Caption: One of the Careers Fair in the past organised by STHM for its students. Photo: SUPPLIED.
The University of the South Pacific’s School of Tourism and Hospitality Management (STHM) will be holding its annual careers fair to provide students with the opportunity to meet with tourism and hospitality organisations to gain ideas on potential career paths and employment opportunities.
Around 90 students are expected to take part in the careers fair which will be held at Shangri-La Fijian Resort & Spa on 25 September 2015.
Students are excited about the opportunity to meet and be interviewed by some of the leading hoteliers and tourism operators around the country.
“I am excited about the careers fair because I am looking forwarding to the work environment. I am also looking forward to learning and gaining experience with the hospitality industry,” said Caroline Low, Bachelor of Commerce in Hotel Management programme student.
Similarly for Farisha Nisha, she is also looking forward to the careers fair and hopes to get a job before graduation. Her aim is to get a job in sales and marketing or revenue management with one of the 5-star resorts in Fiji.
Another student, Jurgen Traill said, “the careers fair is the perfect platform for resorts and hotels to meet the future leaders of the Pacific tourism industry. It is, however, a nervous yet exciting event for us and we all hope to impress.”
The event is being organised in consultation with industry stakeholders and will feature 24 different employers from the tourism and hospitality sector.
Coordinator for the Hotel Management programme, Greg Cornwall says that the careers fair is great for future young managers as they have the opportunity to interview for 12-month internships in 2016 at top 4 or 5 star hotel and resort properties in the South Pacific.
He added that the internship enables the students to apply management theory, learn practical skills and gain experience prior to their final year where they learn to develop business plans, sales and marketing plans and undertake applied research and experiential learning. Their internship activities are recorded in a diary where they reflect on the various situations they encounter whilst working in food and beverage, rooms division, finance, sales and human resources.
“At the careers fair, students will be able to meet general managers and human resources managers from all sectors of the tourism industry and possibly be hired as graduate trainee managers or obtain full time positions in 2016,” Cornwall said.
Generous tourism and hospitality organisations again donated great prizes for the raffle tickets, which are being sold by students in order to help fund the careers fair and STHM’s Graduation Ball, scheduled for 17 October.
USP