Hospitality/tourism job applications and educational expectation

Relatively little is known about basic educational goals and preferences among prospective hospitality/tourism industry employees. Relationships between hospitality/tourism career preferences and educational expectations have generally not been explored among this important group of people. Hospitality/ tourism job application letters prepared by 319 Australian secondary school students have been examined, together with a range of educational and teaching values so as to explore the learning and skilling aspirations of a sample of prospective hospitality industry employees. Problem‐solving emerged as the most favoured skill to be derived from the educational process. Those prospective hospitality/tourism industry employees more likely to advance their candidature by mentioning qualifications as well as personal and vocational attributes were also more mindful of the benefits of problem‐solving both within their present studies and also later in their professional life. The implications of these findings for hospitality/tourism as well as for prospective employees are examined.