If you’ve ever been in charge of hiring for a hospitality business, you know how challenging recruiting can be. Between the high turnover of the industry and customer service expectations, generating interest seems like an uphill battle. Most hospitality businesses either post jobs online or rely on word of mouth to fill positions. But what if you need a different strategy to meet the demands of your business?

You might be too busy exceeding your customer’s expectations to think of new recruiting strategies. Luckily, there are plenty of ways to give your hospitality recruiting strategy a boost.

In this post, we’re going to outline seven cost effective ways to improve your hospitality recruiting strategy. Since they’re often essential to your business’ customer service, finding the right employees can make a big difference.

Recruiting Strategies to Start Using Today

1. Use Referrals

You’d be surprised at how many hospitality businesses that don’t use referrals. Take a minute to think of some of your best employees. You could encourage them to reach out to their own network to fill positions at your business.

Consider setting up a referral program at your business. Offering some kind of reward for quality candidates could incentivize current employees to recruit for you.

2. Create a Judgment Test

A judgment test puts a candidate into a situation that they would likely experience in the position. This can help you see how good of a fit someone would be for the company. It also gives you the benefit of showing the candidate what the job is actually like. Having this clear expectation can cut down on turnover. Judgment tests are also a great way to whittle down candidates to when you’re having a hard time making a decision.

3. Let Each Location Drive

Many hospitality businesses have multiple locations. And each of those locations have their own personality and might require a unique set of skills. It might be worth letting each location develop their own guidelines for their recruiting process. Having a customized process for each location could create a more consistent level of performance. You can even give each location a set of corporate guidelines to help get them started.

4. Look for Events to Attend

There are plenty of people who are open to finding a new job who aren’t searching directly. Sometimes you need to go where the candidates are ready. Do some researching online and look for any local job fairs that are happening. Attending events makes it easy to connect with people who are actively looking for new opportunities.

5. Try Peer Interviewing

Let’s say you’re looking for a bartender for the hotel bar. Who would know better at what it takes to be in that position than one of the best bartenders? Letting an employee interview candidates can give you unique insight into how good of a fit they can be for your business.

6. LinkedIn

There are plenty of other posts about how you can use LinkedIn for recruiting. But what can it offer the hospitality industry? For a cost-effective option, start by looking into the 2nd connections of people who you know in the hospitality industry. You can also look into joining hospitality LinkedIn groups and get permission to post about your openings on their community page.

7. Hire a Staffing Agency

Hiring a staffing agency can give your hospitality business access to a pool of qualified candidates. A staffing agency understands the importance of customer service and will work to find you personable staff. Looking into hospitality recruitment agencies might seem intimidating at first. But many staffing agencies work to find solutions within your budget.

Labor Systems Can Boost Your Hospitality Recruiting Strategy

At Labor Systems, we have decades of experience helping businesses find qualified candidates. The hospitality industry is one of our focus areas. As a hospitality recruiting agency, we know how important the customer experience can be for your success.

Whether you’re a hotel, restaurant, housekeeping or an event venue, we specialize in finding hard working and personable staff. If you have hospitality positions that need to be filled, contact our expert team today. We can help you build a hospitality strategy that helps your business thrive.