Bartending in particular or hospitality in general have had issues attracting and retaining talent.
The last 10 years have demonstrated demand for work exceeds supply – a healthy situation to maintain fair hourly rates!
Professional bartenders have prospered, achieving great careers, status and opportunity.
Could this change?
The answers regrettably is a resounding YES!
It’s a matter of supply… massive oversupply!
Why?
An ageing population!
The employment effect throughout the western world has always relied on one generation retiring, making room for the next.
So what’s changing?
People are either deferring or electing not to retire – impacting the next generation of graduating University students to secure positions within the area they’ve studied.
Multiply this worldwide, and successive generations of graduates are taking longer and longer to find a starting position.
Competition is Everywhere
Competition is not limited to the talent pool in just one country any more it’s anywhere... just need internet access.
So what happens to students who can’t find a chosen career job, will they do the next best thing and look for something in the meantime!
Here’s a thought: graduating Uni grads working in hospitality who can’t find work may need to hold on to what they’ve got until something better comes up… if it ever does!
Imagine for a moment, if more and more graduating students seek shelter in hospitality – what happens to the school leavers who normally drift towards hospitality as their last resort?
Will the very educated be more attractive to a prospective employer than a less educated school leaver, assuming similar pay levels?
As a prospective employer, who would you choose to serve your business and your customers the best?
Whatever the outcome, more people will look towards hospitality as their permanent income source – maybe the time will come when they’ll be more available talent than jobs to go around. The law of supply and demand will create downward pressure on everyone’s hourly rates! We see this now in many other industries... So hospitality is next!
An ageing population, a glut of educated unplaced talent is a reality right now.
Hold on tight as the future is being quietly typed – we’re just not hearing it………yet!