Recruiters facilitate speed of hiring and team build outs in many industries. The sundry methodology and processes as well as the way recruiters play in each space is tailored to their specific industries. One industry in particular that is diverse even within itself is the HOSPITALITY industry.
Hospitality encompasses everything from dining to lodging – basically every service-based offering a customer can experience can be denoted to hospitality. Additionally, the premise of a restaurant or hotel or anything in between can range from budget friendly to palatial within hospitality. With so many elements at so many levels, the world of hospitality and hospitality recruiting can become hard to navigate. In order to help, we decided to gather a few tips from our stellar hospitality team.
Michael Evers, Hospitality Practice Leader, and Chris Johnston, Senior Business Development Manager specializing in hospitality, shared their top tips for COMPANIES who are working with recruiters in hospitality to build out their teams.
Michael Evers shares his top three tips.
Look in the Mirror – That’s your Competition.
This isn’t just a war for talent- it’s a RACE. You have to make building out your team your number one priority. Talent in this market has multiple options. Rescheduling interviews or not expediting your interview processes will cost you time, money, and ultimately a chance to acquire the type of talent that will secure the success of your organizations already planned growth. Your process must be candidate driven.
Hire the scrapper.
Hustle beats talent every day. Resourcefulness, passion, and desire is what will take your organization to the next level.
‘Off the resume’ information supersedes information outlined on a single piece of paper.
This is the biggest mistake I see made by hiring authorities consistently. The information gathered off the resume is what puts you in the position to make well informed decisions. This is the information that leads to building high performing teams vs functional job description based talent acquisition. Talent will help you win a game or two – the team always wins the championship… “
It looks like Chris Johnston and Michael Evers are on a similar wavelength! Here are Chris’ bits of advice.
Prioritize and make time for hiring
The restaurant business is a balancing act of constantly moving small pieces and rapid decisions. You have to force yourself to make time to find the right people for your team. The talent is out there, but you have to make your search a priority. If you don’t, you will waste time and money and likely make a hasty decision that will come back to bite you.
Focus on the individual
The resume rarely tells the story you need to hear. The restaurant industry is evolving and successful organizations are learning that having a culture and personality fit is more important than skills and accolades. The culture of hospitality is achieved by building a team of like-minded individuals who are passionate about what they do and where they work. – Build the team. Don’t fill positions!
Clearly define your vision and your ‘Why’
With new concepts in cuisine, dining and theme evolving every day, your WHY is emerging as a way to attract talent and customers. – More than ever, employees want to work for and partner with a company that is closely aligned with there personal and cultural beliefs. Sometimes this is as simple as a Vegan lifestyle that values animals as sentient beings, or could be based on the philanthropic activities of a company. There is a lot of competition and great food out there…many people are now making more conscious decisions about your ‘WHY’ rather than what you put on the plate.
Recruitment Managers, Deb Dziena and Francine Rodriguez, who specialize in Hospitality Recruiting shared their top tips for CANDIDATES who are working with recruiters in hospitality.
Deb suggests that candidates…
Be open to sharing new conversations
Growing your network is vital! Don’t be afraid to get in front of people that will help you become better. Even if you are happy with your current situation, sharing conversations with those outside your inner circle, is the gateway to success, in my opinion.
Get comfortable with uncomfortable!
Too often we want to stay where we are because it is “safe” – It is so important to consistently assess and reassess your current environment. There is always something new to learn! Always strive to be better today, then you were the day before!
Finally, Francine shares her tips for candidates working with hospitality recruiters.
Honesty and Transparency
We are here as an agent to you and we are an extension of your brand, have an open and honest dialogue, we are here to help put you on the path to your dream job. This will only put us in a position to help you make a well-informed decision.
Communication
A lot of the stuff we work on is very time sensitive. We are here to represent you the best way we can in the market. Be cognizant of our time and the clients time. If we try to reach out, do your best to answer, we are working on coordinating on your behalf and our client’s behalf to make the process easier for both parties. The industry is very well connected, you don’t want to burn any bridges.
Also check out 3 skills Deb and Francine think you must have in order to be a successful hospitality recruiter!