It seems we are approaching another cycle of expat extinction judging by the number of enquiries and job searches in recent weeks.

There have been an unusually high number of expats looking for work from Macau with the government putting severe restrictions on the issuing of new work permits due to the difficult economic conditions in the province. This has resulted in many expats seeing an unexpected end to their positions after the completion of their contracts, where previously the extensions would have been routinely given.

Similar trends, but for different reasons, have been seen in some Middle Eastern countries where visa restrictions have become extreme, including the complete banning of certain nationalities from obtaining work visas. This has led to some employers shying away from hiring people born and raised in Europe (and with European nationality) just because their name sounded too Arabic…

The world is really going nuts if we start selecting people by their name and not their professional experience.

Whilst governments should be encouraging quality professionals to work in their countries to help improve the hospitality standards, these restrictions will potentially have long term negative implications on the growth and development of the industry.

Similarly, the shortsightedness and ego of employers in hardship locations with lots of money to build luxury hotels only backfires when the software (employees) are not matching the hardware (the many fantastic buildings) that we have seen and come to appreciate over recent years.

It seems clear we are living in fearful and economically precarious times – hopefully this will be a short term blip rather than the norm and the world will return to sane and prosperous times in the very near future…

See our previous article about the plight of expats in hospitality – “Has globalisation changed the fortunes of the expat hotelier forever?”

Elite Search is a leading hospitality recruitment firm. For more information about Elite Search visit http://www.elitesearch.com.au and The Elite Hotelier http://www.elitehotelier.net