The hotel human resource department is as busy as any other office on property. The tasks accomplished there vary greatly. Everything from managing 401K’s, to OSHA training classes, to dealing with a union falls under the responsibility of HR. Recruitment often takes a back seat to other more visible issues. The advent of online recruitment has helped HR departments by decreasing the cycle time needed to hire a high performer. Still, many administrators simply do not have enough time to search resume databases, post jobs and follow up with hundreds of applicants. I have received consistent feedback from employers telling me that they are looking for improvement in the following three areas:

  1. Ease of Posting – Often times a hotel company may need the same position filled for several of its properties. For example Hilton Hotel Company may need a sales manager for 20 of their hotels at any one time. Or a large resort like the Greenbrier will need waiters throughout the summer. The ability to post a job once and replicate it for different regions is key. Further, the job should be able to be cataloged so it can be posted at future times. These features save the administrator from posting the same position repeatedly. Hotels often have canned job descriptions that they use in several areas (newspapers, college recruitment fairs, etc.) Employers like their online postings to have the same look and feel. Job boards should allow for a free form feature, so that the posting is consistent with those appearing in other mediums. Job titles tend to get skewed between companies and cultures. An employer wants the ability to post jobs with his/her company’s specific titles and not be restricted to just a few that a site may offer.
  2. Filtering of Responses – The response to a single job posting can often yield a large number of resumes. Some job seekers still believe that they should get their resume in front of as many people as possible, whether they are qualified for the position or not. Much like the “junk mail” folder on your e-mail software, job boards can develop an intelligent filtering system. The website can examine keywords in a resume and sort them into different folders. For example, if the Mansion on Turtle Creek posted a sales position, applicants whose resumes have the keywords “group sales, Dallas, and luxury” would be sent into an “A” folder. This would enable the employer to view the best matches immediately. I would recommend that every candidate who applies, qualified or not, receives at a minimum an auto reply letting them know their application has been received.
  3. Automatic Resume Searching – Searching a resume database is the surest way of identifying the “A” candidate. It enables you to reach out to the passive job seeker--someone who is not actively looking for a job but is willing to hear about potential opportunities. Unfortunately, the process can be very time consuming. Websites that offer a “resume spider” component have a clear advantage. Employers can select from a list of titles, skills, or regions and set up a spider to crawl through the database to select matches. Taking it one step further would have the website take the data directly from the employer’s posting and initiate the search instantaneously.

Some of these technologies are available now. Monster.com is certainly the leader on the technology front. Other sites offer variations of these features. Hospitalitycareernet.com allows employers to search their resume database using a keyword search feature as well as to filter the results of a hospitality specific assessment. However, all the bells and whistles will not garner the employer success if the job board is not consistently attracting top talent. Ask your provider what strategies he/she is using to attract job seekers to its site. The combination of a constant stream of talent and intelligent screening tools will increase your efficiency when recruiting online.

Doug Rosen is Vice President of hospitalitycareernet.com, the online recruiting division of HVS Executive Search. Hospitalitycareernet.com is an internet recruiting solution, designed to help companies within the hospitality industry find talent. Hospitalitycareernet.com also powers the job boards of organizations such as The Leading Hotels of the World and The Hotel Association of Canada. Mr. Rosen has written several articles about online recruitment, and also runs HVS's leadership and employment assessment, 2020skills.com.

HVS International is a hospitality services firm providing industry skill and knowledge worldwide. The organization and its specialists possess a wide range of expertise and offer market feasibility studies, valuations, strategic analyses, development planning, and litigation support. Additionally, HVS International supplies unique knowledge in the areas of executive search, investment banking, environmental sustainability, timeshare consulting, food and beverage operations, interior design, gaming, technology strategies, organizational assessments, operational management, strategy development, convention facilities consulting, marketing communications, property tax appeals and investment consulting. Since 1980, HVS International has provided hospitality services to more than 10,000 hotels throughout the world. Principals and associates of the firm have authored textbooks and thousands of articles regarding all aspects of the hospitality industry. Click here for more...

Leora Lanz
HVS Sales & Marketing Services
516-248-8828 Ext 278
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