New Cornell job index expands hospitality labor pool

In recessionary times, when job opportunities seem slender in the hospitality industry, an approach that uses human capital can expand opportunities for employees. By the same token, when labor markets are tight, hotel managers would love to recruit workers in other jobs from different industries—if only they knew in which other professions and fields to look.

Now, thanks to a new Job Compatibility Index developed by two researchers at the Cornell School of Hotel Administration, managers have a recruiting tool that solves that problem. The index, which is based on research supported by the employment engine www.job.travel, matches jobs with skill sets, even among diverse titles and across seemingly unrelated industries.

As explained in a new hotel human-resource management report from Cornell's Center for Hospitality Research, the index vastly expands the potential labor market. The hospitality human-resource study, “The Job Compatibility Index: A New Approach to Defining the Hospitality Labor Market” by Bill Carroll and Michael Sturman, is available at no charge from the center.

“Our index expands on existing databases to define the labor market for employees and employers by focusing on the actual knowledge and skills for a particular hospitality job,” Carroll said in a recent press release.

“Then we looked outside the hospitality industry to find jobs that required similar knowledge and skills. What we found is that the potential labor market can be expanded by at least ten-fold in some cases. However, in the current environment, we also note that the index can be used by job seekers, who can look for comparable jobs in other industries. We believe our index will be helpful for managers who are unable to find satisfactory candidates for open jobs and for would-be employees who cannot find work in their current industry,” Carroll added.

Meet and interact with Dr. Carroll, an active member of the executive education faculty at the School of Hotel Administration, when he presents sessions in the Professional Development Program.