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EURES (EURopean Employment Services)
News article31 May 2019European Labour Authority, Directorate-General for Employment, Social Affairs and Inclusion

Hotel chain gets help from EURES to find seasonal staff

Since 2015, a Spanish hotel group has been collaborating with EURES Slovenia to hire seasonal workers for its hotels in Spain and Greece. We spoke to Iberostar’s Alberto Alba and Aleksandra Đukić, a beneficiary of this recruitment campaign.

Hotel chain gets help from EURES to find seasonal staff
Luis Alberto Alba Corral, Iberostar

Language skills the key

Iberostar is a global hospitality chain specialising in luxury hotels and resorts. The group has many resorts around the world, including in Spain, Greece and Montenegro. In 2015, Iberostar turned to EURES for support with finding seasonal staff for its European hotels.

‘We started our collaboration with EURES Slovenia for the need to find staff with English and German language skills,’ explains Alberto. ‘After checking all our possibilities, we decided that the Slovenian workers market is a good place to go [to look for workers].’

Entertainment is a big part of Iberostar’s offer. In particular, the group needs professionals to run its fitness and wellness activities, especially during the peak holiday season. Hotels are not always able to find suitable staff locally, so it is important that they attract applications from abroad, as Alberto explains.

‘We have many Slovenians working in Spain and Greece. As we need entertainers able to speak two or three EU languages, it is difficult to cover all these needs just with local workers; for this reason we are collaborating with EURES Slovenia.’

Annual events

‘Every year we prepare an interview day in [the Slovenian capital] Ljubljana in February or March to see the candidates and to introduce the company to them,’ Alberto says.

Iberostar’s main recruitment push takes place during this winter period, as it looks to secure workers ahead of the summer high season. For workers looking for a new experience abroad, as is common in the hospitality sector, this can present a mutually beneficial opportunity.

Despite the short-term nature of seasonal recruitment, Alberto insists there are opportunities for employees to stay long term, grow within the company and even become managers.

‘Our collaboration with EURES Slovenia is a success; every year since 2015 we have got a lot of good Slovenian workers and they are working with us in our resorts in Spain and Greece,’ he says.

‘I was on my way to Greece within one month’

One worker to benefit from Iberostar’s cooperation with EURES was Aleksandra, who moved from Slovenia to work in Greece.

‘I applied to Iberostar via EURES,’ Aleksandra recalls. ‘I had found an advertisement [saying] that Iberostar was looking for fitness and sports entertainers, located all over the world.’

‘So I tried my luck. In the end I had a meeting a few days later in Slovenia, and then also a Skype interview. I got the job, and I was on my way to Greece within one month.’

The recruitment process all went smoothly for Aleksandra. But what made her want to move? ‘Why not?’ she says. ‘New people, new experience, loving what I do.’

Thanks to EURES, Aleksandra was able to find a job doing what she loved in the new, exciting environment of a different EU country.

Meanwhile, Alberto’s description of Iberostar’s experience demonstrates the benefits of EURES for employers in the hospitality sector, particularly those in need of multilingual and seasonal staff.

To find out more about this initiative, contact EURES Slovenia’s Katarina Kavčič at katarina [dot] kavcicatess [dot] gov [dot] si (katarina[dot]kavcic[at]ess[dot]gov[dot]si).

 

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