While many sectors have been able to recoup the employees they lost during the pandemic, this hasn’t been the case for the leisure and hospitality industries. In the accommodation industry, specifically, employers are down roughly 250,000 jobs from pre-pandemic levels — and the competition to hire top talent is only getting worse.
It should come as no surprise, then, that speed is a necessity if you want to add the best of the best to your staff. There’s a variety of reasons driving this need for speed. In Hireology’s 2023 State of Hospitality Hiring Report, we found that 42% of hospitality candidates are applying to at least 11 jobs at a time — meaning that if you’re not one of the first to reach out and schedule an interview, you’re going to miss your shot. On top of that, 67% of hospitality applicants said that they accepted the first offer they received in their last job search, implying even further that if you want to be the hotel that has the best staff around, you need to find ways to speed up your hotel’s hiring process.
This is all much easier said than done — which is why we’ve come up with four ways for you to address common bottlenecks in the hiring process and make hires faster.
Make your application easier
How much are you demanding of applicants from the get-go? If your application requires candidates to create a login and password just to access the form, you’re asking entirely too much of them. Applicant tracking systems that require talent to jump through hoops before they can even submit an application can make the process much longer than it needs to be — and could be costing you top talent who simply give up. In fact, we found that 76% of hospitality job seekers have given up on an application entirely because it took too long to complete.
Your application should be clear, concise, and short if you want to increase the amount of candidates you receive. We suggest only asking for the applicant’s name, phone number, and email address; everything else can be gathered later in the interview process. Half of the struggle in this industry is just getting people to apply, so removing barriers — like unnecessary logins that they likely won’t remember — is critical to speeding up the process.
Automate what you can
Another way to speed up your hiring process is to embrace automation. Technology has come a long way, assuming we’re all familiar with recent advancements in AI and other software. When it comes to hiring, there will always be certain activities that need human involvement. Despite this, there are several places where you can integrate automation to speed up the hiring process at your hotel. You could use automation to:
- Conduct pre-screening surveys to disqualify unfit applicants
- Send emails/texts confirming receipt of applications
- Allow candidates to pick the time that works best for them with an interview scheduler tool
- And more!
Automation eliminates tedious tasks from your hiring team’s to-do list so they can focus on one-on-one connections. By embracing automation, you’ll be able to save time, recruit better talent, and fill open roles faster. Transforming your hiring process starts with learning about recruitment automation — and what it can do for your business.
Text your candidates
In general, texting speeds up the hiring process. There are a few reasons for this, including the fact that most people always have their phone within arm’s reach. In fact, we found that more than half (60%) of hospitality job seekers said they typically check their text messages before their email. Taking that into consideration, which applicant do you think will respond first: one that you’ve texted or one that you’ve emailed?
Furthermore, these applicants are not opposed to maneuvering their job search on their mobile devices. Most respondents (90%) indicated that they’d be willing to communicate with recruiters over text messages while 82% said they’d be willing to even apply for roles via texting. This is great news for hiring managers; this just means that the talent you want to add to your team is that much closer to you if you can incorporate texting into your candidate communication strategy.
Centralize all of your hiring processes
Most hotels have integrated technology stacks to complete their various HR and hiring tasks — but there’s a better way to run this process. When you use an applicant tracking system that has everything you need for hiring, HR, and employee management all in one place, you make the hiring journey much faster for your team and easier for your employees.
With all of your HR data in one place, you’re not jumping from system to system to input data and manage critical tasks. This saves your team time, along with ensuring that sensitive data is entered correctly. Not only that, but all of the communication you have with your applicants is stored in the platform, in addition to their interview ratings, notes from the hiring team, and more. Streamlining your recruiting, hiring, and employee management processes makes your hotel appear efficient and put together to applicants and candidates, increasing the likelihood that they won’t ghost during the interview process.
Are you ready to speed up your hotel’s hiring process?
A quick and efficient hiring process is table stakes to adding the best talent on the market to your team. With the tips we outlined above, you’ll be well on your way to addressing some of the most common bottlenecks that cause disruptions in the hiring process and waste time. To see the difference a true ATS can make in hiring, connect with our team today!
