THE CONTENTS AND DEVELOPMENT PROCESS OF THE PROFESSIONAL ORIENTATION TRAINING SESSIONS: EXPERIENCE FROM THE TOURISM DEGREE

Changes in the world of occupations affect the whole educational system and the professional orientation process that should be devoted to face those new challenges. Although it is true that all sectors of activity are experiencing deep changes in the required occupation profiles, these changes are aggravated in the tourism sector.

The transversal nature of the tourism sector that combines a variety of sub-sectors or economic activities and agents, both of public and private nature, makes it necessary for members of the degree commission to launch formal training proposals aimed at providing professional orientation to their students.

This study tries to reveal the formal contents that all professional orientation training sessions should meet and, specifically, those developed in the context of the tourism degree. To that aim we provide the experience obtained in the development of the I Professional Orientation Conference of the Tourism Degree at Universitat Jaume I of Castellón.

These sessions were organised around two general objectives. The first one was related to the provision of specific knowledge and skills that students should acquire to meet professional requirements in both public and private sectors. Special interest were placed by organisers to diversify the professionals from the private initiative, far beyond the most known and typical subsectors related to hospitality and travel agencies. Regarding the public initiative effort, agents emphasized the importance of the tourism management through the local communities. The second one was intended to address the possibilities of postgraduate training, and to inform about mobility programs, international practices, the EURES network, and on how to prepare the Curriculum Vitae and the letter of presentation, and use social and professional networks as a job search engine.