The employability of leisure and hospitality graduates

This paper examines the notion of graduate employability. It does it by examining the work of Yorke and Knight (2004) on graduate employability. In addition, it seeks to examine the importance of Higher Education (HE) and work experience in developing employability skills and attributes. To enable to achieve its aims the paper uses qualitative research in the form of six focus groups that were held at Oxford Brookes and Sheffield Hallam Universities. The paper concludes that all of Yorke and Knight’s employability attributes may be of importance to the employability of hospitality and leisure graduates and that the roles of HE and work experience are vital in developing the skills and attributes that are necessary for graduate employability.