An exploratory study of hospitality internships: Student perceptions of orientation and training and their plans to seek permanent employment with the company

ABSTRACT

This study explores the perceptions of hospitality students regarding their orientation and training during their internship and their plans to seek permanent employment. The results indicate that the majority of the students felt that they did receive a sufficient level of training. In addition it was a close split between those who would return to work for their host company with the majority of students indicating that they would not leave the industry as a whole. This demonstrates that internships played a role as a realistic job preview for some of the students because many planned on continuing toward a career in the hospitality industry. However the research also indicated that 42.9% of the students did not plan on returning to the same location for future employment. While students overall enjoyed their experience during the internship, the fact that they would not return to their internship location could indicate that students want to pursue other companies or other opportunities within the industry. The results of this study will assist operators in selecting effective internship training and development approaches.

KEYWORDS:

• Internships
• orientation
• training