Using job advertisements to understand the employability prospects of event management graduates

In an increasingly competitive higher education environment, prospective students are more likely to compare graduate employability prospects of different universities and different courses. Consequently, the viability of courses based on knowledge's sake alone is being increasingly challenged with market viability based predominately on student demand, which is often based on their perceptions of workplace requirements.

Event management has emerged to become a key sector of the Australian tourism industry and this has spurred the need for tertiary educated event managers and for an evaluation of educational curriculum. To provide an indication of current employer requirements, a nationwide study of web-based job advertisements in event management has commenced. This paper reports the preliminary results from a content analysis of 105 job advertisements. The results reveal the range of industries that require event management specialists or skills, and a series of required skills and key attributes of event managers. The results of this study establish a platform from which to develop a classification of event management skills required by the industry. More importantly however, it can be used as the basis for curriculum evaluation and training needs, and create a better understanding and compatibility between event management education and industry practice.