b'Inthiscompetitivemarket,ex-plained Hecht, you have to respond to ARVC Launches ARVC Career Center tocandidates within about four hours orthey are gone. It takes constant viewingof online ads. One of the things Im Help Owners Find Qualified Employeesdoing with a lot of my clients is sayingto them, How can you keep your eyes The National Association of RV Parks ees,saidDavidBasler,ARVCsviceon your ad or your posting so that youre and Campgrounds(ARVC) has announced president of membership and marketing.able to respond very quickly? If you are the launch of the ARVC Career Center, an Wearealwaysstrivingtohelpournot able to do this, then you probably online tool designed to help businesses members solve challenges so they canwill have folks that are not necessarily as find and recruit qualified employees and be more successful, and the ARVC Ca-appealing to other employers, so you allow job seekers to view new opportuni- reer Center was created to do just that.may not get the top pick.ties in the outdoor hospitality industry, ac- TheARVCCareerCenterwillalsoTaking the time to listen to your employees Gwyn Wathen, director of marketing cording to ARVC officials. allow campground owner/operators toand understanding their needs can help forRecreationalAdventuresCo.,a TheARVCCareerCenterisnow expand their search nationwide.you retain them down the road.leisure and recreational management searchable by anyone looking to find and Our members are always interestedfirm that owns 13 KOAs from coast-to- apply for jobs across the country. ARVC infindingqualifiedcoast, is big on using the local resources members can post unlimited jobs for free. employeesandthefor the size of the business. in his Hill City, S.D., lo- ARVC members can post job openings ARVC Career CenterWeareveryaggressivewhenit cation and across the in a variety of categories, including guest will be a tremendouscomes to recruiting, said Church. We country.services,foodservices,grounds asset to help them inare seeking candidates out instead of We get a lot of our crew/landscaping,recreation/activities, thatprocess,ex-just letting people come to us. We have goodpeoplefrom security,administrationandmore.Job plained Paul Bambei,a fairly robust pipeline that we use to building relationships seekers can then search by category, lo- ARVCs president andkeep candidates on the back burner and then internships cation and other criteria, to see what op- Paul Bambei CEO. Being able tountil the right opportunity opens up. We withlocalcolleges Gwyn Wathen portunities are available. expand searches across the country willtry to keep a deep bench of candidates and high schools, he Campgroundowners/operatorscan help make the talent pool deeper andwho can fill the positions. said. In the colleges, we look for stu- choose to post the position for 30 or 60 allow our members to attract talentedChurch said that she uses a variety of dents that have an interest in hospitality days and can also customize their postings and effective employees.media and job hiring vehicles when it business degrees.with their logo, property photos and quali- Access to posting jobs is not limitedcomes to recruiting. He said that working to train college fying questions. An owner/operator auto- to just campground owners/operators,Indeed isprobablyourprimary students already interested in the hos- matically is sent an email each time a job Basler says. The ARVC Career Centersource, but we use Google, too, she said. pitality industry can pay off in the end seekerappliesfora also will be a valuable tool for ARVCsAnd depending on the management with a pretrained employee ready to position. Supplier Council members looking to ex-role, we utilize LinkedInas well. We also work at the resort right out of college. Whenweasked pand their talent pool, as well as associ-have a fairly robust referral program. We High school kids are a great resource ourmemberswhat ate members looking to build their staffput a hefty budget into it each year, and for seasonal help who may return every theyneededmostin prior to opening their park.we compensate employees for their rec- year for three or more years, said Wa- 2020,oneofthean- Interested in posting a job to the ARVCommendations of talentfrom $100 to then. Work campers in the KOA net- swers we heard most Career Center? ARVC members and inter-$500 depending on the position. work are also a major resource for us oftenwasawayto ested job seekers can access the ARVC Ca-Hecht believes that many owners are across the country.find qualified employ- David Basler reer Center at arvc.org/career-center. WCMnot using all of the resources available He shared that the hiring portal KOAfor recruiting.Attracting Employeescontinued on page 32WOODALLSCM.com April 2020-27'