A Hospitality Recruiter Cand Find Your Perfect Placement

I was asked recently by a potential new hotel client, “What does a hospitality recruiter actually do for his or her clients that they or their own HR offices cannot do?”

It had been awhile since I had actually been on a “pitch” for new business so I had to think about it for a moment. Most of my successful hospitality recruiting firm’s business comes from referrals. It’s like money in the bank. It was actually a referral that led me to this client but the new client was not going on their friends’ strong recommendation alone. The new client was savvy, they’d been around the block, and later I learned this client had actually worked with many recruiters in the past. He then tells me later the real answer was a test to see what made me, or hospitality recruiters, stand apart.

Suspecting at the time I was answering for all hospitality recruiters out there I answered his question. “A real recruiter acts as your HR department, within your own office!” I say. “A recruiter should not be a resume puller,” I went on to add. That very technical term “resume puller” is a term used in the recruiting industry to define someone randomly pulling resumes off line and selling them to clients without having conversations with a candidate, completing a background check or checking his or her professional references.

A truly qualified hospitality recruiter will have not only spent years in the hospitality industry, either in the trenches or in human resources for a resort or hotel. In my opinion the person you hire to help you fill positions in your organization should also have an education in Human Resources, Hotel Restaurant and Institutional Management or in the Culinary Arts field. Would you let your hairdresser change the oil in your car?

One approach that I take as a recruiter that many employers –and recruiters alike do not is that I see myself more as “relationship specialist” versus “headhunter” or recruiter. In fact, I resent the word “headhunter” because I do a lot more than search out “talking heads” for positions. I have a record with some of my hotel clients for retention of managers that even their own HR offices cannot beat. It’s all about matching folks; it’s all about relationships.

What you should get when you work with a recruiter is the recruiter them self. You should get someone who wants to know what your needs are –understands them well because they themselves have probably worked the same jobs. You want someone who is going to call you back, going to have discussed all of your needs with a candidate, someone who really wants the next person you hire to be the last one you hire for that job.

What you’ll avoid is pretty simple to see: you’ll avoid 20 resumes, dozens of phone calls and countless reference checks in order to find your next gold star employee.

Louis Yuhasz

Is a hospitality recruiter based in Charleston, SC. His company is Yuhasz Staffing Solutions and he can be reached at (843) 343-5746.

Louis is also very involved in his passion and charity - "Louis Kids." Dedicated to fighting child obesity "one child at a time". Please visit his site and support his cause at: Louies Kids