It is no secret that hospitality is one of only a handful of industries that undergo periods of extreme volume hiring pressures every single year. Midlands-based Punch Pubs & Co enlisted the support of AI recruitment technology firm AssessFirst to look beyond the traditional CV in a bid to implement unbiased hiring decisions.
Whether it is due to an increase in seasonal trade, or an enhanced need for entry-level or even pub-manager roles, the hospitality industry can experience peaks and troughs of recruitment pressures.
And, as we enter the warmer months and students seek a summer job or businesses search for seasonal workers, the industry is tackling this staffing challenge once again.
Whilst recruiters and employers can’t physically interview thousands of people, AssessFirst’s predictive hiring solution can help hospitality find talented employees at scale.
Working with Punch Pubs & Co, AssessFirst was the perfect accompaniment to recruitment managers, allowing them to rely on scientific data to make unbiased decisions when it came to finding the right candidate.
Vicky Brown, National Recruitment Manager at Punch Pubs & Co, explained that the firm was seeking a psychometric tool to enable confident decision-making.
She said, “We were looking for driven and passionate people that can run our pubs to the best of their ability and we needed a tool to be able to see that.”
Soft skills, such as being hardworking and conscientious, are pieces of information that you can’t necessarily get from a CV – and this is just one of the reasons businesses utilise behavioural assessments and artificial intelligence to support recruitment.
Particularly within the hospitality industry, there is much more to consider when finding a quality candidate.
And often, within this line of work, personality and characteristics are equally as important as skills and qualifications – both of which are notably difficult to identify using CVs and interviews alone.
David Bernard, CEO and founder of AssessFirst, explains that as the hospitality industry is about to enjoy its first full summer of trade since 2019, many businesses will be hoping to recover staffing levels to pre-pandemic levels and increase services once more.
He said, “Volume hiring is a time consuming and costly process that utilises precious resources that, if you’re looking to hire new staff, you probably don’t have capacity to do.
“We are fast approaching the first summer without any restrictions, meaning that businesses will be busier than ever and will potentially require an increased number of staff to support this.
“We’re firm believers in finding the right people and the right personalities for the role and we understand the importance of this, especially in hospitality.”
“The CV is only useful to a certain extent,” continued David.
“Which is exactly why we created a psychometric tool that utilises data and behavioural science to support the recruitment process – particularly for business owners of pubs, clubs, restaurants and hotels where we expect to see a big push on recruitment.”
Unbiased scientific data is key and means that recruitment managers have the confidence to handover a quality candidate to colleagues.
For more information on behavioural assessments and unbiased decision making, please visit: https://www.assessfirst.com/
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