The New Hiring and Interviewing Landscape for Hotels - Hotel Business Review - March 2021
The New Hiring and Interviewing Landscape for Hotels - Hotel Business Review - March 2021
Published on March 9, 2021
The impact of the pandemic on the hospitality industry has been devastating and we are one of the hardest hit industries.
Over 9.2 million hospitality jobs were lost in the United States in 2020. In 2019, US Travel and Tourism was responsible for one in 10 jobs (330 million in total), generating one in four of all new jobs.
Consequently, there has been a dramatic change in the hiring and job hunt landscape. Hospitality Job Seekers are looking for new roles in a highly competitive environment and Hospitality Hiring Managers are being deluged with resumes for the diminished roles they have available.
Due to the pandemic, the US economy was shut down almost overnight in March 2020. The impact had an immediate impact on hospitality and presented our hotels, restaurants, travel agents, convention centers, airlines, cruise lines, attractions and DMC's with an unprecedented challenge. Strategies to flatten the curve such as lockdowns, social distancing and travel restrictions have resulted in temporary and permanent closure of many hospitality and related businesses.
Restrictions placed on travel led to a sharp decline in hotel occupancies and revenues. International and domestic travel quarantine and testing rules, changing almost on a daily basis, continues to effect hotel occupancy. Varying from state to state, most restaurants were required to change their business model. Moving from indoor to outdoor dining, to no dining due to weather, plus the additional burden of cleaning, building of outdoor structures and limited seating has severely impacted the already financially tenuous restaurant industry.
Depending on the state and the rate of infection, hospitalizations and vaccine availability, the reopening process has slowly begun in 2021. This crisis, however, will have a long term impact on how hospitality businesses will operate going forward. All facets of hospitality are expected to make substantial changes to their operations in the new business environment in order to ensure employee and customer safety, and enhance customer willingness to patronize their businesses.
The virus has impacted demand differently depending on the hotel chain. Luxury and upscale properties are the most dependent on business travelers, conferences and group meetings. These brands saw their demand levels decline over 60% in 2020. Hotels operating in the economy and midscale segments saw their business fall off by less than 25% in 2020.
The ripple effect on businesses dependent on hospitality thriving is considerable. Airlines have had to restrict load and demand is down. Similar to the lodging chain scale, the biggest impact has been on the traditional, larger airlines, while the low-cost carriers are feeling a lesser impact. Total losses among domestic airports are expected to be around $23.3 billion from March 2020 through the end of 2021. Convention Centers around the country have lost millions since the beginning of the shutdown, as meetings are cancelled and/or rescheduled.
The confidence provided by the vaccine should sustain the relatively strong leisure travel patterns seen in the summer of 2020 and indicates a significant return of corporate travelers during the second half of 2021. Group demand, on the other hand, will be slower to recover because of the advance-booking nature of this segment, as well as the hesitancy of companies to bring their teams together. Companies have become comfortable with employees working from home and the dependance on Zoom meetings will have a long term effect on business travel and meetings for our industry.
With occupancies plummeting, massive layoffs occurred at all levels of hotel employee. Whole sales teams were eliminated, General Managers are handling the front desk, line employee jobs were eliminated and department heads are cleaning rooms and washing dishes. Salaries were slashed, employees were furloughed (sometimes multiple times), and many finally let go.
The devastation for our hospitality industry has also impacted my hospitality recruiting business. We all thought in March 2020 that this would all be over in a couple of months. As summer rolled in, reality also set in and the furloughs and lay-offs continued. As fall 2020 turned in to winter, former hospitality colleagues found new jobs outside the industry, bravely reinventing themselves, sad to leave their hotels, but resolute. I saw people joining financial institutions, becoming real estate brokers, joining assisted living companies and many just plain retiring.
At time of writing, I am starting to see new searches come in. The landscape is different and there are new ways to interview and look for positions. Hiring managers are being deluged with responses to open positions. Resume gaps and salary expectations look a lot different now. Interviews are being done via Zoom or in person wearing masks. Our industry, so dependent on how personalities and talent are communicated, is being challenged to find high performing talent in new ways.
All hotel departments, including human resource teams, are being reduced. While justifying recruiter fees is difficult when revenues are so down, I have impressed on many of my clients that using a recruiter is more than ever an excellent investment. Many hiring managers are flooded with resumes when they advertise for available positions and are spending a huge amount of time sifting through talent profiles. They don't have time to proactively recruit the right talent and spend their time triaging the applications.
Some of the best candidates may also still be in their positions, hesitant to make a change given the current uncertainty. The right recruiter will market and proactively recruit for the role and a company culture. A good recruiter will take the time to thoroughly vet a candidate, after proactively looking for the right person. We can stay on top of the interview process, moving candidates along, ensuring you don't lose great people along the way.
Along with an uptick in search assignments, hospitality colleagues are starting to announce their new positions or returning to sales roles. It's happening at a different pace from region to region. No surprise, but the competition is stiffer than ever for the available roles, so it is critical that candidates present themselves in the best possible light.
As a Hospitality Recruiter, who uses LinkedIn extensively for sourcing candidates, it is important that job seekers update their LinkedIn page so hiring managers can find them. A LinkedIn page is an online resume and should be as detailed and professional as a traditional resume. This includes:
A professional yet relatable headshot, with an eye-catching background (no brand logos, groups, trade shows or personal images).
A succinct and concise tagline under photo with a snapshot of experience, i.e. "Senior Group Sales Manager with 5+ Years of Experience in Lifestyle Hotels"
A well thought out "About" section describing the candidate's career, adding in important key words such as; geographic experience, industry segments specialized in, leadership experience, key accomplishments. It is not necessary to add in technical skills, education (both listed at bottom of profile), personal information or editorial comments.
The career progression section is critical The dates must be correct for each role. If someone has been with the same company in several positions, this should be shown as one organization with progressive roles. Add in company logos. If the current role has ended, put an end date. Given the current impact on our industry, a position end date in 2020 will be assumed to be as a result of the pandemic. Never leave out positions and be completely transparent...it will reflect on one's integrity if it surfaces during the interview process.
In the position detail, here is the opportunity to succinctly describe role responsibilities, adding in as many key words as possible. For instance; "As Director of Group Sales, I managed a team of three sellers for this 300 room luxury hotel with 15,000 square feet of event space. I sold key group accounts to the Northeast Market, specializing in finance, technology and fashion. Our team consistently exceeded our annual group goal of $10M by 15%." One doesn't need to add details that are automatically part of a job description such as "attended Revenue Meetings", or "wrote marketing plan". Detail about the property can be added with the hotel/company website.
Key words are critical as hiring managers (and recruiters), often do key word searches, using criteria for the role. For instance, if I am looking for a Group Sales Manager with experience in the Midwest incentive market, candidates with these key words on their Linkedin page, will display at the top of the candidate search list.
Candidate's submissions will land on a large pile of resumes when applying on line. I recommend that candidates look within their network to find someone at the company and ask them to help them get to the right hiring manager. Referrals or recommendations go a long way when trying to cut through the mountain of resumes on a hiring manager's desk.
Often when applying on line, resumes are scanned by a bot not a human. Candidates must make sure their cover letter and/or resume includes all the key words in the position job description, so they are more likely to pass through to the interview stage.
Candidates can assume the hiring manager will go directly to their LinkedIn, Facebook, Instagram and Twitter pages. Now is the time to ensure all social media platforms represent how the candidates want to be perceived. Also job seekers should have a positive presence on the LinkedIn feed, post updates, while expanding their network.
I also recommend that if candidates have left the industry, but still want to return, they leave their LinkedIn industry code on Hospitality, so people like me can find them.
This is an extremely difficult time for our hospitality industry. There are a number of management companies who are growing their portfolios by picking up distressed properties. Keeping an eye on this activity may provide some job seeking opportunities. Using my recruiting business and current searches as a barometer, operations positions seem to be slowly making a comeback.
Unfortunately, I think sales position opportunities will take longer to resume. I am cautiously optimistic, that as in the good times, high performers will find new opportunities and hospitality companies will avail themselves of excellent talent by using focused recruiting, interview and hiring practices.
Published by
McIntosh Human Capital Management - Recruiting Luxury & Lifestyle