WA's Hospitality Skills Shortage: What Perth Venues Are Actually Doing About It

The skills shortage in WA hospitality is not a new story. It has been building since the pandemic disrupted the workforce, accelerated by the departure of international workers during border closures, and compounded by the sustained growth of Perth's dining and hospitality scene. What is new is the degree to which operators are having to think strategically about talent, not just reactively, when a vacancy arises, but proactively, as a core part of running their business.

During the pandemic, a significant portion of WA's hospitality workforce left the industry or left the state. Those who left for other sectors or interstate locations have not returned in the numbers that were expected. The international student and working holiday visa pipelines, which had historically supplied a meaningful portion of kitchen and floor staff in Perth, were disrupted and are only partially restored.

At the same time, Perth's hospitality sector has continued to grow. New venues have opened. Tourism into Western Australia, both interstate and international, has increased. The South West in particular has experienced significant growth in visitor numbers, driven by wine tourism and the broader appeal of the region. This combination, a reduced workforce and an expanded sector, is what creates the structural shortage operators are navigating.

Simply posting on SEEK and waiting is, for many senior roles, no longer sufficient. The volume of applications has declined and the proportion of relevant applications has declined further. Operators who have relied on job boards as their primary channel are finding that the candidates they need, experienced chefs with genuine craft skills, floor managers capable of leading a team, senior baristas with real product knowledge, are not actively searching on those platforms.

Word of mouth, while still valuable, has similar limitations. It produces candidates who are known to someone in the team, but it depends on the right person being available and willing to move at the right moment. For urgent or specialist needs, it is unreliable.

The operators adapting most effectively are investing in their talent pipeline before they have an urgent need. They are building relationships with hospitality colleges, taking on trainees and apprentices with a genuine commitment to developing them, and thinking about career pathways rather than just roles to fill.

Retention has taken on greater strategic importance in this environment. When the pool of available candidates is smaller, every departure is more costly and harder to address. The venues investing seriously in culture, progression, and working conditions are, in practice, competing more effectively for the available talent.

Working with a specialist hospitality recruitment partner who has an active network in WA is producing results that job boards cannot. The best available candidates are often not actively searching, they are known to and trusted by the recruiters who work consistently in this specific market.

For operators in Margaret River, Busselton, Dunsborough, and surrounds, the shortage is acutely felt. Attracting candidates to regional roles requires addressing the practical barriers honestly: accommodation, transport, the lifestyle trade-offs involved in relocating. Venues that treat these factors as part of the offer, rather than expecting candidates to work them out independently, are finding it meaningfully easier to fill senior regional positions.

The shortage is not going to resolve itself in the short term. Operators who treat talent acquisition and retention as a strategic priority, rather than an administrative task, will be better positioned as the market continues to tighten. Those that invest in developing WA-based hospitality professionals from the ground up will find that investment paying returns for years.