Careers for Business, IT and Tourism Students
Your degree in Business, IT and / or Tourism Management provides a foundation for entry into careers related to your subject as well as giving access to occupations open to graduates of any discipline (about 50% of ‘graduate vacancies’ - see Any Degree – Any Career?)
Skills and knowledge
The ability to articulate your skills to employers or colleagues is hugely important in securing future opportunities. Some examples of skills are listed below. Your personal skill set may include some or all of these as well as others. Tools and tips for personal reflection are available from the PDP pages and the Decision Making page. The practical experience gained from a business related course can make a strong case to employers.
General skills may include:
- Personal management – self motivation, time management, problem solving skills, self reflection, ability to study independently, set goals, manage workload and meet deadlines.
- Communication – written, oral and listening skills to various groups and individuals in formal and informal contexts.
- Team working, interpersonal and social skills – ability to negotiate and pursue goals in a team, respond to leadership and take the lead where appropriate.
- Numeracy and quantitative skills relevant to business and management
- Confidence – in expressing ideas and engaging with others.
- Information – research, analysis, reasoning, logic, critical thinking, evaluation. Ability to use and assess a variety of sources.
Subject specific skills may include:
- Appreciating and understanding the theoretical basis of the subject
- Awareness of professional protocols and the cultural context of businesses including multidisciplinary aspects and contemporary issues – the moral, legal and ethical.
- Technical skills relevant to the discipline/s
- Understanding organisations: their internal and external environments, how they are managed, and identifying their future needs.
- Project management and related experience
Don’t know what you want to do?
It’s common! We’ve put together some suggestions addressing exactly this on Don’t Know What You Want to Do? A key aspect is looking at decision making. Other useful pages are PDP for self reflection and Work Experience for actually getting out and finding out about a job or sector. The Which Career? page also has linked resources.
The important thing is that deciding what to do needs working on – inspiration is unlikely just to hit. If it feels overwhelming try the approach that deciding what to do is often about matching your qualities, skills, experience, likes and ambitions with a realistic view of the opportunities that are out there and deciding on the practical steps to get started in that area
Work experience
Work experience is key to finding and securing opportunities after graduating. Students on Business, IT and Tourism courses can have an advantage in this because of the opportunities within the programmes to gain practical experience. The value of work experience includes, but is not limited to, the following:
- Providing evidence to future employers of your motivation and commitment to a career or sector (giving you credibility when targeting an area)
- Providing evidence of your skills as well as further opportunities to develop them
- Confirming your interest in a sector or job or leading you to reassess your career ideas through improved knowledge of the roles that are available
There are opportunities to gain further valuable work experience outside of those provided in your course. More information about finding and making the most of work experience is available from the Work Experience and Creative Job Hunting (for finding contacts) pages.
Business / IT opportunities are everywhere
So many vacancies and careers require business and IT skills that it would be impossible to list all that might be of interest. Businesses who could be potential employers can be found quickly and easily through directories. Two examples are: www.yell.com and www.askalix.com/uk. Others are suggested on the Creative Job Hunting page.
The sections below link to pages on this site that should help your research.
Finding opportunities
Two key pages are Jobs after Graduating for sources of advertised vacancies and Creative Job Hunting for a more innovative search.
As the opportunities for business related graduates are so varied the potential sources of vacancies are also extensive. It’s probably worth deciding which sector/s or what kind of roles you are interested in so that you can focus your search. Pages to help are available from Which Career? Resources relating to CVs, interviews, assessment centres are available from How Do I Get a Job?
Sectors:
The following sectors are particularly popular with business and IT graduates, and understanding the sector you are aiming for is an important step. Click on the name for a profile courtesy of Prospects.ac.uk:
Small to medium sized employers (SMEs):
SMEs are a good source of opportunities. Some of the benefits include an increased level of responsibility early on in your career and a varied role exactly because there are fewer employees. For an overview see the section from Prospects on Small and Medium Sized Employers or the SMEs section on the Jobs After Graduating page.
Local employers:
If you are looking to stay locally the techniques and tips on both the Creative Job Hunting and Jobs After Graduating pages will still be useful – you’ll just add location as a key factor. Work experience and the innovative approach described on the Creative Job Hunting page will be especially relevant as you’ll need to identify opportunities and openings. Again looking at SMEs could be key. Some local employers are linked to on the Jobs After Graduating page.
Graduate schemes:
Business and related graduates are often targeted for graduate schemes. If you are interested in starting your career this way it’s worth remembering that closing dates are usually early in your final academic year – you’ll probably need to start researching and preparing your application in your penultimate year. A tiny percentage of graduates are employed on these schemes. For more see the Jobs After Graduating page.
Enterprise and self employment:
A further option is self employment and enterprise – either straight after graduating or later on. We’ve linked to relevant resources on the Self-Employment page.
Tourism
The general information above for business is relevant for tourism graduates. Some additional resources are included here:
Related sectors and roles
The following sectors are particularly relevant to tourism graduates, and understanding the sector you are aiming for is an important step. Click on the name for a profile courtesy of Prospects.ac.uk:
Some relevant roles are:
- Tourism Officer
- Hotel Manager
- Tour Manager
- Tourist Information Centre Manager
- Travel Agency Manager
- Conference Centre Management
- Event Organiser
Tourism useful links
ABTA - use the search facility to find ABTA members, again a useful employer directory: www.abta.com/index.shtml
The Association of Independent Tour Operators: www.aito.co.uk. Has a useful list of members: www.aito.co.uk/corporate_memberslisting.asp
Ecotourism promotes responsible travel. Has a small jobs section, a good general resource for eco tourism: www.ecotourism.org
Hospitality jobs board: www.hcareers.co.uk
Leisure Jobs is a job board for the leisure, hospitality, sport and travel industries: www.leisurejobs.com
Leisure Opportunities is also a job board for the leisure sector – including tourism: www.leisureopportunities.co.uk
LG Careers for job descriptions related to local authority tourism: www.lgcareers.com. Vacancies are available from LG Jobs: www.lgjobs.com
Responsible Travel ( based in Brighton) could be useful to identify sustainable tourism companies: www.responsibletravel.com
Travel Industry Jobs: www.travelindustryjobs.co.uk
Further study
If you are thinking about further study there are several key areas to research. These include assessing the value of further study for your future plans, finding and applying to the most appropriate courses and funding your study. More information and course search facilities are available from the Postgraduate and Further Study page.
It can be necessary to be quite persistent in your course search as there is not a central admissions service for postgrad courses (except for some vocational subjects). UCAS's search facility can be particularly useful in identifying universities that have relevant departments and then the universities themselves are then the best source of information www.ucas.ac.uk.
Other options
Have a look at our sections: Which Career?, How do I get a Job?, Work Experience, Postgrad and Further Study, Work and Study Abroad / Time Out and Special Interest Groups for resources aimed at all students regardless of course. Subjects covered include CVs, applications, interviews, decision making, career planning through your course, work experience, postgrad and further study, gap year / time out, diversity, international students and ethical careers.
Generally we encourage you to start thinking about what you want to do after university as early as possible in the course (don't worry - we know it doesn't always work like that!). For some tips on this see the Career Planning Through Your Course page.