Recruitment Consultant (Hospitality)

The desk is brand new. The name behind it is forty years old.

Hotelstaff has been placing hospitality talent since 1986.

As we head into 2027, we are opening a newly created position for a hospitality professional who recognises the opportunity a changing employment landscape presents — in a market notoriously short of skilled labour.

Do you have a start-up mindset?

Are you prepared to do the work to be at the service of your clients?

This may be a new role, but you will not be starting from nothing. Forty years does some of the heavy lifting: the name gets calls answered and secures meetings with prospective clients.

This is a hunter’s role — not for the faint-hearted. It is also genuinely rewarding and, for the right person, highly lucrative.

About the Role

On the client side, that means outbound activity — prospecting, calling, door knocking and site visits — carried out deliberately and consistently, not only when the desk goes quiet.

On the candidate side, it means proactive strategies that build a pipeline of passive candidates. The people worth placing in hospitality are already employed, are not looking, and will never answer a job advertisement.

Reaching them — by direct approach, referral, through the network, and by staying in contact with good people long before you need them — is the craft of this role.

What You Will Actually Do

Win new business. Prospecting, calling, door knocking, proposals and pricing. This is the hunter part of the role and it is not handed to anyone else — and every dollar of revenue you generate counts towards your bonus.

Work forty years of network. Dormant clients, past placements and industry relationships. Mine it systematically.

Fill the roles — both sides of the pass. Front of House and Back of House, taken equally seriously. A proper brief, screened by hand, interviewed and referenced. Casual and permanent.

Build the passive pipeline. Headhunting and direct approach, referrals, network and industry relationships.

Build and maintain strong client and candidate relationships throughout the recruitment process.

Consistently build activity and momentum, even when the desk is quiet.

There will be weeks where you hear no far more often than yes. Clients who don’t return calls. In a market like this, traction is earned over months rather than days and this is the part of the job that is not for the faint-hearted.

What makes it winnable is your attitude and commitment to success.

Who This Suits

You know hospitality properly — from venues, kitchens, hotels, catering or events, or from recruiting into them. You understand what the industry demands, and the difference between a chef who can hold a pass and one who cannot.

You are confident on both sides of the pass, and brief both equally well.

You are a hunter. A genuine track record of winning new business through outbound activity, and comfortable being measured on it.

You source, rather than simply advertise. Evidence of building a passive candidate pipeline through direct approach, referral and network.

You are resilient. You have built something from a standing start before and stayed with it through the quiet weeks.

You manage yourself. We are too small to manage anyone closely.

Agency experience in permanent recruitment is a real advantage, as is an established Melbourne hospitality network. Experience taking something small and building it into something substantial is valuable and worth leaning on.

Above all, we are looking for a self-starter — someone who can absorb a setback, recover quickly, and return the following day to do it all again.

What We Offer

Competitive base salary and uncapped bonus structure.

Every dollar of revenue you generate counts towards your bonus.

The desk you build is the desk you go on to lead.

A genuine progression path into bringing on and managing consultants of your own, earned on results rather than tenure.

Office based at our St Kilda Road office.

The opportunity to build something substantial with the backing of a 40-year hospitality brand and network.

A desk in its first year is built on calls made in a room where people can hear them. Hospitality does not keep office hours either, so some client and candidate contact will fall outside them.

What Does Success Look Like?

That is the easiest question to answer.

When your inbound calls begin to exceed your outbound calls, you will know the desk has taken hold — and both the job satisfaction and the financial reward follow from there.

If you're looking for a rewarding role where people are at the heart of what you do, we'd love to hear from you.

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