Why Hospitality Should Hire Candidates With No Previous Hotel Experience
Photo Credit: Yoshiharu Hoshino, CEO of Hoshino Resorts, believes the hotel should cast a wide net in its recruiting. Hoshino Resorts
Skift Take
As labor markets tighten and competition increases, the hospitality industry must both embrace and make it easier for mid-career professionals to pivot their careers into a new world. The backgrounds, skill sets, and fresh thinking will add much-needed depth to the industry.
On Experience
Colin Nagy is a marketing strategist and writes on customer-centric experiences and innovation across the luxury sector, hotels, aviation, and beyond. You can read all of his writing here.One of the questions that may play the greatest role in shaping the future of hospitality is one that is also the least discussed.
How does the industry, from a restaurant to a top-tier hotel, attract both the best talent, and challenge itself to not mine the usual venues to find it? We know the usual paths into a career, and the established hospitality schools like Lausanne and Cornell. We also know some of the smart, emerging grassroots projects like Saira that introduce people to a career they might not have known existed.
But here’s a bold proposition: the industry must look for people outside of the typical purview, for those who may not have ever worked behind a bar or a front desk before. Why? A shortage of qualified labor, for one. But also importantly, the industry is obsessed with experiences, and for all the lip service that is paid to it, these experiences are created by individuals. And individuals with a variety of backgrounds, life experiences, and contexts are more likely to provide something of value and depth.One of the biggest opportunities to find incredible talent is in the career pivot: figuring out pathwa
