Hospitality must rethink hiring practices, says Westminster Works
Hospitality and leisure businesses across the UK are being urged to reconsider traditional CV-based hiring practices, in a bid to ease the staffing crisis that has impacted the sector since the Covid-19 pandemic.
The advice is based on insights from a new report outlining findings from the two-year Westminster Works scheme, funded by Westminster City Council, which was designed to address the recruitment challenges faced by businesses in the hospitality hotspot of Westminster. Over 400 businesses were supported by the scheme and 27,000 candidates registered interest in job vacancies, including positions at some of the UK's most prestigious hotels, bars and restaurants.
While the initial goal was to attract more candidates to the sector, it soon became clear that a lack of appetite for these roles wasn't the problem, as over 7,000 people registered interest in the programme during the first six weeks. The focus was instead turned to methods businesses were using to hire entry-level candidates.
Experiential recruitment
A new approach via 'experiential recruitment' and bespoke training modules for candidates with no previous hospitality experience was trialled as part of the scheme, with a first-of-its-kind 'Recruitment Restaurant' event run at Westminster Kingsway College, allowing candidates to take part in live trial shifts and secure on-the-spot interviews for vacant roles. This initiative allowed employers to see potential staff in action and persuaded many to reconsider their current CV-based recruitment methods.
Tenzing Tashi, restaurant operations manager at A Wong, a Michelin-starred Chinese restaurant in Pimlico, comments: "Before engaging with the Westminster Works programme, we were very set in our ways in our recruitment process and would only look at CVs that had previous experience and then would offer them a face-to-face interview. We are now open to all kinds of candidates regardless of their experience and welcome the innovative methods of recruitment suggested."
The team at A Wong have been gratefully receiving 30-second video applications instead of CVs. "We absolutely love how this works," adds Tashi. "It gives us a better understanding of the nature of the candidates and their passion and commitment to our brand. We have offered two trial shifts off the back of these and have offered a role to one of them so far. It has caused us to change the way we recruit going forward."
The first programme of its kind in the UK, Westminster Works was created by town centre vitality agency Attis in partnership with recruitment agency Step Ahead and funded by Westminster City Council. Step Ahead also secured match funding from the Mayor's Adult Education Fund. It was supported by New West End Company, Knightsbridge Partnership, the London Property Alliance and the University of Westminster.
Recognised as having a world-class hospitality offer, Westminster itself is home to over 3,700 restaurants, bars and cafes and a further 4,000 leisure businesses, supporting around 120,00 jobs in the city.
Despite the success of the scheme, hospitality and leisure businesses across the country continue to face hiring challenges, with the latest ONS stats showing there are still around 100,000 unfilled job vacancies in accommodation and food services alone, and world-renowned chefs including Michel Roux Jr and Yottam Ottolenghi talking openly about their struggle to recruit staff in their restaurants in recent years.
"This scheme has been a vital support for businesses in Westminster, at a time when recruitment has been very challenging," says UKHospitality CEO Kate Nicholls. "It goes to show the benefit that can be had by looking at existing recruitment practices and trying new methods, with those tested in this scheme clearly providing benefits for both applicants and businesses.
"Hospitality provides jobs for everyone, whether you have previous experience in the sector or not, and I hope insight from this scheme can enable more people to embark on a rewarding and exciting career in hospitality."