Business Tourism Partnership Mission

8. CAREERS IN THE INDUSTRY
Finding suitable candidates remains a major challenge within the
events industry and it is interesting to note that 36% of
respondents to a survey conducted during National Meetings Week
2006 had previous experience in sales and marketing and 32%
came from a secretarial background. This tends to support the
anecdotal evidence that 75% of the workforce in the events
industry is female. There is also no doubt that the attrition rate is
high with many in the survey citing long hours, weekend working,
travel delays, pressure and stress caused by working to tight
deadlines, pre-event anxiety, having to deal with difficult people
and disrupted social life, as the worst aspects of the job.
On the plus side respondents enjoyed the variety, absence of
routine, diversity of tasks, wide range of places and locations visited
along with the interaction with people - participants, clients and
suppliers. The chance to be creative and face the differing
challenges presented by the work was seen as positive by most of
those surveyed.
Unlike many other professions, the conference and events industry
does not yet have clear entry routes or easily identified career
progression paths. It is one of the facets which illustrate its relative
immaturity as an industry. This lack of structure may be somewhat
frustrating and confusing for those, both within and outside the
industry, who have set their sights on reaching a particular career
goal but are uncertain about how best to get there. At the same
time, however, this lack of precedent and structure can encourage a
greater fluidity and freedom of movement between jobs. There is
often no set requirement to progress in a particular way, or to have
obtained specific qualifications before being able to move on.
Many of those now working in the industry have come to it as a
second or third career. This is not surprising in view of the need to
be at ease in dealing with a wide range of people, or in coping with
a last-minute crisis in the build-up to a high-profile conference -
situations which require a reasonable maturity and some experience
of life.
Previous experience in hotel and catering, sales and marketing,
business administration, secretarial work, financial management,
local government administration, training, travel and transport, or
leisure and tourism could be advantageous, depending upon the
position being considered. But many other backgrounds and
disciplines can also give very relevant skills and knowledge,
66