Hospitality management: Your skills

Hospitality-related subjects offer a wide range of study options, both specialist and generalist. Whichever you choose, a degree in hospitality management gives you an in-depth understanding of the structure and operation of the industry and its related sectors. A common thread in all the related disciplines is a focus on identifying, understanding and responding to the needs of consumers, so as to provide an excellent customer experience.

You may also gain specialist practical and technical skills for operational and front-of-house competence. Business functions such as finance, human resources and marketing are also often covered, allowing you to acquire the necessary skills to develop constructive strategies to ensure profitability and success.

You also develop many other general skills sought by a range of employers. These include:

• analytical, critical and problem-solving skills, developed through researching, evaluating and presenting arguments and data;
• IT skills to collect, analyse and present information in spreadsheets and databases;
• 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.

Many courses offer an industrial placement, providing the opportunity to put academic learning into practice. Practical experience is invaluable as it helps to develop transferable and subject-specific skills further, while at the same time providing examples to prove your abilities to future employers.

Employers will be just as interested in your personal qualities as in your degree subject. The hospitality industry’s strong customer focus means you must be able to demonstrate a genuine interest in providing excellent customer service. It is a social business too, so you need to be friendly, outgoing and have good networking skills.