Author: Katherine Wyles

It’s a significant investment, a long-term commitment and affects so many areas of your life. Getting a new job is all of the above, just like buying a new house. On the other side of the spectrum, for businesses appointing a new employee, it’s an equally large commitment with bearings on resourcing, team dynamics and corporate culture.

It’s a symbiotic relationship – just like buyers and sellers of houses. They both need each other, but they also need someone in between to ensure they are getting the best for both parties.

As a central component in the recruitment process, we share our top tips for a successful appointment.

For Candidates

Invest time when it comes to your next career move to really consider the full effect of a new job on your life. It’s often the case to think the grass is greener and take a leap of faith without perhaps considering all of the variables.

Just like moving home, a new job can bring with it a new lifestyle; an altered commute, a different childcare requirement, a new group of colleagues to get to know and to work alongside.

But it takes time to search through vacancies, shortlisting, interviewing, negotiating and deciding to take the plunge into a new role. This huge investment in time and energy can be even more challenging if you’re already in job.

Finding your next role is something that requires research, diligence and strategic planning. It may feel a little daunting and overwhelming and this is where the insights of a specialist can really add value and help offset the burden.

For Businesses

Whilst many businesses have well-connected in-house teams to support with recruitment, working closely with a specialist recruitment consultant brings pre-qualified relevant candidates to the table, who are open to new roles and often outside your current network.

The benefit of having access to experienced resources to share intelligence of the candidate market is valuable for businesses to make highly informed decisions, leading to long-lasting candidate appointments.

• Which candidates will accept offers, and if not, why?
• What other roles are candidates at?
• What is the role worth in the market, compared to what competitors are looking for?

These are some of the many insights that can be shared to optimise the time and effort dedicated to this crucial process.

At FM Recruitment, Andrea and Chris have often been likened to the Kirsty and Phil of Financial Recruitment, and not just due to Chris and Phil’s similar hairstyles!  By helping candidates and businesses to navigate the recruitment process they can offer support and advice, honed from their long-standing expertise in the industry. Their extensive knowledge of the market will ensure both parties can save time, money and ensure recruitment isn’t just filling a gap, it’s creating longevity in the relationship.

For support with your next career move or to improve your recruitment strategy, please contact FM Recruitment now using any of the below details:

Office +44 20 8600 1160 I Email fm@fmrecruitment.co.uk
Chris Denison Smith +44 7775 711923 I Email chrisdenisonsmith@fmrecruitment.co.uk
Andrea Shaw +44 7714 236469 I Email andreashaw@fmrecruitment.co.uk

 

 

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With a surge in vacancies as hospitality reopens, the expectation that there would be a plethora of quality, available candidates in the market hasn’t materialised. Recruiters and businesses are all crying out for candidates, but where are they?

Despite the huge influx in vacancies, job seekers are remaining hesitant to apply for roles in the hospitality industry after the turbulence of the past 13 months. There are 335,000 fewer people employed in the hospitality industry compared to last year, according to the ONS.

Whilst the recent re-opening of indoor hospitality has resulted in an increase in hiring, with job adverts for hospitality roles running above pre-pandemic levels for the first time since the start of the crisis and the total number of vacancies close to 1 million*, recruiters and businesses are struggling to fill vacancies. (*Adzuna)

Why are there fewer candidates in the marketplace?

A cocktail of Brexit, a decline in confidence of job security, talent returning to their home countries, deciding to remain in their roles or being attracted to roles in other industries have resulted in a perfect storm for the decline in available talent in the hospitality industry.

A recent survey of 15 large hospitality brands, including InterContinental Hotels Group (IHG), Compass Group UK and Ireland and BaxterStorey, by the charity Springboard found many are facing major recruitment challenges.

As reported in The Caterer, one in three respondents noted that they do not have enough employees to manage re-opening indoors, 80% said there was a lack of skilled candidates, almost 90% are struggling to recruit for kitchen and back of house positions despite reduced capacity and over 30% are unable to fill senior management roles.

The Brexit Effect

Brexit, compounded by the pandemic, has seen hospitality lose many employees and future candidates as they return home overseas and are prevented from returning to the UK due to the introduction of the points-based immigration system.

Under new rules, applicants coming to the UK to work must be paid at least £25,600 a year, which for entry level roles across the hospitality sector will preclude many talented candidates, who would otherwise be nurtured into a career in hospitality.

The financial and administrative challenges associated with visa sponsorship present many challenges alongside severe penalties for employers who are found to be non-compliant. This is likely to lead to many employers electing to not hire overseas workers, which would add to the candidate shortages due to the recent uncertainty surrounding Brexit and the new immigration system.

The Saviour of Furlough but Masking the Reality

As furloughed employees (across all sectors) fell from about 5m at the end of March to around 3m by late April 2021, the reality of employee shortages became realised. Whilst furlough was the saviour for many businesses, allowing them flexibility to manage their work-force and protect more than 11 million jobs since the pandemic began (BBC), it often masked a true representation of the situation in hospitality, which has now been unveiled.

Perceived Confidence of Job Security

Vacancies are drawing fewer interested candidates than pre-pandemic with some candidates noting a decline in the confidence of job security as a reason for looking for a new position in hospitality. This has led to many candidates choosing to remain in their existing roles, or those who have been offered a new role, employers often engage in bidding wars for candidates, offering them attractive salary increases to remain with their company.

The Transferable Skills of Hospitality

The transferable skills developed whilst working in the hospitality sector can be easily applied to other industries and this has been seen with candidates choosing to pursue careers in other sectors, retrain or setting up their own businesses as a result of changed circumstances.

Where do we go from here?

Whilst there remains a number of challenges, there are encouraging initiatives across the sector to invest in training, development, wellbeing and accelerating careers.   Developing hospitality at the grass-roots level by working with colleagues, university students and graduate programs to produce talent for the industry will also be essential.

Springboard charity is spearheading this movement and has launched an initiative called Springboard to 2022, which is aiming to train 10,000 young people to work in the sector by December 2022.

At FM Recruitment, we are here to support both businesses and candidates to navigate the world of hospitality recruitment. We are specialists in financial recruitment at all levels in the UK and internationally. We belong to the Hospitality People Group who offer a wide variety of roles from c-suite level and everything in between.

For support with your next career move or to improve your recruitment strategy, please contact FM Recruitment now using any of the below details:

Office +44 20 8600 1160 I Email fm@fmrecruitment.co.uk
Chris Denison Smith +44 7775 711923 I Email chrisdenisonsmith@fmrecruitment.co.uk
Andrea Shaw +44 7714 236469 I Email andreashaw@fmrecruitment.co.uk