When Kirsty Leigh needs to hire at Nundah Community Enterprises Cooperative, she’s not looking for the candidate with the most impressive resume. She’s looking for heart.
“I’m not necessarily looking for the one with the most experience. I’m looking for the one with the heart and the one that wants to be there because of what we do,” says Leigh, Operations Manager of the not-for-profit cooperative that operates hospitality businesses employing people with disabilities and refugees.
It’s an approach that’s solving two critical challenges facing the industry: finding reliable staff in a tight labour market, and keeping them engaged once they’re hired.
The hidden talent pool
Leigh revealed how partnerships with community organisations and government programs are providing access to motivated workers who might previously have been overlooked by traditional recruitment processes.
The cooperative works with local organisations running Queensland’s government-funded Skilling Queenslanders for Work program, which provides certificate-level training in kitchen skills and hospitality. Participants complete 36 hours of work experience—either three-hour shifts for 12 weeks or two three-hour shifts for six weeks—giving both employer and employee time to build comfort and confidence.
“It gives them time to get comfortable in the space,” says Leigh. “These guys might not always have a disability, or they might not always be from a refugee background, and I employ front-of-house staff and chef professionals. But when I’m recruiting those guys, it’s all face to face.”
The approach delivers tangible benefits beyond filling roster gaps. “Not only do they bring diversity and interesting ideas and interesting menu items, but they also bring a real enthusiasm for working,” Leigh notes. “They’re really reliable. They’ll go out of their way to do extra shifts or stay late. They want the job. They’re keen for the job. They’re not just there for the job.”
Government support available
For operators worried about the financial implications of hiring workers who may need additional support or training time, Leigh points to various government schemes that can offset costs.
Through the National Disability Insurance Scheme (NDIS), businesses can receive funding to help pay wages and supervisor costs for employees with disabilities. “Someone who employs people from the fringe—we get a little bit of NDIS income for that person to help pay their wage and pay a bit of the supervisor’s wage, so it kind of balances out,” she explains.
Similarly, programs exist for people who’ve been unemployed for 12 months or more, often coming “with little bonuses for the employer to help them integrate and help them pay for their training, or help pay their wage while they’re learning and while they’re slow.”
Robert Smithson, Head of Culinary at dnata Catering & Retail, says his organisation has embraced similar approaches, particularly after struggling to find both skilled and unskilled workers post-COVID.
“We had to think differently,” says Smithson. “That was looking inward to say, who have we got that’s got a great attitude, great mindset, and great heart that we can upskill and train into these semi-skilled and skilled roles.”
dnata also partners with organisations like the Bread and Butter Project in Sydney, which helps refugees learn English while training them for hospitality roles. Additionally, the company works with the MJF Foundation, a non-profit in Sri Lanka, to access trained workers internationally.
What good candidates look like
For Leigh, identifying promising candidates during work experience or trial shifts comes down to observation.
“The ones I keep are the ones that turn up, and the ones that find themselves things to do,” she says. “If you do a trial and you get them to serve a customer, and then there’s no customers and they just stand there—that’s a clear sign to me that they’re not it. The ones that turn around going, ‘Okay, is there cutlery? Or can I do some dishes? Or what’s next?’—they’re the ones. They’re just natural.”
This emphasis on attitude over experience extends across the industry. Laura Goldberg, Owner and COO of Hurricane’s Grill in Sydney, says she can spot the keepers early.
“The ones that have the passion from the beginning, you kind of know who’s going to stay in your business, and it’s about nurturing them and just finding what they’re really good at and giving them those tasks to do.”
Keeping them engaged: The power of purpose
But hiring motivated staff is only half the battle. In an industry where burnout is endemic and the daily grind can wear down even the most enthusiastic workers, operators are finding that community engagement initiatives provide crucial meaning beyond the paycheck.
Goldberg says Hurricane’s Grill has transformed its retention strategy by embracing community-focused activities.
“We go and cook for Ronald McDonald House, and it’s still hospitality, except you’re giving back,” she explains. “So you change it up a little bit, and your staff get involved and they love it, and they want to do it again. We keep little initiatives giving back to community, and I think it does keep people engaged.”
The restaurants also participate in Share the Dignity, collecting period products for women in need. When staff are told about upcoming initiatives, “people come in with bags, and it just gives them a little bit of purpose.”
“The grind is day in and day out,” Goldberg acknowledges. “So do little initiatives that you can to keep your staff engaged. And it doesn’t necessarily have to be within your business. It can be other outside things.”
Isaac Gorton, Hospitality Recruitment Specialist at Frontline Hospitality Queensland, emphasises that this kind of purpose-driven work resonates particularly strongly in an industry built on human connection.
“When you are engaging in a people-to-people business or relationship in the form of business to employee, you do need that human connection,” he says. “That’s what people in hospitality are about—that human connection.”
Room for growth
A crucial advantage of hiring people without extensive experience is the opportunity hospitality offers for career progression.
“There’s so much room for growth in this industry, from starting out without experience at all to kitchen hand to maybe doing a chef role, and same with front of house,” says Leigh. “We just try and work outside of that box to give people experience.”
Goldberg agrees, noting that Hurricane’s Grill has seen staff members leave to open their own successful businesses.
“In the beginning, I used to think, ‘Oh my God, I can’t believe they’re leaving us to go and open their own business,’” she recalls. “But now I think that’s just a testament to how we are as leaders and as a business. It means we’ve given them enough tools and the confidence to go and open.”
Making it work: Practical advice
For operators interested in exploring these untapped talent pools, Leigh recommends:
- Contacting local community organisations about work experience partnerships
- Investigating government-funded training programs like Skilling Queenslanders for Work
- Exploring NDIS employment support schemes
- Looking for candidates who’ve been unemployed for 12+ months (often eligible for employer incentives)
- Focusing on attitude and reliability over experience during trials
- Balancing experienced staff with those still learning (maintaining appropriate ratios)
On the retention side, panellists suggested:
- Creating regular community engagement opportunities
- Allowing staff to choose causes that matter to them
- Making these initiatives team activities rather than individual tasks
- Using social purpose to break up routine and provide fresh perspectives
- Celebrating participation and impact
The message is clear: operators who expand their view of what a “qualified candidate” looks like, while simultaneously providing staff with purpose beyond profit, are finding sustainable solutions to the staffing crisis.
As Leigh puts it: “If you’ve got the right people, it makes my job easier, because they’re just doing what they’re supposed to be doing, and they’re training people up. And there’s so much room for growth in this industry.”
In a sector where traditional recruitment methods are failing to fill critical roles, looking beyond the resume—both in who you hire and what you offer them—may be the key to building a reliable, engaged, and loyal team.
This article is based on insights shared during a panel discussion featuring Kirsty Leigh, Operations Manager at Nundah Community Enterprises Cooperative; Robert Smithson, Head of Culinary at dnata Catering & Retail; Laura Goldberg, Owner & COO at Hurricane’s Grill; and Isaac Gorton, Hospitality Recruitment Specialist at Frontline Hospitality Queensland.
