GLOBAL BLOG

July 2009
Fantastic few months recruiting globally. Vacancies range from GM roles to Restaurant manager roles in the Caribbean to Positions in Shanghai, China. One particular role which seems to be grossley misunderstood, is the Chef de cuisine position where our client seeks speciality chefs of individual cuisines who can focus on a quality cuisine and develop a local team to reproduce the qualities expected my an international customer with enormous expectations where product differentiation is essential.

One problem with recruitment appears to be a serious lack of a detailed quality CV from many America and Canadian Candidates who send brief resumes full of lots of words without serious meaning. I spend many hours opening and digesting CVs which offer zero detail on their career and lots of key words suggesting a skill set which could have been copied from a dictionary. Its easy to understand why Employers come to me to get my clarity.

June 2009
An intense month of heavy recruitment, lots of quality positions with a vast number of quality candidates

May 2009
Not really sure where the month disappeared to. One minute it was March, the next, we are in Early May, maybe I just fell asleep as we moved from Winter to Spring and almost into Summer..?

Global Search has continued to work and develop candidates for prime locations mostly in the Caribbean. Whilst requests for information for Butler training has been astonishing.

Most the of the latest positions have been posted on our website. I hope that my lack of communication has not been reflected in the quality of work we are trying to achieve.

We have just added some links to our Butler Training DVD Clips, posted on Youtube. so that those who wish to understand the educational courses we conduct, under the flag of Royal Training exceptional standards, might understand what we do and how we present ourselves.

Our butler training samples are here for your interest.

April 09

Nothing to report.... Just a busy busy month of recruitment

March 2009

17th March,
3 months into 2009, The credit crunch has taken an enormous effect on recruitment, mostly the availability of some outstanding candidates. We have been overwhelmed by the quality and availability of some of the leading hoteliers, chefs, butlers and managers, I just wish that we had positions for all of them. Regrettably, the competition for vacancies is extremely high. Fortunately, we have a very nice selection of clients.

February 2009

28 days of February just rushed by shortlisting candidates and organising interviews. My apologies that not everyone could be shortlsted.

Quite a number of vacancies as we head into February, GM & Hotel Managers, Executive Chefs, F&B Directors, Household managers, Butlers and with these a vast amount of candidates applying, so bare with us as we go through each applicant in the thorough way you would expect.

"Its nice to be important, but its important to be nice"

So many of the applications are coming from candidates who have no idea how to write a CV . No matter how much time I take out of my schedule to try to help candidates write their CVs, there are also some candidates who dont appreciate the advise they are given. They dont comprehend that the advise they are gettting is free could get them a brilliant new job or career.

January 209

This was the week that brought us a New American President, the first African American President in History and people in every country are hopeful that a new way of thinking will embrace the world. Lets hope so. In the news this week is President Obama's new butler, earning over $100k a year and with his own job title, "chief of stuff", ingenius.

After a quiet start to the year, recruitment kicked off in fine style, presently working in four GM positions in the Caribbean and several other positions which we cannot list on our website due to the confidentiality of clients. We have recieved over 700 applicants and so many brilliant GMs at the top of their game. Shortlisting will not be easy, although some candidates seem keen to make the job easy for us, either by not reading the brief, or sending a CV which either has no relevant career detail, or too much. Regrettably, the majority of the American and Canadian CVs appear to have been written on another planet.

The incredible thing is that alot of General Managers have enormous experience in selling beautitful resorts but many dont understand the need to sell them selves. I could go on, but I think the point has been made, the ones I dislike the most I especially love the war and peace CV editions. The easier the CV is to read, the easier it is to understand a skill and expertise and the quicker it is to shortlist. Its very simple. The more complicated a CV is, the easier it is to misunderstand someones career and expertise. I will endeavour to help and assist anyone who is willing to understand exactly how an employer or client would want to see someones resume.

No matter how hard we work in recruitment, the world seems full of the strangest applications. One particular out of work candidate called me up and asked me to look seriously at their application, they literally begged to be considered for two of the overseas positions we currently had. They spoke passionately about their career and the things they had done. The reality was that they had so many qualities that were not apparent on their poorly crafted CV. We assisted them to correctly construct their CV. We asked to chase their references and were told by the candidate that they did not have any numbers for us to speak with anyone, we pursued this and discovered they had fallen out with their former employer over accommodation, however, when we got written references we relaxed because everything looked great.

We presented the CV to our client and an interview was organised immediately. The flight was then booked and the candidate was presented with the task of coming to London for the flight. Everything was going so well.

Sunday morning, a day before the flight, the candidate got cold feet and sent an email saying that he was no longer interested. . After trying to call the candidate, I then recieved a further email explaining and rationalising they had to SIGN ON. Additional reasons were given which never made any sence and it was at that point that I realised that the candidate was mentally unstable. The reasons were completely irrational and demonstrated that the candidate was completely unbalanced. If someone was out of work, surely, the job centres would understand why someone had to attend an interview and would fully support a candidate trying to find work?

At the end of the day, we are all human, we make mistakes, but the thought occurs to me on many occasions, am I representing candidates who truely deserve to be given a break. Bespoke head hunters like Global Search International take enormous risks on believing that all candidates are honest at face value, although over the fulness of time, the dishonest ones eventually always shine through. Its a great shame as our time is precious and we would rather spend it helping those who really deserve the support and recognition they deserve.

17th December 2008
A week until Chistmas, time has moved rapidly this year and at this time of year, recruitment slows almost to an halt. Four of our outstanding positions are for Butlers in private service and in luxury hotels and mostly Butlers and Household managers start their careers in Hospitality. The lifestyle is usually very different but many aspects of this trade use the same skills, the difference being that your guests are your employers and remain the same throughout your employment. Usually your loyalty enhances and over time, you become a part of their family and the families often rely on you for the simplest of tasks. Its an amazing career and one I would recommend to anyone. even if you only try it for a short time.

With Christmas and New Year upon us, I wish all our clients and all our candidates a happy festive holiday. Merry Christmas to everyone

21st November 2008
The food & beverage role in Guyanna was filled this week. The role in Jordan has now changed to that of an assistant Household manager, or an experienced food service expert, with a pretty good leadership qualities.

The Greek underbutler role now has a young butler on trial this weekend i Athens so lets see how it goes.

The chef de cuisine vacancy position in Antigua has appointed a candidate who has accepted which is wonderful news. The client has been looking for over a year so.

An update on the GM vacancy for Jamaica, the CEO was in London last week at the WTM and a decision to shortlist and interview has not been made as yet. We had an enormous response and interest in the GM position and the Hotel Managers role ( which was effectively a number two F&B role, mostly because of the size of the F&B operation in these resorts).

More updates to follow

14th November 2008
It's been a long week, a great number of candidates have been reviewed for the positions we are currently working on.

Interesting, we had a security alert with a candidate trying to claim they were someone they were not, we have passed the details onto the Dubai Police and notified the hotel concerned. Its a sad shame that there are people who are out there who are pretty desperate to get a job on all accounts.

Two current vacancies were we have a hotel Manager and General Managers vacancy on our books presently in Jamaica and the quality of candidates available is quite humbling. Its astonishing to think of the quality and its an honour to try to help all these superstars, its just a great shame that I cannot help everyone and that's the saddest aspect of recruitment, not being able to help everyone.

Fine Dining Chef & American/Canadian CV's.
The fine dining chef we require for Antigua, is another super role, although its a great shame again that one vacancy generates hundreds of candidates. Many american and canadian chef candidates who are totally overqualified and far more executive. American and canadian candidates CV's seldom sell themselves professionally enough for our clients to understand their culinary and management strengths, It beats me how many of these candidates feel their careers can be measured against candidates who tick all the right boxes. Thankfully we have CV templates available, but it is astonishing to think that senior chefs believe that a Restaurant or hotel name of a CV is sufficient, regrettably, it isn't.

Presently seeking an underbutler for Greece. we have interviewed with the client and the butler will do a 3 day trial in Greece next week.

Presently seeking a Junior Butler or Head Waiter for a prestigious family in Jordan All our other vacancies are online.

November 5th 2008
Americans now have a new President, an historic day, where the first black president was elected, we live in historic times. On Sunday, Britain produced the youngest formula one driver and the first black man to win a championship.

Tonight is Bon fire night here in the UK, the time when Britain remembers a time when terrorists tried to blow up Parliament in the 16th Century and kill democracy as we knew it then. We celebrate by lighting fireworks and bon fires.

Global Search International has been busy working on recent placements and has been setting up interviews for Chefs and Managers in the Caribbean, Asia, Maldives and London.

The front page of our web site has now been adapted to highlight all the vacancies we are working on and I believe has immediate impact as to the main reason why candidates view this web site.

International Pay Question

Weeks after suffering an economic downturn, I was asked by the editor of Asian Times, how this effected the hotel world in terms of employee pay and whether a lack of skilled personnel had helped to increase wages?. This was my reply;-

Now 7 years old, Global Search has noticed a great number of salaries falling to pre 2004 levels.   Global Search International works primarily in the International Executive Recruitment World, we recruit at the highest level for some of the leading resorts and luxurious companies across the Globe, we only really work within the five star markets.

Candidates are being offered alternative payment deals, with lower basic wages and more opportunities to share in the success of the company, this also means share in the failure of the company. "Win Win contracts" are being offered to employees who are being asked to share the economic burden of the hotel. We have found in many cases, that basic wages are the same as last year or lower.  The recent credit crunch has allowed many high flying financial controllers to use this as an excuse to control wages, explaining that the company won't survive if the financial crisis is not shared. 

"Win Win Contracts" are contracts that allow employees to have smaller basic wages with terms and clauses written into the contract offering benefits such as share options, bonus's, commissions and service charges. Naturally these are achieved when the company performs well and the terms make sure the employee has contributed.  More often that not, we advise candidates to look very carefully at the small print, since there are many ruthless financial controllers who want to look good to Head Office by limiting or reducing incentives with hidden or niggly clauses and terms. We have stories from candidates unhappy with employers, citing these as one of the biggest reasons for seeking a new position. Regrettably, "Win Win Contracts", often allow the employer to win and the employee to lose out, for example, employees have to stay until the end of a financial year just to receive the incentives they entitled to, often; they have to stay in a job they are unhappy with just to get paid.  The incredible thing is the employer generates interest on money set aside for employee's bonuses whilst the employee battles inflation with soaring food and petrol prices.

Employers use "Win Win Contracts" to offer what like look like fantastic incentives and in our poorly paid hospitality world they induce candidates to take positions they normally wouldn't touch. The negative side to "Win Win contracts” is clear. If the company goes belly up, or if the company or employees under performs, companies do not have to pay out. In other words, the employee does the work on a low wage; the hotel has a service to offer customers on a reduced payroll, whilst the employee is not guaranteed any further pay due to national and International economic factors rather than their own performance, these contracts are a risk for the employee.

For employees in positions related to sales and marketing,  their work often takes longer to produce results, for example brand marketing is something you remember 3-6 months down the track, so how employers measure the benefits to the company is unclear.

You would think that a shortage of exceptional candidates would push up wages for the skilled and experience hospitality worker? Well, you would be wrong, so far it has not produced the expected rise in salaries. Many companies are taking the cautious route employing less skilled employees and developing them internally.  Employers shy away from highly skilled candidates in an economic down turn not because they are too skilled, but because their salary expectations are too great.  The consequences of less experience could mean life or death for many companies. Expatriate candidates are looking for expensive expatriate packages and employers are coming round to the idea that less skilled expatriates can do the same job, often alot cheaper

Sometimes it might be better not to be a manager in the hospitality world, since for lower skilled workers, the benefits to earn as you go, are far greater than taking a position of great responsibility with the related stress and headaches for a shrinking salary resembling a handful of peanuts.  At the end of the day, we are in this business to look after guests and customers and sometimes the benefits are not fairly shared equally around. 

Perhaps hotels should work out the economic benefit of true experience instead of just looking at the bottom line, because in an economic crisis surely you want your biggest asset in the hands of someone who knows what they're doing instead of someone just learning the ropes. I know I would.

October 17th 2008
Web site is now finally up to date, although in many areas it now needs tweaking. Speaking with my IT company to completely revise the revise and add the new technologies which will make this web site alot more user friendly, including database inclusion to speed up our manual process's.

As the stock markets rise and fall, the uncertainty of the needs of the hospitality world rise and falls in a mirror image, Everyone is wise to air on the side of caution, not overextend themselves. Candidates unhappy in jobs must really sit out the economic crunch and stay put if they can. We are expecting fewer jobs to be available as companies tighten their belts, Tourism is usually one of the first industries hit in economic turmoil and companies generally operate with lesser staff until any uncertainty is over.

October 16th

Finally completed our office move and renovation. Finally got the opportunity to update our web site, updated most of our latest vacancies and as technology races ahead of us, no sooner have we updated our vacancies than another opportunity to develop our systems appears.

New household management position for Saudi Arabia has come in.

New position for Asian Chef for Spain has come in
Financial Controllers position for Spain has re-emerged
Pastry Chef Position for the Maldives is being worked on
Chef position for Antigua has come in requiring spanish cuisine.
Candidate being interviewed for EAM, (F&B) St Lucia
Candidate being interviewed for GM role, Vietnam
Candidate has been triple interviewed for CEO role Maldives.
Candidate offered for Sales & Marketing role, Turks & Caicos Islands.
Chef candidate being interviewed for Spain for Asian Chef role.

August 27th 2008
All the roles for Doha have cancelled. I got a call from our client in Doha, advising us that due to building difficulties, the contractors have been fired and new contractors are being sought. The project now looks likely to be delayed for 8-12 months.

Regrettably, all our candidates who had been lined up, interviewed, reference checked and offered positions will have their contracts suspended until next year. Regrettably, I am sure most cannot wait. Some had handed in their notices in readiness to start later on in the year. These are the obstacles in our way,, no matter how hard we work, no matter how many brilliant candidates we have acquired and worked with, there is always a challenge that we have to overcome and that is life. You can understand as we tire of the challenges, we tire of life, the energy we have placed in the faith of the jobs we have worked on drains away. Fortunately, life is about not giving up and rising above these challenges.

Web site: Our apologies that our web site has not been updated for a few weeks, I hate excuses, but after my desktop stopped working, after my laptop screen smashed, following the new acquisitions of new computers, reloading all the files and programs has been a never ending task. I am just waiting for the server to crash now.

Latest news, Susan Foster from Australia will be rejoining the team in Late October.

August 9th 2008
The builders have finally left the global search office building. After 16 months, of renovations, the builders have walked off site leaving several jobs still unfinished. Its been a time of reflection and turmoil and we are finally glad to see the back of them.



8th July 2008
Candidate shortlisted for Doha Sales role, F&B role and Rooms role... that's my weekend gone again. Working on the sales role for the Turks & Caicos Islands and the finance role for Vietnam. Candidates interviewed over the weekend and second shortlist to be confirmed for next weekend

25th June 2008
Another day, working late last night, identifying star candidates for the front desk Manager for Doha, the role is pivotal for eventual promotion to Rooms Division manager...

Acquired references for a star candidate. References are just one way to identify the skills and potential of candidates,

Today will be our focus to identify a shortlist for the Group Sales and Marketing Role, for a new luxury hotel group, based in Doha...Qatar....today is decision day...

Candidate offered the Majordomo position and regrettably, he turned it down, deciding to stay where he was... an amazing life changing opportunity, obviously not for everyone.

Friday 13th 2008
Lots and lots of applications... perhaps too many yet again, so many career minded professionals looking for their next move. I spend my life reviewing applications, so many square pegs trying to fit into round holes. Recruitment is very much like trying to find a diamond in a mountain of glass, a sparkling jewel to fit on top of a gold ring.


Wednesday 11th June 2008
Busy week already.... lots of interviews being organised for the positions we are working on, I am delighted that Global Search has the opportunity to assist clients and delighted too, that we can bring career breaking positions to some of our industries most amazing candidates. Sadly we can only make one candidate happy per job vacancy and that is the sad realism of executive recruitment.

Today I was sent a Platinum Rule. "Wow" I thought, "what's all this about."?

One of my clients who used my Butler Training services in Asia thought I might like to see how they are progressing one year after my training. They have introduced service rules and one in particular takes the golden rules to the next level.

The Platinum Rule highlights what your customers want. “Treat others the way THEY want to be treated”. (not as common sense as we might think).

Service is not about what we want to give; it's about what customers want to receive. If we give customers what they don't want, then we haven't increased value in their eyes.

The big question is whether we have the perception to understand and learn what our customers want and in many ways that's a whole new ball game, because many of us, will say, “yes, we totally understand what our customers want and we deliver their needs consistently”, the question is whether we add value to what our customers want by offering or surpassing their needs by identifying a need the customer didn't even know they wanted!!!

There must be a deliberate effort to uncover your customer's wants, needs, and desires are, in order to take the guess work out of the equation. If you haven't captured information to support your hypotheses, then it's considered anecdotal.

Once we confidently know what customers want, (because we've learn it, captured it, or asked for it), then we can proceed with meeting and exceeding those expectations. When it comes to service, what else can be more important than giving customers what they want?

The Double Platinum Rule
At this moment in time, my house and home is being renovated and refurbished. In the beginning, when I was getting quotes and prices choosing my builder, I advised the builders what I wanted and the builders sent me prices. I chose the best builder at the optimum price.

Once the builder started the job, he then recommended lots of other services and suggestions, (after he started the work). It was all common sense and could have been provided up front before he started the job. It could have saved me a great deal of time and money, instead it ended up costing me more and taking more time.

I asked the builder why he never told me at the beginning and he told me he was giving me what I wanted. “I was doing my job and giving you what YOU wanted”.

The implications immediately hit me. I got what I wanted, but I was still upset. So the Platinum rule may not be sufficient in all situations. The Double Platinum rule is (you guessed it), “treat others the way they don't even know they want to be treated”.

Always anticipate, anticipate, anticipate. Don't just meet your customer's expectations, surpass them big time if you can.

Our service strategy should be based upon Golden Service Rules works and three rules which allow us to reach the double platinum rule would be :-

1. Heighten our empathy (Golden Rule),
2. Focus on our customer's expectations (Platinum Rule),
3. Challenges our normal ways to exceed customer expectations (Double Platinum Rule).

A great lesson for the day, I am sure we all knew already, but its wonderful to have this reinforced.

Saturday 7th June 2008

Saturday is just another day as far as I am concerned, its a quiet day without the phone constantly ringing which gives me a great chance to catch up. A few of the jobs I am working on at the moment are very exciting, I cannot list them all here, but here's just a flavour.

I am seeking a Restaurant Chef for an independently run Gourmet Restaurant in St Lucia, so I will be busy contacting some great Restaurant chefs who like the idea of moving to the Caribbean.

I am looking for an Executive Chef for another leading resort in the East Caribbean, my client will happily pay the going rate, (what ever that is), as long as the candidate has an proven quality background in the caribbean or similar leading resorts and hotels.

Another position is the role of Food & Beverage Manager for this leading resort in the East Caribbean, A proven leader and motivator, who can inspire a young a gifted food service team will be guaranteed recognition and development.

Another role which came on this week, is that of Majordomo, for a private family based in London but responsible for properties all over Europe such as Kiev, Italy & London, a salary to match exceptional quality is offered.

I cannot believe that I am still looking for a Food & Beverage Director for a new luxury 5* Hotel in Doha, opening in November later this year. I have been searching for the past 4 months.. It's true there are no shortage of F&B Directors and with a tax free salary of $66K a year, you would think an expatriate family package with schooling would entice some great candidates. Come to think of it. we are still seeking a Group Sales and Marketing Director, although at the same salary of $66K , it might be more difficult to fill

Another position - Food & Beverage Manager, for a great family in Jordan is required, with emphasis on the management aspect, although someone hands on with great organisational and communication skills will do very well for a small team of 20 household staff. The Salary flexible for the right person, and would suit someone either with boutique hotel experience or household management experience.

Thursday 5th June 2008

Hospitality has to be one of the richest and most diverse industries in the world, but at the end of the day, it's people that make hospitality work and being in the people industry, I come across some amazing career minded professionals who I am very proud to represent.

At the moment we have a role on our books for Island resort manager, in the Maldives, with a great salary up to 60K a year tax free, plus benefits, you would think that resort managers would be cueing up to take it on. Unfortunately, so far the shortage of candidates for these types of roles is bizarre, but Island life is not for everyone.

International Recruitment is about understanding what clients want and delivering candidates who closely match as many aspects of the criteria as possible. Regrettably, we get hundreds of applicants who never match the brief we are given, and unfortunately, only one candidate will ever get the job.

Sometimes, selecting the right candidate is like playing god, it's the most difficult task in the world and it's impossible to make everyone happy. I like to say, that I develop relationships for someone's entire career rather than for just one vacancy and there is always an opportunity for other vacancies in the months and years ahead, its a question of keeping in touch and it's a two way process.

Unfortunately though, you would be amazed at how many candidates have applied for positions without reading the brief. I will elaborate a little later.