Graduating with a hospitality management degree is one thing, but finding a career is another. You might be asking, what careers are possible for this degree? Or what jobs can I apply for?
Well, don’t worry! We have included a handful of the possible careers for those who have graduated from a hospitality management program. Explore from hospitality career options to building a business out of your profession.
Understanding What Hospitality Management Is
The field of hospitality management involves an in-depth analysis of the hospitality sector. There’s no rocket science involved in simply meeting new people and saying hello to them. However, the situation becomes more challenging when you are responsible for lodging and administrative needs, understanding what clients need, or even meeting high-profile guests.
That’s why you need to get some training under your belt first, and a degree in hospitality management will get you there! You’ll thoroughly comprehend the hospitality industry and its associated fields.
What Skills Do Graduates Need?
There are numerous additional abilities you’ll pick up that are highly sought after by potential employers. Among these are:
- Written and Verbal Communication Skills: As you’ll be in front dealing with people, you must convey your ideas and solutions clearly to them. Through recurring group work and presentations, as well as writing plans and reports on your program, you will master the art of communication needed in the hospitality industry.
- Leadership and Problem-Solving Skills: Achieving peak performance in the hospitality industry requires the leader to assemble a stellar team. A leader with the right set of abilities and attributes is essential for this. You can learn these from researching, evaluating, and case analysis of presentations in your degree, as well as leading your mates through presenting the findings.
- Negotiation Skills and Networking Ability: You can hone the skills in making and maintaining connections with others in this profession through conversation and debate with other undergraduates in your program.
Because of the dynamic nature of the hospitality industry and the fact that growth depends on factors such as shifting consumer preferences and other external factors, the careers we’ll mention are not your only options.
- Hospitality Management Job Opportunities in Event Planning
One of the most important aspects of hospitality is event planning, which requires the host to be actively involved in organizing and interacting with guests. Successful professionals in the event planning industry may exhibit attributes like adaptability, fiscal responsibility, and the ability to juggle multiple tasks.
Leading Authority for Scheduling and Organizing Conferences
The day-to-day life of a conference organizer depends on what event clients want to hold. Venues often employ in-house event planners to handle logistics, including keynote speaker requirements, day-of schedules, and seating charts for conferences, trade shows, expos, and other large-scale gatherings.
Wedding Planner
Bridal consultants (also called wedding planners) are available for hire to oversee all aspects of a wedding and reception. Their services range from assisting with the selection of a venue to the creation of a guest list. These consultants’ daily schedules may be more adaptable than average.
Event Coordinator within the Organization
Otherwise known as an in-house event planner, it requires the task of planning an event a company wants to have from scratch. Planners might be involved in every step of the process, from securing clients and venues to holding frequent meetings and resolving unforeseen issues.
- Hospitality Industry: Guest Relations Career Options
Those that thrive in a people-oriented environment will find a home in the guest relations industry. These jobs are popular in the hospitality sector but are not limited to that sector.
Heads of Maintenance and Cleaning
Hotels are the most common places to find housekeeping directors, and they are often in charge of varied tasks connected to keeping the establishment clean and presentable for customers.
Sommelier or Wine Expert
You can find professional sommeliers working in upscale dining establishments where they put to good use their extensive knowledge of wine. They can advise on the best wines to combine with specific dishes, assist with maintaining current wine lists for restaurants, or publicize wine-centric gatherings.
Reception and Front Office Manager
Front desk managers do day-to-day obligations, including monitoring staff members, administering guest accounts, coordinating sales, and other administrative tasks.
- Careers in Tourism and Hospitality Management
One subfield within tourism management offers a wide variety of career paths for freshly minted graduates in hospitality management. These jobs in the hospitality industry can take you all over the world, such as becoming a flight attendant or the director of a cruise liner. But, if you would rather have a career in hospitality that has a stable home base, the following are three pertinent suggestions:
Advertising and Publicity
Based on the sector’s demands, a marketing and public relations career might be relevant to the hospitality and tourism industries. Marketing and public relations are essential to the success of a destination since a good reputation in the media has the potential to influence the number of tourists that visit a specific hotel, tourist town, or other types of sightseeing location.
Travel Arrangements Agent
A travel agent’s assistance in arranging and researching a trip is helpful for everyone, whether they’re traveling alone, with a partner, or in a larger group. This process could include looking for a place to stay, arranging for adventures, and comparing airfare deals.
Tour Director and Tour Guide
Tour guides are responsible for organizing itineraries and delivering guided tours to visitors of renowned tourist attractions, such as well-known towns, museums, and landmarks. Tour guides typically are knowledgeable about the locations to which they take their customers, allowing them to respond to queries about the tour.
- Entertainment and Leisure Industries Positions
The fields of entertainment and leisure interweave with some of the previously described above. For instance, it is normal for the number of sources of entertainment to increase in cities that are popular tourist destinations, such as New York City or Las Vegas. The following are some examples of jobs that both private and public organizations might be looking to fill:
Family Amusement Park Administrator
Because of the complexity of today’s amusement parks, it is necessary to have administrators in charge of ensuring that all of the attractions continue to operate in a timely and efficient manner. The individuals that are a part of this crew can put on performances, as well as make promotional events and other things.
Casino Host
Casino hosts are employees responsible for ensuring that players have a positive experience. The day-to-day responsibilities of these hosts may entail getting to know the casino’s frequent clients and providing them with different enticements to increase the likelihood that they will continue to patronize the establishment.
Relaxation Center and Spa Manager
Spas offer their patrons the opportunity for recreation and relaxation, and they attract customers worldwide. Spa directors are often responsible for various tasks, including the upkeep of merchandise, supervision of appointments and scheduling, and more.
- Food and Beverage Hospitality Management Careers
Production and distribution are the two main pillars of the food and beverage sector. Food and beverage industry occupations closely relate to those in the hospitality sector. You can find them in restaurants, wineries, or events and conference spaces.
Assistant in a Catering Establishment
A catering assistant’s responsibilities can change depending on the establishment that employs them, such as a restaurant, a hotel, or an independent catering company.
Kitchen’s Sous Chef
Sous chef is one job in the food and drink industry regarded as a middle management position in the kitchen. An assistant to the head chef, the sous chef oversees the preparation of a wide range of foods and the smooth running of the kitchen.
Manager of a Food and Service Company
All eating establishments, ranging from laid-back bars and cafes to upmarket restaurants providing a variety of cuisines, have a demand for managers. They are responsible for ensuring that everything in the restaurant operates correctly, effectively, and constantly.
- Starting A Business in Hospitality Management
Potential has no cap. Whatever it is that you can imagine, you can make it. There is no limit to the number of opportunities available in the hospitality and management business, which includes everything from starting a restaurant in Miami to providing guided tours of the Vatican in Rome.
You can launch your company and grow it to significant proportions if you have a little entrepreneurial spirit, sound business judgment, and creative brilliance.
A Hospitality and Management Degree Opens Doors to Different Careers
Undergraduate hospitality management students take a wide range of classes covering various fields. Each course, from Convention Sales and Management to Food, Wine, and Beverage Pairing, introduces students to a new facet of the hospitality industry that they can apply to their future professions.
That’s why many career options exist for hospitality and management graduates.
