Hotel HR departments and recruitment search firms trying to fill hotel jobs in Hong Kong, Singapore and Malaysia often face a dilemma: whether to focus search efforts on local talent, or to find talent outside the country and provide visas for those who fill the roles. This is especially problematic when trying to fill hotel jobs in Singapore, Hong Kong and other very small countries or regions: the pool of local talent in these places is simply much more limited than in larger regions such as China. Extremely careful targeting and attractive offers are necessary when trying to recruit from just five million permanent inhabitants of Singapore and only seven million permanent inhabitants in Hong Kong.

But that doesn’t mean that hospitality recruiters should be looking to exclusively recruit from other countries to fill hospitality jobs in Singapore, Hong Kong and other small regions – not be any means.

Why? Because having local inhabitants can make a huge difference to the effectiveness of hospitality jobs in Singapore and other south Asian countries. Many of a new hotel’s guests will be coming from foreign countries in Europe, the US, Australia and other areas. And these people are often keen to be surrounded by staff who are native to the country: this way they can practice language skills on staff or ask for authentic recommendations for restaurants, cultural experiences and tourist spots.

This is especially important to bear in mind when recruiting for hotel jobs in Singapore, which is a buzzing business centre – with the fourth-highest rate of financial transactions going on in this country despite its very small size and population, there is a constant flow of foreign business people looking to explore as much as they can during a short business trip.

In addition, filling hotel jobs in Hong Kong and other Asian countries with imported workers can mean a much higher turnover than would be experienced when using local people. Not everybody who thinks that they want to relocate – even people who’ve seemed keen to take up hotel jobs in Hong Kong, China or Malaysia – can be guaranteed not to change their minds. This isn’t necessarily because they’re lazy or lack commitment, and so often can’t be spotted during the hiring process: sometimes the shock of culture change or the pressure missing relatives and friends is just much stronger than they’ve expected.

Of course, many hospitality jobs in Singapore, Hong Kong etcetera are filled successfully by foreigners. But hotels shouldn’t be discouraged from recruiting locally because of an apparent shortage of qualified candidates: the right specialist local recruiter can help them to find great local workers who’ll bring authenticity and stability to their businesses.

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