Business

Tourism Group Creates Job Bank for Workers Affected by Hurricanes

The Caribbean Hotel and Tourism Association recently launched a job bank that connects candidates with tourism-related employment opportunities.

Hurricanes Irma and Maria tore through the Caribbean last fall, devastating some of the tourism infrastructure and putting many industry employees out of work. To help connect those employees with employment opportunities, the Caribbean Hotel and Tourism Association launched the Caribbean Job Bank.

“This is something that we’ve discussed putting in place for some time, but the hurricanes provided the impetus to accelerate its implementation,” said Frank Comito, CEO and director general of the CHTA. “The impact on employees and businesses in some of the region’s destinations affected by the hurricanes motivated us to look at how we could assist displaced workers who needed temporary employment for a period of time, while sharpening their skills and keeping them employed in the industry. With that, we accelerated the implementation of the jobs bank.”

The website, which soft-launched in November 2017, allows hotels and other tourist-facing employers to post complimentary job ads. Prospective employees can search the job postings for free as well. “We’ve intentionally simplified this, essentially acting as a broker between supply and demand,” Comito said.

CHTA hopes that the Caribbean hotel and tourism industry will use the Caribbean Job Bank to post vacancies and hire those employees who were most affected by the hurricanes (i.e., those who lost their jobs and homes).

“We are confident that those employers, who contract with an impacted employee for the season or while their home hotel is under refurbishment, will realize tremendous value in their expertise while helping to mitigate the hardship employees are experiencing,” Comito said in a press release.

Although the hurricanes galvanized CHTA to launch the job bank, the group hopes it will become a long-term resource for career opportunities in Caribbean hospitality. Comito also mentioned that while the website is still in its early days, CHTA is encouraged that job seekers are starting to use it.

“Taking into consideration the holiday period, in the few weeks the platform has been available, interested candidates have accessed and researched more than 50 jobs in greater than 27 fields,” Comito said.

Going forward, the platform will be expanded to allow individuals to create profiles and post their resumes to then be accessed by the industry’s HR managers and recruiters.

“Ultimately, we’d like to see it as the go-to site for members of our industry in the region,” Comito said.

(BeachcottagePhotography/iStock)

Emily Bratcher

By Emily Bratcher

Emily Bratcher is a Contributing Editor for Associations Now. MORE

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