The chances are pretty good that you or someone in your family will be doing some sort of traveling during the holiday season. It’s the most popular time of the year to travel, which also makes it the worst for customers. The travel industry, along with hotels, restaurants and others whose business picks up dramatically at the end of the year, needs all the help it can get in order to keep everything running as smooth as possible. Mobile recruiting can help find the extra staffing needed to supplement the increased number of customers those in the hospitality industry take on during this time.
We’ve already looked at how mobile recruiting can help the retail industry make holiday hires. But for as many people who will be flocking to shopping destinations, both physical locations and online, almost as many will be traveling. The hospitality industry feeds off the other segments, with airline passengers not only booking flights, but hotels and rental cars in addition to making plans to visit attractions and dining out.
The holiday hiring season in the hospitality industry seems to have gotten off to an early start, and will outpace last year’s hiring. Manpower estimates hiring in hospitality will be increase 17% year-over-year in Quarter 4 of 2013. And it’s not just the fourth quarter that is expected to see increased hiring. Indeed saw a 34% jump in hospitality job postings in August 2013 year-over-year, with a 25% increase in clicks on hospitality jobs. The top job titles?
Most of the positions organizations are looking to fill are those that are needed to deal with an increased number of customers. As you can see, these are busy days for the hospitality industry. They’ll only get busier. And not just when the neighborhood dogs eat the Christmas turkey.
Another thing about the job titles presented above is that the positions available are mainly those that require employees to be active and on their feet. This lends perfectly to the use of mobile devices among these workers. The hospitality industry is already well-versed in the use of mobile devices as a way to find, book and coordinate travel and lodging opportunities.
For example, I can look for a flight on my phone and book it in a few swipes and clicks. I can pull up my boarding pass on my device and have it scanned at the gate. Upon arriving at my destination, I can use it to find a ride to my hotel – which I also booked on my phone – as well as to dinner that evening, with a table held for me because of the reservation I made on that same phone.
Courtesy of MobileSmith, hotels are embracing mobile devices to simplify operations…
Mobile can be used to dramatically simplify daily operations. For example, hotels have to keep track of a large inventory of items, including furniture, appliances, computers, cleaning equipment, and so on. Instead of filling out endless amounts of paper work and then entering data into a computer, hotel staff can now use their mobile devices to scan bar codes on these items and instantly account for item location, condition, amount, making for a much more efficient and accurate inventory process.
and improve customer service:
A hotel’s housekeeping and concierge is always on the move and not always easy to reach. Yet, their services are vital to providing a quality guest experience. On their mobile device, housekeeping can instant message the front desk to confirm room availability; managers can locate the concierge on the nearest floor to respond to a customer request, and all within real-time.
With how mobile hotel workers are, as part of their job description, it’s little wonder that they will need a means of communication that is both portable and easy to use. While they are using them in-house to better coordinate staff for room services, they are also providing guests with tablets in their rooms, complete with suggestions for daily activities, maps and room controls.
Restaurants are utilizing mobile devices in similar ways. What’s great about mobile devices is how easily we can use them as a means of sourcing. Popular sites and apps like Yelp (which gives us user-submitted reviews of restaurants in our area and contact information) and Groupon (which allows us to find restaurants in the area and order takeout) have been successful in reaching mobile users. That’s not surprising because of the natural fit between mobile and dining. Whether it’s local or out-of-town, people who are traveling and need dinner are more likely to rely on their mobile devices to access crowd-sourced information to best find a place to eat.
Restaurant workers, like hotel workers, can use mobile devices to deliver a better customer experience and, as a result, make things easier for themselves in the workplace. They’re already using them to take customers’ orders and communicate with the entire staff, an option they won’t normally have during the crowded dinner rush. If restaurants are asking their employees to use mobile devices in the workplace, those same employees will use their mobile devices to look for other jobs in the field.
Let’s not forget the workers tasked with getting these holiday travelers to their destinations. Airlines and trains obviously see an uptick in customers around the holidays, and therefore need to be as fully staffed as possible. The security restrictions involved in hiring for transporting passengers and cargo are obviously delicate, but mobile recruiting can help reach airline and train workers currently in the industry who are often traveling. Pilots, who are in currently in shortage, for example can use their smartphones or tablets to check for work opportunities overnight before a return flight home the next day.
So you see that the hospitality industry has already been quick to adapt to the mobile needs and desires of its customers. But what of its job seekers? Given the amount of time workers in the hospitality industry spend on the move, you’d think hiring organizations would recognize the need for mobility in order to reach them in due time. Yet, few are attempting to reach them there, despite the fact that mobile devices are already widely used to take orders, confirm bookings, attend to needs and coordinate staffing.
Mobile recruiting is about reaching mobile users whenever and wherever they are. The combination of holiday travel and increased need for staffing are the perfect opportunity to find job seekers and get them hired in time for the season. We’ve already seen how those already working in the hospitality field are currently using mobile devices to perform a number of tasks. Add searching, finding and applying for a job to that list – just in time for the holidays.
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