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Hospitality
Graduate Survey Results for 2012
Part Two - The Hospitality Graduate and Student Perspective
By Jeff Ross, Managing Director, Hospitality Graduate Recruitment May 2012 PART 2 – THE HOSPITALITY GRADUATE AND STUDENT PERSPECTIVE In early 2012 HGR conducted a 3-part survey around the general themes of hotel school education, and student and graduate employment within the hospitality industry. Part 2 focused upon the student and graduate's perspective, with the aim of assessing the benefits to our industry in recruiting hotel school students and graduates, as well as the relevance of current hospitality education programmes to the industry. This part of the survey was sent to a sample of 1000 current hotel school students and 1000 recent hotel school graduates internationally. Below are the key findings: 1. Identify the primary benefit to a hospitality business in employing a hotel school graduate.
If
'no', list the reasons why not: (selected, repeated responses
shown below only)
From the above selection of survey results there are several key points of note. Quite refreshing is the clear recognition from students and graduates on the importance of sufficient practical components within the hospitality educational curriculum. Industry will no doubt murmur its collective approval to this sentiment. Similarly, it is positive to witness the realization of the importance of languages, both 'second' languages and 'native' English. A point which to some extent backs up findings from the hotel school survey (part 1 of this 3 part survey), is that of the desire from many to conduct a 12 month internship period rather than 6 months. 27% of respondents felt that 6 months was too short for an internship duration (37% of hotel school careers department respondents answered the same, and 56% of employers agreed that 6 months is too short). Whilst this is not conclusive in itself, there is sufficient reference to the need for longer internship timing in other areas of the survey to give merit to the finding. It is extremely encouraging to learn that 86% of respondents do want to enter the industry upon graduation. Previous HGR studies have shown much lower 'retention' rates, therefore many congratulations should be conveyed to all educational establishments for positively influencing this reassuring sentiment. For all these themes, one must be careful to avoid overly generalising, and conclusions should be selectively drawn. In combination with the other 2 parts of the HGR survey however, a more thorough picture is available. Thank you to all who participated in the survey. ABOUT HOSPITALITY GRADUATE RECRUITMENT (WWW.H-G-R.COM) Hospitality Graduate Recruitment (HGR) helps global hospitality employers find hotel school students and alumni for entry level, supervisory, trainee and junior management positions. HGR operates a leading website which allows you to search for candidates and allows students and alumni to apply online to vacancies. HGR works with over 300 partner hospitality management schools internationally, offering an extensive and diverse network of fresh talent. Visit our website for more information or contact Jeff N Ross, Managing Director, Hospitality Graduate Recruitment, [email protected] This article is copyright protected by Hotel-Online. Reuse by other media or news outlets or organizations is prohibited without permission. Personal use and sharing via social media tools is encouraged. |
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