While more than 300 students will graduate from Johnson & Wales University this year and go into the hotel industry, few will stay in Rhode Island to fulfill that goal.
"They come from all over the world and go back to all over the world," said Dick Brush, dean of hospitality at the university. "The job market is nowhere near as good as it was last year. Geographic preferences are a thing of the past."
Brush said the entire industry is down. "Now it’s a question of are you down single or double digits," said Brush.
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Graduates may not have a choice as to where they work geographically, but they do have a range of options as to what section of the industry they go into.
Most students go into the full service sector, which includes working in the food and beverage section of the industry as well as the room service sectors, Brush said.
"The full service sector is a good career path because students can ascend the ladder quickly," Brush said.
The full service sector has always been larger than the limited service – hotels that offer just a room and maybe breakfast, but no other services, he said.
Students graduating with a degree in hotel management go into positions all over the map, Brush said.
"The biggest number of them start out in management training programs that most of the bigger corporations have. They are mostly highly structured programs that allow trainees to cycle through different jobs at different properties," he said.
Other companies have a limited approach to management training. They put trainees in a position for six months and if they prove themselves, they get promoted.
Students can go into a variety of sections within the hotel industry including sales, accounting, front desk service, management, room service and more. And they all graduate having gotten a taste of each one.
"No one leaves here without experience," Brush said.
Every student studying hotel management does an 11-week internship during his or her sophomore year in order to give them hands-on experience in the field, Brush said.
"They cycle through 11 different jobs like housekeeping, banquets, most of the major jobs you can imagine in a hotel," Brush said.
Students can also opt to do a co-op and others simply work at hotels to pay their way through school while also getting practical experience, he said. And it doesn’t matter what they do at the hotel as long as they get a foot in the door.
"The most important thing is to get experience in a hotel while they’re in school…earn money and gain experience, show that they have a strong work ethic and interest in the industry," he said.
But there are skills students need to learn before they can venture out into the real world – and Johnson & Wales has a variety of ways to prepare students to enter the ever-changing hotel industry.
In order to keep up with the changing trends in the industry, Johnson & Wales has introduced a new program called DACUM, Developing a Curriculum. Experts from the field come into the school and keep the dean posted about skills students will need to be successful.
Brush said some of the skills students need to succeed in the industry include knowing foreign languages, especially Spanish, having an understanding of the global travel industry and understanding contemporary issues.
"These issues change from year to year and term to term," Brush said. "We’re now talking about problems associated with problems in the industry after Sept. 11. That course allows students to stay very current."
Technology is another aspect of the industry that is always changing, Brush said.
"There is definitely a set of skills students need to go into the business and those skills change over time," he said. Computer skills have become a big part of that and even that has changed over the years. Most hotels have been using DOS systems for their front desk and accounting programs, but as the world became more focused on and comfortable using Microsoft Windows, hotels have begun to change over to that program as well, Brush said.
"You have to be pretty adaptive," Brush said. "You have to be able to handle stressful situations."
