As the hospitality sector gears up for its busiest time of the year, costs are coming under increasing scrutiny, with resourcing departments looking at sourcing candidates online, squeezing recruiters on margins and causing agencies to prove their worth through addressing the perennial chef shortage and managing growing candidate volumes.

“It is the build-up to Christmas. Catering and hospitality always have a boost around now. All the signs are out and restaurants are beginning their warm-up to the Christmas period,” says Nick Gourley, director at Blue Arrow Catering.

And Roddy Watt, director at Retail HR’s hospitality division, says improved prospects of a recovery have led to more active jobseekers. “People just wanted security. Now that confidence has returned to the market place, candidates are starting to look again. RHR has seen significant increases in the number of jobseekers.”

Despite this increase in active candidates, not all HR departments are using agencies to manage a larger workload. “I haven’t used an agency for recruitment for over 12 months. We have plenty of online and speculative applications. The temporary agencies which we use are keen to price competitively,” says Jan Marshall, director of HR at the London Marriott Hotel.

But Watt says online is not always the route to securing the best talent. “In an economic downturn, people are getting a bigger response from the web which is not necessarily a great thing as it is a pain in the neck to manage the response.”

And Mark Darby, managing director at Berkeley Scott, says recruiters have been guilty of creating a bun fight to secure business. “Within recruitment, there has been a movement to drive prices down. That’s come from both clients looking to save cash and other recruitment consultancies beginning to struggle within the sector who are forced to reduce prices just to bring some business in.

“We have been in the business for 25 years and we have got a reputation to uphold. That’s more important that making a placement for “200.”

While margins are tough, there remains a talent shortfall of chefs, according to Marshall. “A lot of education and training takes place in schools, colleges and supporting training, but a hotel chef can be a challenging role; past perceptions perhaps see the job as having anti-social hours. We are always looking for enthusiastic people with a passion for food to train and develop.”

Sam Hayter, director of HR at Starwood Central London Hotels, told Recruiter that the government has recognised the problem in including chef roles as ‘shortage occupations’ under its immigration points-based entry system. “They’ve also reduced the qualifying time period for inter-company transfers, which definitely benefits the UK, as many people relish the chance to work here,” Hayter adds.

Starwood is one hotel chain that will be expanding next year, opening 50 new hotels in Europe, Middle East and Africa, recruiting over 3,000 staff. Hayter says that recruiters that secure this business will have to sell why their candidate is right for Starwood.

“They will have interviewed the candidate they are presenting to me, taken the appropriate references and ensured the candidate has prepared
for the interview as thoroughly as possible. I don’t do speculative, so firing off an e-mail to me with ‘I have an excellent candidate’ for a role I am not even recruiting for is an immediate turn off. Cold calls don’t work either.”

stakeholder comment

Aileen West, recruitment manager — operations, Whitbread Hotel & Restaurants
“To add value to our resourcing strategy, agencies need to be working proactively to headhunt and find talent. They should not rely on traditional approaches but be prepared to come up with innovative ways of sourcing candidates.”

Roddy Watt, director, Retail HR
“We went into the recession overnight and I think the pullout is going to take a great deal longer. There was a minor dip at the beginning of 2001/02, but if you go back to 1989/91 at the last serious downturn, people were carrying huge headcount so they cut back dramatically. This time around, people are much leaner and meaner anyway, so they have less opportunity to cut to the bone.”

Nick Gourley, managing director, Blue Arrow Catering
“When you work in partnership with the client, you add value by understanding what they are trying to achieve and work towards the longer term and not the short term. Where we have had relationships with clients for some years, we have grown with them and know where they are going; we come to decisions that help them in their business before it helps us in ours.”

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