Recruitment for hotels and resorts

Campus drives and industrial trainees

Institutes of Hotel Management and private hotel schools produce graduates each summer and send students for industrial training during the course. Many hotels take trainees across departments and offer jobs to those who do well by the end. Plan campus drives early in the year, raise requisitions for the openings you expect by June, and share the careers page link with the placement cell, so students apply through the same multi-step application form as every other candidate. Keep industrial trainees' paperwork separate, under your intern policy.

Seasonal hiring for resorts

A resort that opens for the season in October should hire in August and September: stewards, room attendants, commis, kitchen stewards and lifeguards. Former seasonal staff are the first call, since they already know the property. Give each role a requisition with its openings, so it closes once filled, and watch the funnel in recruitment analytics to see whether offers are being accepted fast enough to open fully staffed. Seasonal staff are hired on fixed-term contracts, which the Industrial Relations Code allows, with full employee status.

Testing for the department

For experienced roles such as front office manager or sous chef, the resume match score helps sort a long list, and its breakdown shows whether a candidate scores on skills, experience, role fit or education. For entry roles, a practical test says more than any CV. Record what you observed as screening notes, offer interview slots the candidate can pick, and let the head of department make the call.

• Front office: grooming, spoken English plus one more language, a check-in role-play and a complaint scenario
• Housekeeping: a timed room cleaning and bed-making test with a supervisor watching
• F&B service: a table service role-play and menu knowledge
• Kitchen: a trade test on two dishes from your menu
• Engineering: a practical test and the relevant trade licence

Closing offers before another hotel does

Good hotel staff collect several offers, especially just before the season. Send the offer the day the head of department decides, using the online accept or decline page, and move the accepted candidate into onboarding with the offer data carried across. Mention accommodation and meals in the offer where you provide them, because for someone moving from another state they often decide the choice.

How to set it up in ZeniaHR

1. Raise a requisition in the Recruitment Hub for each department role and property, stating the openings.
2. Share the careers page with hotel management institutes and past seasonal staff, so every application comes through one form.
3. Sort experienced applicants with the resume match score, and log practical test observations as screening notes.
4. Offer interview slots that fit the head of department's shift, and let candidates choose their own slot.
5. Issue each offer with its online accept or decline link, and carry accepted candidates into onboarding.
6. Before each season, check the recruitment funnel and pending offers to see whether hiring is on track.

Read more about recruitment in ZeniaHR.

Roles this applies to

Frequently asked questions