Staff in demand in hospitality sector

File photo

Experienced hospitality staff are in high demand in Rotorua, with some employers struggling to fill positions.

For the Rotorua region, there were 20 hospitality jobs advertised on seek.co.nz and 18 on Trade Me Jobs as of yesterday.

However some employers say they are finding it hard to hire workers with relevant experience, while a local hospitality trainer says the industry needs to work together to keep experienced staff in the city.

Atticus Finch is a new wine and tapas bar opening on Eat Streat next month. Co-owner Kay Thompson said she had noticed a shortage of experienced workers.

"I think we are a bit unique because we need to hire so many staff at once but we are not getting a great deal in the way of experienced baristas or chefs.

"It's often about finding a balance between an employee's attitude and their experience. We have had to turn away some people who applied for experienced jobs because their only experience was working at McDonald's and it's not really relevant."

Aroma Cafe has been advertising for an experienced chef and manager Letitia Helmbright said they were yet to fill the position.

"We have had three applicants do a trial for the position but they were all unsuccessful because they didn't have the level of experience needed to be in the kitchen alone.

"I think it is also the season, as we come into summer we will see more people looking for jobs."

Waiariki Institute of Technology tourism and hospitality head of department Bart Vosse said experience came with time. "Hospitality is a transient career so many students seek to head overseas once they have finished their training."

Mr Vosse said Rotorua being a seasonal town could be one of the reasons students were choosing to leave for the "big city allure".

"Rotorua is heavily reliant on tourism so when it is off-season, many places, particularly hotels, don't retain their staff. This can cause experienced workers to leave for bigger cities which offer more stable, permanent work."

Mr Vosse said industry and training providers needed to work together to help grow experienced workers and keep them in Rotorua.

"Industry is equally responsible for helping train graduates and continuing their development through in-house training schemes. However, we do understand this is not always possible due to limited funding so we need to look at ways we can work together to get these graduates the experience they need."

Rotorua Skyline general manager Bruce Thomasen said Rotorua should be marketing its "lifestyle" as a reason for experienced hospitality workers to stay in the city. "It does work both ways, experienced workers leave but others come for Rotorua's vibrancy and lifestyle.

"Hospitality is a competitive industry so hiring for a chef position is more complicated than hiring luge staff but through our robust application system and on-site training, we haven't had any problems."

Mr Thomasen said he expected to hire 50 extra staff in the weeks leading up to and after mountain biking festival Crankworx next year.