Industry groups team up to launch online tourism career center

Courtesy / Maine Tourism Association Facebook A new online tourism career center launched this week to connect employers and job seekers.

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By Staff

A new push is on to find employees for Maine's tourism industry.

A coalition of six associations on Tuesday announced it has opened an online tourism career center.

The group consists of the Maine Tourism Association, HospitalityMaine, the Retail Association of Maine, Maine Summer Camps, the Maine Campground Owners Association and the Maine State Golf Association.

The goal of the Maine Tourism Career Center, which can be found at mainetourismjobs.com, is to be a central resource for Maine's tourism-related jobs, according to a news release.

Tony Cameron, CEO of the Maine Tourism Association, said it’s more than a conventional job board.

“The key to our success is the partnership with these other great organizations,” Cameron said. “With everyone’s buy-in, we can offer tourism job seekers a single site where they can learn about all of the great career opportunities in Maine, as well as understand all of the career pathways available to those who work in tourism.”

The online center will include full-time and seasonal job listings for employers to advertise positions.

Job seekers can upload resumes, search for job opportunities, connect directly with employers, and sign up to receive weekly job alerts from their fields of interest.

A career coach is available to assist with writing a resume. Job seekers can also find information on career pathways within all segments of the tourism industry, as well as tips for interviewing, resumes and networking.

There is no cost to the job seeker to utilize the services. Businesses that are members of any of the coalition associations can utilize the center at a discounted price.

The coalition will promote career opportunities in Maine’s tourism industry to job seekers both in and out of state, said Kathryn Ference, director of workforce development for the Maine Tourism Association.

“While there likely won’t be a shortage of Maine employers posting job openings, the challenge is getting a strong pool of job seekers interested in working in Maine to populate the resume bank,” Ference said. “To address this challenge, there will be a social media campaign in and out of state to drive people to the virtual Career Center.”

The center will also be presented to high school and college students in Maine, she noted.

Mari O’Neil, director of the Maine Business Education Partnership, the workforce development arm of the Retail Association of Maine, said her association expects the center will help connect businesses with qualified candidates searching for employment in the career paths that exist in the retail field.

“Retail is one of Maine's largest private employment sectors, employing more than 80,000 people,” she added.

Kathy Dyer, executive director of the Maine Campground Owners Association, said having an online tourism career center specific to the needs of both the employer and employee will be a useful tool for campground owners and others to find staff for the coming tourism season.

"A new site dedicated to hospitality jobs in Maine could be the missing link in the hospitality hiring chain,” said Matt Lewis, CEO of HospitalityMaine. “It's one crucial step in solving the chronic labor shortage this sector sustains year after year.”