Work experience in the form of hospitality placements is merited with developing key sector related skills and increasing an individual’s potential for future employment. The nature of such programmes has highlighted the need for strong tripartite relationships between universities, students and sector employers, emphasising the importance of external collaboration. However, the pre-placement process can be challenging to navigate due to the need for polished career documentation such as a CV and cover letter and an appreciation of effective recruitment process techniques such as interviewing skills, suggesting that internal collaboration for universities as stakeholders is just as important. For international students choosing to undertake a placement, this can be a steep learning curve if they have no experience of pertinent job recruitment practices and standards of their chosen placement location. In these circumstances, university level support throughout the placement recruitment process is critical in ensuring that placement students are well prepared to secure an interview and ultimately a placement position. Such efforts often require input from academic, placement and career service teams, putting emphasis on having a strong internal relationship. This chapter illustrates how internal collaboration can be leveraged advantageously to support international postgraduate students. By capitalising on the relationship between the academic, placement team and career services, the programme was redesigned to integrate career development skills and techniques. The case study highlights some of the problems and challenges that led to the redesign and implementation of the solutions that extended beyond the pre-placement needs to post placement career development, thus maintaining an equilibrium between academic theory and management practice.
