How to find great staff for the summer season

If you’re a summer tourism operator, one of the biggest challenges you likely face is finding good summer staff to help keep things running smoothly and meet the demands of the summer season.

Having been in operation since the 1930s, Ainsworth Hot Springs Resort is a mainstay in the West Kootenay tourism industry—and one that has to hire a good number of summer staff to keep the hotel, restaurant and pools operating at their peak throughout their busiest season.

When it comes to finding summer staff at Ainsworth, general manager Karen LeMoel said the resort faces some challenges that are likely common with many Kootenay tourism businesses. One of the major challenges is the remoteness of the resort, which sits on the North Shore of Kootenay Lake about halfway between Nelson and Kaslo.

“Transportation is always a challenge,” LeMoel said. “Lots of people apply to work here but many of them don’t have a vehicle. So sometimes it’s difficult because we’re remote and out of the way.”

LeMoel said she’s considered the idea of staff accommodation, but so far the cost of building that kind of facility has outweighed the benefits.

That being said, LeMoel said she generally has little problem finding staff for the summer. One of the main sources for summer staff at the resort is students seeking work experience. She said her experience hiring students studying in the tourism and resort management field has been excellent.

“They’re on a career path and this is just one of the things they need to do to find work,” LeMoel said. “We’ve had great success there for sure.”

She adds that people from other countries who are travelling on visas often make excellent seasonal staff for the summer, too.

“Especially for the summer, that works well because we need more staff from June until the end of September and they’re here working, then they go on to another part of the country where they want to travel,” she said. “They’ve been excellent. The reason they’ve been awarded a visa is because they’re in good standing. So generally that’s worked out well for us.”

While Ainsworth posts job ads in local publications, LeMoel said having a good website and making use of social media are the main tools for attracting job applications—especially from younger people, whom she said make a great addition to the business in the summer.

“We’ve had great success with youth,” LeMoel said. “Their energy level is awesome. They just add a spark to the place for sure and it’s great for our long-term employees to have that kind of energy around them. It definitely helps."

LeMoel has also considered the idea of temporary foreign workers to fill in for seasonal work, because she has heard plenty of good things about their work ethic and reliability, but thus far hasn’t gone down that road because she prefers to offer employment to area residents.