Attraction and Influence On the Employment Decision of the Recent Hotel and Restaurant Graduate

Abstract

The primary purpose of this study was to investigate, identify, and analyze what influences and/or attracts graduating seniors to their choice of employment. Two majorsources of information on potential employers: personnel recruiters and hotel and restaurant school faculty were highlighted in this study. Forty-seven graduating seniors, from five different hotel and restaurant programs, were surveyed at two points in time concerning the perceived influence of various aspects of a job, the organization and the sources of influence on their employment decision. Twenty- seven faculty, from the five institutions were also surveyed. Three sets of compari sons were made. The first set of comparisons was between students before and after their employment decision. The second set of comparisons contrasted faculty and student's perceptions of the sources of influence on the student's employment decision; the job and organizational aspects that did or would influence the student's choice of employment; and their impression of recruiters and the campus interview. A third set of comparisons contrasted the factors that influence who seniors would interview with vs. what position they would accept.