GR8 Recruitment will be conducting group and individual interviews with around 200 hospitality professionals – from kitchen porters and chambermaids to chefs and sommeliers – at Nairobi’s Utalli College as part of an initiative to help address recruitment problems within the industry.
Managing director Lee Madden said that they had been working closely with the Jersey Hospitality Association and individual representatives of the industry to try to understand some of the issues that employers currently faced.
He said that GR8 had previously undertaken social media and recruitment campaigns in Jersey but that it had become clear they were not going to fill what he described as ‘the void in staff resources’ in 2020.
‘Without a solution, the industry would be affected by reducing covers, beds or in some cases not being able to operate at all,’ he said.
This week Mr Madden is travelling to Nairobi with a business consultant to try to generate a shortlist of potential candidates for local vacancies. Employers will then be able to interview candidates by Skype and successful staff would be in a position to apply for seasonal work permits.
‘We will ensure that the candidates selected for the roles in Jersey meet all the legal requirements, have a passion for their profession and have researched Jersey and our own hospitality industry so that they can be the best they can be working here on their nine-month contract,’ Mr Madden said.
The initiative has been welcomed by the Jersey Hospitality Association in the context of the recent easing of regulations to allow nine-month non-EU work permits. Chief executive Simon Soar said: ‘The JHA is delighted to see GR8, a gold partner of ours, going to such levels as to provide the industry with the staffing options it needs during this difficult recruitment period. We support this initiative, as it provides such value to the industry’s recruiting needs.’
