Did you know that the hospitality industry currently employs around 15.11 million people in the US and more than 2.7 million people in Europe?
These statistics are proof that the hospitality sector is constantly growing. After the harrowing and unprecedented events of the pandemic, the industry has gained quick momentum and is providing people with the opportunity to travel and experience top-notch customer care services at their favorite resorts.
If you run a resort, you might be thinking about devising strategies to make your resort more hospitable and provide high-quality customer care that exceeds expectations.
According to our recruitment agency professionals, one of the top things to remember when running a resort is hiring professional and highly-qualified staff. Recruitment is one of the most important processes when it comes to managing a resort since it affects the establishment as a whole.
If you’re looking forward to hiring a resort staff, we are here to help.
Here’s what you need to remember when hiring a resort staff.
The Philosophy of the Hospitality Sector
Firstly, let’s take a look at the philosophy of the hospitality sector. The philosophy of the hospitality sector is strongly linked to serving people and providing them with exceptional hospitality.
A good resort or hotel goes beyond just meeting someone’s needs. It provides comprehensive care with intuitive attention, emphasizing genuine hospitality not only as a professional gesture but also to help people feel safe and comfortable.
The hotel staff is essentially the face of your establishment because they are the ones who interact with all the guests staying at your property. Even a single negative encounter with a guest at your resort can have serious and long-term consequences for your business. This is why it’s essential to pay close attention during the recruitment process and ensure that you’re selecting people who can help you reach your organizational goals without you having to micro-manage everything.
Highly professional and qualified employees who can provide your guests with a positive experience will ensure that your resort establishes a robust reputation for its hospitality.
Experienced resort owners know that maintaining healthy relationships with guests and clients is one of the biggest assets in building a network. A hotel builds significant relationships with guests to develop loyalty and ensure that the guests want to return again and again.
A good resort experience will also ensure that your guests post positive reviews about your resort on online review platforms, which will encourage more guests to visit your establishment.
How Can You Hire the Perfect Resort Staff?
Let’s take a look at how to hire qualified and professional resort employees.
Clearly Define the Skills You’re Searching For
Your resort employees, especially those working at the frontline, are the foundation of your establishment, so it is important to be attentive and meticulous when hiring them.
The first step is to craft a job description that clearly outlines the skills and roles you expect from your resort employee.
A job description should include:
- Required skills, traits, and experience
- An insight into your establishment’s culture
- Autonomy and the level of influence the role has
- A day-to-day work description of the role
- What an employee can expect if they succeed in this role
- How the employee’s work will impact the entire resort
- A statement about the establishment’s values like diversity, equity, and inclusion
- Growth opportunities
Make sure you keep this description as concise and brief as possible. Another thing to remember is to ensure that you don’t use any prohibited language that discriminates under Equal Employment Opportunity (EEO) laws.
Advertise and Spread the Word
The next step is to advertise the job description to get it in front of the right candidates. Consider spreading the word in your immediate networks but remember to diversify the team instead of building a homogenous one.
It’s important to be mindful of the kind of team you’re building because your resort employees represent your entire establishment. In fact, research also suggests that diverse teams make better decisions and can work to improve business performance.
Numerous studies show that inclusivity and diversity are strongly linked with business success.
There are several ways to reach a broad pool of talented candidates, for example posting on job boards that are specifically designed to reach specific communities, such as Hire Autism, Diversity Working, Pink Jobs, Black Career Network, etc.
Building a diverse team will demonstrate your commitment to equity and will also give you a chance to support different types of communities.
Thoroughly Screen Candidates
One of the simplest ways to ensure success during recruitment is thoroughly screening candidates before conducting the interview.
You can do this by looking at the candidate’s application and checking for any references they provided or contacting previous employers in case any references aren’t listed.
Talking to previous employers or checking out references will give you deeper insight into candidates’ skills, worth ethic, capabilities, qualifications, and experiences.
Another method to use during the candidate screening process is asking very specific questions on the hiring application form. Apart from traditional questions that give you an idea of the employee’s experience in the hospitality industry, specific questions will help you understand the candidate on a deeper level so you can decide whether they are a good fit for your establishment or not.
Have a Robust Onboarding Process
Studies suggest that businesses with robust onboarding strategies enhance their new hire retention by 82% and increase productivity by more than 70%.
This shows how effective it is to have a strong onboarding process and training strategy if the goal is to hire and keep your resort staff.
The training period is essential when it comes to retaining your qualified staff. It’s important to keep training your staff members and regularly check in on them to make sure they’re doing okay. This also helps to prevent employee burnout since your employees know you’re looking out for them and care for their overall well-being. Reports show that organizations that put in an effort on performance management activities have higher employee engagement and see 41% lower absenteeism.
Hire Qualified and Motivated Employees with Career Suitcase
Are you searching for highly qualified and professional employees for your resort? Career Suitcase is here to help.
Career Suitcase is a leading recruitment agency where our consultants have a combined experience of 50 years in domestic and international hospitality recruitment services.
Our skilled recruitment professionals can help you identify motivated and qualified candidates so you can scale your business sustainably and exponentially.
Whether you’re looking for hotel recruitment services, cruise line recruitment consultants, or a restaurant recruitment agency, we can help.
Drop us a message here to learn more about our cruise line recruitment agency.