March 7, 2001

The Hospitality Industry is one of the world’s largest employers, and ranks second in the United States.  The industry has numerous segments including lodging, gaming, dining, cruise, airline and travel-related services.  As a very people-oriented, or “high-touch” industry, recruiting issues and tactics can vary dramatically from those in other “high-tech” industries. There are a number of distinct features that make recruiting in this industry both challenging and rewarding.

 Labor Intensive

The industry by nature is labor intensive. This offers great opportunity to recruiters due to the sheer volume of the workforce. The labor force has three primary segments: line-level, mid-management and executive. Although line-level employees make up nearly 65% of the total workforce, staffing solutions are relegated primarily to newspaper advertising, community relations, and word of mouth. Mid-management recruiting is where most industry recruiters make there living. Salaries typically range from $30-90K for mid-managers, and with more than 65,000 hotels & casinos and 450,000 restaurants in the United States, there is a tremendous need for human capital. Hospitality executives are distinctive in that they typically grow up in the business and do not cross over from other industries. There are very few retained search firms specializing in the hospitality industry, but AESC members HVS Executive Search, Dennis O’Toole Associates, and the Robert Dingman Company are standouts.

High Turnover

The hospitality industry is also known for its notoriously high turnover rate. This is both a blessing and a curse for staffing professionals. Average turnover is a mind numbing 200% at line levels and nearly 85% at mid-management.

Employment agencies and contingency recruiters abound due to these numbers, while corporate staffing professionals burn out in record numbers. 

Cyclical Market

The hospitality industry is very cyclical in nature and highly dependent on discretionary spending. It is also exceedingly susceptible to shifts in “supply” and “rate”. At the moment, hospitality is out of favor with Wall Street, although the industry has had record profits in 1999 and 2000. Industry consolidation has also played a part in the cyclical demand for hospitality stocks. Two years ago, Wall Street financed a massive consolidation in many hospitality segments. Today, with the absence of growth, investors have shifted out of hospitality into high-tech and other growth plays.

Passion for Serving

One of the defining attributes of hospitality professionals is their passion for serving others. E.M. Statler once said, “Life is Service-the one who progresses is the one who gives his fellow man a little more-a little better service”. Many people choose hospitality as a profession, not necessarily to get rich, but to serve and entertain others. We at HVS are first and foremost hospitality professionals. Our firm, founded in 1994, specializes in executive recruiting for the hotel, restaurant, and gaming industries.  While we routinely conduct retained searches for senior-level position, we have recently created a website for recruiting junior and mid-level positions called hospitalitycareernet.com.  In an effort to be a “one-stop shop” for our industry’s human resource needs, we also offer the largest compensation database in North America, as well as an on-line candidate assessment tool (2020skills^TM) specifically written for the service industry.  Currently, more than 90% of the executive searches we conduct are for positions located in North America.  However, there has been an increased need for talent abroad as the global economy expands. We find that even in this high-tech world, customers still want human contact and personalized service.

Article reprinted from AESC Magazine, January 2001

Keith Kefgen (pictured) and Dena Blum-Rothman are President and Vice President, respectively, of HVS Executive Search, the leading executive search firm specializing in the lodging, gaming and restaurant industries.

Keith is a frequent lecturer on industry-related issues and has written more than 90 articles on the topics of executive selection, pay-for-performance, corporate governance and executive leadership. He is the founder of two e-commerce initiatives, hospitalitycareernet.com, a web-based recruiting site and 2020skills.com, an online assessment profile. He serves on the board of the Association of Executive Search Consultants (AESC) and is co-president of the International Association of Corporate and Professional Recruitment’s NYC Chapter.

Dena-Blum Rothman specializes in senior recruitment in the hotel sector of the hospitality industry.

hospitalitycareernet.com is an internet recruiting service for hospitality professionals. The site provides state-of-the-art solutions for employment, news, career advice, compensation, assessment and more.

20 20 Skills™ is a powerful tool for both setting internal benchmarks and screening job candidates