resources. Departmental managers must be actively engaged in their team’s strengths, weaknesses, and plans for the future, charting a personalized path for growth.” Michael Ziemer, in A Wealth of Insight (2017)
What to take from it
Treat the first stage as the point of the programme rather than something to get through; Hatje’s case for starting at the bottom is the case for a stage spent in every team. Expect the later stages to test whether you can lead people older and more experienced than you. Know the group before you arrive, down to the questions van Dullemen asks at six weeks. And read the four full profiles on the Voices pages above before an interview. Chapter 2 of The Luxury of Attention, The Apprenticeship, is about exactly these years.
Questions people also ask
What is the Mandarin Oriental Rising Fan Graduate Programme?
Mandarin Oriental’s graduate scheme for people at the start of a hotel career who could become leaders in the group. It runs in three stages: a first stage inside one hotel learning on the job across every team, a second stage at assistant manager level helping to run a team, and a third stage in another hotel or another department with a personal project to lead. It ends with a conversation about strengths and passions and a placement in one of the group’s hotels.
How do you apply to the Rising Fan programme?
Through the Mandarin Oriental careers site, where openings are advertised as Rising Fan Leader in Training roles, usually in Rooms or Food and Beverage, and attached to a particular hotel. Mandarin Oriental says no hotel experience is needed, that applicants must be fluent in English and open to moving to a new city or country, and that the programme is also open to current colleagues with high potential and to former interns.
Which track should you choose, Rooms or Food and Beverage?
The openings are posted by division, with Rooms and Food and Beverage the two listed. The first stage covers every team in the hotel whichever you choose. Two of the Mandarin Oriental general managers in my books came up through food and beverage and the third through the front desk; all three say the early jobs that covered everything were the ones that made them.
Does the Rising Fan programme lead to general manager?
It leads to a permanent role in one of the group’s hotels, with career check ins, mentoring by senior colleagues and first choice of training afterwards. General manager is decades away. The three Mandarin Oriental general managers in my books started in a laundry room, as a banquet captain and in a local bistro, and each describes those years as the foundation of how they lead.