The hospitality industry has a hiring problem it cannot solve. And it may be looking in the wrong places for answers.
More than 60 per cent of hospitality employers report difficulty finding qualified candidates – even for entry-level positions. Turnover runs 204% above the national average. Hotels and restaurants have tried raising wages, offering signing bonuses, relaxing dress codes. None of it has worked.
Meanwhile, a quiet revolution has transformed hiring elsewhere. It is called skills-based hiring. And hospitality is almost entirely ignoring it.
What works everywhere else
TestGorilla’s State of Skills-Based Hiring 2025 report found that 85 per cent of companies globally now use skills-based methods – up from 73 per cent in 2023. The results speak for themselves: 90 per cent report fewer mis-hires, and 94 per cent say skills-based hiring predicts on-the-job success better than CVs.
The logic is simple. Rather than screening for degrees and years of experience, employers assess what candidates can actually do. Problem-solving. Communication. Adaptability.
For hospitality, where soft skills define service quality, this should be obvious.
The uncomfortable truth
TestGorilla’s data shows hotel and food services has the lowest adoption rate of skills-based hiring of any industry – just 54 per cent.
Marketing sits at 95 per cent. Construction at 89 per cent. Hospitality, the industry most defined by human interaction, trails them all.
The irony is painful. Hotels complain about candidates who look good on paper but cannot connect with guests. They watch new hires leave within months. And yet the industry keeps screening CVs for years of similar experience – the very approach that perpetuates these problems.
What it actually means
Skills-based hiring is not about lowering standards. It is about measuring what matters.
A restaurant implementing self-service kiosks may value employees who learn technology quickly over those with five years of food service experience. A hotel benefits more from candidates who demonstrate empathy and composure under pressure than those with hospitality diplomas.
Modern HR platforms like Factorial, Deputy and Planday now offer skills-based filtering and applicant tracking for under ten pounds per employee monthly. The barrier is not technology. It is mindset.
The choice ahead
The rest of the economy has figured this out. Hospitality remains the holdout.
Skills-based hiring will not fix wages or scheduling pressures. But it addresses something fundamental: finding people who can do the job, regardless of how their CV reads.
The question is how much longer the industry can afford to be last.
