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Hotels resort to a job fair

The hospitality industry is finding it hard to fill all its open positions. So 17 area hotels got together to recruit. And they pulled out all the stops for their prospective hires.

By STEVE HUETTEL
Published September 28, 2006

TAMPA — Chefs from the downtown Hyatt whipped up duck breast and barley salad. Westshore’s Quorum Hotel gave away chair massages. Visitors checked raffle ticket number hoping to win free hotel stays.

The object of all this hospitality: anyone willing to hear a pitch to work at any of 17 Tampa area hotels and resorts.
Hotels typically do their recruiting away from the prying eyes of competitors.

But the tight labor market convinced them to try a joint job fair Thursday, the first of its kind in Tampa, said Robert Morrison, executive director of the Hillsborough County Hotel and Motel Association.

“We can’t stay behind our individual doors,’’ he said. “With the labor shortage in the Tampa Bay area, the traditional means of recruiting are not yielding the talent our properties need.’’

Finding enough workers, particularly for low-paying jobs such as housekeeping and food service, is always tough for hotels when the economy is humming.

With Hillsborough’s unemployment at 3.1 percent in June, well under the U.S. rate of 4.8 percent, this is the most difficult hiring environment in years, says Jeffery  Clough, general manager of Saddlebrook Resort in Wesley Chapel.

He’s looking to hire as many as 150 workers from November through mid-January to be ready for Florida’s busy spring season. But in his neighborhood, fast-growing south-central Pasco County and nearby New Tampa, so are other employers.

The dishwasher he’s looking for might be bagging groceries at Publix or stocking shelves at Target. He ticks off a list of new restaurants in the area: Applebee’s, Bonefish Grill, Johnny Carino’s

“We’re competing for cooks, service managers, hostesses,’’ said Clough.

He has hired interns from overseas to fill some gaps and expects to contract for foreign guest workers for the spring season.

To keep prospects from getting away, Clough streamlined the hiring process. Someone who walks in Monday can be interviewed, undergo background checks and receive an offer by Friday.

Representatives from Saddlebrook and other hotels tried to sell people attending Thursday’s event on entry-level jobs as the first step in a hospitality industry career.

They also pitched little-known benefits. The Quorum Hotel provides workers lunch and dinner, plus free stays at affiliated hotels.

About 150 people walked through during the first three hours of the job fair held at Tampa’s A La Carte Event Pavilion.

Many were students like David Dietz, 17, a junior in Robinson High School’s hospitality program. He was hoping for a summer job at hotel’s front desk. The going rate: $8.50 per hour.

“It sounds easy,’’ said Dietz. “You check people in, solve people’s problems, get people pillows.’’

A bank employee who identified herself only as Stephanie talked with representatives of all 17 hotels, plus Tampa’s Columbia restaurant and airport concessions manager HMS Host.

Wages ranges from $3.38 hourly plus tips for waiting tables to $29 an hour for an executive job. “They have a need for people with the season coming up,’’ she said. “The job market in hospitality is always growing.’’

Steve Huettel can be reached at huettel@sptimes.com or (813) 226-3384.

[Last modified September 28, 2006, 21:50:37]