Minority Hospitality Students' Career Connections

Involvement in student clubs can be a great resume-builder — just ask Scott King, hospitality professor in Charlotte and advisor to the campus chapter of the National Society of Minorities in Hospitality(NSMH).

“The NSMH is a great way to set yourself apart,” he says. At the organization’s national conference in Atlanta, Ga., this past February, King’s students networked and interviewed with such prestigious companies as Marriott, Hilton and Hyatt. “Some students were offered jobs and internships right on the spot.”

Charlotte Students Claim Leadership Roles
At the conference, the Charlotte chapter also claimed three of the 2011-12 positions on the NSMH’s national board.

Steven Tiller ’12, a sports/entertainment/event management major, received top honors and was elected as national chair; Joshua Fleming ’12, a hotel management major, was elected national program chair; and Frederick Jenkins ’13, a business major, was elected national treasurer. 

Connecting with Hospitality Leaders 
As a university, JWU has more members on the national board than any other NSMH chapter in the country. “At that level, [students] come into contact with leaders of industry and commerce,” King says. “They have the ear of CEOs of organizations.”

NSMH, founded in 1989 to promote minority success in such fields as hotel administration, restaurant management and gaming, currently has close to 70 chapters and more than 1,000 members.

Networking Leads to Job Offers
Most students who serve leave with job offers at graduation, usually into manager-in-training (MIT) programs — and rightfully so. “When you get a position on the national board, you’re governing all of the chapters both here and in the Caribbean. That speaks volumes and adds to net worth,” King adds.

King takes pleasure in seeing students graduate knowing that they have a job because of NSMH.

“The more of them I help, the more of the JWU family that’s going to get out there and show employers what this university’s all about,” King says. “More students will start getting in and more recruiters will start coming here. That’s what it’s all about.”