Human Resource
February 2005

They’re Back! Is College Recruiting Reaching a Tipping Point?

By Peter Langlois

Who are they? Company recruiters from a vast array of businesses are once again descending in hordes upon college campuses across the country in a massive hiring effort according to my sources, which include numerous major newspapers across the country and placement personnel at colleges. The impetus behind these efforts is the need to add talent as the conservative approach to business gives way to optimism with the Economy expanding and the impending retirement of at least a significant number of so-called baby boomers looming large. This is not merely a hiring blitz, but rather execution of human resource strategy at the highest levels, and is expected to become an integral piece of recruiting ongoing.

Whether a student is graduating with an accounting, liberal arts, finance or hospitality-culinary degree doesn’t really matter in the eyes of most recruiters. They recognize that by achieving a degree, students have set themselves up to be potential lifelong learners. These recruiters recognize that long-term, their companies can develop such talent to meet their future needs. They fear that without an influx of young talent they will not be competitive. I find that in direct contrast to what many restaurant companies pursue: immediate contribution from grads and an unwillingness to invest in what is now undoubtedly the most critical asset in business, people.

While I agree that we should be doing everything to prepare students in hospitality to make contributions as quickly as possible (After all I built www.RestaurantU.com with that in mind) it is naïve to think that extensive training and orientation to company cultures is not a necessary investment. Yet, I hear all too often from restaurant recruiters that it is so difficult to patiently wait out the time until new college hires make contributions. This portends huge problems for our ever-expanding and people-intensive industry.

If we are competing for people at all levels with retailers and the expanding medical segment, we’re doomed to lose out with such an approach that seeks instant gratification. These two industries are doing everything possible to poach our current management and employees, and are super-active on college campuses offering students alternatives and well-defined career paths. If you haven’t heard of WalMart, Blockbuster, or Tenet stealing our folks, you’re not paying attention.

Who needs to get this? CEOs must have the vision to invest in such talent and exercise patience to develop young people. The old school stealing of talent from another hospitality-restaurant company has enormous consequences for turnover and building a transient workforce, when what we really need is the improvement in skills that can only come with reiteration and longevity. We’re basically cannibalizing our own people rather than bringing in fresh and generally better-educated young talent. That seems a formula for disaster in my eyes.

But, no need to just take old Peter Popper’s word on this. Have you read a good book lately? Would you like to read the kind of book that keeps you awake at night, worrying about the future? You might want to pick up a copy of “Impending Crisis: Too Many Jobs Too Few People” by Roger Herman, Tom Olivo and Joyce Gioia. This is a story that analyzes the implications of demographics. It’s oh so logical. Yet as a thriller, Stephen King has nothing on the scare these folks will give you! When is the last time you wet your bed?