chapter

13Preparing for a Career in Commercial Recreation, Events, and Tourism

Chapter Objectives• Identify two strategies that use experiential

education to incorporate work experiences into formal degree programs.

• Apply the objectives of work-integrated learning to a customized set of activities taken in a directed studies course.

• Compare the differences in internship and cooperative education work experiences.

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Chapter Objectives (continued)

• Describe how involvement with professional associations in a directed studies course can apply to networking practices and advance your work-related interests.

• Identify some preplacement skills that will prepare you for interviews.

Career Preparation Choices

• Internship

• Cooperative education

• Self-directed studies

Experiential Education

An integration of work experiences with formal learning activities.

• It is a teaching philosophy as well as an instructional practice.

• It values work experiences and direct engagement with employers in the teaching–learning process.

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Experiential Education (continued)

This strategy ensures that semesters of academic study

• are integrated with 1 to 3 periods of work experience in an appropriate field, and

• include a prework placement course that covers a range of workplace skills before an actual work placement.

Prework Placement Skills

• Resume preparation• Interviewing techniques• Industry trends • Current labor force needs

Internship

• A capstone course taken for university credit in the last semester of a four-year degree program.

• A requirement upon completion of a two-year diploma when transferring to a four-year degree program.

Internship Manual

• Time lines for reporting and task completion• Evaluation criteria for expected outcomes• Expectations of the employer and the

academic institution• Documentation in terms of credential for

placement (e.g., first aid, licenses)

Cooperative Education

• It’s a structured method of combining academic education with practical work experiences; it has many of the same features identified with internships.

• It commonly requires two or three work experiences during a four-year degree program.

• A cooperative education program often requires that a minimum of 30 percent of all credit hours be obtained from on-the-job or experiential learning work experiences.

Goals of CEIA and CAFCE

• Promote cooperative education and internships as premier models of work-integrated learning.

• Provide opportunities for professional development.

• Create professional networking opportunities through conferences and Web sites.

Directed Studies Option

• It is a type of course offering an opportunity to accomplish goals associated with a prework placement class. It provides these opportunities:– Network with professional associations in a preplanned

way.– Acquire valuable experiences by what will be called

prospecting for a mentor.

• Prospecting means finding a mentor fully engaged in the kind of business that reflects the business concept that you value most.

Success = You

• If you remember nothing else in this chapter, make a note that the most important factor in business success is you.

• You are, or will be, the heart and soul of a business venture.

• Whatever knowledge, skills, and abilities are vital to your professional development, you will need to identify some of them and actively participate in setting priorities.

Traits of Entrepreneurs

Successful entrepreneurs appear to have many common attributes. See these sites:

• www.smallbiz.ca/2006/07/28/traits-of-successful-entrepreneurs

• www.4d.com/startconsulting/gettingstarted/typicaltraits.html

What Color Is Your Parachute?

• Richard Bolles (2008) asks you to consider two fundamental questions as you begin to prepare for a career.

1. What do you want to do?2. Where do you want to do it?

• One exercise involves listing your hobbies and recreational activities (perhaps review the professional advice found in Spotlight On Scott Walking Adventures on page 22).

Professional Certifications

Certifications can be valuable because they show potential employers or business partners that you are truly committed to the profession.

• Certified special events professional: www.ises.com

• Certified commercial recreation professional: www.rcra.org

• Certified meeting professional: www.conventionindustry.org

Business Mentor

• This is someone who operates an existing business and will give you the advice and knowledge to build a business around the product you have selected.

• This person can draw on prior experience to teach you about the industry and can increase your knowledge by letting you observe what he has done to become successful.

Professional Networking (Tourism Industry Associations)

• Convention Industry Council: www.conventionindustry.org

• International Ecotourism Society: www.ecotourism.org

• International Association of Amusement Parks and Attractions: www.iaapa.org

• International Special Events Society: www.ises.com • Meeting Professionals International:

www.mpiweb.org

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Professional Networking (continued)

• National Recreation and Park Association: www.nrpa.org

• Resort and Commercial Recreation Association: www.rcra.org

• Travel Industry Association of America: www.tia.org

• Tourism Industry Association of Canada: www.tiac-aitc.ca

• Travel and Tourism Research Association: www.ttra.com

Professional Networking (Associations Serving Young Entrepreneurs)

• Association of Collegiate Entrepreneurs (U.S.): http://webs.wichita.edu/?u=ace&p=/index

• Advancing Canadian Entrepreneurs (Canada): www.acecanada.ca

• Future Business Leaders of America—Phi Beta Lambda: www.fbla-pbl.org

• Idea Café: www.businessownersideacafe.com/genx

• Inc.com: www.inc.com/resources/startup

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Professional Networking (continued)

• Students in Free Enterprise: www.sife.org • Young Entrepreneur Forums:

www.youngentrepreneur.com • Entrepreneurs’ Organization:

www.eonetwork.org • I Don’t Flip Burgers:

http://library.thinkquest.org/C0114800/about/index.php

Destination Marketing Organizations

• Promote and market places, regions, states, provinces, and even countries as preferred tourism destinations.

• It is worthwhile to investigate in a course how they work, the career options associated with them, and their influence in creating destination images.

• Some DMO Web sites may have sections on starting a business within the jurisdiction examined and certainly on becoming a member.

Your Portfolio

• Refers to a personal collection of information describing and documenting a person’s achievements and learning.

• Can range from logbooks on learning experiences to extended collections of achievement.

• Is used for many purposes, such as accreditation of experience, job searches, continuing professional development, and certification of competence.