Skills on the agenda as hospitality, leisure and tourism hiring on the up
27 May 2014
Recruiters in the UK’s hospitality and leisure sector tell Recruiter that they are increasingly confident about the future for increasing employment in those professions, backing up a survey published today by the Confederation of British Industry (CBI), which shows an upturn in hiring.
Tue, 27 May 2014
Recruiters in the UK’s hospitality and leisure sector tell Recruiter that they are increasingly confident about the future for increasing employment in those professions, backing up a survey published today by the Confederation of British Industry (CBI), which shows an upturn in hiring.
However, they warn of growing skills shortages as demand for staff picks up.
According to the survey of 151 firms, the UK’s hotels, bars, restaurants and leisure firms in particular grew their staff numbers “strongly” for the third consecutive quarter.
Chris Black, co-founder of hospitality and retail recruiter Ellis Mack Recruitment, based in Scotland, tells Recruiter: “There has been a noticeable change in the last six months to a year, with more new opportunities and fewer candidates.”
However, Black warns that as growth has picked up, there are signs of growing skills shortages. In particular, he says, “it is very difficult to find people for the branded restaurants, such as Giraffe, Carluccio’s and Jamie’s, who are very specific in the skill set they are looking for at all job levels”.
Neil Tune, HR director at Fitness First, tells Recruiter that after “a really tough” period in the health club sector, companies such as his are “a bit more confident” with “some early signs of recovery”.
Tune says the volume of applications to the company has “remained fairly stable” and that “maybe the quality is a bit thin on the ground”.
“It’s less about recruitment and more about making sure staff are full equipped and skilled for our customers.”
Helen Pickersgill, UK retail recruitment manager at C2 Recruitment,adds: “The ongoing challenge, as ever within the Hospitality sector will be the retention of the talent that is recruited and an increased emphasis on the training and development of staff should if done well aid this greatly.”
This is relected in the CBI survey findings, which indicated that companies plan to boost spending on training/retraining staff over the next three months at the fastest rate since November 2007.
The evidence of an upturn in the UK’s consumer-facing sector comes as not-for-profit organisation The National Forest says it intends to create 2,000 new jobs over the next six years thanks to an increase in tourism, a new study has said.
The research, carried out by The National Forest, says the organisation expects 6,500 people in total to be employed in the woodland-based economy by 2020 as a direct result of the economic value and visitor numbers that the woodlands bring to an area.
The National Forest will also provide opportunities for training and work readiness for young people and those who face substantial barriers to employability, with a particular emphasis on woodland management.
The results of the CBI survey, and the views of recruiter’s are supported by the findings of Caterer.com’s latest Hospitality Employment Index Report, published earlier this month [May]. This indicated a strong resurgence in jobs advertised throughout the entire hospitality sector, with 21% growth in Q1 2014, representing 34,512 jobs advertised on the site.
Year-on-year growth was also strong, with 14% uplift in jobs advertised, equivalent to over 126,872 individual job postings.
Ian Burke, website director of Caterer.com, adds: “The data from our website is clearly telling a positive story and the hospitality industry as a whole has reason to be optimistic. However, despite the many encouraging indicators we need to remain focused on securing the long-term viability of our industry. The war for talent is intensifying and we will continue to compete with other sectors, such as manufacturing or retail for those with the best aptitude.
“That’s why we need to keep focused on attracting young talent to the industry to avoid future skills gaps – something we’re already doing through initiatives like the BHA’s [British Hospitality Association’s] Big Hospitality Conversation or Springboard’s youth programmes. We must continue to work together to safeguard hospitality’s future as a sector of growth, initiative and opportunity.”
Recruiters in the UK’s hospitality and leisure sector tell Recruiter that they are increasingly confident about the future for increasing employment in those professions, backing up a survey published today by the Confederation of British Industry (CBI), which shows an upturn in hiring.
However, they warn of growing skills shortages as demand for staff picks up.
According to the survey of 151 firms, the UK’s hotels, bars, restaurants and leisure firms in particular grew their staff numbers “strongly” for the third consecutive quarter.
Chris Black, co-founder of hospitality and retail recruiter Ellis Mack Recruitment, based in Scotland, tells Recruiter: “There has been a noticeable change in the last six months to a year, with more new opportunities and fewer candidates.”
However, Black warns that as growth has picked up, there are signs of growing skills shortages. In particular, he says, “it is very difficult to find people for the branded restaurants, such as Giraffe, Carluccio’s and Jamie’s, who are very specific in the skill set they are looking for at all job levels”.
Neil Tune, HR director at Fitness First, tells Recruiter that after “a really tough” period in the health club sector, companies such as his are “a bit more confident” with “some early signs of recovery”.
Tune says the volume of applications to the company has “remained fairly stable” and that “maybe the quality is a bit thin on the ground”.
“It’s less about recruitment and more about making sure staff are full equipped and skilled for our customers.”
Helen Pickersgill, UK retail recruitment manager at C2 Recruitment,adds: “The ongoing challenge, as ever within the Hospitality sector will be the retention of the talent that is recruited and an increased emphasis on the training and development of staff should if done well aid this greatly.”
This is relected in the CBI survey findings, which indicated that companies plan to boost spending on training/retraining staff over the next three months at the fastest rate since November 2007.
The evidence of an upturn in the UK’s consumer-facing sector comes as not-for-profit organisation The National Forest says it intends to create 2,000 new jobs over the next six years thanks to an increase in tourism, a new study has said.
The research, carried out by The National Forest, says the organisation expects 6,500 people in total to be employed in the woodland-based economy by 2020 as a direct result of the economic value and visitor numbers that the woodlands bring to an area.
The National Forest will also provide opportunities for training and work readiness for young people and those who face substantial barriers to employability, with a particular emphasis on woodland management.
The results of the CBI survey, and the views of recruiter’s are supported by the findings of Caterer.com’s latest Hospitality Employment Index Report, published earlier this month [May]. This indicated a strong resurgence in jobs advertised throughout the entire hospitality sector, with 21% growth in Q1 2014, representing 34,512 jobs advertised on the site.
Year-on-year growth was also strong, with 14% uplift in jobs advertised, equivalent to over 126,872 individual job postings.
Ian Burke, website director of Caterer.com, adds: “The data from our website is clearly telling a positive story and the hospitality industry as a whole has reason to be optimistic. However, despite the many encouraging indicators we need to remain focused on securing the long-term viability of our industry. The war for talent is intensifying and we will continue to compete with other sectors, such as manufacturing or retail for those with the best aptitude.
“That’s why we need to keep focused on attracting young talent to the industry to avoid future skills gaps – something we’re already doing through initiatives like the BHA’s [British Hospitality Association’s] Big Hospitality Conversation or Springboard’s youth programmes. We must continue to work together to safeguard hospitality’s future as a sector of growth, initiative and opportunity.”
