The Staffing Crisis: Recruitment Challenges in Hospitality Industry

The Covid-19 pandemic caused a massive disruption in every sector possible. In fact, the effects have been so disastrous for some sectors that they are still on the road to recovery. One such sector is hospitality. According to a report published by the American Hotel and Lodging Association, 50 per cent of hotel associations have found a shortage of skilled employees in their industry.

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Another report found that hotels and restaurants experienced a downfall of 55-60 per cent downfall in occupancy. In total, it is estimated that a total of 62 million people lost their jobs in the hospitality industry as reported by World Travel & Tourism Council (WTTC) . Since hospitality is a very cash dependent business this had disastrous consequences for the industry. In fact, it also had a domino effect as workers who were laid off during the pandemic found better jobs in other areas, In addition, the Covid-19 pandemic also made them realize that there were other factors part from the paycheck that mattered such as work-life balance, flexible working conditions.

However, this is not the only issue with the industry overall. A report published by the Federal Reserve Economic Data suggests that after the pandemic, a wholesome of 1.16 million people left the hospitality industry, leaving a huge gap. So, despite the factor that the hospitality industry is currently going in a good direction, the workforce is not skilled, and the people who are skilled are eventually looking for better opportunities because they don’t want to see the tough times they have seen during the pandemic.

This has led to a condition where the industry is facing high rate and cost of turnover which ahs led to significant losses and decline in the industry. However, there is some light at the end of the tunnel. According to a report by the US Bureau of Labor Statistics, the hospitality industry will add another 1.3 million jobs by 2031. However, this means that the road to recovery is long which means that hiring remains a big challenge for recruiters in this industry.

So, in the end, it all comes down to the human resource department to get the desired candidate; however, with the rising challenges, it becomes a tough call to take for any recruiter. Here are some of the recruitment challenges in the hospitality Industry and how HRs can overcome them.

Hospitality Industry Recruitment Challenges & Solutions:

High turnover rates and how to retain candidates:

The first and most important problem with the recruitment challenges in the hospitality industry is the high turnover rates or what you may like to call retention rates. The retention rate is a metric to analyze how many people are leaving the industry with the factor of the people getting hired, a higher retention rate means more people are leaving, and fewer are getting hired. Though it is the most common problem in any industry, however,  in the hospitality industry, it has become chaos.

According to a report, on average, the annual turnover rate in the hospitality sector is around 73.8%, which this way higher than the national average of all the industry. This basically means that there is a systematical problem in the industry’s work culture. So, what is the solution to this issue?

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Improving high turnovers:

Companies operating in the hospitality industry need to understand one thing: there are valid reasons why people are leaving the industry in huge numbers. During the Covid-19 pandemic, when many jobs shifted online, the hospitality industry did not have the luxury to do so; these factors, combined with the low wages, disorganized management, no employment benefits, and minimized career paths, have only made a case for those leaving the industry much stronger.

The issue with the Seasonal employment:

See, the thing about the hospitality industry is that it is a season-based working industry, you’ll get more customers in the summer in the hillside area or beachside, but not necessarily in the winter. Mountains are prone to natural calamities like landslides and snowfalls, thus disrupting tourism and affecting the local economy. Most importantly, the majority of tourism is around the islands and mountains, and thus, it becomes a season-based opportunity for candidates. It is the major recruitment challenge in the hospitality industry.

According to reports, approximately 40% of the workforce in the hospitality industry is part-time, hence making the industry a difficult one to survive for people who are looking for a stable career option. 

Handling season-based employment issues:

One of the major concerns for people doing any job is the stability factor; people are looking for jobs that don’t just provide them with money. However, it also gives them the necessary access to grow within the organization and hone their skills. One of the best ways to do it ensure that employees receive proper training to handle various job roles during peak and off-peak hours. As this is a season-based industry, temporary employment options cannot be ignored; however, organizations should give employees the option to return each season. Hotel chains can leverage this opportunity and transfer their employees to their next site based on the season.

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Lack of technological integration:

For an industry that keeps having a shortage of employees on a regular basis, it is quite tough to keep tabs on hiring new candidates. Technical issues are another recruitment challenge in the hospitality industry. Hence, it is important for an organization to have a steady and digitized medium of hiring within the company. This step will not just save time but will also help reduce hiring costs and save quality bandwidth. Implementing an Application tracking system and intelligent interview platform such as BarRasier will help a lot in fast-forwarding the entire hiring process.

Managing online presence:

In this digital world, it is not just important but highly necessary to have an online presence. Having a presence on social media helps a lot in building authority over the internet and establishing your organization as a reliable brand for the candidates. One key thing recruiters need to remember at the time of employing any candidate is that, for them, brand value is vital, each candidate wants to be associated with an organization that has a significant brand value. Surely, there are several challenges on the online platform. However, it also has a significant advantage: responding to negative comments and building a reliable follower base increases the chances of excellent applicants and candidates. 

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At the end:

Surely, there are endless possible reasons for having recruitment challenges in the hospitality industry. However, these are some of them that have a major impact on the industry. The hospitality industry doesn’t just need digitalization, but it needs a systematic managerial change and an uplifted work culture that empowers people to work and think for their future. In addition, it also needs a stable work environment that where candidate can rely on. An organization that cares about its employees tends to thrive in the toughest of circumstances. 

One of the major areas where companies can improve their efficiency is the interview. This is where recruiters can use an AI interview assistant to make their lives easier, and therefore, we bring to you our state-of-the-art tool, BarRaiser. 

An adequate job description filters out the best candidates, and the job of BarRaiser is to filter the best out of the best. First, our AI Interview Copilot helps you create detailed questions suitable for the job. These questionnaires can be simply created by giving specific instructions to the bot.

For example, an interviewer could simply type ‘Create me a questionnaire for the role of a software architect with a minimum experience of five years. The interview will be one round and will be timed at 60 minutes and divided into five parts: introduction, career till now, skill testing, salary negotiations, and expectations from the company.

So, within minutes, the AI bot completed a task that used to take recruiter hours. This ensures that companies can conduct more interviews simultaneously, thereby allowing them to decrease their hiring time.

Moreover, we at BarRaiser strongly believe in a culture of checks and balances, which is why our AI bot records and transcribes every interview. On top of that, our tool also generates a report on the interviewer’s conduct, attaching snippets of the interview along with the transcription. This is uploaded on the main dashboard, where every stakeholder can have a look at it and judge the interviewer’s performance by adding comments, thereby reducing the need for an interview debrief.

Using BarRaiser, we guarantee quality hiring that will bolster diversity and inclusion. BarRaiser is the best AI interview platform that features structured interviews and tools to ensure quality hiring while eliminating recruitment bias. With BarRaiser’s support, you’ll be well-equipped to build a strong team of sales associates who will drive sales and deliver exceptional customer service.