Are you studying Hospitality Management?
Don’t really see yourself working in hotels or restaurants?
Trying to figure out a path for your career?
Well, you’ve come to the right place!
As a hospitality student how and future leader in the industry, this is how you can scope out roles you are interested in and put them on your career plan!
Today, I am going to uncover career opportunities in the Travel and Transportation sector of the hospitality industry. And along the way, I will share lots of handy LinkedIn tips too!
This is part of a series on hospitality industry careers, where I reveal “secret” careers and jobs that you didn’t know about in 11 hospitality industry sectors. Helping you create your own career path in the hospitality industry!
You can learn about this on video too if you prefer to watch rather than read, that's here:
So today, we’re looking at the Travel and Transportation sector of the hospitality industry!
Let’s define the Travel and Transportation sector
Travel and Transportation sector includes means of transport such as aeroplane, car, bus, bike, train, etc. Any means that you use to transport yourself from A to B to C is part of the travel and transportation sector. The sector also includes all companies that allow for that to take place - travel agencies and suppliers.
To clarify, tourism is not included in this sector, the tourism sector is about destination management and we will cover it in this series in a few weeks time. Make sure to subscribe on YouTube or sing up to get alerts in your inbox so you don’t miss them every Tuesday!
What kind of jobs can you have in the Travel and Transportation sector?
Let’s start by exploring the airline industry.
It is a fascinating one and has a lot of layers to unfold. And actually, I am not going to look at airlines themselves today, I am going to look at a company that is involved in the running of the airport itself and that airlines use as a supplier.
Let’s look at a company called SATS.
Their company description is:
SATS is Asia's leading provider of food solutions and gateway services. Our food solutions include airline catering as well as central kitchens for food service chains and institutions. Our comprehensive gateway services encompass airfreight handling, passenger services, ramp handling, baggage handling, aviation security services, aircraft interior and exterior cleaning, as well as cruise centre management.
They provide essential services to the airport and airlines. Without SATS neither would be able to operate. That’s a lot! They practically do everything at the airport!
Have you ever thought about the companies and people that it takes to operate something as complex as an airport?
So let’s go ahead and look at the jobs you can have at this company.
Thanks to LinkedIn, you can find out a lot of jobs you never knew about before at all kinds of companies.
Here’s how you find jobs for your career on LinkedIn
Your first instinct could be to just go to the jobs section, which is a good place, you could find something interesting there, but you are limited to the jobs that are posted and are open for hire.
Here is where you go click on “See all employees on LinkedIn” or "People" and get presented with a list of people on LinkedIn that have claimed to be working at the company.
You can see as far as the 3rd-degree connection, and depending on the individual’s personal setting you can see details of their personal profile. This is THE best way to learn about people’s careers and discover jobs you didn’t know about!
Let’s look at this one guy, Spencer. Spencer is “Consumer Services, Chief Strategy & Sustainability Officer” based in Singapore.
Can you figure out what he does from his job title? Maybe, maybe not, but can scroll down and see his whole career path, learning how he got there.
Unfortunately, he does not describe his job on his profile but a lot of people do and that can bring a lot of valuable insight for your career plan and job search!
So now you know 3 things about airports and careers linked to them:
There is a company (regional and global companies) that provides food catering to airports and airlines across 14 countries
That company also takes care of literally all operations of the airport, making it run smoothly
There is a lot to the airline industry beyond the airlines and the careers of pilots and stewardesses!
Airline jobs and aviation careers are plenty! Just imagine everything that goes on to make the industry work!
As a hospitality student how and future leader in the industry, this is how you can scope out roles you are interested in and put them on your career plan!
Next up, we’re going look at travel agency careers.
Careers and jobs at a Travel Agency
Let’s look at an agency called Black Tomato, as an example.
They are a small travel agency and define themselves as “creators of unique tailored travel experiences.”
Company description is:
“They create inspiring itineraries in up and coming and remote destinations, recommend the best design hotels and provide their clients with the inside track wherever they are.”
They only have 62 employees, so it is a boutique agency. So let’s look at what they do.
Scroll through the pages of employees to find one of two that have interesting titles, manager, executives and coordinators, so you can relate to them a bit more than the CEOs.
Review their profiles, and see what they say about their experience and responsibilities. How they got there and what skills they have.
Let’s look at Luisa, she is a Travel expert, that’s a very interesting title, let’s explore.
Her current role does not have a description, but you can see her career progression and what some of her responsibilities were. From this, and the company's description, I would conclude that her job as a “travel expert” is the job of a Travel Agent in other words.
I will assume that her job is to plan tailored travel experiences for a group of clients, but the best you can do to find out is to ask her. Yes, you can message people you don’t know on LinkedIn and ask them about their job. That's called networking!
On the right-hand side of people's profiles, you can also see suggested people that may have similar jobs so go ahead and explore that.
As a Travel Agent, you could do remotely, working from home, or wherever you are.
Going back to the list of employees, here is another interesting title: Leisure Concierge.
Straight away, you can imagine what that means - she provides digital concierge services for leisure travellers.
And this is how you find people with cool jobs you probably didn’t know existed in the first place in all kinds of companies!
And here’s a bonus tip for LinkedIn and career search!
To find more similar companies just go to the company page and click follow. Similar companies will pop up for you to discover.
You can also just scroll down and see similar companies on the right-hand side!
What did you learn today? What company are you going to explore?
This is part of a series on hospitality industry careers, where I reveal “secret” careers and jobs that you didn’t know about in 11 hospitality industry sectors. Helping you create a career path in the hospitality industry!
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