Contemporary Employability Norms for Guest-Facing Hospitality Workers: Some Empirical Evidence During Covid-19

Nicolas Hepp (), Riley Lynn Starling (), Greta Elbracht (), Miriam Sneha Rajkumar (), Win Khant () and Pengji Wang ()
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Nicolas Hepp: AviAlliance
Riley Lynn Starling: Swiss Asia Finanical Services
Greta Elbracht: Cunard Line
Miriam Sneha Rajkumar: Rakuten Symphony Singapore Pte. Ltd.
Win Khant: Phoe La Min Shopping Center
Pengji Wang: James Cook University

Chapter Chapter 19 in Innovation-Driven Business and Sustainability in the Tropics, 2023, pp 323-346 from Springer

Abstract: Abstract The Covid-19 pandemic has disrupted industries and now poses uncertainties regarding the skills necessary for employability in a peri- and post-pandemic landscape. With limited options to work remotely, the hospitality industry has been especially perilous and forced to adapt. This research is informed by a thorough literature review into employability in hospitality and theories on employability in the pandemic. This study seeks to address the need for empirical evidence of contemporary employability norms through interviews of 14 hospitality workers and content analysis of 2700 hospitality job advertisements from 158 different hotels and hotel groups. The findings of the job advertisements are compared with the interviews to reveal teamwork, communication, prioritization of guest experience, positivity, and flexibility as the top employability qualities. The paper argues that the top interview skills, like patience and emotional intelligence, should also be emphasized as they are not explicit in the job advertisements, which can be mistaken for a comprehensive description of employability qualities. The key skills mentioned in interviews are adaptability, patience, emotional intelligence, and innovation. The exploratory nature of this paper leaves many opportunities for further research, and meaningful implications for stakeholders.

Keywords: Tourism & hospitality industry; Employability norms; Job advertisements; Content analysis; COVID-19 impact on employment (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2023
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Persistent link: https://EconPapers.repec.org/RePEc:spr:sprchp:978-981-99-2909-2_19

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DOI: 10.1007/978-981-99-2909-2_19

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