'Speed hiring' event in Abu Dhabi promises 300 hotel jobs on the spot

Kempinski hopes to hire hundreds of staff for new hotels across the Middle East at event held tomorrow at Emirates Palace.

Kempinski's 'speed hiring' event at Emirates Palace in Abu Dhabi promises 300 hotel jobs on the spot. Bloomberg News

For many job seekers finding a new role can take many weeks of emails, phone calls and face-to-face interviews before being given a decision.

Kempinski will tomorrow speed up the hiring process for its hotels across the Middle East by gathering hundreds of job hunters and management at Emirates Palace, its flagship hotel in Abu Dhabi. By the end of the day, it promises to have made 300 appointments on the spot.

The "speed hiring" event is believed to be the first initiative of its kind in the region.

"Normally, applicants would send their resume to a hotel or regional office and it can sometimes sit on a desk for a month or so before any further action is taken so good people can sometimes slip through the crack," said Duncan O'Rourke, chief operating officer at Kempinski.  "The career day is an attempt to eliminate that risk and find talent for the company."

Kempinski launched the event as it seeks to find 5,000 staff for several new hotels it plans to open across the region by 2015.

As well as recruiting for existing hotels in the UAE, it is also expanding a hotel in Bahrain and opening two in Saudi Arabia.

Elsewhere in the GCC, hotels are also planned in Qatar and Oman.  In the broader Middle East, Asia and Africa region, hotels are planned in Lebanon, Egypt, Ghana, Kenya and India.