UK Hospitality Sector Urged to Rethink Recruitment Amid Ongoing Staffing Crisis

Hospitality and leisure business across the UK are being urged to reconsider traditional CV based hiring practices to help ease the staffing crisis that has been impacting the sector since the COVID-19 pandemic. 

The advice is based on insights from a new report outlining findings from the two-year Westminster Works scheme, funded by Westminster City Council, which was designed to address the recruitment challenges faced by businesses in the hospitality hot-spot of Westminster. Over 400 businesses were supported by the scheme and 27,000 candidates registered interest in job vacancies, including positions at some of the most prestigious hotels, restaurants and bars in the country.

While the initial goal of the scheme was to attract more candidates into the hospitality and leisure industry, it soon became clear that a lack of appetite for these roles was not the problem, as over 7,000 people registered interest in the programme during the first six weeks. The focus was instead turned to the methods businesses were using to hire entry level candidates.

Jackie Bedford, CEO at Step Ahead, one of the key delivery partners in the Westminster Works initiative says: “In the early days of the scheme we quickly realised that the key to attracting and retaining quality staff was not in making the roles more desirable to candidates, but in changing the way businesses approach recruitment. Outdated, CV based applications were causing many people with huge potential and the right personal attributes to be overlooked due to lack of past experience, so this was something we set about to change.”

A new approach via ‘experiential recruitment’ and bespoke training modules for candidates with no previous hospitality experience was trialled as part of the scheme, with a first of its kind ‘Recruitment Restaurant’ event run at Westminster Kingsway College allowing candidates to take part in live trial shifts and secure on-the-spot interviews for vacant roles. This initiative allowed employers to see potential staff in action and persuaded many to reconsider their current CV based recruitment process.

Tenzing Tashi, Restaurant Operations Manager at A Wong, a Michelin-starred Chinese restaurant in Pimlico commented: “Before engaging with the Westminster Works programme we were very set in our ways in our recruitment process and would only look at CVs that had previous experience and then would offer a face-to-face interview. We are now open to all kinds of candidates regardless of their experience and welcome the innovative methods of recruitment suggested. 

“The team have been sending us quick 30 second video applications instead of CVs and we absolutely love how this works! It gives us a better understanding of the nature of the candidates and their passion and commitment to our brand. We have offered two trial shifts off the back of these and have offered a role to one of them so far. It has caused us to change the way we recruit going forwards.”

The first initiative of its kind in the UK, Westminster Works was created by town centre vitality agency Attis in partnership with recruitment agency Step Ahead and funded by Westminster City Council. StepAhead also secured match funding from the Mayor’s Adult Education Fund. It was supported by New West End Company, Knightsbridge Partnership, the London Property Alliance and University of Westminster. 

Recognised as having a world-class hospitality and leisure offering, Westminster is home to over 3,700 restaurants, bars and cafes and a further 4,000 leisure businesses supporting around 120,000 jobs in the city.

Despite the success of the scheme, hospitality and leisure business across the UK continue to face hiring challenges, with latest ONS stats showing that there are still around 100,000 unfilled job vacancies in accommodation and food services alone, and world-renowned chefs including Michel Roux Jr and Yotam Ottolenghi talking openly about their struggle to recruit staff in their restaurants in recent years.

Kate Nicholls, CEO of UKHospitality, said: “This scheme has been a vital support for businesses in Westminster, at a time when recruitment has been very challenging. It goes to show the benefit that can be had by looking at existing recruitment practices and trying new methods, with those tested in this scheme clearly providing benefit for both applicants and businesses.

“Hospitality provides jobs for everyone, whether you have previous experience in the sector or not, and I hope insight from this scheme can enable more people to embark on a rewarding and exciting career in hospitality.”

Howard Dawber, Deputy Mayor for Business and Growth said: “It’s great news that the Mayor’s investment into Westminster Works has supported hundreds of high-quality, well paid jobs in the capital’s vital hospitality sector. The Mayor and I are committed to ensuring Londoners have the skills they need and through our Growth Plan we will create more than 150,000 good jobs by 2028, as we continue working to build a fairer and better London for everyone.” 

Councillor Geoff Barraclough, Cabinet Member for Planning and Economic Development added: “A thriving hospitality sector is a vital part of central London’s economy. At a time when employers told us that their biggest challenge is finding talent, Westminster City Council funded the Westminster Works scheme, a strategic solution to connect hotels and restaurants with the right candidates for the many unfilled vacancies in our city. By unlocking potential and fostering innovation in recruitment, we are supporting our world-class hospitality and leisure sectors to flourish.”