Suppose you are looking to take the next step in your hospitality management career. In that case, there are a number of things you can do, from improving the quality of your CV and personal branding efforts to using job boards, social media sites, and other platforms. Here, you will find some useful tips to help you find your next management job.

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10 Hospitality Management Career Tips to Find Your Next Job

Hospitality management careers can be extremely competitive, with many people applying for senior roles as and when they become available. Below, you will find 10 tips that can help you find the right job, stand out from other applicants, and ensure you have the best chance of taking the next step big in your career.

1. Begin Your Hospitality Management Career With Proper Education & Training

When it comes to advancing hospitality management careers, participating in relevant education or training programs is always an advantage, and some formal qualifications may even be essential for certain roles. For instance, some senior hotel positions require a bachelor’s degree in a related field or even a postgraduate degree.

Away from university or college education, however, it is important to remember that the hospitality sector provides excellent opportunities to work your way up the career ladder. This means you can begin in an entry-level position, work hard, take the initiative, learn on the job, and ultimately progress to an executive or managerial role.

With this in mind, you should pay attention to training and coaching opportunities in the workplace. Some of the training programs in the hospitality industry can help enhance your skills while also ensuring you have the necessary knowledge and experience to step into a management job when the time comes.

2. Make Sure You Build an Amazing CV

Reading your CV is likely the first opportunity an employer or recruiter has to judge your suitability, so you must take the time to get it right. To begin with, you need to make sure you tailor your CV, based on the specific job description and person specification for the role you are applying for.

Regarding applying for hospitality management careers, reading examples of high-quality CVs from within the industry can be a good idea. Given the nature of the role, it is also important to highlight the experience you have and to try to highlight achievements or successes rather than simply listing previous jobs.

As a general rule, it is recommended that you keep your CV concise, focusing on relevant information. Of course, you also need to check for spelling and grammatical mistakes and use a professional font and layout too.

3. Boost Your Hospitality Management Career Through Personal Branding

Personal branding is an increasingly important ingredient in a successful hospitality management career. Essentially, this refers to the practice of marketing yourself similarly to a brand. It is an ongoing process where you take steps to highlight your unique qualities and what you have to offer employers.

These days, the first thing many recruiters and employers will do, long before inviting you for an interview, is conduct background research online. This means performing a Google search for your name and seeing what information is available. A key part of personal branding involves managing what they are presented with.

For example, you need to ensure the information on your LinkedIn profile does not contradict anything you said in your CV or on your application. You should make sure your posts on social media platforms reflect well on you as a potential manager, and you can even use About.me to create a personal web page.

4. Use Job Boards to Find Hospitality Management Career Opportunities

Job boards represent one of the most popular channels for employers to advertise senior roles. Meanwhile, for job seekers, they also provide a convenient way to find jobs and apply for them online. For this reason, those searching for the next step in their hospitality management careers need to utilize these hospitality job boards effectively.

In the article “Hospitality Manager: List of Job Boards to Boost Your Career”, you will find a list of some of the biggest job boards used to advertise senior hospitality positions, including restaurant, bar, and hotel jobs.

5. Find Your Next Hospitality Management Career Move Directly

Approaching companies directly can pay dividends when it comes to finding opportunities to advance hospitality management careers. This is because many of the world’s biggest hotel chains will advertise hotel management jobs on their own company website instead of posting them on job boards or social media channels.

Read “Hospitality Management Jobs: List of Hotel Chains to Find a Job,” and you will be able to find a list of some of the most popular hotel companies in the world, all of which advertise jobs on their own websites.

6. Use These Hospitality Management Career Tips for LinkedIn

LinkedIn can be an ideal platform for boosting your hospitality management career because it offers many ways to leverage opportunities. For instance, it features its own ‘Jobs’ page, making it easy to search for relevant jobs based on your preferences and the network you have built on the platform.

Yet, in addition to this, you can use the social networking site to reach out to other professionals in the industry. They may then be able to point you in the direction of job opportunities not advertised on the platform, put you in touch with key decision-makers, and/or offer advice on advancing your career.

7. Let Recruitment Agencies Help You With Your Hospitality Management Career

Recruitment agencies can be invaluable in bridging the gap between employers and candidates seeking jobs. Although most recruitment agencies work on behalf of employers, they will often have plenty of expert insights to share with candidates too. After all, it is in their interests to source the best possible candidates for each role.

A key benefit of using a recruitment agency to help with your hospitality management career is the fact that many agencies specialize in identifying candidates for senior hospitality roles. This means they have excellent insider knowledge of what employers are looking for and what they tend to dislike or avoid.

8. Preparation Before the Job Interview

Once you know you will be attending an interview, there are a number of steps that can be taken to make sure you are fully prepared. Firstly, you should ensure you wear something appropriate for the interview. Unless you have been specifically told otherwise, you should look as smart as possible in formal attire.

It can also be important to research the company you are applying for. Find out about the business and how it tries to present itself to customers. Before the interview, you should also try to come up with a few questions about the business or the job and the specific tasks you will be doing if you are hired.

9. Tips for During the Job Interview

When the day of the interview arrives, you should make sure you turn up at the location on time. Try to ensure you are well-rested, look presentable, and have everything you need. It can be a good idea to bring additional copies of your CV with you so that you can refer to it and the interviewers can too.

Turn your phone off before entering the room, and relax as much as possible. You should attempt to present yourself as confident, calm, and capable but also passionate. Try to display positive, open body language and, when possible, try to answer questions by giving specific examples of things you have done during your career.

10. Network During Your Hospitality Management Career

Ultimately, hospitality management careers can be assisted greatly through effective networking. Other people will have plenty of advice and experience to share with you, and taking the next step in your career or finding the right opportunity at the right time can be as much about who you reach out to as anything else.

Modern networking occurs online, and platforms like LinkedIn and Twitter can be especially effective. Use these sites to connect with professionals working for companies you are interested in or those doing jobs you would like to do. You should also follow company recruitment accounts.

However, networking can also take place offline, so you must consider attending industry events and building and maintaining strong relationships with your co-workers. You never know when having an established, positive relationship with somebody could help to give you a career breakthrough.

Video: The Most Common Interview Questions And Answers

In this video, Niharika discusses the most common interview questions and answers. So be prepared.

 

Channels for Identifying Hospitality Jobs

Advancing hospitality management careers is likely to provide a number of different challenges, but one of the biggest can be actually finding the right hospitality jobs. After all, it is important to remember that employers may use a variety of different channels actually to advertise the vacancies that come up.

Read the “Channels for Identifying Hospitality Jobs” article for a list of some of the most important channels you can use to identify and apply for management jobs, including specific examples of job boards, company websites, social media platforms, and recruitment agencies focused on hospitality.

Overview of Different Hospitality Careers

Hospitality careers can be extremely varied, from entry-level roles to numerous, more senior hospitality management careers. Choosing the right path based on your abilities, personal qualities, qualifications, and preferences is important and requires understanding what each hospitality position involves.

In “Overview of Different Hospitality Careers,” you can find a list of the key positions within the hospitality industry, along with information on what day-to-day life looks like in each case.

Tips on Securing a Hotel Manager Job

When evaluating the numerous hospitality management careers available, many are drawn to the role of a hotel manager. After all, hotels are among the largest employers in the hospitality industry, and managing a hotel or a department within a hotel provides a challenging and varied experience.

Read our article, “Tips on Securing a Hotel Manager Job”, for some detailed advice on advancing your career and succeeding in finding employment as a hotel manager.

Hospitality Industry; Everything You Need to Know About Hospitality

The hospitality industry itself is vast, as it includes a number of different types of businesses, from hotels and B&Bs to restaurants, cafes, bars, and clubs. However, it can also cause confusion, as it overlaps with things like the hotel and travel industries, despite having a different definition.

Our post, “Hospitality Industry: The No. 1 Hospitality Information Guide!” will explain more about how to define the industry while also looking at some of the key trends that are associated with it.

Hospitality Management: The Essentials About Hospitality

Given the broad nature of the hospitality industry, it is fair to say that the umbrella term of hospitality management incorporates various job roles. Nevertheless, while the relevant knowledge and expertise may vary, these roles all share similarities, especially regarding the responsibilities involved.

Check out “Hospitality Management: The Essentials About Hospitality” for more on the nature of hospitality management, typical entry requirements, and what hospitality management careers are likely to entail.

With high demand levels and entry requirements, hospitality management careers are challenging. Yet, by following the ten tips provided, you can give yourself the best possible chance of standing out from the crowd, fulfilling the job criteria, receiving an interview invitation, and succeeding in that interview.

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Revfine.com is a knowledge platform for the hospitality & travel industry. Professionals use our insights, strategies and actionable tips to get inspired, optimise revenue, innovate processes and improve customer experience. You can find all hotel & hospitality tips in the categories Revenue Management, Marketing & Distribution, Hotel Operations, Staffing & Career, Technology and Software.

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This article is written by:

Martijn Barten

Hi, I am Martijn Barten, founder of Revfine.com. With 20 years of experience in the hospitality industry, I specialize in optimizing revenue by combining revenue management with marketing strategies. I have successfully developed, implemented, and managed revenue management and marketing strategies for individual properties and multi-property portfolios.