The Role of Industry in Preparing

Hospitality Graduates for Career

Perspectives.

Rose Kabel

Certificate in International Hotel and Tourism Operations

HTMi, Switzerland
Introduction

Yearly there are thousands of hospitality graduates all over the world. They attend a

hospitality institute with the intention of entering the hospitality industry after

graduation. Some graduates, however, do not enter the hospitality industry or change

their career after entering. Especially the turnover appears to be really high. In 2006 the

rate was estimated to be 52%, and it is rising, with a 62% rate in 2011 (US Bureau of

Labor Statistics, 2006, 2012). “This has led to a shortage of skilled employees to staff the

ever-growing number of hospitality businesses” (Baum T., 2006,). This issue can arise

from two sides. Graduates decide in the end that they do not want to work in the

industry; or hospitality industry doesn’t want to hire the graduates. For instance

because the industry prefers to hire employees that they can train by their self (Baum T.,

2002) In other words: the employability of students can be improved. In both cases the

key is the hospitality education. Educational programs are supposed to prepare

graduates with the right skills required by the hospitality industry (Dopson R., Tas R.,

2004). The institutes, nevertheless those institutes are not the only ones who are

responsible for the quality of the education. According to Rustiadi S. (2015), the

government and the industry should play a role in the improvement and developing of

education. To figure out how the hospitality industry can play a bigger role in the career

path of graduates, there need to be found a solution for the high amount of turnovers. In

condition, it is important to take a look if the industry can play a bigger role in the

hospitality education.
Improving the motivation of graduates to enter the industry

The fact that graduates do not enter the hospitality industry or change their career after

entering the industry has many different causes. There are four main causes for this

phenomenon. First of all there is not enough development in the career path of

graduates according to Carless S., Arnup L. (2011,) graduates agree that they won’t have

the opportunity to develop; they don’t have a clear job preview or in the case of the

people who are already working in the industry agree they cannot grow in their

company. Damaske S. (2014) found out that young-managers who change their career

early were dissatisfied by the fact that the speed at which their careers were developing

was too slow but also the chances of individual promotions and career moves were not

available.

The other cause is the fact that graduates require a life-work balance. (Ayres, H., 2006).

According to Richardson S. (2010) graduates demand flexibility in their work hours

because they want to have leisure time. Working late and start early on a daily basis is

not something graduates like to do. In addition McGinley S., (2014) agrees with this

statement “Our findings suggests that work-life conflict is a major factor in people’s

career change decisions, and has a powerful effect on the way people live their lives

while working in the hotel industry.“ McGinley S. (2014) did a few open interviews with

graduates who left the industry. One of the female respondents said: “What personal

life? Yes. There is a big conflict, there is, you really don’t have a personal life. I worked 6

days a week. Every day is at least a 12-hour day”.

The third cause is that “they are not having a realistic vision of their career path upon

graduation” (Richardson S. 2009). In addiction Reybould M., Wilkins H., (2006) agree

that educational programs should have internal communication with the hospitality
industry during the program to make sure that students get a clear vision of the industry

and what the industry expects of them. Richardson S. (2008) believes that if students

during their studies would experience the hospitality industry by means of an

internship, they will have a better vision of the hospitality industry. Internships are not

only crucial for students; the industry also provides benefits from internships. Hiring

undergraduates give hospitality companies the chance to get potential employees. In

addition, employers can hire employees for a short time; there is no need of a fixed-term

contract (Gursoy D., 2008).

Improving the employability of students

The industry could play a bigger role in the education to improve the employability of

students. After all, in order to succeed the internship programs, hospitality studies need

to have a good network, a good contact with the hospitality industry. “It is crucial to

understand how hospitality company recruiters and human resources personnel

perceived the importance of various aspects of career services provided by hospitality

schools” (Chi C. 2009) In addition internships give the hospitality industry influence in

the education of the industry's future employees. To prepare undergraduate for the

hospitality industry as good as possible, the hospitality education and hospitality

industry need to work together. The education programs have to make sure they keep

up with the changing needs of the industry; this is one of the biggest challenges

Nevertheless the hospitality education couldn’t and shouldn’t be doing that by their own

(Gursoy, D., Swanger N., 2004). It is the hospitality industry that has problems with

retaining their skilled staff (Jenkins, 2001). It is their responsibility too to make sure

that the education knows what they need.

“It is crucial to close the gap between what is taught to students and what the industry

expects of the students being hired” (Dopson. L., Tas R., 2013). Educational programs

need undergraduates to teach the skills that the industry required. Raybould. M.,

Wilkens H. (2006) found that due the fact that the needs of the industry constantly

change, it is necessary that hospitality studies understand the industry’s expectations of

the required skills. They are able to do that if they work closely with the industry.

Educational programs should inform about the content of their study, to make sure the

hospitality has realistic expectations of the skills they are teaching to their students.

Hereby the industry and the programs have the right expectations. In addition

according to Baum T. (2002) hotel chains prefer to hire employees with general

knowledge and who are highly motivated instead of employees with specific skills and

experiences, because they prefer employees they can train by their self.

Conclusion

The fact that graduates don’t enter the hospitality industry or change their career

quickly after entering indicates that there is a gap between the students and the

industry. Improving the education of hospitality students can reduce this gap. Graduates

who changed their career after entering didn’t have a clear vision of what their job

would be like or found that their job progression was too slow. They didn’t have a clear

job preview. In addition graduates were not satisfied with the work-life balance. .

Improving the education of students can help to solve these problems. It is also

beneficial for the industry to be more involved in in the education of their future-

managers.
Recommendation

If hotel chains would visit hotel studies once in a while to discuss their needs and what

they expect from graduates that would help both the hotel studies and the hotel chains

themselves. To prepare undergraduates for their future it is important to have

experienced educators, they can give the undergraduate a better image when they are

learning form their textbook. (Gursoy D., 2009). Graduates will have a better job

preview, if hotel chains would communicate more with educational programs about

what their jobs will look like. In addition, they will have a more realistic expectation of

the graduate’s skills, which will improve the probability of graduates entering the

hospitality industry. If the gap is reduced between what is taught to students and the

expectations of the industry, graduates do get a better change to enter the hospitality

industry. The hospitality Industry should especially focus on the quality of the

internships. Internships are very useful for the undergraduates but also for the industry

itself. This way they can train the future-employees and, there will be a possibility to

retain those undergraduates. However this can only work if the hospitality industry and

the hospitality programs work together and create a functioning internship system.
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