So we are in a recession and the news just seems to get bleaker and bleaker by the day. As we all know, on Friday (3/6/09), the U.S. Labor Department released jobless figures showing the unemployment rate is 8.1 percent for February which is the highest it has been in 25 years. Last month alone, 651,000 Americans lost their jobs.

The recession isn’t leaving any industry out as it is hitting home pretty hard here in Steamboat Springs. Most of the hotels we work with have cut staff, implemented mandatory unpaid time off and/or salary decreases. Locals are tightening up a bit - not frequenting our local restaurants as much, holding off on renewing their health club memberships, staying away from Starbucks…and quite a few are looking for work elsewhere.

Our team of recruiters has been busy helping job seekers re-access their current situations, job skills, talents, passions and encouraging them to take advantage of the free time they have to explore new careers within the resort industry. Even with our current economic situation, it is estimated that by the year 2020, more than half of all employed people in the world will be involved directly or indirectly with the tourism industry.

Jobs will return…..now is a GREAT time to obtain that Hospitality degree or additional certification that you have been thinking about the last few years.

If you are seeking a degree in the Hospitality industry, below are a few options to consider:

• The Bachelor of Science in Hospitality Management requires a minimum of 120 units for graduation. This interdisciplinary program prepares students for careers in the hospitality industry and includes basic core courses and an area of concentration.
• The concentration in Commercial Recreation and Resort Management prepares graduates to be entrepreneurs, managers, planners, and program supervisors in the commercial recreation, travel tourism, and resort management career areas.
• The concentration in Hotel Management prepares students to manage and operate hotels, motels, and other lodging business.
• The concentration in Restaurant and Institutional Foodservice Management prepares students for management positions in various branches of the food service industry.

For more information about making career changes in the resort industry come to our Job Search workshop in Steamboat Springs, Colorado on Thursday, April 2nd where we will have some fun, interactive worksheets and information about tapping into your strengths, passions and what the next step may be to help you move into a new resort career.

I just returned from a two day trip to the big city of Denver for a conference on developing strategies for Colorado’s talent across regions. Much discussion was made about the recession, about re-tooling many of the state’s construction workers and how best employers can equip themselves for the next wave of lower unemployment numbers and baby boomer retirement numbers that are still to come.

Yes, our state unemployment numbers have hit 6.1% and are forecasted to hit over 8% and our recruiters are receiving 10-20 resumes a day from applicants outside of the resort area looking for work of any kind…but employers still need to focus their strategic efforts on retention and recruitment.

We will still see 79 million baby boomers retire in the next 12 years and now is the time to work on succession planning, generational differences training, recruitment strategies and retention efforts. In order for resort employers to be successful, now is the time to find the time to work on these efforts–no excuses.

Moving forward we have created some training programs for resort employers. Check out some of our featured programs at http://www.resortrecruiters.com/events.php as well as learning about our upcoming webinars for job seekers in resort environments. Let us know if you feel you need any other additional training that we may not have listed and we would be happy to work with our resort trainers and consultants to create a program for your specific needs.

I am a big fan of on-going learning. As soon as we stop engaging our brains I think we fall into stagnation and that’s not good for us or anyone around us.  This summer one of my goals and learning experiences was to ride my Mountain Bike down “mini-moab” here in Steamboat. Just a little rocky, steep, intimidating area on top of one of our mountains. After many attempts and mental blocks I rode up there Tuesday by myself. Cranked up my tunes and just told myself (and bike) to do it! Well…..guess what…I did it. Kinda half-assed….but did most of it.  It wasn’t nearly as hard as my mind made it out to be…and I’m heading back tonight for more.

Some up-coming trainings that might help you avoid the “stagnation” are:

For those of you that are needed some re-freshers on Human Resource issues…..sign up for our November 7th HR 101 course. Here at Colorado Mountain College in Steamboat Springs.

To learn a bit about your co-workers and folks you manage…check out our Generational Training on October 3rd at Trappeur’s Crossing Resort—again here in Steamboat Springs.

More information about these upcoming trainings and registration can be found on our event page on our website http://www.resortrecruiters.com/events.php.