Hospitality management

It's a great idea to get some work experience during your hospitality management degree through a placement or part-time job to help develop your skills and make industry contacts

Job options

Jobs directly related to your degree include:

• Accommodation manager
• Catering manager
• Chef
• Conference centre manager
• Event manager
• Fast food restaurant manager
• Holiday representative
• Hotel manager
• Public house manager
• Restaurant manager

Jobs where your degree would be useful include:

• Air cabin crew
• Business development manager
• Customer service manager
• Facilities managerÌý
• Fire risk assessor
• Health service manager
• Human resources officer
• Marketing executive
• Retail manager
• Secondary school teacherÌý
• Theme park managerÌý
• Tour manager
• Tourism officer

Remember that many employers accept applications from graduates with any degree subject, so don't restrict your thinking to the jobs listed here.

Work experience

It's essential you get relevant work experience if you want to work in the hospitality sector. Many hospitality management degrees, for example, offer an industrial placement year, which allows you to put the skills learned on your course into practice and to build key professional contacts. This experience provides employers with evidence of your ability and motivation. You also get a feel for which area of the sector you're particularly interested in.Ìý

Summer placements or internships in the hospitality sector are another useful way of getting experience and are often advertised by the large hospitality companies.Ìý

Many students work part time in restaurants, hotels and bars alongside their degree to earn some money. This provides an excellent opportunity to get valuable experience of how the hospitality sector works and the types of roles available. You may also get a foot on the leadership ladder through supervisory or team leader roles.Ìý

The hospitality sector offers good prospects for early responsibility, so if you show a willingness and ability to learn, you can gain experience of supervising and training new staff early on in your career.Ìý

If you already have a specialist area in mind, try to find experience in the closest matching environment you can find. For example, if you ultimately hope to work in a luxury hotel, apply to local hotels of a similar standard.Ìý

Search for placements and find out more about work experience and internships.

Typical employers

It is possible to find employment in a range of hospitality areas including:

• airlines
• bars and pubs
• conference and exhibition centres
• events venues
• hotel chains
• cruise ships
• restaurants and fast-food outlets.
• spasÌý
• visitor attractions.Ìý

There are also relevant roles throughout the public sector in:

• universities
• hospitals
• local authorities
• the armed forces.

Some of the large chain hotels or restaurants offer graduate-management programmes, providing a fast-track to management positions and experience in a range of operations.

It's also possible to use the skills from your degree to find employment in a different area to hospitality management, such as human resources, marketing or finance management. Some graduates also choose to set up their own hospitality-related business.

Due to the entrepreneurial nature of the sector, some graduates are able to set up their own hospitality-related businesses in areas such as digital marketing or recruitment.ÌýÌý

With experience, you may decide to set up your own restaurant, bar or food outlet, for example, depending on your interests. Find out more about self-employment.ÌýÌý

Find information on employers in  hospitality and events management, leisure, sport and tourism, business, consulting and management and other job sectors.

Search graduate jobs in hospitality and events management.

Skills for your CV

A hospitality management degree provides you with an in-depth understanding of the structure and operation of the hospitality sector and related industries, as well as the opportunities/challenges these sectors face.

You develop skills and knowledge in people and business management, service delivery, leadership, finance and marketing, as well as identifying, understanding and responding to the needs of clients. You can also choose modules that further your career interests in certain areas, for example, conferences and events.

As well as these industry-specific skills, you also develop a range of other skills that are valued by many employers. These include:

• analytical, critical and problem-solving skills - developed through researching, evaluating and presenting arguments and data
• verbal communication and presentation skills - gained from group work and course presentations
• written communication skills - gained from report and essay writing
• negotiation and teamwork skills - developed through working both independently and on group projects
• leadership and delegation skills - gained through group work
• IT skills - through the collection, analysis and presentation of information in the form of spreadsheets and databases
• the ability to network - developed through discussion and debate with student peers.
• entrepreneurial skills - developed through a combination of early workplace experience and researching and evaluating data to identify the gaps in the market that need filling.

Further study

Many hospitality management graduates go into employment after their degree, although some decide to work part time alongside further study.ÌýÌý

Some employers will support you to take industry-related training or a relevant postgraduate course to enhance your career development and bring new skills to your workplace.Ìý

You may choose to do postgraduate study in order to specialise in a particular area of hospitality, such as hotel, tourism, international hospitality or events management, or to move into a related area such as HR or marketing. Some postgraduate courses include study or a work placement abroad.Ìý

Before deciding whether to do a postgraduate course, do your research and consider the benefits of qualifications compared to experience and what targeted employers prefer.

For more information on further study and to find a course that interests you, see Masters degrees and search postgraduate courses in hospitality management.

What do hospitality management graduates do?

7% of hospitality management graduates are working as hotel and accommodation managers and proprietors. Care workers and home carers (7%), receptionists (6%), secondary education teaching professionals (5%), restaurant and catering establishment managers and proprietors (5%), and chefs (5%) are also among the top ten jobs reported.

Find out what other graduates are doing after finishing their degrees in What do graduates do?

Graduate Outcomes survey data from HESA.

Find out more

• Institute of Hospitality
• People 1st
• UK Hospitality