Hospitality recruitment: what candidates really want

Why do good candidates scroll past your vacancy, or apply and then never hear back? In hospitality recruitment, many people are lost before a single conversation takes place, and the job ad is usually where it starts: a list of demands at the top, a few buzzwords in the middle and the salary hidden somewhere near the end. For any hotel or restaurant that struggles to fill shifts, that is the first place to look.

Kim Loman, founder of The Hospitality Recruiters in Amsterdam, has been placing hospitality talent for more than 18 years. Asked which single KPI she would improve tomorrow, she picks conversion: does the vacancy you wrote actually attract people and make them apply?

Why hospitality candidates drop out before they apply

For operational roles, in Loman's experience, it usually comes down to two things: salary and flexibility. People want a better balance between work and private life, while hospitality still runs on long evenings and weekends. Some employers she works with have answered that by offering a three day working week with longer days. Balance matters even more when managing gen Z hotel staff.

The lesson for any employer is that the ad itself can make this tension worse. Loman calls words like flexible and dynamic “itch words”. An employer writes “flexible attitude” and means one thing, while the reader fills in the worst case and assumes their Saturdays are gone. Her advice is to explain concretely what the flexibility involves, instead of hoping the word does the work.

Job titles that candidates actually search for

A vacancy that nobody finds cannot convert. Many companies invent new names for familiar roles, and in Loman's view that has a direct cost.

“Het probleem is door een hippe functienaam te bedenken of in jouw beleving een aansprekende functienaam te bedenken ben je minder goed vindbaar.”

Kim Loman, 18:48

(Translated: “The problem is that by inventing a trendy job title, or a title that sounds appealing to you, you become harder to find.”)

Most job seekers search for the familiar titles, so a creative name means fewer people ever see the vacancy. If you want to keep your own title, Loman suggests stating the common title in the ad and then explaining what the role is called inside your company.

How to structure a job ad that converts

The traditional layout puts the requirements first: we ask for this, this and this. Loman finds that format terrible. Her team advises partners on their vacancies rather than writing them, but if it were up to her, the order would look like this:

• Open with who you are as a company and what the work environment feels like.
• Say what you offer the new hire, beyond a line about pay.
• Add two or three quotes from future colleagues, written in their own words and not as a marketing stunt.
• Let the person quoted join the first conversation, so the link between ad and team becomes personal.
• Put the requirements at the bottom, and call them preferences rather than demands.

She also wonders why vacancies are still mostly words on a page when video is so easy to use. With one partner, her team now sends a short welcome video from the hiring manager along with the job offer. In her words, connecting with people does not start on the first day but on the journey there.

Hospitality recruitment starts before the vacancy opens

Most employers only start looking when someone hands in their notice. Loman calls that a mistake.

“Heel vaak is dat op het moment dat er een vacature valt, dan gaan we beginnen met rennen en dan gaan we meteen naar buiten vragen wie de vacature kan invullen. Dat is verkeerd.”

Kim Loman, 41:08

(Translated: “Very often, the moment a vacancy opens, we start running and immediately go outside to ask who can fill it. That is wrong.”)

Her argument is that an employer should already know a role is about to open. With turnover she estimates at 70 to 75 percent in some companies, waiting for the vacancy means understaffing and more sick leave, costs that rarely get counted as recruitment costs.

Planning ahead also requires control. Loman sees the biggest waste of money as a lack of control and overview of the process and the tools. Many companies still work from a full careers mailbox and a spreadsheet. With 20 or 100 applications, nobody knows who has been contacted, and candidates simply vanish without an answer. Three questions to ask before you hire again:

• Is there one place where every application is tracked?
• Does every applicant get an answer, including a no?
• Do you know which roles are likely to open in the coming months?

An applicant tracking system helps with the first two, but Loman stresses that it is an empty tool until the process behind it is set up.

Why retention is the strongest recruitment strategy

Loman has long said that retention is the solution to hospitality recruitment, and that HR should spend far more time on culture and keeping people, the core of a strong employer branding strategy. She links frequent job changes to social media, which shows people every day that the grass looks greener elsewhere.

Her practical answer is to use what candidates tell you. A pay rise of 100 euros, she says, keeps someone happy for about two months. Remembering that a new hire loves a certain band and surprising them with two front row tickets when that band comes to Amsterdam is something they will talk about for years. Those stories matter, because every employee has a network of their own. In her example, a company with 500 staff who each have at least 500 connections has a local reach no outside recruiter can match. For senior roles, hospitality executive search leans on connections in the same way.

Building a candidate experience that earns trust

Candidates form a view of an employer long before they sign. Loman opens every meeting by saying it is not an interview but an introduction between two people who do not know each other yet. Candidates may ask her as many questions as she asks them.

“Communicatie is niet alleen wat je zegt, is vooral wat je niet zegt. Is weten wanneer je de diepte in gaat en weten wanneer dat nou niet hoeft.”

Kim Loman, 32:09

(Translated: “Communication is not only what you say, it is mostly what you do not say. It is knowing when to go deeper and knowing when that is not needed.”)

That attention extends to feedback. Candidates who are rejected often never hear why, so they cannot change anything. Loman tells them openly what she sees, and many get back in touch after landing a job a few conversations later. Seen this way, hospitality recruitment is a relationship rather than a transaction. You can watch the full conversation or explore more in the Room for Talent series.

Frequently asked questions

How should a hospitality job ad be structured?

In Kim Loman's view, start with who you are as a company, what you offer and what kind of environment the new hire walks into. Add two or three honest quotes from future colleagues. Put the requirements at the bottom, and phrase them as preferences rather than demands, so the ad reads as an invitation instead of a checklist.

Why do hospitality candidates drop out of the hiring process?

For operational roles, Kim Loman says it usually comes down to salary and flexibility. People want a better balance between work and private life, while hospitality still asks for long and irregular hours. Some employers she works with have even tried a three day working week with longer days to answer that need.

What is the biggest waste of money in hospitality recruitment?

According to Kim Loman, it is having no control or overview of your recruitment process and tools. Many companies still run hiring from a full mailbox and a spreadsheet, so applicants disappear without a reply. An applicant tracking system helps, but only when the process behind it is set up properly, because the tool itself starts out empty.