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Hospitality faces looming staff crisis

Bars, pubs and restaurants are facing a severe skills shortage this year in the face of high staff turnover and concerns surrounding Brexit.

Almost 250,000 vacancies will need to be filled in restaurants and cafés in 2018 along with over 125,000 roles in bars, pubs and clubs, according to joint research from the University of Cambridge and SkillSnap.

Researchers said the crisis has been accelerated by high staff turnover and the expectation of freedom of movement restrictions being imposed following Brexit.

The hospitality sector is highly reliant on EU national workers with up to 24% of the sector’s workforce made up of EU migrants, including 75% of waiters and waitresses and 25% of chefs. Last year, the British Hospitality Association launched a plan to reduce the industry’s dependence on EU workers in the wake of Brexit.

The research concluded that there is a greater need for businesses operating in the hospitality sector to use smart technology to match the right candidate to the right position thereby saving time in the recruitment process and increasing the length of employment.

“It’s a major crisis for both small independents and large hospitality chains,” said Ben Aymé, founder of SkillSnap. “The CV is 500 years old. It is a flat, un-read, old-fashioned document completely unsuited to the needs of the modern post-digital economy.”