The hospitality and tourism industry encompasses a number of different services, all which require support workers. Food servers, bartenders, cashiers, dishwashers, hosts, desk clerks, groundspersons, and maintenance workers, to name a few, all work to make a customer’s experience at the establishment as pleasant as possible.

The rate at which employment among the various hospitality and tourism support occupations is growing varies. Employment of desk clerks and groundskeepers is expected to grow faster than average for all occupations through 2008 whereas employment of food servers, cashiers, dishwashers, and housekeepers is expected to grow about as fast as the average. The growth rate of employment of bartenders and maintenance workers, in contrast, is expected to be less than the average for all occupations through 2008.

The hospitality and tourism industry as a whole will continue to grow in sophistication and as a result, the demand for those workers with higher levels of social and customer service skills will increase.

Hospitality and tourism support workers should have a pleasant demeanor and a neat, clean appearance. They must also have good communication, interpersonal, and memorization skills.

While the specific skills required of these workers vary by occupation, hospitality and tourism support workers should have basic mathematic and computer skills.

There is no minimum educational requirement for hospitality and tourism support staff. Nevertheless, many employers prefer to hire high school graduates.

Training programs and certification are available for some occupations. Those individuals who eventually want to move into management positions are advised to seek a college degree in hospitality and tourism management.

The majority of hospitality and tourism support occupations are part time positions. Evening, weekend, and holiday work is common, and workers’ time schedules may vary from week to week.

Many establishments hire additional temporary workers during peak periods.