Working with hospitality and lodging recruiting services can free up your time for more important aspects of your business and it can free up your human resources department, as well. Look for hospitality recruiting services that have a good reputation for placement and have been in the business for enough time to know the ins and outs of hotel recruiting. If you're recruiting globally, hospitality recruitment firms can help you narrow down your list of candidates and find the perfect person to fill your position.

When working with hospitality and lodging recruiting services, look for:

1. Hospitality search firms that offer global recruiting for every staff level.

2. Hospitality recruiting companies that don't charge you until they make a successful placement.

3. Hotel recruiters that offer references and satisfied clients for you to contact.

Action Steps
The best contacts and resources to help you get it done

Attract a global audience for your positions with global hospitality and lodging recruiting services

Global hospitality industry recruiters can help you locate the most qualified candidates from around the globe, including experienced management and professional staff. Working with hotel executive placement services is easy if you choose experienced recruiters who will do the legwork for you, and present you with the best candidates for your unique position. Expect to fill out an online or print recruitment form with information on just what you're looking for to begin the recruitment process.

I recommend: ECR Hospitality Recruitment offers global recruiting of every level of hospitality staff. They offer an online contact form to begin the recruiting process. Hospitality Search International is in the UK, but they offer global recruitment services, including on-site visits before they recruit the right candidates.

Work with hospitality recruiting firms that offer guarantees regarding the people they place

Most reputable hospitality recruiters offer guarantees regarding the people they place in your organization. Look for hospitality executive recruiters that don't charge you until they place a client, or that offer money-back guarantees on a staff member that just doesn't work out. Most reliable recruiters are happy to offer these services in writing, so you know up front that you won't have to worry about that occasional placement that's just not right.

I recommend: Food Management Search specializes in hospitality recruiting in the food & beverage industry nationwide. They offer a guarantee for everyone they place, and they don't charge until they place a candidate. Gecko Hospitality offers a one-year guarantee on all their placements.

Sign on with hotel industry recruiters that offer references to help you choose the right candidate

You should always check references before working with a hotel headhunter, so that you know they can handle your needs, no matter the size of your organization. Look for hotel recruiters that can manage large, multi-unit accounts and who offer information on satisfied clients. Contact those individuals if you want more information before you sign on with a hotel executive recruiter.

I recommend: EJ Associates offers information from satisfied clients on their site. Visions Personnel offers testimonials from some of the largest hospitality units in the country.

Tips & Tactics

Helpful advice for making the most of this Guide

• •  When working with hospitality recruiting companies, look for firms that specialize in your specific niche, such as food service, cruise lines or resorts. Relying on recruiting companies that don't specialize could mean they don't really understand the nuances of your industry, and that means they may send you more generic clients that don't fit your needs.

Hospitality recruiting is one of the fastest growing occupations in human resources. Hospitality recruiting is a growing field for individuals who know how to network and connect with other business professionals.

At its most basic, hotel recruiting is all about finding talented employees and matching them with the right employer. Once a hotel executive recruiter has found a candidate, he or she helps the candidate get ready for job interviews. A recruiter walks the candidate through possible questions that a potential employer may ask and helps polish up the resume. Hospitality industry recruiters, also called hotel headhunters, receive a commission for each candidate he places with an employer. Hotel recruiters may work independently or as part of a larger hospitality recruiting company. Benefits of working as a hotel recruiting agent include:

1. Working from home
2. High income potential
3. Flexible scheduling

Action Steps
The best contacts and resources to help you get it done

Decide if you want to start your own hotel recruiting service or join a larger company

Hotel recruiters may work alone or as part of a team. If you want to work as your own boss and keep 100% of the commission rates, then starting your own hotel recruiting company may be the answer. However, there is safety in numbers. Working in one of the many hospitality recruiting companies usually gives you more access to candidates and job leads.

I recommend: Check out what it is like to work for some of the top hospitality recruiting firms in the country. Global Hospitality places candidates all over the world. They have offices in Los Angeles, Toronto and Montreal. The Lucas Group is another leading hotel recruiting company with locations all over the United States and Germany.

Be prepared for the drawbacks hospitality industry recruiters face

The hospitality industry is a volatile industry. In good economic times, companies are willing to shell out good money to find candidates. However, in tight economic times, they may not utilize hospitality search firms as much, or at all. Hospitality industry recruiters should be prepared to tighten their own belts during economic down times and remember that as the economy improves, so will their placements and commissions.

I recommend: Cube Management offers all kinds of articles and tips on how hotel industry recruiters can improve sales leads. Hospitality Sales and Marketing Association International is a hub of information for all types of recruiters and headhunters.

Know what types of positions hospitality recruiters fill

National hotel chains are the biggest clients for most hospitality recruiting firms. They are the ones who can pay top dollar to find the best in hotel management, event planning or restauranting. Get acquainted with the types of positions that are currently on the market which can be filled by hospitality recruiters.

I recommend: The Ladders is an online job board that features only $100,000-plus job openings. These are the types of jobs that will bring big commissions for hotel recruiters. Hcareers.com is another online job site that offers some of the top hiring employers in the hospitality industry.

Tips & Tactics

Helpful advice for making the most of this Guide

• •  Hotel recruiters should not overlook the restaurant industry as a place to find both jobs and candidates. Many food and beverage industry jobs overlap those in the hospitality sector.

Hospitality recruitment firms are always on the lookout for the most recent trends in hotel and lodging recruiting services. Don't be left out in the cold by not following along with what's new in terms of hiring processes, technology or even the hospitality industry in general.

Whether you're looking to outsource the work or do it yourself, knowing what hospitality executive recruiters are using to do their work successfully can improve the quality of hires. And it can ensure that the hotel or lodge receives the best possible candidates. Consider the following when investigating hospitality and lodging recruiting services news and trends:

1. Check out schools that offer programs to become a hotel headhunter.

2. Subscribe to publications that focus on hotel recruiting.

3. Become a member of a hospitality recruiting association.

Action Steps
The best contacts and resources to help you get it done

Enroll in schools that feature classes for hotel recruiters

Colleges and universities are privy to trends in the hospitality and lodging industry. Their professors need to know what to teach their students, so they are on top of any changes made to the hotel executive recruiter business. Enroll in a few classes and attend either in person or through online classes.

I recommend: Florida State University offers a bachelor's and master's degree in hospitality. Check out the school's news section for class information as well as upcoming events. Michigan State University has a School of Hospitality Business where prospective students can learn about the hotel and lodging industry.

Subscribe to publications catered to those in the hotel recruiting industry

There are numerous publications available for hospitality recruiters. These periodicals offer up-to-date information about news and trends involving the industry. On certain websites, you may be able to subscribe to e-mail newsletters, providing even more current updates.

I recommend: Hotel & Motel Management provides information for those in the hotel and lodging industry. This is especially helpful for hospitality industry recruiters. HOTELS is a magazine that prides itself on covering global hospitality matters. Check out its free newsletters as well as current and past issues of the magazine.

Join an association affiliated with hospitality recruiting firms

By becoming a member of a hospitality recruiter association, you have access to firsthand information. These organizations oftentimes host conferences or seminars that provide speakers discussing important trends in the hospitality recruiting industry. If you aren't able to join a national association, check out local hospitality recruiter organizations.

I recommend: Join the Association of Hospitality Recruiting Executives. Once you're a member, you can check out the list of events sponsored by the organization. Consider joining the Baton Rouge Hospitality Management Association, where you'll have access to its newsletters and news about continued education.

Tips & Tactics

Helpful advice for making the most of this Guide

• •  Check out social networking sites such as Facebook or Meetup to network with other hotel industry recruiters. You can correspond with industry leaders nearby or all over the world.

Anyone high up in the hotel field will be familiar with hospitality and lodging recruiting services and what they do for big hospitality companies. Hospitality and lodging recruiting services routinely find employers the best and brightest for running big hotels and other similar facilities in the highest echelons of the field. Large hospitality corporations and upscale independent hotel owners rely on these agencies to get individuals with the required skills and experience to handle hospitality programs. Knowing about some key terms around the process for hospitality hiring will help beginning businesses understand how this hiring strategy works.

Action Steps
The best contacts and resources to help you get it done

Commissions

The commission is the fee that a company pays a recruiter to find an individual for a job position.

I recommend: Read up on how commissions for recruiters get split up at this page from QuintCareers, along with some other helpful ground rules for the recruiting job.

Headhunter

A recruiter is sometimes called a 'headhunter' when he is searching for an individual to take on, whether it's an executive position or some skilled job within a company, such as in the hospitality industry.

I recommend: See more on the term headhunter at AnswerBag.

Competency

This term is sometimes applied to the skill sets of individuals within the hospitality industry. Competency in hospitality and lodging professionals is the ability to do all of what is required, and has a lot do to with management standards and social and professional protocol within the field.

I recommend: See more on competency and other hospitality professional ideals at Boykin Recruiting.

Code of Ethics

Some recruiting companies develop their own ethical codes to promote quality in the individuals they market to employers. These ethical guidelines include a lot of the competency for the field, including issues of honesty and fairness that will help a manager succeed in hospitality fields.

I recommend: See an example of a code of ethics within a greater mission at Global Hospitality Recruiting online.

Newsletters

Some hospitality and lodging recruiting services offer free newsletters as resources to clients about everything that is going on in the field. Check out web offerings of newsletter and other info resources online.

I recommend: See an example of a free hospitality and lodging recruiting newsletter from this page at eHotelier.com.

Recruitment freeze

In worse financial times, some hospitality chains choose to institute a 'recruitment freeze,' locking hospitality and lodging recruiting services out of the process to save dollars. Some recruiting services will address the issue, expounding on their views on why they consider this a bad idea.

I recommend: Get details on recruiting freeze strategy and more from H-G-R online.