By Jennifer Tierney, Director of Direct Hire, Xclusive Services
After more than 25 years recruiting in hospitality, I’ve learned that the biggest hiring challenges for hotels and restaurant groups rarely come from a lack of candidates. They come from a lack of clarity.
When a position opens, whether it’s hospitality operations leaders or corporate support positions (Finance, Marketing, HR, Facilities, etc.) leaders often feel pressure to fill it quickly. The natural reaction is to post the job, sift through résumés, and hope someone feels “close enough.” Some turn to recruiters who operate the same way: high volume, low depth, fast submissions, limited conversation.
But hospitality isn’t a résumé business. It’s a people business. And hiring well requires a recruiter who understands not just the job, but the operation behind it.
That’s where a consultative approach makes all the difference.
Hotels and restaurants don’t run like other businesses. One role can mean something entirely different depending on whether the operation is multi-unit or single-unit, franchised or corporate, full service or select service, spread across multiple states or centralized in one city.
Those details matter. They shape the scope of the job, the qualifications you actually need, and the compensation that makes sense.
A transactional recruiter doesn’t typically see those distinctions. The focus is on résumé volume: find candidates with the title, send them over, and hope for the best. But that often leads to misalignment—either you hire someone who isn’t right for your culture, or you overspend on a role that wasn’t scoped correctly in the first place.
A consultative recruiter starts somewhere else entirely: “Tell me how your business works.” That’s where the real insight comes from.
One of the most common scenarios I see is an operator coming in with a job title already in mind. Sometimes that title is right. But often, it’s a starting point.
Recently, a small but growing restaurant group reached out asking for help hiring a controller. After understanding their structure, unit count, growth plans, and existing financial support, it became clear they didn’t need a controller at all—they needed a director with strong analytical skills, at a different compensation level, who could support the business more effectively.
That’s the value of a consultative partnership: questioning the assumption, not just taking the order.
It saves money, improves decision-making, and often leads to better long-term stability.
Hospitality leaders deal with enough smoke and mirrors already. Recruiting shouldn’t add to that.
When I see a red flag in a candidate’s background, I call it out immediately. When a job description doesn’t match the business reality, I say so. When compensation expectations are out of step with the market, we talk about it.
Transparency builds trust. And trust is what keeps good hiring relationships going for years instead of months.
Many operators, especially independent hotels and restaurant groups—simply don’t have an HR function dedicated to leadership-level hiring.
Opening in a new market or adding units changes everything. You need leaders who can scale with you.
In hospitality, leadership changes can’t always be made publicly.
This is more common than most people admit. Titles are easy. Designing the right role is harder.
One topic that comes up frequently is whether companies should use multiple recruiters for the same search. In my experience, that approach almost always leads to lower-quality outcomes.
When several recruiters compete to “get a résumé in first,” vetting becomes shallow. Time spent understanding your business disappears. Candidates are sourced from the same job boards, sent multiple times, and positioned without context.
A consultative recruiter invests deeply in understanding your culture and needs. That level of partnership isn’t possible when the incentive is simply speed.
Hospitality is an industry where one great leader can elevate an entire operation—and where one mis-hire can quietly erode service, culture, and consistency.
A consultative recruiter doesn’t just help you find candidates.
They help you understand what success looks like before the search even begins.
If you take the time to align the role, the expectations, and the business reality, everything that follows moves faster, more clearly, and with far fewer surprises.
In other words, a thoughtful approach up front leads to better results in the long run.
Learn how Xclusive Services can bring the X Factor to your property today!
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