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W O R K F O R M E / S P R I N G 2 0 2 3 38 H o s p i t a l i t y / R e t a i l "I know it's cheesy to say, but in hospitality and culinary, the world is your oyster," LaSalle says. "Everybody wants you." Creative staffing Inn by the Sea General Manager Michael Briggs says the resort is open all year and requires about 75 full- and part-time employees to operate normally. "By the time we hit May 1 through June 30, we'll onboard an additional 40 to 50 seasonal staff members, which is a pretty big lift in a short period of time," he says. The inn has had to get cre- ative about how it fills needed positions, says Briggs. It utilizes foreign student and worker visas, as well as bringing in high school students from the local area. The inn also cross-trains existing staff into high-demand roles. "It's a multifaceted approach to get to the endgame of being fully staffed … for the heart of Maine's tourism season," Briggs says. In Old Orchard Beach, Tam- my Ahearn was preparing to open the seaside inn she owns with her son, formerly known as The Normandie, which re- opened in 2018 as Abellona Inn & Suites on the Shore. Abellona is a seasonal business that is usually open from April to Oc- tober each year. Abellona has 64 rooms in 20 different sizes and configurations that include traditional motel rooms, jacuzzi rooms, kitchenette rooms and sprawling suites. The inn is situated on the qui- eter side of the area's seven-mile stretch of sandy beach, about a mile from downtown Old Or- chard Beach with its bustling pier, shops, restaurants, bars, arcade and amusement park. "The demand is huge, but we can't get anybody [local] to work," she says. "We have to hire kids from overseas, so all of our employees right now, except for our key year-round people, are students from Turkey and Mongolia." Ahearn says Maine's hospi- tality industry is thriving and growing because it provides the types of experience people want. She sees it as an industry filled with great opportunities for anyone who chooses to enter the field — "but you need to be a people person." "They've got to be able to handle all kinds of personalities and all kinds of situations while staying calm and collected," Ahearn says. Maine restaurant owners such as Jim Albert face similar challenges when recruiting staff for their businesses, either for the busy summers or to open new locations. A l b e r t o w n s J i m m y t h e Greek's in Old Orchard Beach and three gourmet burger joints called Cowbell in Biddeford, Scar- borough and Westbrook, as well as two neighborhood bars. Like other hospitality and culinary business owners, he has been relying heavily on foreign students to staff up for the sum- mer. Albert notes that the labor shortage was even worse a couple years ago than it is now. "The whole country is in a crisis with the lack of people working," he says. "Where are our kids and why aren't they getting into the workforce in bigger numbers?" n « C O N T I N U E D F R O M P R E V I O U S PAG E W h at m a k e s a g o o d h o s p i ta l i t y w o r k e r ? A lexis Levesque plans to graduate this spring from Southern Maine Community College's hospitality management program. Levesque had been through its culinary pro- gram and decided to continue with hospitality, in part because tuition is free for all Maine high school graduates of 2020 through at least this year due to a $20 million allocation from the state's general fund. Levesque says her upbeat, outgoing personal- ity is a good fit for the industry. Employers want people who consistently interact with customers in a kind and professional manner. She originally wanted to open a restaurant but is now consid- ering hotel property management as a career. "I really like the philosophy that goes along with properties like the Nonantum," she says, referring to the Kennebunkport resort. "They have a really big community development project — I'm so interested in community development and just being there for everyone who's in your community." Grisel Reed, a first-year student in the SMCC program, says she has always been drawn to the tourism industry, especially hospitality. Reed hopes to pursue a career in event design, which refers to the creative and aesthetic aspects of an event such as visual design, theme and decor. Her advice to students considering a career in hospitality is to make sure they have the skills and temperament to remain calm in stressful situations. "You should be organized, capable of multi- tasking, and open to change, because I do feel that with hospitality, things can change every day," Reed says. n P H O T O / J I M N E U G E R Michael Briggs, general manager of the Inn by the Sea in Cape Elizabeth. P H O T O / J I M N E U G E R Grisel Reed P H O T O / J I M N E U G E R Alexis Levesque

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