Finding exceptional hospitality talent is tough. With historic employee turnover and fewer skilled candidates available, it's getting harder for recruiters to keep a steady stream of talent to fill the glaring skills gap. But have you considered a campus recruitment strategy to solve your hotel/restaurant staffing needs? Hospitality schools are full of new talent from students eager to start their careers and bring fresh ideas and energy to the hotel sector. By building strong ties with these institutions, travel and tourism employers can access this pool of ready-to-work talent.
If you are looking to tap into this talent pool, this article is for you. Find out what campus recruitment entails, discover the benefits of this recruitment strategy, and learn how you can leverage Hosco’s network and recruitment platform for your talent acquisition efforts.
Campus recruitment is a strategy for sourcing, engaging, and hiring young talent for internships and entry-level positions. This approach can range from small efforts, such as collaborating with university career centres to find potential candidates, to large-scale operations like visiting multiple colleges and attending recruiting events. Campus recruiting often involves partnering with university career services and attending career fairs to meet college students and recent graduates in person.
The primary goal of campus recruitment is to find and hire potential hospitality candidates who have the skills, knowledge, and qualifications needed by the business. Connecting with students while they are still in college or university enables you to build relationships, assess candidates' potential, and secure hospitality talent before they enter the job market.
Campus recruitment is a crucial talent acquisition strategy for attracting the newest generation of workers and filling high-demand roles. Hiring through universities has long been effective for sourcing entry-level candidates, but it is especially important now due to a significant skills shortage in the hotel sector. Additionally, a campus recruiting strategy is highly relevant because it helps secure Gen Z candidates, who are expected to be the most educated and diverse generation.
Hospitality schools enable the travel and leisure sector to access a dynamic and innovative pool of potential employees who possess the latest knowledge and trends in their fields. This method is also cost-effective, enabling companies to connect with multiple promising candidates in one setting. It also strengthens the link between academia and the corporate world.
Hosco’s recruitment platform offers a range of features designed to streamline the hiring process for entry-level positions and seasoned hospitality professionals. Moreover, it gives you access to over 2 million professionals, alumni, and students of 450+ hospitality schools!
Here are the key advantages of campus recruitment for your hospitality company:
Strengthens the Relationship Between Colleges and Your CompanyTapping campus talent strengthens the relationship between your company and universities. The more your company engages in campus recruiting, the stronger the relationship you build with these institutions. This relationship enhances future hiring efforts, streamlines recruitment activities, and ensures you are among the first to learn about promising candidates.
Hiring candidates through hospitality schools allows the hotel industry to nurture and develop hospitality talent from an early stage. By providing internships, mentorship, and training opportunities, companies can foster long-term relationships and groom future leaders within the organisation. A steady source of fresh talent enhances your company’s succession planning efforts, ensuring you have a robust pipeline of qualified candidates ready to fill vacated roles.
Campus recruitment enables hotel and restaurant businesses to target and engage with students from specific educational institutions, courses, or disciplines that match their hiring needs. For instance, if you are looking to hire a hotel manager, the Oxford Brookes School of Hospitality Management in the UK is an excellent choice. A focused approach increases the chances of finding candidates with the right skills and qualifications.
Campus recruiting allows your hotel or restaurant to hit several important HR milestones at a go. Firstly, it reduces the time to hire. Because sourcing builds relationships with talent well before a role needs to be filled, it ensures a pipeline of warm, vetted candidates ready to be contacted when a position opens. Also, campus recruiting can help the hospitality industry easily access a diverse talent pool, thereby enhancing its diversity and inclusion initiatives.
Conducting recruitment activities on college campuses is often more cost-effective than other methods. Typically, universities have established career services and job fairs that companies can participate in at a lower cost compared to extensive advertising campaigns. These events provide direct access to a large pool of candidates, reducing the need for robust and costly marketing efforts.
Looking to improve your hotel’s HR metrics? Learn how to leverage Hosco’s platform to improve the time to hire and the quality of candidates in your talent pipeline.
When looking for a hospitality school to launch your campus recruitment efforts, consider the following factors:
→💡Interested in the services above? Contact us at industryrelations@hosco.com to work with us as a company.
Hospitality schools can reach us at schoolrelations@hosco.com