What does the word ?hospitality? actually mean to you? When I asked this of some school children earlier in the year they thought it meant working in a hospital. When I asked the same question to undergraduate hospitality students the answer I got was working in a hotel. Do you know what the various sectors are within our industry?
As a hospitality professional reading this article, even if you cannot name all the sectors I am sure you know that ?Hospitality is more than just hotels? and that was the theme of the Institute of Hospitality London Student Forum which I organised for over 130 hospitality students a few weeks ago.
With a line up of industry speakers from different sectors of the hospitality industry the students were able to broaden their knowledge on how varied our industry is. They heard from professionals from the pub, restaurant, members club, visitor attraction, holiday park, contract catering as well as the hotel sector.
One of the key areas of discussion that came out from the day is that the hospitality industry has many sectors which our aspiring hospitality graduates can not only work in but more importantly build a career. As employers we need to be clear on what our expectations are of these motivated individuals and really find out what their long term aspirations are. We should not be looking to employ students so they have a part time job and gain some work experience in our industry, instead we should be looking at how to develop their talent and continue to inspire them so they can have a varied career within hospitality.
This is what the Institute of Hospitality London Coaching Programme aims to do. At the Student Forum the hospitality students that attended were invited to present a one minute video pitch or live pitch in front of their peers (over 130 of them) to express ?How having a professional hospitality coach would benefit them personally and professionally?.
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