In today’s recovering economy, top-quality hospitality professionals are in high demand. If you’re an employer who wants to land the best of the best in this continually growing industry, you may want to consider alternate candidate pools—such as “passive” job seekers—when recruiting for open hotel and restaurant positions. These are professionals who are satisfied with their current job and are not overtly unhappy with their employer or situation.
Though they are not actively seeking a new position—i.e. sending out resumes, cruising job boards, or networking—passive hospitality job seekers may still be interested in opportunities that happen to come their way. In fact, according to Jobvite’s recent 2015 Job Seeker Nation Study, “45 percent of workers will jump ship for a new job even though they are happy in their current position.”
Of course, not all currently employed hotel and restaurant professionals are passive job seekers. Some actually have no interest in changing employers or positions. If you want to target the currently employed, you must first identify those who are recruitable rather than waste valuable time. Consider these five ways to know if a top-performing candidate is not looking and should be avoided.
1. He or she has an out-of-date resume and/or incomplete social media profile.
Maintaining an updated resume and social media profile takes time. Top-performing professionals who are not interested in changing employers can always find better things to do. If you find a particularly accomplished convention services manager with an outdated resume or incomplete work history in his or her profile, chances are good that they aren’t interested in hearing about opportunities at your hotel or resort.
2. He or she doesn’t respond to your phone calls or emails.
Top-performing professionals got where they are by focusing on their jobs, not returning unsolicited phone calls or emails that have no immediate bearing on their careers. If you have reached out to a restaurant general manager and he or she doesn’t bother to respond within a week, they are most likely not interested in the possibility of leaving their current position to work for you.
3. He or she doesn’t visit typical online job boards or your company career page.
Online job boards and company career pages are both essential recruiting tools, especially in today’s world of the mobile job seeker. However, top-performing hospitality professionals—whether interested in new opportunities or not—are unlikely to research other employers or search for job listings. You’re more likely to get his or her attention if you post that sales manager position on an industry website such as Hcareers. Hotel and restaurant professionals visit such resources to catch up on industry news; those who are passive yet open to possibilities glance at the job ads as well.
4. He or she is very happy with her current position, employer, or career.
Many top-performing hospitality candidates got their current position through a referral. Some landed their job thanks to networking. You’re likely to find quality candidates through both channels. However, if you—or one of your employees—meet a hotel front office manager who has potential, but responds positively to questions about their current situation, it’s likely they are not looking for a new opportunity and won’t be a good use of your recruiting time.
5. He or she recently graduated from college.
Recent college undergraduates can be a great source of entry-level job candidates in many industries including hospitality. However, many of them are actually not looking for employment. Some plan to go to graduate school, while others are in the process of starting their own businesses. If you stumble across one who interests you, make sure you understand his or her plans for the immediate future before you launch into recruitment.