Top 5 steps to hiring the perfect opening team

As Fairmont The Palm Dubai launches its first UAE career fair on July 16 and 17 at the Emirates Academy of Hospitality Management, Andrea Fennessy, director of human resources provides some insight into developing a winning recruitment strategy for an opening hotel.

With more than 20,000 applicants vying to fill up to 200 positions - out of 750 - for the latest Fairmont flagship property to open this Autumn on the Palm Jumeirah, setting the right plan in place is vital to ensure that the recruitment, hiring and the subsequent training process is seamless during a pre-opening period.

Vacancies at Fairmont The Palm range from food & beverage, front office, guest services and housekeeping to culinary, spa and leisure and engineering. 

Click through to the next pages for Fennessy's top five recruitment steps... 

Look for the passive job seeker

A passive job seeker is defined as one who is currently employed, is a valued member of his or her team, and is actively using a skill set in their current role.

By contrast, the active job seeker is someone who isn’t currently employed, may have been out of work for some time and is not honing on practical skills as one would in a work situation.

The distinction also needs to be made for the recruiter seeking the passive job seeker and not outright ‘poaching’ a colleague from their present employment. The former may have their resume uploaded on social media platforms like Caterer Global and LinkedIn, and attend networking and industry functions, whereas the latter sees the recruiter offering a job on sight, often times at a candidate’s current workplace.

Poaching is just not ethical in recruitment practices and can give a hotel or company a very bad reputation in the market.

The key is to build relationships with hospitality and catering schools, develop business relationships and to attend industry events, as these activities bring in leads as well as potential candidates for hire in your company.

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More than recruitment and retention

It is more than just recruitment and retention, it is about building a sense of belonging for your employee.

As important as salary and benefits are to a prospective candidate, it is important as an employer of choice to also take a look at the non-tangibles – from training programmes, colleague activities and events to what your CSR vision is and how you reach out to the community – that fosters the sense of belonging and empowerment.

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Not just HR

Human resources provides support to the recruitment process, but shouldn’t be running it from A – Z.

The benefits of this is two-fold – the department that is hiring can effectively search and qualify candidates based on skills sets, knowledge and passion, of which the first two the HR department may not be able to qualify outright; and secondly, the department leader(s) can build their own team for the opening, as opposed to feeling that a new recruit is placed on their team without their input.

In favour of this approach, Fairmont developed the Talent Acquisition System (TAS) to support everyone involved in the recruitment process.

This application maximises the ability of a company to successfully attract, select and hire great talent globally from posting a job/position, screening applications and moving candidates through the recruitment process (completed talent-based interviews, background checks, offer letters, etc.), as well as reporting and analytics.

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Find your inner talent

Tap into your existing talent pool by promoting internal transfers.

As a luxury hospitality company with more than 60 hotels worldwide, 67% of positions across the portfolio are filled internally.

To become an employer of choice, a great emphasis needs to be placed on your existing talent pool, succession planning, creating talent banks and supporting talented and passionate colleagues for their next role.

The benefits of this approach are many, including having a workforce that is well versed in your company’s culture, lower recruitment costs and less time spent on active recruitment.

Currently, the pre opening team at Fairmont The Palm is made up of 45% of internal transfers, from counties such as Egypt, the United Kingdom, Singapore and Canada.

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Take recruitment online

Use your online platforms to the fullest, which includes your company website and social media pages.

Not only does this streamline the recruitment process by allowing for a consistent and automated source for resume collection, applications and internal assessments, it also informs the potential candidate about the company’s mission statement, work ethos, culture and history.

Your online platforms provide a view into what it is like to work for your company, which can be bolstered by written and video testimonials, as well as systematically listing all positions available for every segment of your business.

It also appeals to a newer generation of employees who are increasingly using online applications and business-related tools such as BranchOut, LinkedIn and Caterer Global, for their job searching needs, and who may not necessarily see your print ad in the newspaper or be swayed by a radio announcement.

For more information on careers available at Fairmont The Palm, Dubai and Fairmont Hotels & Resorts globally, please visit www.fairmontcareers.com