Project reference · Hotels, bars and restaurants
Seven offers, three arrivals, and the months between a yes and a visa.
A hotel group in the Gulf asked us for bar and floor staff from Eastern Europe: bartenders, hostesses, waitresses and bar backs, and later two managers. Finding people who wanted the jobs took weeks. Getting them from a signed offer to a work visa took up to five and a half months, and that is where this project was won and lost.
52 candidates presented
Shortlist
7 offers made by the client
Selection
3 hires flew out and started work
Result
Up to 168 days from offer to flight
The long middle
Offer to arrival
Where the time went
Every line below is one offer the client made through us. The three that reached the airport took 54, 147 and 168 days. The four that did not were all lost in the first weeks, while a decision or a document was still pending.
The brief
Bar and floor teams for a group of hotels
The client’s first list, at the end of May 2015, named five front-of-house roles for the bars and restaurants in its hotels: hostess, bartender, senior waitress, waitress and bar back. It wanted the first people within five weeks. The package was set out clearly: a two-year contract, a furnished company apartment with a gym and a pool, meals on duty, tips and a share of bar sales.
In July the client added two management roles, a manager for a late-opening venue and a pool-side restaurant manager, both with experience in the region and Arabic. In spring 2016 it came back for a food and beverage manager and for the venue manager again.
The long middle
A signed offer is not yet a hire
The client interviewed in three rounds: its HR manager, a longer second round, then its food and beverage director, followed by management sign-off. After that, every offer still had a road to travel. The candidate signs. A medical from the host country’s approved list is done at home. The employer applies for the visa, the authorities process it, a ticket is booked. The first hire flew 54 days after her offer. The next two waited 147 and 168 days.
Those months are when candidates receive other offers, and at least one of ours did. We called them every week, asked the client for a status every week, re-sent documents and forms whenever they were asked for again, and told the candidates honestly when there was no date yet. Both stayed with the offer, and both flew.
The hard parts
Where it gets difficult
Three rounds before an offer
The client’s HR team screened by video, shortlisted for a longer second round and passed the finalists to its food and beverage director. We ran the scheduling across two video accounts set up only for this client, nine interviews in one morning.
Read the package twice
A manager salary scale arrived in local currency and was first read as dollars, less than half its real value. An allowance written with three decimals looked like a yearly sum. Home leave tickets came only after two years. Each point was confirmed in writing and corrected in what candidates were told.
Offers lost to the calendar
Of seven offers, two candidates took other jobs while a decision was pending, one turned the offer down and one could not pay for the medical required before the visa. Speed in the first two weeks after an interview matters as much as the interview itself.
Not every passport works
Our strongest candidate for the venue manager role could not be given a work visa because of his nationality. The lesson: check visa eligibility for each nationality before a candidate is presented, not after he is chosen.
Show the housing, then check it
Candidates ask to see where they will live before they resign at home. We asked for photos of the staff apartments before the search began, shared them with every candidate, and spoke to the first hire on her first day so that her feedback reached the client at once.
When the client’s e-mail changed
Halfway through the project the client moved to a new mail domain, and for a week our messages bounced. We re-sent every open item to the new addresses and confirmed by test mail and by phone, so no offer or document was lost.
What we did
Search, select, hold on, arrive
- Jun 2015 · Brief and agreement. Questions on hours, tips, passports and visas answered in writing; the agreement negotiated clause by clause and signed four weeks after the first request. The first profiles went out in the second week.
- Jun–Oct 2015 · Search and selection. Adverts in English and Russian, job boards beyond our home market, an information letter for candidates on the country and the employer, video interviews in three rounds and a weekly status table for the client.
- Jul 2015–Mar 2016 · Offers to arrivals. Seven offers, signed papers, medicals, visas and tickets. The first hire flew at the end of August 2015, the next two in January and March 2016.
- Apr–May 2016 · Return for managers. The client came back for a food and beverage manager and the venue manager; we re-presented candidates before hiring paused for the holy month.
The fee was one month’s salary for each hire, due a month after the hire started work and passed the host country’s medical. The four offers that did not reach the airport cost the client nothing.
In the client’s words
“We look forward to a long-term working relationship with your team.”
The client’s HR manager, sending the signed recruitment agreement in June 2015.
How we work
We do not show you another company’s name
The client, its hotels and its people are not named here, and they will not be named in a meeting either. We are glad to talk this project through in detail. What we will not do is discuss the last client that way with you, or you with the next one.
Next step
Hiring bar and floor teams abroad?
Tell us the roles, the package and how long your visa process really takes. We will plan the search, and the waiting, around it.