Tourism, Food, & Beverage

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Roles and Work Environment
Skills and Training
Industry Timeline
Find Opportunities
Applying and Interviewing
Additional Industry Resources

Roles and Work Environment

The tourism, food and beverage industry relies on the creativity of makers. While many advertised roles in the industry focus on providing friendly, efficient and attentive customer service, it’s important to look past those roles to the craftspeople, event planners, and experience designers that allow a leisure experience to be truly unique and memorable. Though some of these organizations may be small and family-run, most organizations are likely to employ financial professionals, marketing staff, and administrative staff. Specialized knowledge of the certain area and excellent communication skills are highly important in the industry.

Below is a sampling of roles you might find:

Banquet & Conferences Planners
Spa and Wellness Managers
Wine Buyers
Travel Agents
Event Photographers
Wedding Planners

Skills and Training

Budget Planning
Communication
Destination Planning
Marketing
Research
Tourism Development
Visitor Management

Industry Timeline

The recruitment timeline in this industry is based on position vacancy. The following example is an organization who offers tourism internships to UVA students.

Sea Turtles 911

The non-profit organization Sea Turtles 911 hosts an Educational Tourism Internship Program in Hawaii which provides students and young professionals with experiences working on the 'frontlines' of endangered species conservation and research. Students gain unique work experiences while giving back to the community and living on the tropical Paradise island of Hawaii. Educational outreach and tourism interns tackle the challenges of creating effective eco-tourism programs which not only imparts information but also inspires the participants to action. The summer internship program starts in June and ends in August. The application deadline is December 31^st.

Find Opportunities

On-Grounds

Off-Grounds

Applying and Interviewing

Resumes and Cover Letters

Your professional resume should address skills needed in your desired field and special accomplishments or results-oriented tasks you performed in previous work. Depending on the specific job function you hope to fulfil, those skills might include:

Critical Thinking
Creativity
Leadership
Broad Content Knowledge
Ability to Improve with Feedback
Savvy with Technology

(SNAAPShot 2013)

When it comes to choosing a format, some arts or media organizations may be more tolerant of design-heavy resumes that use color, graphics, or otherwise veer from the traditional one-page resume. Keep in mind that, regardless of the field, hiring managers are more interested in quality content (what have you done?) than visual appeal. In fact, some employers view non-traditional resumes as a tool for masking a lack of experience. Don't let this be you! Use work samples and your online portfolio to show your design skills so you can keep your resume content-focused.

Interviewing

The interviewing process varies with positions in this industry.

The following are some sample interview questions.

Describe a situation where you have had a conflict with a co-worker and how you have worked to resolve the situation.
Describe a situation where you had to learn a significant amount of information and give a presentation on that topic.
Describe your experience in hiring, training, scheduling, and supervising employees.
Describe your experiences working with students from diverse backgrounds.