The old rules of event careers don’t apply anymore
For years, aspiring event leaders followed a “formula” to climb the ladder. But when they landed senior roles, gaps in operations, strategy, and commercial know-how often appeared. Today, career paths are evolving - and planners are stronger for it.
For years, there was an unspoken rule in hospitality: if you wanted to become a general manager, you followed the food and beverage route. That was the path. That was the formula.
I did exactly that because that’s what you were told to do.
But here’s the problem: when you finally landed that first GM role, you had no experience in rooms, little commercial knowledge, and big gaps in understanding the business beyond F&B.
Today, things look very different - and that’s a good thing.
Careers are no longer neat, linear ladders. They’re more like climbing frames. People join through different routes - operations, revenue, commercial, or sales. They pause, switch direction, or move sideways to build new skills. And for many women, there’s that “pause and play” moment to raise a family before returning to work at a different stage of life. That break shouldn’t be seen as a setback - it often brings new perspective, resilience, and empathy that make people stronger leaders.
It’s time we challenged old stereotypes. Revenue, for example, was once seen as a “girls’ job”. Yet today, commercial knowledge is the backbone of leadership - and understanding how to run a profitable, people-led business is what truly drives success. Roles shouldn’t be defined by gender, background, or by outdated expectations of what the “right” path looks like.
What really matters is the person: their drive, their potential, their willingness to learn, and the company culture around them. As business leaders, are we giving people the training and the encouragement they need to step up? Are we showcasing real career stories so people can see there isn’t just one way to succeed?
Great events start with great people, so we invest in talent at every level - from apprenticeships and on-site training to flexible career pathways that reflect the real lives of our teams.
Our Career Pathways initiative, launched in 2021, creates structured development opportunities across disciplines - from junior roles right up to director level. They’re designed so team members can move up, move across, or focus in and master their craft. We currently have 12 apprentices developing their skills through programmes in property maintenance, hospitality management, chef training, sales and more. Apprenticeships give people a chance to learn, earn, and grow - and they bring fresh energy and ideas into our venues every day.
We also know that people do their best work when they’re supported beyond the job itself. Every team member has access to a hot, nutritious meal on shift, our Medicash healthcare programme, a whole host of Compass Group perks and digital and financial wellbeing support. It’s all part of recognising that when you care for people, they care for your guests.
I think we can also help encourage the Next Gen by sharing our own stories because “you can’t be what you can’t see”. I’d love to see our industry showcase more individuals who didn’t follow the traditional route, who maybe didn’t go to university or who switched careers entirely. Those are the stories that inspire the next generation because they show that success in hospitality - or any industry, for that matter - isn’t about ticking the right boxes in the right order.
Our industry is about people, potential and creating opportunities for growth. When we remove the limits on what a career should look like, we open doors to talent we might otherwise overlook whatever route you take to get there.
