Scotland catering jobs and Scottish hospitality recruitment news
For the latest Scottish catering and hospitality jobs across Scotland have a look at our main jobs page where there are over 100 jobs throughout the industry.
Recruiting in Scotland
With catering, tourism and the hospitality sector comprising vital part of Scotland 's economy, there has been a marked increase in specialist recruitment agencies whose primary focus is to feed the demand from employers for quality staff.
Judith Kelly meets some of the most prominent companies matching the candidates to their respective careers…
Contrary to some schools of thought, the hospitality industry is hemorrhaging experienced workers at all levels. Increasingly, agencies and employers are looking to an overseas workforce to staff the frontlines of our service industry. Part of the reason is that, unlike our continental cousins, we tend to regard the ‘lower end' jobs in hospitality as stopgap employment, like the jobs we would take as a student or to earn some extra cash. In order to create a world-class hospitality industry which reflects the diversity and quality of what Scotland has to offer, something urgently needs to be done about the appalling retention rates, currently estimated as being twice as bad compared to industry as a whole.
This is an area where the recruitment sector can contribute significantly, by attracting the right candidates and leading them to prospective employers, and by those managing those candidates' expectations, to reflect the reality of a career in hospitality.
Rosa Di Mascio, of Chess Partnership, has many years' experience in the industry, both as a recruiter and as a client.
‘There is a chronic shortage of good staff in hospitality,' she says. ‘A holistic approach is required to attract people to join the industry and to encourage them to stay. We need to address such issues as paying a fair wage and recognising that people have lives outside work and we also need to retain our graduates and consider how much we have spent educating them. Too often we end up losing them to other, more immediately lucrative professions. We should be attracting people from other service industries, such as retail, where there are transferable skills. After all, hospitality is a field where candidates can move up through the ranks at a young age.'
Nick Gormley of Blue Arrow, believes that a grass roots approach is required:
‘We must constantly promote the fact that the catering and hospitality industry isn't just a 'temporary job' until something better comes along, and that it can in fact provide a truly challenging career with promotional opportunities at every level. In order to raise the profile of working in hospitality we must start at the beginning, targeting schools and colleges where young people are making choices, often with little career experience or knowledge.'
‘Training is a massive issue', adds Sarah Kay of Berkeley Scott: ‘There is still a lack of understanding of the ‘worth' of staff. We need to invest in people going into hospitality and the industry as a whole needs to look at why people are going into the industry and then leaving, or failing to opt in at all.'
But even where talented individuals do choose to enter the industry, the appeal can be short-lived:
‘If we were to poll industry leaders, I suspect that you would find many of them tended to stumble into it,' says Paul Wilson of XPress Recruitment. ‘Nowadays, more people are undertaking academic qualifications in, for example, Tourism and Hospitality Management and the real challenge is to keep them in it once they've completed their studies. Initiatives like exchange scholarships which allow students to gain experience of working abroad, keeps people in the industry and allows them to come back with new-found skills. There is a shortage of skilled tradesmen and women in society as a whole, whether it's chefs or plumbers, and all sectors are having to work harder at attracting good candidates.
‘I see candidates as clients by any other name; if we don't have good candidates, we can't do business. When we meet with them we encourage them to take a more rounded view than ‘I want another job,' and to ask themselves what they are ultimately aiming for career-wise, and whether it is feasible? We will also advise on how they present themselves at interview. From our perspective we consider issues like experience and attitude. Qualifications are part of the package but we would also look to see a good track record where someone has not been jumping in and out of jobs on a regular basis. At a management level, we would expect to see two or three years in one place. Chefs are slightly different as they tend to move around early in their careers to broaden their experience and develop their CVs.'
Search's Cameron Lindsay highlights another area where agencies can provide an edge:
‘Clients should ask recruiters for salary surveys. We regularly benchmark salaries and pay rates. After all, if you don't get that right you won't attract the right people or, if you do, you won't retain them. It is vital that employers provide clear milestones, that staff feel valued and that their views count. Regular appraisals should be undertaken with questions asked such as ‘what do you expect to achieve in your job?' Linsday is also of the view that employers brave enough to attempt 360-degree appraisals may be surprised at the resultant benefits.
Some employers believe that not all recruitment firms are going about the process in entirely the right way.
‘We use agencies with whom we have developed a relationship over a number of years,' says Philip Mahoney, General Manager of the Radisson SAS in Glasgow . ‘If I were to offer a criticism of the industry it would be that some recruiters appear to be just grabbing people to fill vacancies rather than going through the appropriate processes. I would also like to see a graduated fee process reflecting length of service, rather than a flat percentage. There is potential conflict of interest for agencies representing quality candidates as they earn a fee each time they place them.'
Jane Wylie, of Stafffinders, believes that, in order to kick-start a turnaround in attitudes and, consequently, values, the catering, and hospitality industry needs to respect its workers like other countries do before we will begin to see any tangible change in the current state of affairs:
‘There are still employers who pay poorly for senior-level staff and rely on the 'tip' system to bolster employees' wages,' she says. ‘However, the industry will not gain the respect it enjoys in other countries until the financial rewards demonstrate the employees' value'.
The underlying message seems to be clear across the board: Until employers are prepared to bring their employment practices and remuneration packages into line with other sectors competing for the same staff, it is unlikely that the recruitment agencies' job will become any easier.
*This has been edited from the original version printed in Catering in Scotland magazine. To see the complete article, contact alex@cateringinscotland.com to obtain a copy or click on Media Pack to subscribe.
For the latest Scottish catering and hospitality jobs across Scotland have a look at our main jobs page where there are over 100 jobs throughout the industry.
