Events management

The events industry is a dynamic, fast-paced sector offering opportunities to work on anything from small staff events and festivals to weddings and charity fundraisers

Job options

Jobs directly related to your degree include:

• Conference centre manager
• Event manager
• Hotel manager
• Outdoor activities/education manager
• Public house manager
• Restaurant manager

Jobs where your degree would be useful include:

• Charity fundraiser
• Marketing executive
• Museum/gallery exhibitions officer
• Public relations officer
• Sales promotion account executive
• Talent agent
• Tourism officer

Remember that many employers accept applications from graduates with any degree subject, so don't restrict your thinking to the jobs listed here.

Work experience

Events management is a competitive area and experience is often as important as your degree subject for getting a job in the sector.

Learning customer service skills will make you more employable, especially if gained in the hospitality or tourism sector. Many events organisations look for casual staff to help at their events, and this can be a good way to gain skills and build up contacts in the sector.

Any role which demonstrates you can work hard and think on your feet is useful. Extra-curricular activities at university can also give you valuable experience, for example, organising the end of term ball or a fundraiser for a university society.

Search for placements and find out more about work experience and internships.

Typical employers

Large hotel chains, conference venues and wedding organisers all offer opportunities for events management graduates. Some courses give students the chance to specialise in festival or cultural and arts events, so museums, large galleries and festival organisers are possible sources of vacancies.

Graduates can also find work in events management companies and charities, which organise large scale fundraising events.

Find information on employers in hospitality and events management, leisure, sport and tourism, charity and voluntary work and other job sectors.

Skills for your CV

As well as developing project management and organisational skills, a degree in events management equips you with both the business and creative skills to take an event from the ideas stage to realisation.

You will develop the skills to:

• manage the logistics of planning and staging events, from conception to final delivery
• budget or raise funds
• market and promote your events
• develop a strong awareness of customer service, working closely to a client brief
• manage a complex workload.

Further study

Most people working in events management have an events management degree or do a Masters in the subject if their first degree was unrelated.

Only a small number of events management graduates go on to further study. Generally, there is no requirement to continue to postgraduate level, as employers place a greater value on experience in this area of work.

For more information on further study and to find a course that interests you, see Masters degrees and search postgraduate courses in event management.

What do events management graduates do?

Nearly a third (31%) of events management graduates are working as sales, marketing and related associate professionals. 5% are business associate professionals and 4% are working in HR.

Find out what other events management graduates are doing 15 months after finishing their degrees in What do graduates do?

Graduate destinations data from the Higher Education Statistics Agency.