2 Ways to stand out in a candidate driven market

The tight market that is the current state of the job market has meant that businesses looking to get ahead and fill their staff vacancies, are vying for the same top talent. This switch in worker-recruiter dynamic, whereby the candidate is in a more dominant position where they can make demands of an employer before they are hired, is what is referred to as a candidate driven market. 

Amid the current staffing crisis, the need to stand out in order to attract talent is even greater. Hospitality businesses need to focus on ways they can improve the candidate experience.

Here are three ways the hospitality industry can do this.

Tech-ify your recruitment practices

Tech innovations are slowly creeping up into the hospitality industry. Automated systems for the betterment of the customer experience have been introduced, such as online means of booking, contactless payments, and even robot waiters. Adopting technology increases efficiency by cutting down the bureaucracy; everything is faster, meaning customers are happier. 

As mentioned, these particular innovations help improve consumer experience, and are not particularly focused on the candidate experience. And though they may facilitate employee workload in the long run, they are not enough to attract the talent needed in the first place. Candidates desire the same efficacy as consumers when applying for jobs. Using technology to cut down on lengthy, bureaucratic recruitment processes will ensure a speedier candidate experience and will open hospitality businesses to a wider market of applicants.

Emphasise flexibility 

A flexible work environment is the key to attracting and retaining today’s top talent. This reveals a change in mindset when it comes to working; workers are re-evaluating the importance of their job within their lives, and a lot of people are showing an unwillingness to accept a position within an establishment which lacks this flexible approach. As hospitality is known for its long, busy hours, there is a misconception that adapting to this new way of working would be particularly hard. Rick Stein launching a flexible careers scheme, where those looking to work for as little as one day a week is an example of how this can be implemented. But it doesn’t have to be as major as this. What candidates want from their employers is understanding that they are individuals with lives outside of work. They want autonomy to prioritise their life. 

These are 2 of the best ways hospitality establishments can distinguish themselves in this current market. But the industry is always changing, and new trends are always emerging, so there will always be a need to adapt.