SERVICE STAFFING IN

TOURISM AND
HOSPITALITY INDUSTRY
 CONTENT
Every hospitality organization, whether it is a hotel, restaurant, resort, lodging
house, spa, amusement park, and the likes, would want be known as a business
that provides the best quality of service and uniqueness. These can only be realized
if the services that they provide are acceptable to the guests or customers. Since
customer expectations differ from one to the other, the organization are
anticipated to provide the best services that they can to avoid any unhappy guests.
Any guests dissatisfied with the services that an organization renders would not
only be a lost opportunity to earn profit, but also a nonbeliever that would spread
displeasure in the organization to other potential guests.
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 STAFFING FOR SERVICE
Whenever there is a need for workforce requirement or there would be a
position to fill in the department, it is often referred to the human resource
department or to the talent acquisition division of the organization to find a
suitable person for the spot. This is the correct and usual process. But it is also
important for a person, as a future manager, to study and understand this
process to facilitate efficiency and accuracy of finding the right person for the
position in his/her team or department.

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 INTERNAL HIRING
Many organizations favor internal hiring because they see a lot of advantages more
than hiring from outside of the organization. Although hiring from within is not the
only solution or foolproof strategy in staffing the departments, the obvious benefits
outweigh the others.

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 INFORMATION ABOUT
THE APPLICANT
Data about applicants from within the organization can be easily accessed and are
more accurate compared to the information submitted by an external applicant.
Since internal applicants have been with the organization, the previous evaluations
about the employee's performance, work ethics, habits, strengths, and weaknesses
are recorded or observed. The limited information from an external candidate may
result in hiring mistakes.

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 FAIRNESS OF THE COMPANY
Internal hiring for positions with qualified applicants from within the
organization is an objective strategy that would be received well by the
employees. Hospitality organizations are rich in employees who have varied
backgrounds and highly competent in terms of training and education. These
employees would somehow feel unfair if the positions they applied for are given
to an outsider despite their efforts and hardwork to help the organization
succeed.

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 KNOWLEDGE AND EXPERIENCE WITHIN
THE ORGANIZATION
Organizations favor hiring from within because some believe that employees who have
been with the organization are already familiar with the organization's functions,
values, and culture. Organizations favor promoting employees who have started from
entry-level position moving them up the corporate ladder. This strategy may look good
for the tourism and hospitality organizations but there are two sides from the supply
side of labor. To noncollege graduates, this is an opportunity for them to have a higher
position in the organization and better compensation.

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 ORGANIZATIONAL
CULTURE AND VALUES
Employees chosen for a position that were hired internally would have a better time
in adjusting to the organization's culture and values. Internal employees are already
familiar with the corporate values and need no further training. The organization's
culture is expected to be embodied by the employees as well. With this assumption,
internal applicants need less time adjusting to their new positions since they are
expected to know how to get things done and what they are supposed to deliver.

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 REDUCE COSTS
Hiring employees entails a lot of costs in different areas. These include
advertising the vacancy to major dailies or television, workforce and logistic
expenses during exams and interviews, some organizations incur travel expenses
for applicants and human resource personnel, training, and orientation among
others. When an organization hires from within, these costs could be
minimized. Costs in advertising would be eliminated and the human resource
department could just disseminate a memo for a job position internally. Tasks
of evaluating applicants would be focused on internal candidates, reducing time
for interview and examinations.
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 EXTERNAL HIRING
Employees and organizations often favor internal hiring more than external. However,
there are situations where candidates should be sourced externally. Still, hiring
employees from outside of the organization is an option that every organization can
choose in order to improve its operations. As there are advantages when hiring from
within, there are also very good reasons to take in employees from outside of the
organization.

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 PARADIGM SHIFT AND NEW
PERSPECTIVES
Some organizations, when they believe that the organization is not realizing its full
potential, hire people that would serve as catalysts for change. This is often evident
among positions that entail specific skills and important responsibilities. There are
tendencies that employees tend to familiarize themselves too much with how things
are done in the organization that they forget they must ensure also that the
organization must reach a level of competitiveness and efficiency as compared to its
competitors.
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 EDUCATION AND EXPERIENCE
This strategy directly contradicts the idea "start your way up from the bottom and
climb up to the top." With the rapid pace of technological innovations applied to the
tourism industry, the demand for highly skilled and well-experienced workers makes
organizations hire from outside the organization. It would take time and higher costs
for organizations to train and develop employees from within as compared to hiring
employees that are already trained and proficient with the job required.

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 DIVERSITY OF WORKFORCE
Service-oriented organizations prefer diversity in the workforce since this provides a
wider perspective in doing business. The diversity of employees equips the
organization in understanding the varied culture of guests, preparing for the required
services, and servicing the guests according to their preferences. Both higher level and
lower level positions seek candidates with diverse backgrounds in order to have a
better workforce.

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 APPROACHES TO HIRING
EXTERNAL EMPLOYEES
Organizations that consider hiring employees outside of the organization can choose
different options to promote the vacancies in their organization. These options can be
traditional in nature or may utilize state of the art methods depending on the
preferences or possible expenses that the organization is willing to commit.
Traditional or not, the success of these approaches still depends on how the
organization handles the output of each strategy.

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 DIFFERENT APPROACHES TO HIRING
EXTERNAL EMPLOYEES
1. The Internet - The Internet may be the greatest invention of today. Every aspect in our daily lives
may have been directly and indirectly affected by the world wide web. Many express that the world
got smaller because of the Internet. It facilitated communication, production and manufacturing,
transportation, and many other industries all over the world. Of the many aspects of the Internet, it
made itself easily accessible among different media.

2. Print Advertising - Despite the popularity of the Internet in sourcing job advertisement and
placement engine, print media is still a common and an effective method in advertising job
requirements of organizations. Applicants can still find ad placements for job openings among
major dailies and selected magazines.
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 DIFFERENT APPROACHES TO HIRING
EXTERNAL EMPLOYEES
3. Professional Linkages or Groups - Associations or groups belonging to the same industry or
sector form organizations or clubs. This functions as venue to keep professionals updated of
current trends and situations of their industries. This is also an effective way to find out potential
jobs or recruit professionals. Often, members of the organization seek out needs for applications
to job opening in their companies.
4. Internship or Work and Travel Program - This approach targets recent graduates or students
who are about to take their on-the-job trainings (OJT). Job recruitment companies offer programs
that would provide the young people an opportunity to earn and gain experience as they prepare
for their professional careers.

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 DIFFERENT APPROACHES TO HIRING
EXTERNAL EMPLOYEES
5. Referrals or Peer Recommendations - A good employee is always sought after by
organizations. Some go to the extent of offering better compensation package to rein in their
target. These good employees are also possible sources of new employees who may be of same
caliber as they are.

6. Company's Image or Brand - An organization with reputation such as the best place to
work and that takes care of its employees and values the members of its workforce is a
magnet for a lot of applicants. Being known to be the best hospitality organization and
knows how to take care of its employees would help in attracting good applicants to join
the organization.
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 DIFFERENT APPROACHES TO HIRING
EXTERNAL EMPLOYEES
7. Walk-in Application - Applicants personally bring in their application forms to the organization.
Despite the availability of other methods to file job application, walk-in application is still
practiced by many. Walk-in applications are usually aimed at entry-level positions and are done
by job seekers who do not have enough work experience yet.

8. Headhunters - Other organizations seek out the services of professional recruitment

organizations when they are looking for specific skills and particular talents that are vital in
their organizations. They are commonly called as headhunters because they specifically look
for professionals in the industry who are performing well in other organizations.

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 DIFFERENT APPROACHES TO HIRING
EXTERNAL EMPLOYEES
9. Talent Pooling - In the Philippine setting where there is an excess of workforce and not
enough job positions to fill in, it is common that companies maintain a list of candidates for a
single position. In this way, there would be candidates readily available to consider in cases
where another slot opens with similar requirements. Or in cases that the successful applicant
did not push through with the employment, a replacement can immediately be called upon.

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 HIRING TOOLS
1. Application Form - Application forms are the most basic tool used to gather information
during the employment process. Aside from the curriculum vitae, resume, or bio-data, the
application form contains the pertinent data about the applicant.
2. Interview - Candidates who qualified after the initial screening process shall be scheduled for
an interview.
3. Psychological Tests - Often considered as just a part of the employment process, this
particular tool measures some of the most important factors considered when looking for
employees.
4. Background/References - Other organizations call on references or persons mentioned by the
applicant to confirm the information about the applicant.

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