Revolutionising Hospitality Recruitment: Westminster Works Recruitment Restaurant review

In a groundbreaking collaboration, our recruitment partner Step Ahead, Mimosa Restaurant, and Westminster Works unveiled the Recruitment Restaurant, reshaping London's hospitality scene. 

With the second recruitment restaurant event in progress, let’s have a look at how this innovative event is transforming recruitment:

Traditional CV-based assessments often overlook talent and attitude, failing to capture the essence of hospitality roles. There are plenty of AI models that will create highly professional-looking CVs that are totally unrepresentative of the individual. Furthermore, a CV does not inform us of ability and attitude –  it simply informs us of qualifications, perceived skills, and experience. And what is experience? It means someone has done something for a period of time, but it doesn’t necessarily mean the person would be the right investment! Arguably, someone without experience who has transferable skills can be better than someone with heaps of experience!

Moreover, with employers focusing more on prior experience, entry-level job seekers are facing a dilemma: if they have no experience, they won’t get a job. But if they can’t get a job, they won’t get experience.

To address the issue, Step Ahead has worked tirelessly to persuade employers to shift their mindsets that prioritise attitudes, transferable skills, and potential of candidates who are committed to the sectors, combined with delivering an accredited training course ‘Level 2 Certificate in Understanding Excellence in Customer Service for Hospitality’ to hopeful job seekers.

Therefore in this event, we invited over 80 potential employees and 80 supportive guests to enjoy a 3-course dinner, served by these enthusiastic job seekers who had little to no prior experience but watched over by professionals representing a group of restaurants seeking to recruit staff. 

Not only customer service skills, the Recruitment Restaurant created opportunities for employers to learn about their attitudes, personalities, transferable skills, and learning capabilities by providing a large number of candidates with live trial shifts, immersing them in a real restaurant environment. The real-time evaluations ensured informed hiring decisions as well as constructive feedback for job seekers.

Outcomes: Addressing staff shortages, the event set a new standard for recruitment, driving meaningful change within the industry, and delivered more than 30 job outcomes within one recruiting session.

This recruitment initiative is about more than just filling job vacancies—it's a dynamic effort to open doors for those who are unemployed, unskilled, or reliant on benefits, championing social mobility and equity. By nurturing sustainable and skilled talent pools, we're not only meeting sector demands but also creating sustainable and quality pools of job seekers for the sectors, equipped with skills, knowledge, and experience.

But it's not just about jobs; it's about forging meaningful human connections in an era dominated by AI and digital communication. This initiative fosters invaluable face-to-face interactions between job seekers, employers, and broader communities. It's an exhilarating journey towards a more inclusive, connected, and vibrant future for all involved!

The Recruitment Restaurant is a testament to the transformative power of collaborative and innovative recruitment strategies. Stay tuned, the second event is on its way.