Molly Dobbins: Connecting Classrooms to Tourism Careers

Episode Description Join Carmen as she speaks with Molly Dobbins, Tourism and Hospitality Gateway to Industry Schools Program Coordinator at the Queensland Tourism Industry Council. Molly is passionate about empowering the next generation of tourism and hospitality professionals by connecting students, educators and industry. In her role, she works closely with Queensland schools to help students better understand the breadth, depth and opportunity that exists across tourism, hospitality and events. In this conversation, Carmen and Molly discuss how we can do a much better job of showing young people, and their parents, that tourism is a genuine, rewarding and long-term career path. They also explore the importance of getting students out of the classroom and into real tourism businesses, where they can see and experience the people, pathways and possibilities that exist across the industry. Molly also shares her own tourism career journey, from studying tourism in high school to working with operators, writing award submissions, contracting with small tourism businesses and now advocating for the next generation through her work with QTIC. What You’ll Take Away Why tourism is often still seen as a “while you figure life out” job, rather than a long-term career pathway How consistent language could help students, parents and educators better understand tourism career opportunities Why hands-on industry experiences are so important for attracting young people into the sector The role parents play in shaping young people’s perceptions of tourism and hospitality careers How schools and industry can work together to build stronger career pipelines Why attitude, curiosity and willingness to learn still matter so much to tourism operators How foundational workplace skills, including communication, customer service and reliability, can be taught and developed Why entrepreneurship should also be part of the tourism careers conversation Organisations Referenced Queensland Tourism Industry Council: http://qtic.com.au Gateway to Industry Schools Program: https://dtet.qld.gov.au/training/empl... University of Queensland: http://uq.edu.au Tourism Tribe: http://tourismtribe.com Fun Over 50 Holidays: http://funover50holidays.com.au Paradise Resort Gold Coast: http://paradiseresort.com.au Queensland Tourism Awards: https://www.qtic.com.au/queensland-to... Episode Chapters 00:00 Introduction to Molly Dobbins 03:01 Molly’s journey into tourism education 05:52 Studying tourism and business during COVID-19 08:53 Building networks and saying yes to opportunities 12:00 Entering the industry during a challenging time 14:55 Entry-level roles and learning how tourism businesses operate 18:00 Molly’s current role connecting schools and industry 21:03 Barriers to young people seeing tourism as a career 22:40 The importance of engaging parents in tourism career conversations 24:29 Wages, awareness and other barriers to tourism careers 26:32 Why tourism needs more consistent career language 28:20 Showing the fun, purpose and possibility of tourism 30:35 Building stronger relationships between education and industry 32:30 Creating hands-on experiences for students 34:25 What operators are saying about young workers 36:50 Teaching foundational workplace skills 40:22 Encouraging entrepreneurship in tourism 42:40 Tourism, small business and the future of the industry