Hospitality Recruiter (Contract) - Raleigh, NC

A note from the founder

The warm-body model is the cancer of hospitality staffing.

You have seen it. An agency takes the order. They blast out a mass text. Whoever responds first gets the shift. The captain on the floor finds out 20 minutes before service that half the crew has never been on a property like this one before.

Operators have stopped expecting better because they have stopped finding recruiters who care about the difference.

We started The Wilkinson Firm Premium Hospitality + Event Staffing to build the opposite firm. Trained crews. Captain-led floors. Recruiters who source for skill, not speed.

This seat is for hospitality recruiters who have spent their careers fighting the warm-body model from inside and want to help us build the firm that finally beats it.

What we are building

A talent pipeline where every name on the bench has been screened for craft.

• Server, bartender, banquet, line cook, housekeeping, captain
• ServSafe and TIPS pipeline tracked at the candidate level
• Bilingual sourcing networks in every primary market
• Tiered bench (probationary, qualified, captain-track) so operators know what they are booking
• Direct-hire conversion paths for the staff we want to keep

We want to be the firm hospitality operators call when they need a crew that is going to make the night.

Where we are right now

We are 14 months in.

• PHES active in the field
• Captain-led model proven on early engagements
• Building the recruiting infrastructure that scales it

The recruiting engine is one of the next pillars. You would help build it.

The relationship we want with you

This is not a job. It is a working partnership.

You stay in your current role. Hotel HR/TA, hospitality staffing agency recruiter, fine dining recruiter, country club HR, or boutique hospitality recruiter.

You join us non-exclusively. You build the candidate pipeline in your market. The talent network you bring becomes part of the TWF bench. You participate in the upside when your candidates fill the firm's seats.

What you would actually do

• Build the candidate pipeline in your primary market across all PHES role lines
• Pre-screen for craft: ServSafe, TIPS, banquet experience, captain-track potential
• Bilingual sourcing: build the Spanish-language candidate network we need to be credible
• Captain pipeline: identify staff with floor-leadership potential and tag them for promotion track
• Coordinate with the Training Manager to push qualified candidates into cohort cycles
• Direct-hire conversion: identify staff that operators want full-time and broker the placement
• Co-author content under your name on hospitality talent strategy

Who we want

You have 5+ years in hospitality recruiting or talent acquisition.

• Hotel branded TA, hospitality staffing agency recruiter, fine dining HR, country club / private club HR, convention center HR
• ATS fluency (Manatal, Bullhorn, Avionté, or equivalent)
• Bilingual English / Spanish strongly preferred. We are not credible in hospitality recruiting without this.
• ServSafe and TIPS awareness so you can screen for credential gaps
• Local talent network in one of our markets: Atlanta, Charlotte, Charleston, Savannah, Jacksonville, Nashville, Tampa, Orlando, Miami

You believe the recruiter is the first line of defense against a bad service night. You source like the operator's reputation is on the line, because it is.

Who we are not for

• Recruiters who treat hospitality talent as interchangeable
• Someone who has never worked the operator side of hospitality
• Someone who measures recruiting success by fill rate alone

Before our conversation — take a look at the firm

You might be the right person for this seat. You might know the right person. You might be a future client or a future referral. Either way, here is where we live.

• Premium Hospitality + Event Staffing: hospitality.thewilkinsonfirm.com
• Main firm: thewilkinsonfirm.com
• HR Advisory practice: hr.thewilkinsonfirm.com
• LinkedIn: linkedin.com/company/thewilkinsonfirm

If this seat is not the right fit for you, you may still know:

• A hotel, venue, catering operator, or convention center that has stopped expecting trained staff
• A wedding planner, DMC, or PCO whose staffing vendors keep embarrassing them at the high end
• A CMHC, FQHC, IDD agency, or behavioral health system that needs HR advisory built around clinical reality
• A federal contractor or agency that needs MBE-certified workforce delivery

We grow by referral. If anything here resonates, share it with someone who might need what we do.

How to start the conversation

Email: daryan@thewilkinsonfirm.com
Subject line: Hospitality Recruiter - [Your Market]

In your note, tell us:

1. Your primary market
2. The ATS you currently work in
3. The hospitality property or operator you have done your best sourcing work for
4. One sentence on what you would change about how hospitality recruiting is done today

We respond within 48 hours. We do not ghost.