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Recruitment goes into overdrive as InterContinental Hotels battles for talent: Group plans major expansion

Human Resource Management International Digest

ISSN: 0967-0734

Article publication date: 18 July 2008

5087

Abstract

Purpose

This article aims to examine how InterContinental Hotels plans to cope with the skill shortage in the hospitality industry, given the company's plans to open more than one new hotel a day for the next three to five years.

Design/methodology/approach

Concentrates on the picture in China, where InterContinental Hotels plans 107 new hotels.

Findings

Highlights the activities of the InterContinental Hotels Academy, in which the company teams up with academic institutions to offer tailored education and on‐the‐job training for recruits to the hospitality industry. Also describes the company's recruitment and training in the Americas and the UK, where its initiatives to recruit more disabled employees have been rewarded.

Practical implications

Reveals that only half of recent graduates from hotel‐related courses in China have moved on to work in hotels and there is a high turnover among new graduates. Employees from other industries rarely seek to work in the hotel business. There is a skill and training gap in China among front‐line hotel workers such as front‐desk and restaurant staff, as well as key executive positions in HR, finance and sales. The talent pool of executives with experience of working in multinational companies is small and highly sought after.

Originality/value

Contends that a sustainable and qualified talent pool is a crucial factor for InterContinental Hotels and for the development of the entire hospitality industry in China.

Keywords

Citation

(2008), "Recruitment goes into overdrive as InterContinental Hotels battles for talent: Group plans major expansion", Human Resource Management International Digest, Vol. 16 No. 5, pp. 5-8. https://doi.org/10.1108/09670730810888410

Publisher

:

Emerald Group Publishing Limited

Copyright © 2008, Emerald Group Publishing Limited

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