U.S. employers added 263,000 jobs in March, and the leisure and hospitality sector led that growth with the addition of 72,000 jobs.
However, we know that many hotel brands and companies continue to struggle with hiring certain property-level positions.
Remington's Sloan Dean told me during an interview for Hotel News Now's ongoing "Pandemic Reflections" series that his company is especially having a tough time hiring chefs at its on-property restaurants.
This past week I was inspired by an email that came across my inbox and had to do with the "kid from Akron, Ohio."
Though seeing LeBron's name in this press release caught my eye, it's what the program his foundation created with hospitality partners that caught my eye even more.
You might be wondering, what does LeBron James have to do with hospitality?
Graduate Hotels and Saira Hospitality teamed up with The LeBron James Family Foundation to launch "Training Camp at House Three Thirty in Akron," which equips students with "tactical hospitality and general professional development and life skills," including building emotional intelligence, communication, leadership and personal branding as well as hands-on learning focused on food and beverage, hospitality service, guest services and operational best practices.
It's programs like these that I feel will either ignite or reignite peoples' passion for hospitality, especially in communities where many might not have considered a career in the hospitality industry.
Hospitality, to me, means so much more than welcoming and serving people in a hotel, restaurant or bar. It means giving back to a community that you operate in.
Michele Campbell, executive director of The LeBron James Family Foundation, said in a news release that its partnership with Graduate Hotels and Saira Hospitality allows it "to encourage and employ those within our community to grow their skills and find their passions, all while giving back to the community they love."
This particular program had me curious what else is out there, because I really do see this as way to help fill open jobs.
This spring, The Arizona Opportunities Industrialization Center and Phoenix-based Thunderbird Legacy Development launched the Arizona Hospitality Academy in downtown Phoenix, which is the state's first-of-its-kind vocational training program.
"Through innovative partnerships with local governments, hotel companies and operators, and trade associations, the AHA will aim to train and place high-quality, job-ready candidates into open industry positions," a news release describing the program states.
The academy is also easily accessible to locals through public transportation, which I think is crucial to successful programs. The building has flexible space of classrooms for banquet training, mock hotel rooms for housekeeping training and a 5,000-square-foot commercial kitchen for culinary training.
In Las Vegas, the Culinary Academy in North Las Vegas, which has partnerships with 36 major Las Vegas Strip companies including Caesar's Entertainment, MGM Resorts and Wynn, has a 90% job placement rate across the 16 different programs it offers.
“The multiple programs we have for different jobs in the industry sets them up for success,” Joel Schaefer, a professional cook, told Las Vegas-based TV station KLAS-TV. “The biggest thing we offer is the instructional program and then right away they get into the operation.”
The common theme of these programs is that they offer education, then immediately place trainees into open roles.
Though I'm sure hotel companies across the nation are already doing their part to hire candidates from these programs, I urge more to seek them out, hire from them and maybe even create programs of their own.
Send me a note via email, Twitter or connect with me on LinkedIn.
The opinions expressed in this column do not necessarily reflect the opinions of Hotel News Now or CoStar Group and its affiliated companies. Bloggers published on this site are given the freedom to express views that may be controversial, but our goal is to provoke thought and constructive discussion within our reader community. Please feel free to contact an editor with any questions or concern.