A Career in Hospitality Can Be What You Make of it

18th May 2017
Hospitality professionals standing together

It’s important to understand that there are many possibilities in today’s market; just because you study hospitality doesn’t mean the front office is the only place for you.

One of the reasons that lower level qualifications have a more general structure is so that the learner can gain a broader understanding of the industry. For example, the units in our Foundation Level qualification provide the essential learning for various topics in tourism and hospitality. By providing the essentials, a learner can 1) become more well-rounded about the principles of the industry and 2) pinpoint what they find most interesting and move up the levels, specialising in that area. However, to truly utilise a career in the tourism, hospitality and even the culinary industry, you need to have an open mind. The jobs on offer in these industries are so vast that there are different opportunities everywhere. Just because you study hospitality doesn’t mean the front office is the only place for you.

Typically when one thinks of a hospitality job you might think of a concierge or front desk staff, for tourism it might be a flight attendant and in the culinary industry its most likely a chef, but that’s not all there is. Even though hospitality is about the customer, not every role is customer facing, there is much more you can get involved in. What this means is that not every role puts you directly in front of the customer, like a doorman or a concierge would. For example, in our Level 5 qualification you are taught about marketing, operations, sales, food and beverage and much more. These disciplines in the hospitality industry are not typically covered under one job title, which means that a learner can become skilled in an area of their interest, where they’re strengths are more profound. By pursuing what you genuinely like and not just what is typically associated with the industry, the door to new career opportunities can swing open.

The most important thing is to be open to learning about the different aspects of the industry whilst studying your course. Understand what your strengths are and where your interests lie. If you enjoyed a Rooms Division unit then maybe being a part of the operations department of the hotel suits you, don’t rule anything out. These industries are not one dimensional, so be proactive about the the disciplines that you are interested in pursuing.

If you are a CTH Member, be sure to use the Career Support area so you can have access to the Job Search. Here you can find the latest tourism and hospitality jobs from around the globe. Click here: http://members.cthawards.com/

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