Hospitality management graduates’ perceptions of career factor importance and career factor experience

• Within 10 years of graduating, 29.1% of hospitality graduates were not in the hospitality industry.
• An enjoyable career is the most important factor when choosing a career for hospitality graduates.
• Starting salary less important than earnings over the length of hospitality graduates' careers.
• Hiring managers' perceptions of what is important to employees are not always accurate.

The purpose of this research was to examine the perceived importance and perceived experiences of career factors for hospitality management graduates and to examine differences in perceptions of hospitality graduates who left the hospitality industry with those who stayed. In addition, differences in perceptions between hospitality graduates and hiring managers were examined. Compared to those who had left the industry, hospitality graduates working in the hospitality industry indicated 11 factors were more important to them. Examples of these factors included having a career where graduates use their degree and a career with good promotion prospects. Graduates who left the hospitality industry indicated it was more important to have a career where they could contribute to society as compared to graduates that stayed in the industry. Hiring managers perceived their organizations offered more in a career than the graduates expected or deemed important which contradicts the findings from the graduates.