Often, when thinking about roles in hospitality, our minds go straight to chefs or front of house roles– and whilst these are key roles, there are a wide range of jobs available that have fantastic career prospects. The hospitality industry is fast moving and entrepreneurial; it needs all levels of service expertise, from budding chefs, mixologists and sommeliers, through to experts in technology, finance, IT, HR and marketing.
The most prevalent issue being faced by hospitality is the massive skills gap it is currently experiencing. This is the time for young people to strike whilst the iron is hot and get into an industry where business leaders across the sector are making it their number one priority to train and upskill the engaged pipeline of talent coming through.
The next generation will be the ones who help us pave the way towards normality and come back even stronger, therefore it’s essential to provide support and help to bridge the gap that we are currently experiencing.
In May, The Springboard Charity surveyed 15 of the UK’s biggest hospitality employers with a combined workforce of 103,500, to understand their recruitment concerns of 2021. The results revealed that a huge skills gap lies at the heart of hospitality’s recruitment crisis, while some of the industry’s biggest players fear staff shortages may hamper their efforts to rebuild and recover fully from the effects of the pandemic.
Working in the hospitality industry requires a wide range of competencies in communication, customer service and cultural awareness, problem-solving, ability to work in a team, to multi-task, adapt, be creative and have great attention to detail. However, whilst exploring the most important factors for recruiting talent, 80% of those surveyed said a lack of skilled candidates, specifically amongst young people, was a key concern.
Commenting on the difficulty hospitality employers currently have filling jobs as the industry reopens, our CEO Chris Gamm, said:
“I believe that there’s an enormous amount of talent out there, which needs to be utilised by business owners and industry leaders, using this diverse pool of skills to secure the future of the hospitality sector and also inspire the next generation of hospitality leaders at such a crucial point in their careers. This is why, we, as a charity have launched ‘Springboard to 2022’, which aims to have 10,000 young people trained and ready for work by December 2022. Our training schemes offer young people the opportunity to develop skills across a range of job roles which are available in the industry, from the more typical front and back of house positions to opportunities across technology, finance, HR and marketing.”
We are addressing the lack of emerging talent in the industry head on by helping those seeking employment in hospitality obtain the training to secure a role that is well-suited to their personality, natural abilities and interests. We are also working more directly with hospitality, leisure, and tourism employers who are willing to provide quality work placements for candidates, in return for getting direct access to fully trained and engaged members of staff.
The ‘Springboard 2022’ is engaging the young pool of talent on offer and hopes to get 10,000 young people in jobs by 2022. Find out more about Springboard to 2022 here: Springboard to 2022 – The Springboard Charity & Springboard UK
