Talent Needle in a Haystack?? Rethinking Recruitment with a Dose of Satire...and Reality.

Needle in a Haystack??

Rethinking Recruitment with a Good Dose of Satire and Humor...and Reality.

They say, "Subscribe and join, and find your needle (talent) in a haystack with an app, vendor, or cost-efficient labor scheduling system." They say, a lot of things, but are we challenging ourselves and everyone else to think critically?

This post is dedicated and focused on the first part of the hospitality engagement chain - the Owners. We are owners and our friends are owners, but most of our friends are not - we represent their interests at Hospiamo . We call them our people, the ones working at the property level, serving guests, serving each other, keeping the buildings clean, safe and secure and the ones who are there for you when you need them the most -- in an emergency or when someone just needs a roof over their head for a night and wants some peace and quiet.

We empathize and understand the value and risk of owners. We do not blame, rather we focus on responsibility and accountability and transparency. It is an ever-evolving topic and we start with us, and think about it constantly. We are asking other owners to do the same, just think about it, alone in a dark room for 15 minutes after reading this.

Decide what you want and then ask yourself are you spending more time on the garden...or the flowers? Every action has a consequence, positive or negative, never neutral - and choices made by ownership determines culture at the front line service level. There's nothing more responsible than spending time to think about the conditions of your workplace and workforce culture. Are you thinking about it? If you read this, and take 15 minutes afterwards, please send an email to [email protected] and or Hospiamo or at www.hospiamo.com/join, share what you learned about yourself and the conditions surrounding your workplace. Adam promises to keep it private. You can trust, he is doing the same and has recently seen the benefits of looking in the mirror.

Onward - the newsletter topic.

Well, what "they" say about finding great talent, that's certainly news to our team members and talent acquisition strategists who've spent the last 14 years proving this assertion wrong, very wrong.

In our relentless quest for the perfect hires—we stopped. We stopped looking at resumes and job descriptions and doing invasive background checks and looked only at cultural exchange. Repeat, #culturalexchange . We also believe that cultural exchange is not a J-1 Visa program or H2B Visa program...it's all cultural exchange. All. That's where we started. At the garden.

We carved out a unique strategy. It's akin to using a sophisticated metal detector to find that elusive "needle in a haystack". And no, it didn't start with a program. It started a few decent people and a mirror, turned inward and forcing ourselves to be who we are, and define that as our culture. Some didn't make it - because the mirror did not show what they expected, they're still on their journey to find their culture and we are still here for them, but they are not with us - as that can erode a culture and we committed to protect our culture at all costs. So.... we stopped acting like the employer that we thought those rare and diverse needles wanted to see and hear about. We found that 95% of our so-called competitors were not doing that, and were bragging their way to becoming, and promoting someone they are not. We find that particular employer behavior to be felonious, illegal, and someday we hope a law exists to hold employers accountable to that end - to be, and do what they promise at the time of employment.

Zig Ziglar had it right when he said, "You have to be before you can do, and do before you can have."

We're doing precisely that—being ourselves, doing our thing, and having an incredible journey. We don't have a #DEI, Diversity, Equity, Inclusion Committee, our entire company is that. We don't have an Operational Excellence Committee or Investment Committee - our entire company exists for the right reasons - our reasons, because we are committed to our core values and we ask everyone around us to hold us accountable to those values. We do not promote them on our website, nor do we need a new brand or a marketing "story" about how diverse or inclusive we are or that we're investing in #ESG programs, it's in our organizational documents that we must, or we die. It is also in our #PeoplePledge - and if we violate that pledge, then anyone affiliated with Hospiamo is empowered, and protected, to call us on it publicly - and we listen and change, and document our continuous improvement for our people. We change first, we trust first - we owe them, they do not owe us. If we break that pledge too many times, we die....we don't just create a committee to protect our reputation.

We're here, sifting through the proverbial haystack, searching for our needles, but we do not subscribe or pay anyone else to doit for us, unlike the $7.5B outsourced industry that exists to support the 2M #employees in US Hotels. We tell our story with transparency, admit our errors, misjudgments and mistakes freely, sift through the disingenuous, engage the genuine, person to person....and we have accumulated over 180 individuals that we find to be "like-minded"....we have a secret name for them, and we will never leave their side.

So, how did we do it? Well, one example - we harnessed the power of a social media platform, LinkedIn, to be specific. But wait, before you jump in with your "I've been there, done that" tirades, let us assure you, we did more than just post job descriptions.

Reminder, the definitions....

Social is related to a Society and its People

Media is a System for Information Exchange.

Don't get it twisted.

The Method to Our Madness

What did we do differently, you ask? Quite simple. We reminded ourselves of who we are and what social media actually is. We used LinkedIn to create meaningful conversations about issues we genuinely care about. Yes, we're talking about the less glamorous issues that many others are too polite to talk about, much less post on a public forum. We have embraced the uncomfortable topics at risk of upsetting those in control, and at risk of us never being hired by them in the future, so our income security was sacrificed, but not as much as our reputation, because for a while we were the problem.

In the process, we've managed to gather a tribe of about 180 like-minded individuals, without once falling for the allure of Indeed, Zip-Whatever, HCareers, or even those fancy third-party #recruiters, #taskforce agencies and #contract #labor companies.

Sure, it took us 14 years, but who's counting when the results are this rewarding?

The Irony of It All - Hotel Manager engagement is at 7% today when it was 40% in 1998. The hotel owner's money is going to waste.

Now, the irony of the situation isn't lost on us. As an industry, we hotels owners have spent a whopping $7.5B (yes, that's billion with a 'B') replacing human interaction and employee engagement with shiny new apps, outsourced labor and recruiting, HR Information Systems, Business Intelligence Systems, Revenue Growth Systems, and integrated Payroll Platforms. Yet, we're still grappling with the same old problems, and the bleeding has gotten worse. Hotel Manager engagement is at 7% today when it was 40% in 1998.

It's time to face the music. No amount of technological marvel our external force can fix a problem that's inherently human.

If you are not what your workforce wants, no app or system will miraculously make you so.

The Heart of the Matter

We don't just count likes and shares on our LinkedIn posts. We go beyond the superficial to understand our audience's intentions. It's not just about agreeing with our views but about passionately advocating for change and having the courage to voice opinions. And when we spot such individuals, we don't just send them a 'thank you' or a 'happy birthday' message. Instead, we engage, converse, build relationships. Why? Because we aren't just recruiting, we're building a community.

Sure, this process takes time. It requires patience and a whole lot of persistence. But the reward—finding that perfect needle in our haystack—is well worth the effort.

#ZigZiglar had it right when he said, "You have to be before you can do, and do before you can have." We're doing precisely that—being ourselves, doing our thing, and having an incredible journey. We're here, sifting through the proverbial haystack, searching for our needles.

So, are we the right haystack for you? Don't rush to answer. We'll know when we find each other.

And oh, tune in next week as we reveal how to waste as much as $90K a year of your hard earned money on Online Travel Agents (#OTA) in the #Hotel Business - we're talking to you #guests and travelers!! You will amazed, scared and disappointed to hear that your money has not been going to the people that serve you and keep you safe! That's next time on "#Waste Your Money on Hotels!"

So, why not have a good laugh about it? If you're not having some fun reading this, or nodding your head at least once - you're not in the right business, or part of the problem. That's okay, there's a lot of other haystacks out there looking for you.??

#fortheloveofhospitality - thank you for reading.