IHG announces need to recruit 32,000 people into new roles in the Americas region by 2015

The InterContinental Hotels Group (IHG), one of the world’s leading hotel companies, announces the expansion of the IHG Academy through collaboration with Cape Breton University in Nova Scotia to establish Canada’s first program and the ninth in the region. The IHG Academy is a global network of educational and community organizations allied with local IHG-branded hotels or corporate offices to provide hospitality knowledge and training to the community and to drive economic growth. Through training and mentoring, the IHG Academy has assisted nearly 10,000 people worldwide in becoming skilled hospitality workers and achieving their professional goals in the hospitality field.

The IHG Academy generates a pipeline of motivated talent with real-world hospitality training that has the potential to work in IHG-branded hotels and in the industry. On Thursday, IHG also announced a need to staff 32,000 new hospitality jobs in IHG-branded hotels in the Americas region, including the United States, Canada, Mexico, Latin America, and the Caribbean, during the next three years, as its robust business growth strategy keeps pace with rising global tourism demand. Likewise, by 2015, IHG-branded hotels worldwide will seek to fill 90,000 new jobs through active recruitment of talent, the IHG Academy programs and other channels.

“Tourism is a fundamental pillar of any economy, and what we do matters to the health of our society,” said Kirk Kinsell, President, the Americas, IHG. “As a global hotel company, we are building a competitive advantage in our sector by focusing on creating the potential for meaningful career opportunities for people in the communities where our hotels operate.”

Currently, in the Americas, IHG directly employs more than 14,500 people and directly hired more than 2,700 employees in the first half of 2012. The recruitment effort over the next few years will create positions in IHG’s owned and managed hotels, corporate offices and reservation centres in roles such as Food and Beverage and Global Technology.

According to the World Travel & Tourism Council’s (WTTC) “Economic Impact of Travel & Tourism 2012” summary report, the broader industry is projected to generate nearly 1-in-10 jobs around the globe by 2022 through direct employment, jobs created in the supply sectors and the spending of industry employees. As a global hotel company, IHG and our franchisee community will contribute to the significant growth of our industry’s economic impact over the next decade.

“We’re doing our part through the IHG Academy to close the skills gap in our industry between open jobs and those eligible for employment,” added Kinsell. “We’re proud of all of our hotel owners and employees, who are strengthening our economy for the long-term by rolling up their sleeves to help develop a skilled workforce equipped to meet today’s hospitality industry needs.”

Since launching in Shanghai, China in 2006, the IHG Academy program has successfully developed by using a business model that enables collaboration with small to medium-sized organizations, often local to the hotel location. In some instances, participants have even started careers in IHG-branded hotels. Supportive career development is an important aspect of every program that helps give employees the potential to grow from entry-level to management positions.

“We’re thrilled about the growth of our IHG Academy program through exciting collaborations such as this with Cape Breton University,” said David Jerome, senior vice president, Corporate Responsibility, IHG. “We continue to leverage our deep service culture around the world to mentor and train talent, while bringing on board more IHG owners and employees ready to start new academies. Strong supporters who are enthusiastic and engaged are critical to our mission’s success. We want to create recruitment links in our industry for people who may not have considered a career in hospitality or otherwise been employable.”

 

Source: IHG PR