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Hiring trends in the hospitality industry
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Thursday, 01 September, 2022, 16 : 00 PM [IST]
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Conrad Alves
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The hospitality industry has seen some unprecedented times in the recent past! The pandemic had a devastating effect on the industry with a lot of job roles becoming redundant due to the negative impact on business.
The industry has seen its worst stage at a time when hospitality had just become a significant contributor to the economy. Hiring had come to a complete standstill with a lot of specialised talent and highly skilled labour in the hospitality industry aimlessly lurking around for jobs in other sectors, which were also hit due to the pandemic.
As every dark cloud has a silver lining, the year 2022 has brought in more hope than ever and the industry has seen a steady upscale over the past few months due to positive sentiments from customers. The urge for an experience to eat, travel and relive a normal hospitable life has become even more increasing, which otherwise seemed lost over the pandemic period.
As we enter quarter 2 of this fiscal year, the hiring needs of the hospitality industry have seen an exponential rise, thanks to all guns blazing on the customer front, packed with loads of support from different quarters of allied industries.
As the upward hiring trend gains momentum, the tables have now turned! There is a dearth of talent as there are only so many people for an even larger number of available jobs, which were otherwise redundant. With different quarters of the industry all hiring at the same time, there is demand for good talent and companies tapping into the same pool has made hiring rather competitive.
Majority of the frontline workforce that constitutes more than two-thirds which also account to the bulk of the hiring, are millennials. The attraction for jobs amongst this generation has shifted from just money and security to quality of life and work-life balance.
Millennials are attracted to organisations that can offer the right mix of such factors and have people centric policies. Organisations are making all efforts and leaving no stones unturned to advocate the cultural aspects that go beyond just monetary terms to attract and retain talent.
Work life balance and a job that offers overall quality of life has now become the deciding factor over just growth! Talent stickiness is directly proportional to an organisation’s ability to walk the talk in the long run.
To hire the right talent, organisations are making a conscious effort to communicate and upsell aspects that are an integral part to the core value system and culture. Social media platforms and other communicative means are buzzing with innovative ways to showcase organisational policies that are people centric.
Hiring is being done through non-conventional ways and every attempt is made to instil a sense of pride amongst being associated with a brand. Organisations continue leveraging their biggest asset, their people and employee referrals continue remaining a strong souring channel.
Advertising Internal Job to employees continues providing a strong pipeline for growth within an organisation. As the churn of talent continues, it is encouraging to see the overall enhancement of capability in the hospitality industry, driven by every organisation’s sheer need to be progressive and competitive in the job market.
Given the pace of hiring, there is a natural need to ensure that the turnaround time is minimal and without any compromise on quality. Progressive selection tools that are leveraged through technology have made it possible for organisations to hire in large numbers and simultaneously ensure talent quality.
Automation of the overall hiring process brings down the cycle time and ensures that the necessary checks are in place for identification of talent as per the organisation’s needs. Video analytics are being used as an initial filter and background checks ensure that the risk of adversity is minimal during the employee’s life cycle. Given the paucity of time, the hiring process is fully automated to ensure that candidates have a seamless experience.
A lot of emphasis is now being laid on creating a great onboarding experience by leveraging technology and constructive feedback is gathered from new joiners that will serve as a yardstick to further improve the process. Technology has become the game changer to enhance the hiring experience in a post pandemic era wherein the dependency of the virtual world has practically cut corners and has brought about synergies that were probably never known to exist.
The worst is hopefully behind us and as we tread along a long but stable path, the best is yet to come. In the coming months, it will be encouraging to see the growth trajectory of the hospitality industry and how hiring continues being at its optimal peak. It will also be interesting to see how organisations differentiate themselves to keep up to the hiring pace, even as acquiring talent continues being a challenge.
(The author is vice president - human resources, TFS, K Hospitality Corp)
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