Reassessing employer expectations of graduates in UK travel services

Major, Bridget; Evans, Nigel

doi:10.1002/jtr.670

Cited by 7 publications

(4 citation statements)

References 19 publications

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“…A key finding was that 80% of New Zealand's hospitality graduates were employed throughout their studies, and that 66% were employed in the hospitality sector while still studying. This finding informs the ongoing discussion between education providers and employers about how 'work ready' graduates are and the effectiveness of tertiary education in providing relevant skills [4,5]. The finding shows that a clear majority of graduates had been working in the industry for several years before they graduated and therefore had experiences of 'real world' hospitality work in addition to theory.…”

Section: A Selection Of the Key Findingssupporting

confidence: 56%

Hospitality graduates career pathways: an analysis of LinkedIn profiles

Basnayake¹,

Williamson²

2021

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This article shares the results of research that explored the demographics and career pathways of hospitality graduates from Auckland University of Technology (AUT). The study [1] investigated graduates’ employment during and after their studies; promotions; job mobility; tenure of employment; and other aspects of their career pathways. A small selection of the key findings are presented here. The study analysed graduate profiles on LinkedIn, which is the world’s largest professional, online social network. LinkedIn is an employment-oriented network service that provides a website and mobile app allowing both employers and job seekers to make profiles and build connections with each other. In 2019, there were more than two million New Zealand LinkedIn users. In this study, the researcher selected a sample of 130 profiles of New Zealand LinkedIn users who had completed a Bachelor of International Hospitality Management degree at AUT in 2008–2018. A selection of the key findings Of the study participants, 72% were women and 28% were men. This gender distribution broadly matches the results of previous studies worldwide [2, 3], showing that, internationally, most people studying hospitality management in universities are female. 62% of the LinkedIn participants were domestic enrolments and 38% were from overseas. A key finding was that 80% of New Zealand’s hospitality graduates were employed throughout their studies, and that 66% were employed in the hospitality sector while still studying. This finding informs the ongoing discussion between education providers and employers about how ‘work ready’ graduates are and the effectiveness of tertiary education in providing relevant skills [4, 5]. The finding shows that a clear majority of graduates had been working in the industry for several years before they graduated and therefore had experiences of ‘real world’ hospitality work in addition to theory. After graduating, 74% of hospitality graduates decided to work in the hospitality sector (Figure 1), which is 8% more than the 66% of graduates who worked in the hospitality sector during their studies. This 8% worked outside of the hospitality industry as undergraduates but took hospitality work after graduating. Internationally, 74% of graduates finding work in hospitality is a high percentage compared to findings from other countries, e.g. Oman [6], where in 2017 this figure was only 41%; in contrast, research in Poland [7] found a figure of 59%, which is nearer to the result in New Zealand. Figure 1: Sector in which New Zealand hospitality students were employed immediately after their graduation (2008–2018) A quarter (26%) of New Zealand hospitality students decided not to work in the hospitality sector after graduation and opted instead for work in other industries; three quarters of these graduates were male (76%). Of the 74% of graduates who entered the hospitality workforce, the results show that about two-thirds were female and one-third were male. While this is a pleasing result for tertiary educators, showing a good result for industry-specific employment outcomes for hospitality graduates, the gender imbalance raises some intriguing questions that would benefit from further research. Further results show details of graduates’ length of stay at their first workplace. While a quarter (24%) of the participants chose not to enter the hospitality industry after graduating, 34% of graduates left their first place of employment within one year and 22% decided to leave their employer within two years. With a total of 56% percent of graduates leaving their employer within two years, this finding raises serious questions regarding the effect of early employment conditions on hospitality graduates. A possible contributing factor to this high turnover is the result that shows only 20% of graduates employed in the hospitality sector had any career advancement within their first place of employment. The data show that only 7% of graduates had job advancement in their first year, and 8% had a job advancement in their second year. Three percent had job advancement in their third and fourth years, combining to a rather lean 23% of graduates who were promoted within the first four years of their hospitality careers. The data from this study provides a useful and original insight into New Zealand hospitality graduate work choices and raises some interesting questions about the quality of career pathways in the sector. Further findings and discussion can be found in the original dissertation here: https://openrepository.aut.ac.nz/handle/10292/14117 Corresponding author Mario Basnayake can be contacted at: mario.basnayake@aut.ac.nz References (1) Basnayake, M. An Exploratory Study of the Progress of Hospitality Graduates’ Career Pathways in New Zealand; Master’s Thesis, Auckland University of Technology, 2021. https://openrepository.aut.ac.nz/handle/10292/14117 (accessed Jul 7, 2021). (2) Chuang, N. K.; Dellmann-Jenkins, M. Career Decision Making and Intention: A Study of Hospitality Undergraduate Students. Journal of Hospitality & Tourism Research 2010, 34(4), 512–530. https://doi.org/10.1177/1096348010370867 (3) Richardson, S. Generation Y’s Perceptions and Attitudes towards a Career in Tourism and Hospitality. Journal of Human Resources in Hospitality & Tourism 2010, 9(2), 179–199. https://doi.org/10.1080/15332840903383855 (4) Major, B.; Evans, N. Reassessing Employer Expectations of Graduates in UK Travel Services. International Journal of Tourism Research 2008, 10(5), 409–422. https://doi.org/10.1002/jtr.670 (5) Richardson, S.; Thomas, N. J. Utilising Generation Y: United States Hospitality and Tourism Students’ Perceptions of Careers in the Industry. Journal of Hospitality and Tourism Management 2012, 19(1), 102–114. https://doi.org/10.1017/jht.2012.12 (6) Atef, T.; Al Balushi, M. Omani Tourism and Hospitality Students’ Employment Intentions and Job Preferences: Ramifications on Omanization Plans. Quality Assurance in Education 2017, 25(4), 440-461. https://doi.org./10.1108/QAE-04-2016-0022 (7) Grobelna, A.; Marciszewska, B. Work Motivation of Tourism and Hospitality Students: Implications for Human Resource Management. In Proceedings of the 8th European Conference on Intellectual Capital; Bagnoli, C., Mio, C., Garlatti, A., Massaro, M., Eds.; Academic Conferences and Publishing International: Reading, England, 2016, pp 95–103.

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Section: A Selection Of the Key Findingssupporting

confidence: 56%

Hospitality graduates career pathways: an analysis of LinkedIn profiles

Basnayake¹,

Williamson²

2021

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“…This sampling procedure involved the initial use of selecting a cluster of employers (from specific businesses), choosing a subset of the cluster and then using simple random sampling to select the sample to be administered with the questionnaires. These employers, by virtue of their positions in their jobs were asked to comment on issues relating to the skills used and work attributes exhibited by the graduates under their supervision (Major & Evans, 2008).…”

Section: Methodsmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…The literature on employability skills is replete with those highlighting the perspectives of employers (Dickinson, 2000;Humburg, van der Velden & Verhagen 2013;Li & Leung, 2001;Major & Evans, 2008;Wang et al, 2009). However, there are a few studies that discuss the subject from the perspectives of the graduates.…”

Section: Literature Reviewmentioning

confidence: 99%

Employability skills: perspectives from employers and tourism graduates in Ghana

Owusu-Mintah

Kissi

2017

JOSS

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Employers of graduates of higher education have often complained of a gap between skills and work attributes required by industry and those acquired by graduates. The main aim of this paper was to provide a comparison of views of employers and tourism graduates on employability skills required for employment by industry in Ghana. The paper was based on a tracer study conducted in June and July 2011 at the Tourism Department of Cape Coast Polytechnic, in Ghana. The study, which was cross sectional, involved a sample of 174 employed tourism graduates, selected using snowball sampling and 25 of their employers selected through multi stage sampling. The results of the study indicated that while there were no vast differences in their views regarding importance of certain skills, there were variations in the level of importance placed on such skills. For instance, the graduates considered the work attribute of time management more important than the employers, while the employers gave higher priority to team working skills than the graduates. An implication of this study is that strong collaboration is needed between higher educational institutions and industry employers not only to ensure industrial attachment placement for students but also for the students to acquire the right employability skills and work attributes, needed by industry

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“…The study of competencies required by students in tourism and hospitality began in the 1980s and has since grown in scope and nature (Susaeta et al, 2020). The responsibility of training and preparing these graduates lies with higher education institutions (Robinson et al, 2016), which need to develop critical and reflective thinkers who will manage the dynamic environment in which they will be required to work (Major & Evans, 2008;Dredge et al, 2014). As fields of academic study, tourism and hospitality are considered applied subject areas which demand that students, academics and curricula have close links with industry.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Perceptions of Industry Engagement in Tourism and Hospitality Studies in South Africa

Daniels

Tichaawa

Abrahams

2022

Tourism (Zagreb, Online)

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This research aimed to determine student and industry perceptions of industry engagement in tourism and hospitality studies in South Africa. The study applied a mixed methodology to ascertain these perceptions to determine how industry engagement can be enhanced in order to produce work-ready, employable and entrepreneurial graduates, particularly in light of the COVID-19 pandemic. Based on 420 valid surveys conducted with students across six universities, the key findings suggest that students perceive that their universities sufficiently and effectively provide them with the necessary soft skills, practical skills, creativity skills, and personal responsibility tools through industry engagement activities. Respondents agreed that universities are actively preparing tourism and hospitality students for the world of work and assisting them with career development through industry engagement. The study concludes that the benefits of industry engagement for students include inter alia academic progress, personal development, career planning and workplace exposure, as well as the development of key skills and competencies.

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Reassessing employer expectations of graduates in UK travel services

Abstract: International Journal of Tourism Research

Cited by 7 publications

References 19 publications

Hospitality graduates career pathways: an analysis of LinkedIn profiles

Hospitality graduates career pathways: an analysis of LinkedIn profiles

Employability skills: perspectives from employers and tourism graduates in Ghana

Perceptions of Industry Engagement in Tourism and Hospitality Studies in South Africa

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