This paper presents a structured five-year career development plan for an undergraduate business management student aiming to enter the hospitality and hotel management industry in the Middle East. The plan identifies specific career goals and objectives, outlines promotional opportunities tied to high-order cognitive skills, and describes methods for career management including mobility, planning, and personal strategy. It also inventories current skills and education, defines job satisfaction attributes, maps action steps toward becoming a general manager, identifies potential barriers such as theory-practice imbalance and globalization, and evaluates the impact of formal and non-formal career training programs on long-term professional success.
A career development plan is an important part of the performance review process, as it documents an individual's strengths and development areas with regard to career goals. The creation of this plan helps a person establish means and strategies to maximize opportunities for meaningful work in the future. Career goals should incorporate the development required to achieve success in one's current role as well as the necessary path to move into future roles. This is primarily because an individual's career encompasses work experiences that are critical in defining current and future work roles ("Career Development Plan," 2007).
The creation of career development goals emphasizes the current role, since any development requires current performance targets and competencies to guide priority for development planning. Planning for future career goals can begin after meeting the expectations of current roles. Notably, a career development plan for both current and future work goals is designed to be self-directed.
Identifying career goals and objectives begins with understanding one's current position. As an undergraduate junior from Saudi Arabia studying for a degree in Business Management in Los Angeles, the next step upon completing this degree is to pursue a degree in Hospitality in Switzerland. This path is intended to enable entry into the Hospitality and Hotel Management field in the Middle East. Although the current focus is a Business degree, a background in the hospitality business provides hands-on experience in the industry. The decision to pursue a career in Hospitality and Hotel Management was influenced by that professional experience.
A Business degree in management will be crucial in developing hotel management competencies such as communication skills, supervisory skills, and the ability to deliver customer satisfaction. The degree will also support competencies including the maintenance of professional and ethical standards, problem-solving, leadership, and the professionalism needed to accomplish operational objectives. The career goal, therefore, is to enter the field of Hospitality and Hotel Management in the Middle East, with a specific objective of working in hotel management and operations in the luxury sector. Both degrees are expected to be completed within seven years — the remaining three years for the Business Management degree and four years for the Hospitality degree.
In recent years, there has been a major shift in the Hospitality and Hotel Management industry, with general management skills increasingly integrated alongside practical components. Business management skills have become integral to the hospitality industry as a means of developing hotel management competencies. This integration stems from the fact that hospitality is deeply rooted in action management, which requires the maintenance of requisite skills in the curriculum (Whitelaw et al., 2009).
While these efforts promote the integration of general management competencies, the hospitality field does not always demonstrate a specific focus on the development of higher-order cognitive skills. As a result, this gap represents a potential promotional opportunity that fosters career growth. Developing higher-order cognitive skills will enable the analysis and integration of broader issues in the decision-making process and demonstrate the cognitive capacity to apply knowledge in operational settings.
Career management in the hospitality sector is based on three major concepts: career mobility, career planning, and personal career strategies. Regarding career mobility, the first step is a general evaluation of career length — how long it takes to accomplish the career goal. Since vocational education is being undertaken, the period required to reach the career goal will be shorter, though more time is spent in formal education. Reaching a general manager position would require a minimum of nine years: seven years in education and two years working in the field before assuming the general manager role (Ladkin & Juwaheer, 2000, p. 122). This will be followed by exploring the types of jobs and tasks involved along the way, analyzing how individuals navigate the labor market, and evaluating the factors that influence job moves.
Career planning involves an ongoing process of evaluating current and future goals and expectations in order to achieve career success. Personal career strategies, by contrast, involve creating measures to actively advance the career. The primary strategy is to be mobile and to develop international expertise and skills in order to succeed in the global hospitality industry. Additional personal strategies include gaining knowledge and experience by working in diverse settings, pursuing ongoing training to improve education and skills, developing clear long-term career goals, and making the most of opportunities provided by organizational training schemes.
"Skills inventory and job satisfaction attributes in hospitality"
"Three-phase action plan, barriers, and training program impact"
The hospitality and hotel management industry provides numerous opportunities for individual development and success. Notably, success in this industry depends on the formal and informal career training and educational programs that an individual receives. These programs support career development and management in relation to both current and future career goals. A career development plan is therefore grounded in the knowledge, skills, and abilities obtained through these training programs.
You’re 54% through this paper. Sign up to read the remaining 2 sections.
Sign Up Now — Instant Access Already a member? Log inAlways verify citation format against your institution’s current style guide requirements.