The global hospitality industry is growing rapidly and is currently worth $3.5 trillion. It is considered the biggest employment generation sector worldwide. In fact, estimates show that the industry will need between 30,000 and 35,000 trained people in the management and supervisory levels each year until 2010. This growth is mainly attributed to the unceasing demands of travelers from all over the world particularly for food and accommodation. For this reason, more and more hotels and restaurants have been sprouting in a bid to gain a share of the market. This, in turn, leads to an increase in employment opportunities.



Fortunately, there are hospitality recruitment services responding to this concern. These services have evolved through the years with a growing number of social networks being organized to fulfill the needs of people wanting to join the hospitality industry. Since the 1990s, these services have gone online to cater to internet users who want the convenience of applying for a job through websites. In fact, the volume of registered users of these recruitment networks has gone up rapidly now reaching more than 500,000 as of March 2007.

Hospitality recruitment firms provide their clients with the right candidates for various positions whether top-level, middle or rank and file. A system of reciprocity is normally in place here allowing web users to gain access to information provided by other users. Hospitality companies are encouraged to post their staff requirements on recruitment sites while interested applicants also provide information about their personal, educational and work background.

The most common top level positions in demand today in the industry include the general hotel manager, executive chef and F&B manager. A general hotel manager covers a wide variety of duties and responsibilities like qualifying new applicants, supervising hotel staff, enforcing rules and policies, monitoring hotel expenditures, rental collection, building maintenance and security, performing yearly re-certifications, maintaining productive relationships with community resources and conducting regular meetings as well as submitting monthly reports.

Executive chefs, meanwhile, are in charge of the kitchens of hotels, resorts and restaurants although they do not necessarily do a lot of cooking. They are responsible for coordinating, supervising and directing all areas of food production and maintaining high quality products and service to satisfy guests. A chef also handles the training of kitchen staff, ensures that quality standards are met and implements food specifications, portion control, recipes, menu development and sanitation. Other responsibilities include budgeting, maintaining payroll and keeping records of food costs.

The F&B manager operates the food and beverage service area and ensures that standards are met. Other important duties are to maintain stocks for food and non-alcoholic beverages, silverware, china and linen, make an inventory of items in the records, maintain cost control without ignoring quality, control food wastage, account for all guest checks and staff tips, ensure all room service orders are served on time and conduct briefings to staff.

Hospitality services date back to 1949 when Bob Luitweiler first put up a non-profit, volunteer run organization called the ?Servas Open Doors.? It was followed by the setting up of a Traveler's Directory in 1965 by John Wilcock which later became the Hospitality Exchange in 1988 through the efforts of Joy Lily. As for the online services, Germany was the first to begin an internet-based hospitality service back in 1992 through Hospex. At present, it is the biggest hospitality exchange network and continues to grow at a fast rate.