Some people would think that the IT industry is one of the fastest growing industries, but people underestimate the growth of travel, tourism and hospitality.
Professionals are looking to gain an edge through learning and keeping up with industry trends, and taking part in industry events. It is always recommended to take up courses in hospitality that are coupled with resources and industry networking opportunities that give you Continuous Professional Development (known as CPD) opportunities.
So what does Continuous Professional Development mean to most hospitality professionals?
Gaining industry knowledge into new trends that have emerged after or during a course intake
Developing interest in taking up a new course into a new emerging trend such as hospitality technology and ethics
Taking part in workshops and seminars with networking opportunities
Job advancements gained through learning, or work experience
Innovative developments contributed to the industry that has benefited the employer or general public
Mentoring of fellow students and professionals on a learnt subject or practice
Some of the trends emerging in the industry are hard to keep up with and most professionals will wonder how to keep oneself updated. It will help to create Google Alerts that come to your inbox on a scheduled date on a selected topic such as “hospitality trends” or “hospitality industry best practices”.
Staying in touch with fellow students or professionals in the industry and meeting up at workshops or conferences will help to learn about new work practices, unless they are confidential to their companies.
Signing up to e-learning sites that house e-books, latest news or e-publications is another great way to keep up your continuous professional development. Social media sites like Facebook, or twitter have communities dedicated to hospitality news topics, and this too helps to keep up with the fast-moving word of travel, tourism and hospitality. Forums are great ways to get insight by contributing your experiences or by posting your questions that can be answered by fellow professionals.
If you are someone who checks your email on a regular basis you might want to sign up for newsletters from sites dedicated to delivering hospitality news on a regular basis.
The best way to learn something is to teach it to someone This often tests what you have learnt and how acceptable your work practices are against what you have learnt. In that way posting what you have learnt through guest-blog posting or answering other professionals’ questions on forums are great ways to be up to date on industry topics.
