SPECIAL REPORT:
How A Lack Of Rising Talent Is Threatening Our Industry
By Ashley Wright The meetings industry needs new talent to meet the growing demand, but not enough young professionals are entering the profession. Why? Some experts blame a lack of mentoring and educational opportunities. Some say low pay and heavy workloads keep potential candidates away. One thing is for sure; our industry must find new ways to draw new planners to the profession.
To start, there is good news. According to the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS), the employment rate for meeting planners is expected to grow 20 percent by 2016—double the average growth rate for all U.S. occupations.
Yet, at the same time, BLS reports that there is a rising need for employees in all industries due, in part, to the retirement of Baby Boomers. In fact, the bureau reports that by the end of this year, the number of young adult workers, from 25 to 40 years old, will decline in the United States by 1.7 million. And, over the next two decades, the growth rate of available workers will decrease by approximately 50 percent.
Another recent study conducted by McKinsey and Company, a management consulting firm, reported that a "War For Talent" has hit the U.S. workforce and that companies will have to "compete more intensely for a limited supply of capable managers over the next two decades due to the shifting demographics of the workforce."
"The labor shortage isn't pending, it's here," said Kacy Oden, director of membership relations for People Report, a company that benchmarks and analyzes human resource practices for the hospitality industry.
Industries Needing Planners Want to know which industries will be hiring meeting pros? The Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS) has released the expected growth in the number of planner positions that will be created from 2006-2016 within the following industries:
• Professional, Scientific & Technical Services: 41%
• Health Care & Social Assistance: 32%
• Arts, Entertainment & Recreation: 31%
• Finance & Insurance: 25%
• Civic, Non-Profit, Religious: 19%
• Real Estate: 17%
• Accommodation & Food Services: 15%
• Educational: 13%
• Government & Self-employed: 11% |
In the meetings industry, especially, the shrinking talent pool is starting to cause real concern. Katie Callahan-Giobbi, executive vice president and chief business architect for Meeting Professionals International (MPI) Foundation, said she's already seeing a shortage of meeting planners. Dawn Penfold, president of The Meeting Candidate Network Inc., The Meeting Temp Job Network, as well as the online job board
MeetingJobs.com, explained, "It's becoming harder to break into this industry because there's a lack of mentoring to bring people into the industry." The slumping economy has brought on heavier workloads for planners and therefore, "established planners don't have time to train and mentor," she said.
What's more, employers have higher expectations for entry-level meeting professionals, Penfold said, recounting that she entered the profession because her employer "took a chance to hire her." And as she put it, "people don't tend to hire on gut instinct anymore."
Employers may want entry-level planners to be qualified, but some experts say educational opportunities within the industry are limited. Carl A. Boger Jr., Ph.D., associate dean of academic programs for Conrad N. Hilton College of Hotel and Restaurant Management at the University of Houston, said more educational institutions are needed. "Programs in urban areas, such a those at the University of Houston and the University of Central Florida, have well-defined meeting planning programs, but additional ones are needed to meet the growing demand of the industry."
Yet, even with more schools there would have to be more instructors, Boger added. "Students are very interested in the meeting planning sector of the hospitality industry if they are exposed to it. The challenge is to find qualified professionals to teach and promote the segment."
No matter the mentoring, training and education provided to entry-level planners, salary rates within the industry would have to rise too, industry veterans like Joan Eisenstodt said. While BLS predicts within the next eight years the average yearly salary for a full-time meeting pro will increase roughly $10,000 to a figure around $58,000, Eisenstodt believes that these salary rates discourage people from entering the business. As owner of the Washington-based meetings and hospitality consulting firm Eisenstodt Associates LLC, Eisenstodt has worked in the industry for more than 25 years, and simply said, "planners are not paid what they're worth."
Education, Diversification & Mentoring Needed
MPI's Giobbi said more would have to be done, and fast, to attract qualified professionals to meeting planning. In fact, she said, finding ways to solve the problem is top of mind at MPI. The association currently has several initiatives under way, including a program that allows students to become full members of the association. "We are not only seeing students in their early 20s coming through our organization, but also returning students," Giobbi said. MPI has also helped to create a Future Leaders Forum that has brought together thousands of students from around the world since its launch in 2003, and the MPI Foundation offers scholarships and grants to students. More recently, MPI has initiated Internet-based student communities on
Facebook.com and on
MPI GroupSpace, a networking portion of MPI's website.
Along with educational opportunities, Boger said the industry must also diversify its talent pool to succeed in the upcoming decades. He said the new generation of meeting professionals would be dominated by a large population of first- and second-generation Hispanic Americans followed by other nationalities. "As a whole," he said, "we need to begin marketing meeting planning as a career path to the children of immigrant families so they will become the future professionals to reduce the industry's labor shortage."
Boger added, "The future meeting professional will need to be bi- or trilingual, understand and be able to relate to a multitude of cultures, and be able to relate to the needs and concerns of a very diverse workforce."
As a senior marketing advisor for MPI, Michael Bagg also agreed that diversifying the talent pool, on a global scale, would help resolve employee shortages. "There is a lot of talent, and we are tapping into it through our focus on education internationally. We want to create as many opportunities as possible to bring the best and most talented to this industry, including those who would consider changing careers."
"Companies will have to take time to mentor and train those who are interested in the profession," said
MeetingJobs.com's Penfold.
University student Caitlin Nolan is planning on joining the meetings profession and feels strongly that mentoring is crucial to her success in the business. Nolan recently interned with Florida-based event production firm ME Productions, which has hosted interns over the past eight years. "We are encouraged to voice our ideas and opinions," Nolan said about her experience.
ME CEO Hal Etkin said the internship program allows students to get hands-on experience creating various events, including multi-day conventions for
Fortune 500 companies. "We want to demonstrate how to bridge the gap between academia and the real world," Etkin said. "With support and continual guidance, we help student interns get ahead. And, we've kept a few on staff when their internships ended, finding a great pool of potential long-term talent as well."
Employer Solutions
For organizations that are already facing a lack of qualified planners, People Report's Oden said there are some feasible solutions for recruiting and retaining employees. She offers these four:
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Hire Baby Boomers: Oden said this age group is not always ready to retire, and even if they have not worked within the meetings field, they may be right for the profession even if on a part-time or volunteer basis.
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Offer Competitive Advantages: "Companies," Oden said, "that are successful are the ones that put marketing and branding efforts toward their potential workforce in the same way they market services, etc. You retain better quality employees when you're the 'cool' place to work for."
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Engage Employees: "Each generation is engaged differently," she explained. "Younger employees look for more of a work/life balance, older middle-career employees view benefits as important when thinking of their children, etc., and for Boomers, job security is especially important."
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Recruit Through The Web: Use websites geared toward Generation Xers. "Social networking sites such as
MySpace are key to reaching a young audience," she said.
