Hospitality & tourism
Whether you’ve worked in a bar, restaurant or club, many graduates would have some experience of working in the hospitality sector. This can stand you in great stead, as many recruiters require previous experience.
A staggering 8.3 billion is spent on out-of-home meals every year, according to the British Hospitality Association. For graduates, hospitality offers excellent management opportunities.
Graduates need excellent interpersonal skills, be able to multi-task, motivate large teams and be prepared to work unsociable hours. The must also have business acumen and be financially astute.
The job opportunities include bars, clubs and pubs, conference and events, foodservice management, health and fitness, hotels, restaurant managements, tour operators, travel agents and visitor attractions.
Some of the bigger food and hospitality companies, such as McDonald’s and Mitchells & Butler offers structured graduate training courses. McDonald’s offers trainee business manager positions, which involves a 20-week management development programme that covers all the training in the operational side of the business. On completion, graduates will become qualifies assistant managers, whereby they will be setting targets, managing business, controlling stock and recruiting.
Mitchells & Butler, as an example, offers both retail and corporate management schemes. With retail, this places graduates on fast-track development to manage a Mitchells & Butler pub or restaurant. The next step from this would be to become an area manager, whereby you could manage up to 15 bars or restaurants.
For the corporate management schemes, graduates will be office based where they can later specialise in general operations, human resources, operations, marketing, IT, purchasing, finance and accountancy, property – asset & building management.
Key articles for hospitality/tourism job seekers