Hiring Staffing Manager in Louisville

LGC Hospitality is a 20-year established recruitment and staffing firm specialized in the hospitality sector, operating across Kentucky and the Midwestern United States. We partner with over 200 clients ranging from boutique independent hotels to national chains like Marriott and Hilton, as well as fine dining restaurants, conference centers and event venues. Our mission is to solve the persistent staffing shortages that plague the hospitality industry by connecting reliable, skilled talent with employers who need to maintain high service standards even during peak periods. Unlike generic staffing agencies, our team is made up of recruiters who have direct experience working in hospitality roles, so we understand the specific challenges of the sector: high turnover, seasonal demand spikes, and the need for candidates who can deliver exceptional customer service under pressure.

We are currently hiring two Staffing Managers to join our Louisville, KY office, with occasional travel to our Lexington location to support client needs and recruitment events. In this role, you will own the end-to-end recruitment process for a portfolio of 15 to 20 hospitality clients, from identifying staffing needs with site managers to placing qualified candidates and following up on their performance after placement. You will play a critical role in reducing the average time-to-hire for our clients from 21 days (the industry average) to under 14 days, while improving the 6-month retention rate of placed candidates from the current sector average of 72% to 88% or higher.

### Key Responsibilities
1. Own the full recruitment lifecycle for your assigned client portfolio: post job openings on relevant platforms (Indeed, LinkedIn, industry-specific job boards), screen incoming applications, conduct structured phone and in-person interviews, verify references and work eligibility, and coordinate onboarding with client site managers. You will be responsible for meeting a 92% on-time placement rate for all non-executive hospitality roles.
2. Build and maintain a pre-qualified talent pool of at least 500 active candidates for common hospitality roles (front desk agent, housekeeper, line cook, server, event staff, banquet manager) by proactively sourcing candidates via LinkedIn Recruiter, local job fairs, community partnerships with culinary schools and hospitality training programs, and employee referral programs.
3. Conduct regular check-ins with client site managers to forecast staffing needs 4 to 6 weeks in advance, especially during high-demand periods including the Kentucky Derby, summer festival season, holiday travel periods and local college graduation events, to develop proactive recruitment plans that avoid service disruptions for clients.
4. Use the Bullhorn ATS to track all candidate interactions, placement outcomes and client feedback, and generate weekly performance reports for your client portfolio, including metrics on time-to-hire, cost-per-hire, candidate retention and client satisfaction scores. You will use these reports to identify bottlenecks in the recruitment process and implement process improvements that reduce recruitment costs by 10% year-over-year.
5. Resolve candidate and client issues promptly: you will be the first point of contact for candidates with questions about their placement, and for clients with urgent staffing needs or concerns about placed candidates. You will conduct exit interviews with all candidates who leave their placement within 6 months to identify root causes of turnover, and work with clients to implement corrective actions such as improved onboarding processes or additional training for placed staff.
6. Participate in at least 2 local recruitment events per month, including job fairs at community colleges, hospitality industry networking events and career days at local high schools with vocational hospitality programs, to expand your talent pool and promote LGC Hospitality’s services to potential clients.
7. Collaborate with the sales team to support new client onboarding: you will conduct staffing needs assessments for new clients, develop customized recruitment plans for their business, and present your talent pool to their management team to demonstrate your ability to meet their staffing needs quickly and reliably.
8. Mentor new junior recruiters joining the Louisville office, sharing best practices for hospitality recruitment, candidate sourcing and client communication, to help build the overall capability of the local team.

### Work Environment & Culture
Our Louisville office is located in the downtown business district, with easy access to public transit and free parking for employees. We offer a hybrid work model: you will be expected to be in the office 3 days per week for team meetings, client calls and recruitment events, with the option to work remotely 2 days per week for candidate sourcing, interview scheduling and reporting tasks. Our team culture is collaborative rather than competitive: we share leads and candidate resources across the team, and celebrate collective wins rather than individual performance alone. We prioritize work-life balance: we do not expect employees to answer work calls or emails after 6 PM on weekdays, and we do not schedule work requirements on weekends outside of pre-planned recruitment events, with time off in lieu provided for any weekend work required. Monthly team events include casual afterworks, group lunches and annual team retreats to build rapport across the team.

### Candidate Requirements
To qualify for this role, you must have a minimum of 2 years of full-time experience in recruitment, staffing or human resources, with at least 1 year of experience working with clients in the hospitality, retail or customer service sectors preferred. You must be proficient in using Bullhorn ATS, LinkedIn Recruiter and Indeed for Employers, and have advanced skills in Microsoft Excel for tracking recruitment metrics and generating reports. You must have excellent verbal and written communication skills, with the ability to negotiate with both clients and candidates to achieve mutually beneficial outcomes. You must be eligible to work in the United States without sponsorship, and have a valid driver’s license and access to a personal vehicle for travel to client sites and recruitment events. Fluency in English is required; fluency in Spanish is a strong preferred qualification, as a large share of the hospitality workforce in the Louisville and Lexington areas is Spanish-speaking. A bachelor’s degree in Human Resources, Business Administration, Hospitality Management or a related field is preferred, but we will consider candidates with equivalent professional experience.

### Technical Skills
You will use the following tools on a daily basis in this role: Bullhorn applicant tracking system (ATS) for managing candidate pipelines and client placements, LinkedIn Recruiter for proactive candidate sourcing and outreach, Indeed for Employers for posting open roles and managing applicant responses, Microsoft 365 suite (Excel for metrics tracking, PowerPoint for client presentations, Teams for internal and external communication) and Zoom for remote candidate and client interviews. Familiarity with hospitality-specific tools such as Hotel Property Management Systems (PMS) is a plus, but not required.

### Compensation & Benefits
This is a permanent full-time role with a base salary ranging from $48,000 to $62,000 per year, depending on your years of relevant experience and proven track record of placement success. In addition to your base salary, you will be eligible for a quarterly performance bonus of up to $2,500 per quarter, tied to metrics including placement rate, time-to-hire and client satisfaction scores, with a total annual on-target earnings potential of up to $72,000 for high performers. We offer a comprehensive benefits package including: 80% employer-paid health insurance coverage for you and your dependents (medical, dental and vision), 15 days of paid time off per year, 10 paid sick days, and 7 paid company holidays. We offer a 401(k) retirement plan with a 4% employer match, and a professional development stipend of up to $2,000 per year to cover costs for recruitment certifications, industry training courses or conference attendance. We also offer an employee referral bonus of $500 for each candidate you refer who is placed and remains with their employer for at least 3 months.

### Career Growth Opportunities
LGC Hospitality is committed to internal promotion: 70% of our management roles are filled by internal candidates. After 2 years of consistent performance in the Staffing Manager role, you will be eligible to apply for Senior Staffing Manager positions, which come with a 15% salary increase, a larger client portfolio and the opportunity to mentor 2 to 3 junior recruiters. You may also choose to specialize in a high-growth segment of the hospitality industry, such as luxury hotel staffing or healthcare facility food service staffing, and become the firm’s subject matter expert for that segment, with additional compensation for your specialized expertise. We provide regular internal training sessions on advanced recruitment techniques, client negotiation and hospitality industry trends, and we cover the cost of industry certifications such as the Professional in Human Resources (PHR) certification for eligible employees.

### Hiring Process
To apply for this role, send your resume to [email protected] with the subject line "Application Staffing Manager Louisville - [Your Full Name]", and include a brief 2-paragraph cover letter explaining your experience in hospitality or general staffing, and why you are interested in joining LGC Hospitality. We will review applications on a rolling basis until the position is filled. If your profile matches our requirements, you will receive a 15-minute initial phone screening with Jennifer Sukup, our Talent Acquisition Lead, within 3 business days of submitting your application. Selected candidates will then be invited to a 45-minute virtual interview with the Louisville office management team, including a practical case study where you will be asked to outline your approach to sourcing and qualifying candidates for a last-minute opening for 10 banquet staff for a corporate event in Louisville. The final step is a 30-minute in-person interview with our Director of Operations to discuss role expectations, compensation and team fit. The full hiring process takes approximately 10 business days from application to job offer. We anticipate making a job offer by November 8, 2024, for a start date of November 18, 2024 or later, to accommodate notice periods for current employees.