The dynamic world of hospitality needs a talented and agile team to remain above the competition. With the current conditions of the recruitment landscape, it is key that you get your employer branding spot on to attract and retain the best team as a solid foundation for your hotel’s success.

What Should Your Approach Be?

Times are changing, and so should your hotel recruitment strategy. Gone are the days when you could post a black-and-white vacancy and watch the candidates come flooding in. Prospective employees are now in the driving seat and have options. It will help if you stay alert to new and creative ways of reaching the right people.

A strong focus on your employer branding is vital to catch the eye of your next hire and a point where many companies fall short. Putting the time and resources into on-brand and well-targeted hotel recruitment efforts will pay off.

Why is Employer Branding so Important?

Your brand tells the candidate the story of their future with your hotel. It explains everything from your core values and character to your team spirit and guest profile. You need to stand out, appeal to your audience and make an emotional connection at first glance. It would help if you made a powerful impression among the distracting chatter of other companies while your potential candidates scroll, skim and swipe.

How Can You Achieve This?

Through precise targeting and carefully thought out content. Ensure your team has a creative mindset and an eagerness to stay up to date. If your team does not have the knowledge or resources, consult an expert!

Hotel recruitment specialists combine a passion for HR with branding to drive robust applications.

Every channel and communication must be optimized to achieve results. Consideration must be given to solid visuals and emotive and engaging copy on all platforms.

Tips and Tricks

  • Make your content relatable: speak to your audience personally and let them into your world. Try adding a ‘Meet the team’ or ‘Day’ in your website’s life section.
    Show off: share your awards, team satisfaction scores, and testimonials to allow a trustworthy source to sing your praises.
  • Make it visual: they say a picture speaks a thousand words. Well, why not try a video too? Make sure you pick the right photographer or videographer to create a captivating piece that aligns with your brand’s visual and verbal identity.
  • Run a campaign: boost your efforts to get noticed and watch the applications begin to roll in.
  • Hold a hotel recruitment event: give additional insight into the work environment and team while gaining the opportunity to make a personal connection.

The list goes on; every touchpoint needs attention. Analyze your competition to identify how you add value and ensure that it is communicated. Reconsider your offer and add perks that set you apart from other hotels.

Think about the group you are targeting and what would add value to them; why not offer to contribute to paying off the candidate’s student loans or offer a development budget? Pinpoint the barriers that might stop someone from applying and break those down. If your hotel is hard to reach, arrange a shuttle bus or even offer a company bike or car.

Get your vacancy posts right, find out what information candidates look for, and work that into your job posting. Make sure that you highlight things that set you apart effectively. Younger generations are increasingly interested in CSR so mention any interesting efforts.

Use formatting such as bullet points and paragraphs to make information easy to digest and understand. Remember that you have seconds to grab your reader’s attention before they might scroll on. Never forget the photos, most people are visual people, and an image can communicate much about your brand in just one glance.

Promote your vacancies through the most effective channels to people who are likely to apply. Are you looking for young graduates? Why not try recruiting through TikTok? Or visit a hotel school?

Enhance the candidate experience to make the application nice and easy. Start with an intuitive and user-friendly search. Show them what your application process is, with timeframes, so they know what to expect. Structure your vacancy as clearly as possible and then ensure that candidates can apply in as few steps as possible, with just a few clicks and core information.

For more guidance on optimizing your employer branding, setting up a successful careers page or effective job post, and promoting your positions, take a look at this hotel recruitment eBook by Orange Hotel Marketing. It will give you a head start and help you get it right first.

Get Your New Team to Help You Recruit

Once you have sealed the deal, the job does not stop. Focus on a solid onboarding process and do everything you can to retain your recruited talent. Make sure you deliver on your promises and stay true to your Employee Value Proposition.

Make sure you have a development program to keep them constantly growing instead of looking for their next step elsewhere. Keep your team happy, it will ensure that they will help spread the word about what a great place your hotel is to work, and a referral program will also help to encourage team members to bring in new people.

Free Download: Hotel Recruitment Marketing eBook

It is more important than ever that recruitment efforts are robust and polished to stand out from the crowd and grab the gems among the small pool of candidates. This hotel recruitment marketing eBook will give you some pointers on improving your recruitment efforts.

Click here to download the “Hotel Recruitment Marketing eBook”.

There is no time like the present to embrace a new approach. Keep up with the times and think a step ahead. Get into the mind of your ideal candidate and target through strong branding until you have a winning team under your wing. Ready, set, go!

More Tips to Grow Your Business

Revfine.com is a knowledge platform for the hospitality & travel industry. Professionals use our insights, strategies and actionable tips to get inspired, optimise revenue, innovate processes and improve customer experience. You can find all hotel & hospitality tips in the categories Revenue Management, Marketing & Distribution, Hotel Operations, Staffing & Career, Technology and Software.

This article is written by our Expert Partner Orange Hotel Marketing

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