There’s a heaping helping of hospitality job opportunities in metro Atlanta

Hospitality is one of the top industries in metro Atlanta, generating $11 billion and 234,200 jobs in 2008, according to the Atlanta Convention and Visitors Bureau. However, dining, sight-seeing and hotel occupancy have all declined during the recession.

“Last year was not the best time to get into this industry, but hospitality is starting to come back. We’re seeing more jobs and internships open up for our students,” said Mark Newton, program director of the hotel, restaurant and tourism management program at Gwinnett Technical College in Lawrenceville.

“With Georgia’s budget woes, legislators and others are beginning to understand the significance of tourism in this state,” he said. “When we bring in major association meetings or events like the Chick-fil-A Bowl, it brings money into the economy, and we need that now more than ever.”

Gwinnett Tech’s associate degree program prepares students for jobs in the food and beverage, hotel, meeting and event planning, catering, restaurant, travel and tourism industries. The school also offers a diploma program and several technical certificates of credit.

Because working in the field is the best way to gain experience and to make contacts in the industry, Newton encourages students to work in hospitality jobs while they take classes. In some cases, course credit is given for industry jobs.

“The majority of technical college students are here to gain skills to become more employable, and we begin talking career from Day One,” Newton said. “There are so many types of opportunities in our business.

“People skills are always important, but applicants need to be good at at least one aspect of the business. Maybe they’re an expert in hospitality accounting, have front desk experience, [or] know how to do market studies. They need to be able to differentiate themselves from others in the industry. Employers will want to know what they bring to the table, so we help them start devising their strategy from the first day of class.”

Students may enroll in day or evening classes. They take courses in food service, hotel and tourism management, sanitation, accounting, marketing, law, purchasing, meeting planning and leadership.

“The hospitality industry in Atlanta is a wonderful resource for our students. We have always done a lot of field trips to hotels, association meetings, events and other venues,” Newton said. “Now, with an interactive software tool called Elluminate Live, we can engage our students even more.”

Elluminate Live allows students and instructors to communicate via Web cams and microphones in real time. Newton can share Word files, divide students into groups for projects, give assignments and tests, and open chat rooms where students can learn from one another.

“This is an amazing tool and [it] allows me to teach our students so much more,” he said.

Newton teaches hybrid classes, where students can sit in a classroom or participate using a computer at home or while they’re on vacation.

“Students would tell me they couldn’t make class because they were working. Now they can,” he said. “I can tape lectures and guest interviews, show YouTube and other videos, and they can watch it later.”

Inviting industry experts to speak in class is invaluable for students, but meeting planners, restaurant owners and hotel managers are busy people.

“Now I can take my laptop to a restaurant, do an interview with the owner and show it in class and online,” Newton said.

Newton said his students have few problems finding jobs once they’ve earned an associate degree, although some continue on and get bachelor’s degrees. Starting salaries can range from $20,000 to $50,000 per year, depending on the skills and experience someone brings to the job.

“We concentrate on helping students find the right company, where they can love what they’re doing and have opportunities to move up,” he said.