Recruiters, often also called headhunters, look for people with the qualifications and talents to fill management positions in a variety of industries. Hospitality recruiters look for management candidates within the hospitality industry. Recruiters look for people working in hospitality industry management who have the skills necessary to fill jobs for which they are recruiting. This generally includes positions in places such as hotels, restaurants and resorts. Hospitality recruiters are basically paid to find the top talent in the industry and convince them that their careers will be more lucrative and rewarding with another company.
A hospitality recruiter typically needs an in-depth understanding of the industry. There are certificate programs and degrees available at various schools and colleges in hospitality management that can help prepare someone who wants to be a recruiter. Someone with a solid background working in the industry may have an even better understanding of the qualities someone in hotel or restaurant management really needs to have.
Hospitality recruiters often work for large hotel, restaurant or resort chains, rather than small, private businesses. Managers at high-end resorts generally have more responsibilities and make larger salaries than those in smaller companies. They may make daily decisions that can cost a company a lot of money if the choices they make are wrong. Large companies and corporations generally know that they need people in management positions who can handle both the pressure and the challenges that come with that type of job. Hospitality recruiters are paid by the company to find the right people for those jobs, and larger companies can usually more easily afford to pay for the best recruiting services.
Recruiting jobs can sometimes be entry-level jobs for those who have degrees without practical work experience. A recruiting career generally takes a great deal of inside knowledge of the hospitality industry, however, as well as knowledge about the company that is looking for management candidates. The recruiter typically must be outgoing in the search for potential managers. Cold calling, which is calling a prospect and making a pitch, is often a large part of the job for hospitality recruiters.
Hospitality recruiters will generally do a great deal of research about potential candidates before contacting them to make sure they are a good fit for the company in question. Someone with industry knowledge who has a strong sales background may be able to apply that to a recruiting career. Cold calling someone to sell a product or service is similar to cold calling hospitality managers to basically sell them on a job with a company that needs their skills. Recruiters should be able to handle rejection well. As with cold sales calls, many recruiting calls eventually end in rejection of the potential job offer.