Gen Z and hospitality – what are they looking for in a job and can the sector meet those must-haves?

In an honest and thought-provoking interview, we spoke to David Cochrane MBE, Chief Executive of HIT Scotland about sector perception, making a career in hospitality attractive to Gen Z, and addressing the skills gap.

The media perception of hospitality

We started by asking David how he believes hospitality is perceived after two years of conflicting media coverage.

‘The past couple of years has reinforced a lot of people’s perceptions about working in hospitality.’ David commented. ‘Media coverage focused on furlough, job losses, people leaving the industry in high numbers, people not being able to afford to live on furlough without tips.’

‘It’s reinforced some parents’ perceptions that children are not going to get a great career in hospitality, because the industry is at the beck and call and mercy of everything else that is happening economically and globally.’

‘Post-Covid our hospitality industry is a very lean, technology-minded industry, which actually should have a greater appeal to younger people.’

Reaching Entry Level Talent (ELT) through new channels

Our conversation moved on to engaging ELT and working with pupils from a younger age.  David believes that we should be working with schools but that it’s not the whole story.

‘I do agree that we need to get into the curriculum at an even earlier age but having said that, I don’t think that’s the whole story because most young people get their information from the internet and social media. The hospitality sector has got to really start looking at different ways of engaging young people, not just through the curriculum.’

‘It has to be a multifaceted, and multimedia, approach because that’s what other sectors are doing, which is why they’re reaching younger people. I would also say it’s not just young people we need to look at, it’s across the whole demographic, including the Commonwealth countries.’

Tech-savvy and environmentally aware

One thing is clear – technology and the environmental impact of brands is an important deciding factor for any jobhunting Gen Z.

David continued, ‘Hospitality and tourism are global, and it’s one of the biggest users of utilities, and the reason why people are encouraged to travel from one continent to another. And there’s a huge amount of very ethical, sustainable practices out there.’

‘From that perspective, we’ve got to use social media channels to tell potential ELT and Gen Z about our environmental and tech credentials, because ELT are very savvy, and they’re also very good at seeing the transparency of businesses. You can’t just greenwash something, you’ve actually got to physically believe it, and have it running through the core of your whole business.’

‘As an industry, we’ve got to make it attractive for ELT and Gen Z, who don’t want 40 hours a week, who maybe only wants 10 hours in one organisation because they’ve got outside interests and also want a great work/life balance. As an industry, we have to be more flexible, and the industry has to adapt to meet those needs because the next generation of hospitality workers want very different things from a job.

So how can employers flex and become attractive options for hospitality jobseekers? ‘Listen to your existing ELT staff and ask them what matters in a job. Use their expertise to find out what appeals to ELT. One thing is certain, a lot of the new generation of workforce have got more technology at home than most hospitality businesses. When they’re coming to work, in most circumstances, they’re actually going backward on the technology, communication, social media, front and the sector needs to play catch up.’

Addressing the skills gap

There’s going to be a scarcity of working-age people with a rising older population and a falling birth rate. Predictions indicate that by mid 2043 there will be an estimated 7000 fewer young people available for work in Scotland*. What does that mean for an industry that relies on ELT?1

David had some interesting suggestions on how to meet the skills gap. ‘As an industry, we need to think about how we can better utilise people. The way younger people think and see the hospitality sector is very different now. I’m not suggesting we rip all the very good practices already in the industry, but we have to meet in the middle much more.

‘We can’t just advertise and market the industry, we’ve got to really deliver on our promises too, and that might make hiring managers change the way they think about recruitment. Be agile as a business and get feedback from your existing people continuously so that you know what every generation within your workforce is looking for.

Fewer people – more technology?

David talked earlier about the importance of technology within hospitality and expanded further. ‘The past two years have shown us that using technology to train hospitality people works. We’ve had nearly 4,000 scholars participate in the HIT Scotland Tourism and Hospitality Talent Development Programme online.

‘If you can recruit for personality and aptitude, then using technology you can train in-house, because staff like the formality and it shows that they’re at a level where they can easily assimilate information online.

‘Every other sector is looking at how to do things more efficiently and faster. We’re going to have to think differently about artificial intelligence and other ways of doing things, using technology to meet the skills gap.’

Top Tips for recruiting ELT & Gen Z

• As an employer it’s about being seen as a good, developmental organisation, you’re social media savvy, you’ve got the technology, you’re out there speaking to schools, to ex-offenders, to the semi-retired, to women returners, to the Commonwealth countries.
• Plan your staffing and where that’s going to come from, and never stop working at it. Because just when you think you’ve got a perfect workforce, and you’re fully employed, that’s when someone will pull the rug from under your feet. And you’ll be thinking, ‘what other talent pools can I go into?’
• Be flexible and be able to offer people the shift patterns and rotas they need. It’s about being able to say, ‘we just need you to work a couple of days a week.’ So, look at what’s happening globally and apply it to your business locally.
• Make it fun. This has got to be a fun environment to work in. A lot of people will spend their leisure time in our industry, in hotels, pubs, bars, and restaurants and they might never put two and two together and realise that the place they spend a lot of time in could actually give them a very fulfilling career in hospitality.
• Remove the hospitality stereotypes. We won’t attract people by showing housekeeping fluffing up pillows, or a chef doing a flambé, or a barman long-pouring a cocktail – it’s got to be more than that.  The message has to be ‘this is a serious, progressive and sustainable industry’ because that’s what a lot of people want to be involved in now. With ethics and values at the forefront of any engagement strategy.