Tourism graduate jobs & grad schemes

People underestimate how many different job types the travel and tourism industry encompasses. It does include the jet-setting roles that people expect, but also refers to hospitality and consultant-type work, assisting tourists and holidaymakers. So, depending on what area of tourism you’re interested in, you could end up in a range of different positions.

Some of the most common job opportunities for tourism graduates are:

• Museum Staff
• Conservation Assistants
• Travel Agents
• Air Cabin Crew
• Bar Staff
• Tour Guides
• Customer Service Staff
• Hotel Manager

Ultimately, working in the tourism industry will see you assisting the hospitality, travel, and/or entertainment of potential tourists. Travel and tourism degrees often include a placement year, as it is an industry that is best learnt practically. If you are doing a degree in tourism with the view of looking at tourism degree jobs, this year can prove formative. It helps you to work out what areas of tourism you’re really interested in, and therefore what jobs in tourism actually appeal to you.

Tourism roles can provide fulfilling and exciting careers for graduates. They are cultural and often experience-based opportunities that give jobseekers the chance to pursue a career path that exists outside the traditional office workspace. Some tourism jobs are still office-based, but the nature of the work is people-based, cultural, and often global. Careers in tourism provide prospects and outlooks that other industries fail to!

It is also a relatively stable industry. There are of course exceptional and rare global events that can affect this, but on the whole, tourism is a constant in our society. The industry has been growing steadily over the last ten years, and as a result continues to provide plenty of tourism opportunities for job-hunting graduates.

It is also flexible, as the vacancies tend to equip you with skills that are very transferable across industries and job types. Communication, teamwork, problem solving, and interpersonal skills are all fundamental, and can put you in good stead to pursue multiple careers if you end up moving on from tourism.

Junior tourism jobs are not too hard to get. Hospitality and bar work is constantly competitive, as it can provide a great part-time option for those who need work with a flexible schedule. However, there is also usually a surplus of vacancies in those sectors to meet this demand.

Tourism graduate schemes are good options for travel and tourism graduates who aren’t sure what they want to specialise in. Often rotational, they can help you try to pinpoint what area of the industry you think you could best thrive in. If you don’t manage to get onto a graduate scheme, it is worth seeking other routes to try and land some work experience or volunteering work.

Due to the customer-facing nature of much of this work, employers want to be able to trust your ability to communicate well with paying customers. Being able to clearly demonstrate that you’ve successfully handled large and potentially challenging groups of customers will go a long way to helping you secure entry level tourism jobs.

And, if you’re still at a loss, make sure to register with Give a Grad a Go on our website. Our Consultants are graduate recruiting experts, and will look at your CV carefully, chat with you, and cross-reference with the many tourism roles we are currently advertising for. As well, when any new roles appear, they can call you straight away to let you know. If you want to find an easier route to securing tourism grad jobs, trust Give a Grad a Go, the UK’s leading graduate recruitment agency.