As the deadline for clearing approaches (20th September 2016), Best Western Great Britain has published the results of the Best Western Careers Index revealing what aspirations parents from Central England have for the careers of their children, uncovering some surprising results. The independent survey of over 1,000 parents revealed that despite recent strike action, medicine is the top preferred career, followed by accountancy and being an engineer.
Sales professionals, farmers and hospitality professionals are the least preferred careers for their children. Interestingly, more parents would prefer their kids to be a builder (28%) than a journalist (14%).
Perhaps surprisingly given the success of the British Olympic team at Rio, parents in Central England did not want their children to be professional athletes, ranking it in the 10 least preferred careers, although more mums (18%) were favourable to their children pursuing a sporting career than dads (12%).
Worrying for hospitality though was the low confidence parents have in the industry.
More than a third of parents in Central England (40%) say they’d discourage their child from a career in hospitality, despite there being an estimated 90,000 jobs available. 52% of parents say that’s because of long hours and 58% say it's because of poor pay.
Best Western Great Britain also surveyed its hotels on the topic and 60% of hotels said the most difficult job position to recruit for was chefs - this is despite the huge popularity of baking and cooking television programmes.
September is a defining point for the careers of many. As young people across the country are getting ready to start university, others are still trying to get a place through the clearing process and could be considering alternative career options including direct entry into the workplace.
Best Western Great Britain’s CEO, Rob Payne, representing the group’s 260+ independently owned and managed hotels, said the research showed how much work the hospitality industry still has to do.
“We have enjoyed incredible broadcast exposure for our industry over the last 20 years, probably more media profile than any other industry and yet despite, that we are struggling to fill positions and persuade parents and young people that hospitality is a first choice career and not just a summer job.
“It offers great, diverse and rewarding careers offering fast promotion opportunities based on hard work, not grades, providing school leavers and graduates with a career for life and yet we are clearly suffering a lack of confidence in our industry and its prospects.”
Best Western Great Britain is committed to working closely with its members and industry bodies to find a solution to promoting a positive future for hospitality.
