A major concern when the subject of seasonal employment surfaces, is housing. There is obviously no solution for the average ski area to solve the housing crunch, however, any time spent in locating suitable housing for qualified employees can pay excellent dividends by limiting turnover. The fact that a prospective employee has a solid housing arrangement significantly increases the chances of the employee lasting the season. As inflation increases, housing and rentals will only compound the already difficult area of seasonal employee hiring.
Determining where your employees originate is the initial task of filling you winter employee needs. Once you have distinguished your employee market you should go to that market and not wait hoping for the market to locate your personnel office. Selecting your employees from only those applicants who come to your front door will narrow your field and your ability to hire the best staff.
By using the salesmanship approach, qualified applicants will take notice and be attracted to where they are made aware of the best overall program. Active recruitment can take the form of setting up interviews at colleges or towns where previous experience has proven that the best employees originate. Your main problem with college students will be that your winter season may begin before their fall semester is over and spring semester starts before your winter season is over.
Newspaper ads can excite employees who may never have considered the virtues of a seasonal job at a ski area. Contacting large restaurants that peak in the summer about utilizing their staff in winter, and vica versa, can have lasting benefits for both of you. Communication with culinary schools that may be looking for employment of graduates seeking a unique short term experience can benefit both the school and ski area. Aggressive recruiting should emphasize the positive side of ski area feeding where a winter can be enjoyed and bring as many benefits as a college quarter or semester.
For peak periods, local high schools are a good source for employees (but make sure students have work permits if your state law requires it and follow all other regulations for hiring and employing minors). These are local kids and thus are a good source for PR in the community. Also it’s a way for them to gain valuable work experience. The local high school career center can be a valuable resource. One added plus, the housing problem is eliminated with these employees.
A ski area food service can often be guilty of not exploiting their strongest assets when it comes to hiring seasonal help. Despite the low hourly wage that generally accompanies food service help, the following are potential benefits that will help attract and keep potential employees:
- free skiing
- locker facilities, free or discounted
- meals, free or discounted
- insurance, seasonal programs can be inexpensive on group basis
- cash bonus, based on one or more criteria: performance, length of employment, number of hours worked during a particular period, i.e. season, month, etc.
- flexible work hours allowing for time to pursue outdoor activities: breakfast shift, dinner shift, split shift
- Opportunity to experience a volume food service operation that can provide a valuable education for future employment
Extracurricular events for food and beverage personnel should also be stressed as part of a successful recruiting program. Local bar restaurant ski races, inter-mountain fun races for the staff, Valentine’s, St. Patrick’s and Easter events that the employees can look forward to being a part of, are just some ways to add to the “resort atmosphere” that will attract employees. A by-product of this is creating a more congenial friendly staff all winter.
In summary, the key for winter staffing lies in two seldom utilized areas. First, by the food and beverage personnel manager who goes after persons who will best complement food staffing requirements. By going to the cities, colleges, large summer employers, and cooking schools you will give yourself the opportunity to talk to 25 people for every position you have to fill instead of a passive approach where you sit at home hoping that you will have 5 people to interview for every position you have to fill. Second, putting on a sales cap and telling a sometime naive ski area labor market of the benefits to be derived from working for a dynamic food service company. Where else are the challenges as great with a good atmosphere to match?
Many basics of hiring have not been mentioned: applications, interview methods, job qualifications and many more. An attempt has been made here to show what you can do beyond the basics to get the edge on your competitor in the seasonal employee market. Set up your game plan now and take a positive approach to one of the most important areas that faces the food and beverage departments. Plan now to set up an aggressive campaign to fight for the best potential people available.
