Hospitality management

Consider taking a placement year as part of your hospitality management degree, it can provide excellent practical work experience as well as key 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
• Fire risk assessor
• Health service manager
• Human resources officer
• Marketing executive
• Retail manager
• 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 industry experience if you want to work in the hospitality sector. Many hospitality management degrees offer an industrial placement for a year, which allows you to build key professional contacts while also expanding your practical skills.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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

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 will 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.

Further study

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.

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.

It's also possible to do part-time study while working. Some employers will support you to take industry-related training or a relevant postgraduate course to enhance your career development with them and bring new skills to your workplace.

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?

8% of hospitality management graduates are working as managers and proprietors in hospitality and leisure services. Other popular roles include secretarial and related occupations (8%), sales, marketing and related associate professionals (7%), food preparation and hospitality trades (7%) and customer service occupations (4%).

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

Graduate destinations data from the Higher Education Statistics Agency.

Find out more

• Institute of Hospitality
• People 1st
• UK Hospitality