Careers in hospitality and retail

Emma-Louise Hospitality and retail. Yes, these are two separate sectors and we're going to discuss both of them today.

Frankie First of all, let's take a look at what each of the sectors includes. First up, hospitality.

Emma-Louise The hospitality sector includes: roles in the food and beverage industry –

Frankie that's restaurants, cafes, catering;

Emma-Louise accommodation –

Frankie like hotels or B and Bs;

Emma-Louise entertainment and recreation –

Frankie that could be cinemas, gyms, theatres, museums, sports events;

Emma-Louise and travel and tourism –

Frankie that's holidays, business trips, romantic weekends away.

Emma-Louise And then there's the retail sector,

Frankie which is made up of businesses or individuals selling goods or services to people.

Emma-Louise And the first and most obvious similarity between the two is the customer. Both sectors are concerned with providing something for people,

Frankie whether that be a summer holiday package or a mobile phone.

Emma-Louise And there is further crossover – bookshops sometimes have cafes on site, hotels frequently have gift shops, gyms often sell sports equipment.

Frankie And both sectors are constantly changing due to technology and customer habits.

Emma-Louise Online shopping apps, home delivery services, apps for booking accommodation, travel, or tickets to events and more have changed both sectors a lot in the last few decades.

Frankie With a combined workforce of over 5.4 million people, let's take a look at some of the roles available in these two exciting sectors. We'll start with the retail sector. As of 2020, there were almost 1,064,000 sales and retail assistants employed. They're the people who help you make your purchases in shops.

Emma-Louise The median pay for sales and retail assistants is a little over £19,000 and the number of jobs is expected to increase by 1% by 2025.

Frankie Sales supervisors earn a slightly higher salary of almost £23,000 and the number of roles is again expected to rise by 1% by 2025.

Emma-Louise There are many other roles in the retail sector for people who don't work in shops. For example, online shopping services now require a lot of people to work in warehouses and delivery activities.

Frankie In 2020, there were just under 28,000 managers and directors of warehouses employed in the UK, earning a median salary of a little over £29,000. And there are many other affiliated roles you could choose that help support the online retail sector, such as website designers who help shops create their online services, delivery drivers, or customer service representatives. Van drivers for example, earn a salary of around £20,500.

Emma-Louise If you have a passion for a particular product or service –

Frankie maybe you love flowers or clothes or cakes –

Emma-Louise there are roles out there, such as florists, tailors, and bakers. Wherever people buy there are roles to provide that service.

Frankie So, what about hospitality? In this sector there are a wide range of job opportunities, such as waiting staff, receptionists, or chefs. Chefs, for example, have a median pay of little under £20,000.

Emma-Louise Even with the advent of food delivery services, restaurants and cafes still need chefs to make the food, and other staff to manage the orders and prepare the deliveries.

Frankie Or you may be more interested in the hotel and accommodation trade rather than food. Hotel managers earn a median pay of over £28,000 and the number of roles is expected to increase by almost 3,000 by 2025. Job growth in the hospitality and retail sectors as a whole is projected to increase by 3% by 2025.

Emma-Louise That's just under 153,000 jobs increasing the workforce to over 5.5 million. So, it looks to be a good time to be looking into the sector as a potential career choice. So, let's have a look at how to get into a few of the careers that we've just mentioned.

Frankie Fancy learning how to be a chef? There are several ways to achieve this, ranging from a university or college course to an apprenticeship or working towards the role. At a university you could do a foundation degree, a Higher National Diploma, or a degree in Culinary Arts or Professional Cookery.

Emma-Louise You'll usually need one or two A-levels or equivalent for a foundation degree or Higher National Diploma and two or three A-levels or equivalent for a degree.

Frankie Another route would be to take a college course, such as a Level 3 Diploma in Professional Cookery or a Level 4 Diploma in Professional Culinary Arts.

Emma-Louise There's also the option to take an apprenticeship route, learning whilst you work. Alternatively, this is a role you can do in the armed forces, that's The British Army, Royal Navy and the Royal Air Force. You'll complete basic military training as well as being trained to cook.

Frankie Another option is to work as a kitchen assistant or trainee commis chef and work your way up whilst on the job. Or maybe you're more interested in the hotel business and routes to becoming a hotel manager are just as varied. One route into becoming a hotel manager is by gaining qualifications at university, such as a degree or Higher National Diploma in Hotel Management or Hospitality Business Management.

Emma-Louise Again, you'll usually need one or two A-levels or equivalent for a foundation degree or Higher National Diploma, and two or three A-levels or equivalent for a degree.

Frankie Alternatively, you could do an apprenticeship in hospitality or hospitality management. For these opportunities you usually need to have five GCSEs or equivalent for an advanced apprenticeship, and A-levels or equivalent for a higher or degree apprenticeship.

Emma-Louise But you can also apply for junior roles in the sector and work your way up. Work experience in any kind of customer-facing role can also be really useful in this career too.

Frankie And let's take a closer look at the role of retail manager. Routes for this also include a university or college course, an apprenticeship, or working your way up from a retail assistant to managing a store for a group of stores.

Emma-Louise And there are also management training schemes that national retailers run. These combine training with mentoring, and you'll gain experience working in many different areas of the retail business that will really help you gain knowledge, skills, and leadership qualities.

Frankie But let's hear from someone who's been working in the sector for a few years and get their take on it. Saskia, who's been working in the hospitality sector since she was 18, says: "I started my first job at a restaurant when I was 18 and I've been working on and off in the industry ever since. It started off as a fun and social side job, but gradually turned into my full-time career. I did a diploma in Event Management, but most of what I know I've learnt on the job and worked my way up."

Emma-Louise Let's hear from our expert, Amanda: "The hospitality industry is vital to the UK economy and it's estimated that a quarter of all new jobs in the next seven years will come from hospitality businesses. You could be working in a Michelin star restaurant, a classy cocktail bar, a trendy food stall at a festival, or even on a cruise ship. There are many skills picked up on the job in hospitality that develop the workforce both professionally and personally – all are transferable skills and can lead to wonderful, sustainable careers, tailored to your strengths."

Emma-Louise So hopefully that's given you a bit of insight into the many roles that make up the hospitality and retail sectors.

Frankie Many of the skills and qualities that you need for these roles are transferable across a range of positions. Skills like customer service, leadership attributes, and management are really helpful for a range of roles, both within these sectors and beyond.

Emma-Louise The retail and hospitality sectors can help provide customers with some of the best moments of their lives – celebrations, holidays, nights out, trips to the theatre, cinema, and sporting events.

Frankie So, if helping to make those moments for people is something that excites you, maybe a role in these sectors could be the right choice for you.