First-year hospitality students: an exploration into their background and the initial importance of career success aspects

Students enter college each year with a variety of different backgrounds and experiences. This study explored first-year hospitality students in an attempt to better understand their background and the initial importance of career success factors. Regardless of entry-level status, students rated themselves positively on key industry useful skills. Students also showed differences in their perceptions of how recruiters may view the usefulness of these skills, though major differences did not occur based on the students' work experience background.