TalentShift opened its doors in March of this year with the goal of addressing some of the biggest challenges in the hotel and tourism industry. Based in the Algarve, the recruitment company is part of the Kuwait-based AL-Bahar Group, which operates in Portugal through United Investments Portugal. To address the talent shortage in the hotel and tourism sector, Helena Cardador, Technical and Operations Director of TalentShift, argues that training should be much more practical and focused on the realities of the sector. “When students enter the job market, they are not minimally prepared for what is required in terms of daily tasks,” she says in an interview with TNews.

What does TalentShift consist of and what is its mission?

TalentShift was created in 2024 by our administrators. The inauguration took place on March 27th, so we are almost six months into our opening. This period, from 2024 to the beginning of 2025, was dedicated exclusively to administrative matters and the company’s development, with the goal of obtaining a temporary work permit and effectively starting our operations. This involves hiring employees on a temporary work basis for various sectors.

Our company is based in the Algarve and integrated into the AL-Bahar Group, headquartered in Kuwait, which operates in Portugal through United Investments Portugal.

The AL-Bahar Group, founded in 1937, supports TalentShift through its experience in highly specialized markets, particularly in the hospitality sector, where we are now starting operations, but also due to its partnerships with major brands in consumer goods, technology, and electronics. This allows our future to encompass other business areas beyond hospitality.

What distinguishes TalentShift from other recruitment companies?

Looking at our initial approach, it’s essentially the fact that we’re associated with a very competent base of companies that have been in the job market for over 30 years. In this initial phase, we will be focused on the sector and specialization within that market, with the right tools to help us be more agile and transparent, not only for candidates but also for clients. Our strong connection to the hospitality industry means we know our candidates well—and that’s exactly what we want, not only in hospitality but also in the other areas where we operate. We seek to get to know each candidate almost individually, conducting a very specific onboarding process with each one.

Many temporary employment agencies operate only in the local or national market; we, on the other hand, also work with the international market. Although the group is based in Kuwait, it has a presence and business in various parts of the world, which allows us to benefit from its global experience and connections with other countries.

Is there a possibility for TalentShift to expand its operations to different segments and areas of activity?

Yes, our goal is to expand our operations in the Algarve region in terms of sectors by 2026, that is, to also work with retail, logistics, services, industry, aviation, among others. After that, we intend to reach other parts of the country, namely Lisbon and Alentejo.

In recent years, courses related to tourism and hospitality have seen a significant drop in the number of applicants. In your opinion, what explains this lack of interest?

I see two specific situations related to the lack of interest, or the reduced number of people in higher education.

One of the challenges is the fact that it is still a very seasonal area. That is, the fact that we specialize in hospitality and work within a group that already has some know-how in this sector means that we try to minimize the effects of seasonality. However, we cannot avoid it completely. We know that our high season, in terms of service, runs from March until the end of October. All other months end up being considered low season.

The sector is still seen as unstable, mainly because it doesn’t offer annual employment contracts in most cases—largely due to its seasonal nature. Furthermore, salaries continue to be perceived as low, considering the working hours and days required of professionals. The hotel industry operates 24 hours a day, 7 days a week, which requires a large number of professionals to meet all the sector’s needs.

Currently, we are experiencing great difficulty in retaining talent, due to all the factors I have already mentioned. However, this difficulty is accentuated mainly by the fact that we are in a very specific region—the Algarve—which forces us to look for candidates outside the region. This implies dealing with significantly higher living conditions and costs for those coming from outside, which, in turn, contrasts with the salaries practiced in the sector. I am referring, above all, to issues such as accommodation, transportation, and other factors.

At the moment, we are already focused on finding solutions to these challenges. We acknowledge the problems and are actively working to remedy them.

Furthermore, it is important to note that the pandemic had a very negative impact on the tourism and hospitality sector. During this period, many professionals left the area seeking opportunities in other sectors—and many of them did not return, even after the recovery. As a result, the number of active professionals in the hotel industry decreased considerably after the pandemic.

“The sector is still seen as unstable, mainly because it doesn’t offer annual employment contracts in most cases. Furthermore, salaries continue to be perceived as low, considering the workload and days required of professionals.”

Do you consider that current courses are adequately aligned with the challenges of the sector?

I don’t think so, nor do I think so. The courses do, effectively, have some subject matter or information that is required and necessary for the foundation of knowledge for future workers in the job market. But the truth is that, many times, students, when they enter the job market, are not minimally prepared for what is required in terms of daily tasks.

I believe that there should be much more practical training focused on the reality of the sector. In the hotel industry, the lack of manpower occurs mainly in less qualified roles, where there is not so much demand in terms of theoretical knowledge. We are talking, for example, about areas such as cleaning, kitchen, reception, maintenance, among others—more technical and operational functions.

As the operations director of a recruitment company, she has direct contact with many candidates. What are the main skills that young people bring to interviews?

Currently, in addition to the required hard skills, we, as recruiters, also look for other characteristics in candidates. Besides the technical skills related to the role, we strongly value motivation, availability, willingness to learn, and interest in being part of the project.

We know that young people today have a very different vision than in the past, when they sought a job for life and stability. Nowadays, many young people are driven by projects and moments. And the truth is that, today, we also have to adapt our recruitment to the reality we face. Therefore, we look much more at their motivations and what drives them than at everything else.

And what are the skills that are most frequently lacking?

Often, what candidates lack are technical skills. Motivation is undoubtedly what drives people to apply for a job, but what is often lacking is specific technical knowledge.

It is therefore up to companies to train and empower these professionals, equipping them with the necessary skills, tailored to the reality of each organization we work with. In the hospitality sector, for example, we mainly focus on technical training, on-the-job training, academies, and reskilling programs.

Thus, we feel the need to provide training or mentoring whenever a candidate lacks the required skills so that they can at least achieve the minimum objectives of the role.

“The fact that we don’t have these trained talents or the skills we want means that operations end up having much higher training and integration costs than expected.”

What impact is this having on hotel and tourism company operations?

The fact that we don’t have these trained talents or the skills we want means that operations end up having much higher training and integration costs than expected. There are also hotel chains that don’t have this capacity and can’t adjust their costs to this reality, and therefore don’t proceed with these hires, instead seeking professionals from other types of markets.

In your opinion, what can be done – both by schools and companies – to make the sector more attractive and address this talent shortage?

Essentially, there needs to be a joint effort. I believe that schools, or what constitutes university-level educational offerings, need to be adapted to the reality of the job market. I believe there should be a joint effort between educational institutions and companies in the sector to align this offering. Today, there are already initiatives in this direction, such as vocational courses or vocational schools in the hospitality sector.

I’m not including specific hospitality schools here, which are already geared towards the dynamics of our sector, but the truth is that there should be interdisciplinary and collaborative work to adjust this vision of training opportunities.

Looking to the future, how do you envision recruitment in hospitality and tourism?

Based on our predictions, the future won’t be very different from what it is today. In fact, what is predicted is that this labor shortage will continue to exist, as well as these structural problems. Therefore, there is already an effort not only to improve the monetary salary of employees, but also to offer other benefits—the so-called emotional salary—which allows us, in some way, to retain and attract candidates.

I think that, increasingly, and due to the difficulty we experience in finding labor, we will start looking for candidates outside the country. Unfortunately, the professionals available in our country are not sufficient or are not trained in the way that companies require.

TalentShift, for example, has partnerships that allow us to recruit in PALOP countries and Asian countries, proactively meeting our clients’ needs. We’re essentially talking about the hospitality sector, in roles such as kitchen and waitstaff.

Nowadays, international recruitment faces additional difficulties due to the recent changes in immigration law. These individuals need to enter our country with a work visa, which requires a prior recruitment process in their country of origin.

I also see the need for training and skills retraining as a major challenge, essentially because we have good employees in perhaps intermediate roles, so to speak, who possess sufficient capacity and motivation to later be trained and, in some way, with the experience they already have, reach higher positions in their fields of work.

Naturally, looking to the future of recruitment, it is essential to incorporate technological components, such as artificial intelligence, into our processes to make them faster and more agile.

Furthermore, it is important to pay close attention to the generational dimension, considering who our current workers are—young people with a profile that is naturally very different from the one we had when we entered the market.

“We have good employees in middle management roles who possess sufficient skills and motivation to later be trained and reach higher positions in their fields of work.”

What are the main changes in the profile of candidates in the sector compared to previous generations?

Nowadays, young people work a lot on projects and experiences, ending up spending less time ‘tied’ to their professional journey. The big difference is precisely generational. The new generation values ​​quality of life, balanced schedules, stability between work and family, and faster career progression opportunities much more, while previous generations end up valuing stability, progression, and recognition, but in a more relaxed way. Ultimately, the new generations want to be seen as an asset.