Nashville’s Hotels And Restaurants Have A Hiring Problem

Staffing is the latest hurdle facing Nashville’s growing hospitality industry, which is set to add over 100 restaurants and more than 3,000 hotel rooms by the end of next year.

A sparsely attended career fair at Music City Center on Tuesday reflects a much bigger problem facing the city.

Looking around the mostly empty ballroom, it’s obvious that Nashville’s hotels and restaurants are having a hard time finding new hires. Among the hardest hit areas are unglamorous entry-level jobs like line cooks and housekeepers, says Dan Piotrowski.

The Omni Music City general manager says that hospitality brands are trying to make unskilled jobs more attractive by providing clearer paths towards more lucrative careers.

“So while someone may come and work at the front desk, we’re looking at the skillset of that individual and their aptitude to grow them maybe into a sales manager – not immediately, but down the road,” says Piotrowski.

Piotrowski says that the city is also focusing on high schoolers as a source of future hires – they’ve established hospitality training programs in five Metro high schools.