More than 200 jobs were offered on the spot at a careers day held by Kempinski Hotels at Emirates Palace, Abu Dhabi in December.
A string of high-profile openings in the emirates is forcing hoteliers to rethink approaches to recruitment and retention as employee poaching persists.
Thousands of employees have hopped from one operator to another over the past year following a series of hotel openings and careers days in the UAE. Just last month, Kempinski offered 200 jobs on the spot at its first regional careers day held at the Emirates Palace in Abu Dhabi.
Kempinski estimated that 80% of the 322 jobs available in the Middle East had been filled during the one-day event, with 46% of successful candidates from outside the group.
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In November, a staggering 5137 candidates from the area flocked to two careers days held by the soon-to-open 550-key Conrad Dubai, with candidates being offered contracts on site.
The new Fairmont The Palm Dubai was another property that targeted potential candidates on its doorstep in 2012, with a two-day careers fair held from July 16-17. A number of months earlier, Starwood sought out talent in the emirates during a recruitment event at the Sheraton Dubai Creek Hotel & Towers.
Mark Voller, resident manager of the recently-opened Ocean View Hotel on The Walk JBR, said as many as 50% of its staff base had been recruited from existing hotels in Dubai.
In with the new
Existing hotels have also joined in the search for potential talent hiding out at neighbouring hotels, with Raffles Dubai hosting a careers day on December 15 for 16 staff vacancies.
“It’s important to constantly search for talented and enthusiastic individuals so we thought hosting a careers day was an opportunity to open up to this talent, and not just searching for vacancies we have now, but also for future vacancies to be ahead of the game,” HR director Melissa Salibi told Hotelier.
She said the careers day was a chain reaction to the loss of staff to other hotels that had recently held careers days.
“We need to make sure that we are ready for it [loss of staff] rather than having a big shock — it’s good for our brand to be out there and known,” said Salibi.
Raffles Dubai is not the only property to up its recruitment efforts by seeking out staff before the vacancies arise.
“We’re not only recruiting for vacancies today we’re trying to look ahead. So we’ve changed from looking for people when we need them to always looking. If you find some bright stars, you hire them because eventually you’ll have turnover anyway,” said Traders Hotel Dubai GM Stephan Kapek.
Furthermore, the hotel group has resorted to upgrading its recruitment process to enable staff already working in the firm to apply for transfers more easily, enticing them to move within the company.
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