COVID-19 has affected every sector across the globe, and the hotel industry is among the hardest hit. New research by consulting firm McKinsey & Company indicates that there will be an extended and variable return for the industry, suggesting that recovery to pre-COVID levels could take until 2023 or later.
Hospitality will see both subtle and substantial changes in the post-pandemic era, with some of these shifts evident today. Although most hotels are still experiencing high vacancy rates as the virus continues to spread, conditions are improving as millions of doses of the vaccine are administered across the United States and elsewhere. Some U.S. domestic travel is permitted, and many travelers are seeking close-to-home vacations with a focus on health and safety. In fact, U.S. hotel profitability improved in January 2021, with hotel gross operating profit per available room increasing slightly from prior months, but remaining low.
With the rollout of the vaccine and more opportunities for leisure and business travel, it’s time to ask: Is your hotel ready to hire post-pandemic?
By Amy Hughes, Vice President of Customer Enablement at Jobvite, Indianapolis, Indiana
As the industry rebounds, rehires, and rebuilds its workforce post-pandemic, volume hiring will be critical. To get ready to hire at volume, the best time to start evaluating your strategy, processes, and technology is now. Below, explore a few practical ways to hire the best staff when the time is right.
Improve job descriptions for higher-quality applicants
When your talent team needs to hire a lot of people quickly, reaching the best candidates is critical. One way to do that is through a well-written job description.
When writing a job description, you run the risk of using dated language, boilerplate copy from similar jobs in the industry, and a long list of “must-have” requirements. While cutting and pasting your way to getting that job requisition up on your career site may save time initially, it often leads to longer time-to-hire rates and less opportunities to hire a more diverse workforce.
Make strategic investments in employer brand
Employer branding is essential to attracting and finding hourly talent, at volume, who will exceed in meeting customer expectations while driving business results. With so many potential hires on social media, especially after this past year, be sure the brand you put on social is one that will attract top talent.
Online job boards (69%) are still most popular for posting job openings, but modern methods are gaining ground, with approximately 73% of people ages 18-34 have found jobs via social media channels. Put yourself in a candidate’s shoes, go check out your social channels, and make sure your brand appeals to job seekers.
Welcome technology in hiring
Recruitment technology is constantly changing, and using these digital assets is crucial to speeding up the hiring process, especially when you need to hire at scale. This can include adding short text-in codes to your job advertisements. Text-in codes can be easily added to both digital and print ads, allowing job seekers to quickly take an action and respond via text for more information when they see something that piques their interest. Positions in hospitality are among the easiest to fill using by using short codes in advertisements.
Another way to welcome tech into your talent acquisition process is by embracing text recruiting. Text messaging has become increasingly popular for candidate communications, with 60% of job seekers who receive a text message during the hiring process saying they prefer this channel over email or phone communication. Text messages can be used to confirm interview appointments, send video links, and share relevant web pages.
You should also be automating hiring with an Application Tracking System (ATS). Filling hundreds or even thousands of openings at once might seem intimidating, but an ATS can streamline your recruiting process, helping you hire both smarter and faster. ATS lets you automate tedious manual tasks like candidate screening and interview scheduling, so you can focus on building relationships.
Build a talent pipeline
Recruiting a dedicated hotel staff is usually, and hopefully soon again will be, an ongoing process. If you wait to recruit when you have openings, the time-to-hire pressure will be on, and you won’t have the luxury of being more selective. Constant recruiting will result in a greater quantity and higher quality of applicants to choose from, and you’ll increase your chances of finding the best employees when you need them, according to SHRM. Tap into your talent pool now and build out a strategic recruitment marketing program to continually engage candidates.
Travel will return, but it will likely take longer than other industries to become fully operational. In the meantime, it’s important to use the upcoming weeks and months wisely to make changes to the recruiting process to engage and nurture candidates today as your hotel looks to fully reopen in the future.