The Business Journal’s Paul Hughes asked hospitality companies and academic programs they work with about formal, systemic efforts properties take to recruit, hire, train and advance personnel—including technical staff, line workers and executives. Schools talked about how they help fill those needs. Edited excerpts of respondents’ answers follow:
Gerhard Apfelthaler
Dean, School of Management
California Lutheran University
Thousand Oaks
Our new major in Hospitality and Tourism Management fills a niche in education and training for the industry. We surveyed leading programs nationally and internationally and developed it in cooperation with leaders from a range of local and global hospitality brands.
A recurring theme: while there are still careers for those who work their way up from entry-level positions, there’s a growing need for highly educated college graduates.
The program acknowledges increasing professionalization aiming to educate leaders familiar with the industry and with specialized knowledge. It builds on a liberal arts foundation and ensures students are well-rounded people who think creatively and critically, and communicate effectively; it should also attract transfer students from culinary arts or hospitality programs at community colleges who want to upgrade and complement their educations.
The program includes required internships—a recruiting tool that’s sort of a rent-to-own program for companies—executive roundtables, and the application of knowledge to hospitality operations and the needs of companies.
Ralph Grippo
President
Irvine Co. Resort Properties
Newport Beach
Our Coastal Collection’s reputation for guest service begins with targeted recruiting, selecting people who share our values, and orienting them into our service culture. Team members at Pelican Hill, Fashion Island Hotel, Hotel Irvine, Oak Creek Golf Club and California Recreation Company marinas come to Orange County from across the world because their career goals and passion align with our mission to create memorable guest experiences.
At new employee orientation, we teach the importance of thinking with our hearts, and train them to make our guests so happy they want to come back. The key is an emotional connection. Our leaders inspire and empower members to deliver great service and exceed guest expectations every day.
One specific element are the daily departmental line-ups and preshift meetings: Training there happens consistently for every employee, every day. Before we serve our guests, we review pertinent daily information, discuss elements of our mission, and reinforce the values and service culture that guide how we do business.
It’s a best practice that’s foundational to our brands and one key to our success.
Reem Hufnagel
Market Director of Human Resources
Anaheim Marriott
We work with Marriott International’s Voyage Program, a 12- to 18-month process for graduating college students in the U.S. to join the company as entry-level managers.
After recruiting and interviewing, a voyager enters the program and starts work at a property. Additional resources include networking and online curriculum and program material, such as leadership webcasts.
This builds a pipeline of entry-level talent while offering a globally consistent and enriching experience for our next generation of leaders. After completion, voyagers are offered permanent positions with Marriott International in the discipline for which they’ve trained.
Anaheim Marriott has had several voyagers in areas that oversee rooms and food, beverage and culinary operations. One began his career as a voyager three years ago, later became our restaurant manager, and has recently transferred to Lido House on Balboa, which is part of Marriott’s Autograph Collection of boutique hotels.
We also recruit new talent from local schools that offer either a hospitality degree or culinary certification, including Cal Poly Pomona, Long Beach State and Cypress College.
Sandy Kelton-Rogers
Director of Human Resources
Ritz-Carlton, Laguna Niguel
Dana Point
We aim to attract ladies and gentlemen passionate about creating unique, memorable and personal experiences for our guests.
Online we use recruiting platforms—Indeed, LinkedIn—and the Ritz-Carlton website. We’ve found success internally for heart-of-the-house areas—culinary, stewarding, housekeeping—via referral incentives. Camp Pendleton’s job fair and Saddleback Community College are some of our quarterly visits to community-based groups. We also work with the state Employment Development Department’s Southern California operations.
A brand like Ritz-Carlton also naturally creates a sense of pride for those selected, which helps retention.
Jonathan Kubo
VP, People Resources & Development
Twenty Four Seven Hotels
Newport Beach
We want to one-up the standard practice at hospitality companies of advertising internal career and promotional opportunities to prepare our people for that next move when it presents itself.
Midlevel managers and assistant general managers are, of course, key sources of future senior property leadership. A dispersed workforce and lean staffing levels presented challenges, though, to offer them meaningful and accessible training. Central training was cost-prohibitive and would take them away from their hotel’s day-to-day operations—the reason we were looking at them in the first place.
Technology was the answer, and for an hour every other week—doable for most of our people—they can focus on a series of topics that prepare them for their next promotion. The system delivers assignments and webinars to train in core areas and show how to use the company’s systems, with participation tracked as people progress.
It’s not that web-based technology is so cutting-edge; the real value of the program is in choosing relevant topics—offering material that in many cases participants can begin using immediately. Before a promotion, before it even is available, participants can add it to their management arsenal and apply what they’ve learned in real-life settings.
A series of post-training assignments also reinforces the concepts and ensures they’re implemented as intended, with supervisors offering ways to reinforce the concepts for participants.
Rich Langhorst
VP, Facilities and Operations Services
Disneyland Resort
Anaheim
We’re committed to providing our cast members professional development opportunities—among them Fullerton College’s vocational programs. Together we launched a machinist training effort that prepares adults for successful careers and is supported by the International Association of Machinists District Lodge 947. The four-year program includes full-credit courses on campus and paid training three days a week at the resort.
It helps develop employee talent and potential, and furthers the skills of craft workers in our community, in areas that include blueprint reading, technical mathematics, welding, manufacturing processes and transportation services.
Units can also go toward an associate degree, and each person who finishes gets a journeyman card that certifies them to perform advanced technical work. Graduates who weren’t already cast members can get hired full time, and many already on board during their courses work their way up to higher-paying positions as they learn new skills.
We’ve had one pilot effort and seven other cohorts since the program began in 2011 for machinists, and in a similar program for sound technicians at the resort that combines electronics, networking and theater arts classes with on-the-job training.
Ann Lara
Career Services Coordinator
Collins College of Hospitality Management
California State Polytechnic
University-Pomona
Collins is the largest and oldest hospitality program in California and works with Orange County companies—including Irvine Co., Big Canyon Country Club, Surf and Sand Hotel and Monarch Beach Resort—to train industry leaders.
Currently we have about 1,300 students—about 55% first-generation college students—and 400 graduates a year.
We teach management through the lens of hospitality. One program is a Future Executive Mentorship Program pairing students with hospitality executives. Mentors include Steve Senft of CRU Real Estate Group in Costa Mesa and retired hotel executive Edward “Ned” Snavely, formerly with Montage and Marriott, and a consultant at Laguna Strategic Advisors in Irvine.
Our lecture series has included Wahoo’s Fish Taco co-founder Wing Lam and George Kalogridis, then-president of Disneyland Resort. This year we have Marriott Irvine Spectrum General Manager Chris Harrison.
Other resources include an annual career expo, job postings, employer showcases, and active student clubs in hotels, food service, events, and private club management.
We also have a student-run enterprise, Restaurant at Kellogg Ranch, with farm-to-table dining open to the public.
Ingrid Middleton-Maher
Corporate Director of Recruitment
Pacific Hospitality Group
Irvine
We are always looking to advance our company with team members from all backgrounds and strengths.
Internally, we identify high-potential or high-performing team members and develop individualized plans for them to work through to get to the next step in their careers. A corporate people-and-culture team works with them one-on-one to learn more about their strengths, invest in career development, and find opportunities within PHG.
Referral programs that bring new colleagues reward both the team member who refers them and the new employee.
External recruiting at colleges brings us entry-level managers-in-training, and our work with groups like United Way, Catholic Charities, Salvation Army, and community workforce centers helps find jobs with PHG for those re-entering the workforce. We’ve also worked with Dress for Success, which helps develop a professional image for prospective workers, and area refugee centers to promote PHG jobs to those with refugee visa status.
Online engagement and social media include hospitality-specific site HCareers, as well as Indeed and LinkedIn, and a strong relationship with Spanish-language media.
Michael Robby
Director of Hotel Sales
Renaissance ClubSport
Aliso Viejo
We do things fairly consistently with our sister full-service and luxury hotels in the Marriott system, but one small differentiator is that we encourage guests to discover something new when they stay with us, to explore the local neighborhood and so on.
So we look for new associates who can be ambassadors for indigenous experiences around our hotel—things only locals would know. The key is they share these things passionately with our guests and offer compelling reasons to check them out.
It’s not just recommending a local restaurant but talking about their specific favorite thing on the menu, the best server there, the best seat in the house—things like that. We go to the extent of actually paying some of our staff to go down to Laguna Beach and discover something new so they can come back and share with fellow employees and hotel guests.
There are a lot of super-interesting local stories in South OC, and we want to share them.
Nancy Silver
VP, Organizational Development
Classic Hotels & Resorts
Scottsdale, Ariz.
Our local properties are Inn at Laguna Beach and Laguna Beach House.
As with many boutique hotel companies, we’re elevating everything we do—from our applicant tracking system, to learning, performance and compensation management—by evaluating the best of the best in our industry, hotels and firms whose culture most closely match ours.
The aim is a heartfelt experience beyond expectations, and company culture is the foundation of attracting, hiring, training and advancing our associates. It’s the core of who we are and how we distinguish our service and brand.
Some of this starts on social media, where associates are asked to follow our property and career pages on Facebook, Twitter and LinkedIn. We work with websites Indeed and Glassdoor for web-based job search engine needs, from line-level workers to executives. We get referrals from employees to build our bench one heart at a time. Cross-training at a single property and within our portfolio engages associates in the company’s future growth, innovation and success.
We still have a long way to go, but we’re always looking ahead, while keeping the current interests of our guests, our workers, and our owners at, well, HEART: helpful, ethical, attentive, resourceful and thankful.
Kim Tarantino
Executive Director
Center for Entertainment and Hospitality Management
California State University-Fullerton
Our undergraduate business program in entertainment and hospitality management prepares students to work in—on the hospitality side—lodging, theme parks, casinos and special event management. Students learn industry revenue models, financial statements, and about managing business processes, operations and resources.
We have about 200 students at any time and about 50 hospitality graduates a year.
Career emphasis accents the academics with information, professional guidance and events. These include Hello Hospitality, which was in March. A panel of seven hospitality executives discussed their careers, followed by a time for face-to-face meetings with students. Some companies sent HR representatives, as well, and students were required to bring resumes. About 130 attended.
Once a semester, three to five hospitality HR professionals come in to tell us what they’re looking for in candidates, what a resume should look like and how to use LinkedIn, and tips on interviewing. A networking session follows.
In our annual Meet the Execs, students submit a resume first, which is reviewed twice. They attend a career center workshop, prepare a 30-second elevator pitch, and at the event, business dress is required. Students can request a meeting with up to three of our 17 advisory board members, with whom they speak for about 20 minutes apiece. In the past, internships have been offered at this event.
