2014 is all about recruiting skilled professionals

2013 was the year to shout about job creation. It saw sector employers pledging jobs and work experience, and highlighted the importance of tourism and the visitor economy as a job creator and critical player in the UK economy. Currently, the sector employs one in five of the working population and by 2020 it is projected to need a further 1.7m people.

This week the latest unemployment figures showed a drop of 7.1 percent and all the statistics show that it has never been easier for sector employers to recruit. Looking at the latest Hospitality Employment Index, which we produce jointly with Caterer.com, it shows that there are currently 21 people applying for each advertised role on Caterer.com, an increase from 19 applications per job last year. This is a far cry from the situation ten years ago where the ratio was something nearer one applicant for every two jobs. Similarly, the number of employers reporting hard-to-fill vacancies is no worse than that of any other sector, although employers in seasonal and rural areas do find it much harder to recruit.

So given the sector is not finding it particularly difficult to recruit, why is it continuing to make so much noise about job creation?

I think there are a number of reasons for this. The first is that it was one of the few sectors to recruit during the economic downturn and many employers wanted to take the opportunity to show the Government the industry’s size and importance. Another reason is that some employers have made a deliberate decision to recruit jobseekers as part of their corporate social responsibility, so naturally enough they are shouting about their commitment. And all credit to them. This last year we helped 3,500 jobseekers into employment in the sector, and our experience has shown that it can often be easier to recruit elsewhere. Yet most of these employers are passionate that recruiting previously unemployed people is the right thing to do and part of their investment in local communities.  Third, sector employers have used the debate about job creation to try and tackle the persistent, negative perception of careers in the sector.

Going forward however, the challenge a single focus on job creation produces is that it removes the focus from the real problem; recruiting people into skilled jobs.

While the number of employers reporting hard-to-fill vacancies is relatively low, those reporting difficulties finding skilled staff remain higher in our sector than across the economy as a whole. This is likely to get much worse as a third of the new jobs projected to be created in the sector are in higher skilled and management positions.

So if 2013 was the year of shouting about employment potential, let 2014 be about bringing attention to the large number of skilled roles that need to be filled. This means that:

• We need be supporting the further education colleges and making sure that funding cuts don’t hamper their ability to produce quality students that enter the sector
• The sector takes responsibility for its own destiny as part of the apprenticeship reforms and that the changes address those occupations that have skill shortage needs
• There is support for the new centres of excellence that are being created. Already, for the first time in a decade, we will have skilled front of house students going into the hospitality industry (if you haven’t seen the video – you’re missing a treat! Check it out at http://bit.ly/19ovEdI). Other centres of excellence in patisserie and confectionary start soon and we want to see similar ones set up for travel and aviation.
• There is a sensible and constructive debate about how the sector can have a flexible labour force without chronic labour turnover. We currently have one of the highest labour turnover rates of any sector; as a result most training goes on initial teaching and not towards skill gaps.

Undoubtedly the recruitment of people into skilled roles is a more challenging conversation to have, but one that we should not put off as it is critical for the future competitiveness of the tourism and visitor economy sector.