Tailoring hospitality job ads to younger jobseekers

Overworked waiting staff. Empty kitchens. Frustrated customers. With twice as many job postings in February 2023 than before the pandemic, the hospitality talent shortage continues to impact the sector’s recovery. 

In a webinar titled Navigating the hospitality hiring landscape: Strategies for success in today’s market, Indeed’s Talent Strategy Advisor Lauren Anderson was joined by Indeed’s Senior Economist Callam Pickering to discuss hospitality job numbers in early 2023, the essential part played by under-35s, and how employers can optimise their job ads to remain competitive.

Why hasn't the hospitality talent shortfall eased yet?

“There’s an incredible demand for hospitality workers right now”, says Callam. “5.1% of all hospitality jobs are currently vacant nationwide – that’s 3.6 times higher than the 2010-2019 average”. This translates to almost 66,000 job vacancies across an industry which had an average of 13,500 vacancies before the pandemic began.

The key reason hospitality is continuing to struggle with a talent shortfall lies with its reliance on younger candidates. Around two-thirds of workers in hospitality come from the under-35 age group; well above any other industry. 

“Pandemic border closures led to Australia’s largest population decline since World War I”, explains Callam. “Crucially, the population shortfall was concentrated in those under the age of 35; a gap which could take a decade to close, depending on immigration policies.”

Unfortunately, by the time the hospitality industry was able to recover, the Australian labour market was already incredibly tight. The retail sector (hospitality’s biggest competitor for young talent) snapped up most of the young workers before hospitality could react. 

It’s not all bad news. Callam notes that temporary skilled visas in hospitality are rising fast, and high immigration will help ease shortages with more travellers and backpackers swelling their ranks. “The unemployment rate is expected to remain low and recruitment will still be difficult, but in my opinion it will be a little less difficult than it was last year”, he says. 

Indeed’s latest click rates for hospitality jobs are another reason for optimism. As of January 2023, there were 24,727 hospitality jobs on the site that received clicks, 6,308 employers with active roles, and 619,677 job seekers that clicked on roles. Encouragingly, hospitality jobs attracted an average of 46 jobseekers each.

How can hospitality employers best optimise job ads?

Lauren agrees that while the talent situation is going to get easier, employers still need to bring their A-game to the table. This is especially true on digital channels where young talent is most likely to be active. The best – and often simplest – way to do so is to optimise job descriptions. 

“Even the smallest change, like shortening the title, makes a huge difference”, she says. Lauren’s advice in the webinar covers three key areas: optimising job ad titles, making sure your employer brand stands out, and ensuring the job ad isn’t too long. 

Know your keywords: One of the best places to start is to know your keywords. We make this easy for employers with the help of the keywords analytics tool in Indeed Hiring Insights. “Be quite specific when entering your search terms because job language can differ between cities and towns across Australia”, advises Lauren. 

Create quality titles that will be found in search: 54% of Indeed’s job searches are made via mobile devices and the under-35 cohort is more likely to browse for jobs on their phones. Therefore, we recommend titles of 5 words or less for mobile and 10 words or less for desktop. 

“Titles are often too long due to keyword overkill, advertising-style headline copy or redundant information”, says Lauren. “For example, the location of the position automatically appears in the search results, so there’s no point in having it twice.”

Keep titles simple. Avoid acronyms and internal job titles that are not known outside of your company. Don’t use whole sentences in job titles, and avoid jargon and buzzwords. “People aren’t searching for terms like ‘coffee ninja’ or ‘waitstaff wizard’”, jokes Lauren.

Make sure your employer brand stands out

“I know it’s probably at the bottom of your to-do list, but I’d really encourage you to look at your copy to see if you can take it from a job description to a job ad”, urges Lauren.  

Jobseekers still have the upper hand, which means they will research your brand to compare benefits, read reviews and gauge its culture against the competition. Demonstrate you are an employer of choice by creating a company page and a Glassdoor page, then read and reply to reviews. Lauren shared in the webinar that 85% of all jobseekers in Australia say reviews from previous or current employees influence their perception of what it’s like to work at that company, while 48% say they will read reviews about a prospective employer after they find a job they are interested in but before they apply.

Don’t make the mistake of burying key benefits at the bottom of the ad. Instead, put the benefits of working for you in the first third of the ad to grab attention straight away. This is particularly important given the high percentage of mobile device users. It’s optional to specify a salary, but Indeed data shows an uptick in applications when this detail is published. 

Trim down your copy

Lauren has seen plenty of lengthy job descriptions in her time at Indeed, and says the most common reasons include:

• Stock content such as standardised descriptions that are often outdated or overused. 
• Inflated descriptions that include overly long lists of requirements.
• Internal language such as paragraphs from HR or Legal that could be reserved for further down the recruitment pathway. 

“Use natural language to make the ad as readable as possible to reduce the cognitive load on the jobseeker and make it easy for them to come to a decision”, Lauren advises. “Remember, you’re hiring people”.

Finding the best fit for the job shouldn’t be a full-time job. Indeed’s simple and powerful tools let you source, screen and hire faster. Let’s make your next great hospitality hire – fast.