After completing their studies, it is assumed that hospitality students should seek employment in the hospitality industry. However, not all graduates end up working in the hospitality industry as their decision to do so or not is influenced by a number of factors, which either pull towards or push students away from working in the hospitality industry. To improve the understanding of the push and pull factors, this study was aimed at exploring the perceptions, feelings and attitudes of hospitality students towards working in the hospitality industry as these feelings contribute to mentioned factors. A qualitative research approach was followed. Twenty-seven full-time final year hospitality management students at a university in South Africa were interviewed to collect data. The researcher did the coding and identified themes that emerged during analysis. The themes revealed that the students had mixed feelings about having careers in the hospitality industry. Both positive and negative feelings and attitudes were expressed by the students towards working in the hospitality industry and these were influenced by factors termed motivators or de-motivators for having careers in the hospitality industry. The motivators and de-motivators stemmed from the students’ past work experience during their internships. Finally, recommendations were made to various stakeholders in the hospitality industry to make them aware of factors that could demotivate prospective employees. © 2022 AJHTL /Author(s)
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