Innovative Hiring: Unconventional Places for HR to Discover Job Applicants

Here are some places where you might find people whose skills could align with what you’re looking for.

Hiring in the hospitality sector is no easy task, especially coming out of a pandemic that might have forever altered the country’s economy and the ways workers relate to their jobs.

Hoteliers might need to get more creative with where and how they search for prospective employees, lest they find their businesses perpetually understaffed.

In regions all over the country, hospitality leaders are struggling to find workers because of pay and a litany of other issues. Here are five you may have never thought of.

Consider community colleges

Many students who are at community colleges are concerned about how their education is going to fold into the job market when they leave.

If you have opportunities for part-time or full-time work that they may be appropriate for, it may be smart to recruit there. In many cases, you may well find people who can contribute to your organization with an A.A. or A.S. degree.

It’s common that students may not consider the ways hospitality may meet what they are looking for in an employer, and you could find some good employees in your community. Since the populace is focus on the job market anyway, it may be a good marriage.

Contact recent HBCU graduates and their alumni groups

Many of the prominent historically Black colleges and universities in this country and in parts of the country with direct access to water, or they are reasonably close to water. It’s also true that many of the locales in this country that are major attractions are located along the coasts.

There are plenty of examples just in the southeastern region of the United States — Miami, Savannah, Charleston, and New Orleans come immediately to mind, and they each have an HBCU in their midst. It’s also true that Black college graduates many times end up graduating with more debt.

Framed correctly, you have an opportunity to place students and recent graduates into jobs they may want to stay in the community where their alma mater is.

Offer an opportunity to student-athletes

It can be difficult for some student-athletes to find their way in the world if they do not pursue a professional career in their sport of choice.

Many times, their identity is so tied up in the sport of choice that once the opportunities stop coming, they find them listless. Whether they struggle with those issues or not, many would be happy to have a job waiting on them upon graduation.

These men and women are used to interstate travel and what folks are looking for in a hotel stay.

They also are familiar with the concept of working with a team and having to tweak their schedules to accommodate others. Consider reaching out to the athletic department at a local institution of higher ed, since you can count on students being there who would be interested in signing on a dotted line so they can have a job lined up after graduation.

Teachers could be a boon

Politics and a slew of other complicated factors have resulted in a profession that many leave in search for greener pastures. You can be sure that teachers care about people. They much of the time are also experienced at dealing with concerned adults, and they could see the value in finding another way to serve the public.

Many could also be intriguing at the idea of working with people without dealing with the oft-confusing maze of initiatives from administrators, state government personnel, and others. Teachers are also adept at handling many projects at one time, which can be important since so much can change from day to day or hour to hour in the hospitality world.

Former reporters may fit

Budget cuts and a general distrust of media members in the United States have made journalism a job field that has become less attractive and more unstable over time. Reporters who leave the industry are used to making quick decisions, and they are excellent at active listening which helps both in the training process and also in dealing with some of the ire from the public.

Remaining nimble to address ever-changing concerns is key for any reporter, and there are very few issues you can throw at one that they cannot adjust to given the circumstances. Hospitality work can require resiliency, and reporters in many ways have to have that trait to manage their duties amid so many competing and borderline malicious forces.