With the abundant increase in hospitality jobs globally, many matric students are turning to hospitality as a future career path. We’re thrilled to have so many young people looking at becoming chefs, managers, spa directors, event planners and more. We look at the pros and cons of the industry by exploring 8 facts about the hospitality industry that everyone should know:

Let’s start with the pros:

There are plenty of jobs.

Our industry is growing and growth means job creation. Hospitality and Tourism is one of the world’s fastest-growing and most dynamic fields of employment, with positive trends forecasted for the coming years. A staggering 337 million jobs worldwide are predicted to come online by 2023.

You can travel with your work

Isn’t it exciting to know that you can travel to new countries and cities to work in in a variety of hospitality or culinary fields? Globally, there is a shortage of quality hospitality professionals. With the right qualifications, you could land yourself a fantastic job opportunity either in South Africa or anywhere else in the world. Cruise ships, casino hotels, Vegas, Miami, Brazil…travel, dream, explore!

You can change jobs within your industry easily

Our industry is diverse with many different avenues and sectors to consider for employment. For example, you could work in any of the following sectors:

• Hotels, resorts and game lodges;
• Restaurants and all other types of foodservice operations;
• Cruise ships, airlines and luxury passenger rail
• Meetings, events and incentives, to name but a few.

The world is your oyster you can never get bored with the variety of opportunities this industry offers to those who join.

You become part of a community

Hoteliers, chefs and hospitality professionals are a close-knit community. There’s an understanding of the hours involved, the type of work ethic required and the passion and commitment it takes to work in this industry. Networking with like-minded professionals is easy to achieve and helps with mentoring, growth and development.

Let’s look at the cons:

The hours of work for hotel operations can be unsociable

In reality, you’re probably going to work shifts or unsociable hours at some point in your hospitality career (usually when guests are relaxing, dining or sleeping). If the hotel where you work offers accommodation to the leisure market, your weekends will be your busiest time. We’re not saying that you will be required to work excessively long hours, but operationally, you may be required to work unsocial hours. Your holidays may be at different times to your friends – if you are required to work during season, you’re definitely not going to get time off then. Some hoteliers view this as a blessing, so it’s all down to perspective.

Not all hotels are created the same

Whilst some hotels or hotel groups have programmes to develop their staff, not all hotels follow this practice. Find a hotel or group that chooses to empower staff through training and development. When you improve your skills and you are able and empowered to make critical decisions, you will become more employable.

The customer is king even when he isn’t

As annoying as it is, you have got to remain professional at all times, even when the customer is being unreasonable or difficult for no reason. It’s a challenge to do this well, so make sure you’re practised and skilled to deal with rude customers…with a smile.

It’s more back of house than you think

Remember that hospitality is a very glamourous industry, however, you’re not always going to work in the glamorous side of things. In fact, you may well be working back-of-house, where no celebrity knows your name. Turning up to work every day in our industry should be because you are passionate about serving people, however that may be (front or back of house) and to whomever that may be.

Take a look at some of the pros and cons we’ve discussed here and let us know if you have any questions about the industry, or how IHS can help you achieve your hospitality or culinary dreams. Email info@dev.brokenpony.club or ring 0861 44 33 00 to chat to a consultant today.