Diversity recruitment in hospitality: Attracting more applicants and a wider talent pool through employer branding

The post-pandemic ‘Great Resignation’ has produced a heightened war for talent, especially in the hospitality industry, which historically has been challenged by unattractive working conditions, high staff turnover, and long-standing skills shortages. This chapter proposes employer branding, a strategic talent management practice, as a promising solution to enable hospitality organizations to attract both a larger and a more diversified pool of talent that is well-aligned with their mission and core values. Hospitality employers can win the war for talent by creating compelling employee value propositions that not only attract more people from their traditional sources but also meet the needs and values of more diverse non-traditional talent segments. A conceptual framework of employer branding and its theoretical underpinnings is presented in this chapter to unpack the concept and its related processes. Key content and stages of employer brand development, communication, and outcomes are specified in the framework, along with potential demographic identity moderators (e.g., age, gender, race, and carer status) of perceived brand attractiveness. An agenda for future research into the application and benefits of employer branding in hospitality talent attraction and recruitment is provided, along with a set of practical recommendations on employer branding for implementation by hospitality organizations.