Need a job? Wake restaurant, hotel jobs more plentiful than qualified applicants

If you can cook, wait tables or tend bar, you’re in demand in Wake County.

The county’s tourism industry supports more than 25,000 jobs, and has been adding about 800 new ones a year since 2009, said Scott Peacock, Director of Public Relations for the Greater Raleigh Convention and Visitors Bureau; and that is not expected to slow soon. The county’s hotel industry is seeing its biggest boom in hotel development in nearly 20 years; a new Westin hotel is expected to open in 2019 near Crabtree Valley Mall, along with at least four other Raleigh hotels in the next few years.

The growth has made it harder for hotels and restaurants to find and keep quality workers, Peacock said. To help, industry groups and the convention center will host a special job fair next spring for those businesses.

The largest number of openings will be found in food preparation, cooking, waiting tables and tending bar, said Brenda Wilkerson of the Capital Area Workforce Development Board. But attendees can learn about a broader array of jobs such as housekeeping, front desk reception, kitchen help and management. The average annual earnings for jobs in the accommodation and food service industry in Wake County is $20,286, Wilkerson said.

Anyone working in these areas is part of a booming industry that does great service for the area: in 2016, 15.6 million visitors came to Wake County – 3.5 percent more than the previous year – and workers generated over $242 million in state and local tax revenue last year.

The job fair won’t take place until March 28, 2018. Organizers announced it now to give businesses time to take part.

“We need time to get the exhibitors all filled up, so that we have the right people in the room to attract the talent we need,” said Peacock.

The job fair will be held at the Raleigh Convention Center from 10 a.m. to 3 p.m. March 28. The event’s website, VisitRaleigh.com/JobFair, will have more information, including a list of employers who will be attending the job fair.

In addition to the convention center, the job fair is organized by Capital Area Workforce Development, the Greater Raleigh Convention and Visitors Bureau and the N.C. Restaurant and Lodging Association.

This story was originally published August 24, 2017 at 10:28 AM with the headline "Need a job? Wake restaurant, hotel jobs more plentiful than qualified applicants."