Each edition of The Intelligent Hirer spotlights a leading voice in recruitment. This month, we sit down with Jasmine Brash, Head of People at Dakota Hotels, to get her honest take on the challenges, changes and non-negotiables shaping hiring in 2026.
When you look at recruitment in 2026, what feels different?
For Jasmine, the biggest shift is about perception as much as process. Hospitality has long battled a reputation problem and in 2026 that fight has moved front and centre. “It’s not just people knowing that you’re a good hospitality employer,” she explains. “You need to show that hospitality as an industry is attractive and a best place to work. It’s also important to make sure that you’re putting yourself up against other industries as well to show that hospitality does have career opportunities and is a good industry to work in.”
That means thinking beyond the traditional talent pool. “We’ve been reading different articles about attracting a broader and more diverse range of candidates. People are at different stages in their careers, or searching for a change and maybe looking to do something different. How about Dakota? Can I target that group of people and show them that maybe a career in hospitality for their next career could be something that would be good for them?”
What do candidates expect now that they didn’t before?
Control. Candidates in 2026 want ownership over how and when they work, and Jasmine believes hospitality is better placed to deliver that than most people realise. “It’s funny, because you have that thing, ‘oh, it’s late nights, it’s long hours,’ but it can also be one of the most flexible industries to work in dependant on your role and location.”
At Dakota, that’s backed up by real infrastructure. “You could work two days a week, you could work three days a week. It’s not like we’re an industry where everyone’s working Monday to Friday, nine till five and there is no flexibility. You could say I am willing to work between X time and X time on these days and there’s probably a department where you could fit into.”
The technology makes it tangible. “We’ve got the tech that means it’s not like phoning up, ‘Can I get an extra shift?’ You can just pick them up straight on the app that’s on your phone.”
Where are you personally spending most of your time this year?
On integration. For Jasmine, making the end-to-end recruitment workflow seamless isn’t a nice-to-have; it’s a strategic priority. “Any of our workflows have to be smooth and all of the systems have to integrate together. Even from the point of view that your advert goes straight to Hire Intelligence, then when the person’s hired your system then has to integrate to your workforce management solution. Start to finish, that workflow has to be so fast and all of it needs to be integrated, because you need to have the time face to face with the team member. That’s the most important thing.”
What are the biggest pressures on your recruitment team?
Time and accountability. “When you’ve got 750 team members, logging into individual job boards goes pretty low down on the priority list. I don’t want to spend all of my afternoons logging into different job boards and trying to work out was that the right investment. When you’re having conversations with the directors, I need to actually be able to say, ‘Okay, this is the data. This is why I spent this. And look at this return.'”
What has become non-negotiable in your hiring process?
Data. “Previously I couldn’t really make data-driven decisions. I was spending a lot of money on big contracts. You’re spending big commitments and you don’t know if that’s even going to be successful. Just because last year it worked really well with a particular job board doesn’t mean that this year is going to be great with that job board. That’s obviously not how you should work.”
Is there anything you have deliberately stopped doing in 2026?
“The thing we’ve moved away from is those old-school huge contracts that you had with different job boards.What we’ve moved towards is greater flexibility in how we allocate our recruitment budget which looks different depending on the department and the role. I can take that whole budget that I previously would have split between four different job boards, have it all with Hire Intelligence, and then just spend it where I want on the one platform.”
What does a great candidate experience look like at Dakota in 2026?
Jasmine points to authenticity over aspiration. “Sometimes it’s, ‘I’ve worked at Dakota for 13 years and I started as a grill assistant and now I’m the Head of People.’ Or the person at Dakota Glasgow who started as the sous chef and now he’s the general manager of our city centre property. We’re trying to make sure that we’re shouting about those stories, because it demonstrates what you’re saying you’re doing.”
Crucially, the commitment has to be real once someone joins. “It’s great to say, ‘We’re a great place to work, come and develop with us.’ But once they’re with you, make sure that they understand what the learning and development journey is and the career pathway, so that people who want that career progression know how to get it as well.”
How important is employer brand in a competitive hospitality market?
Transformational, according to Jasmine. Dakota has invested heavily in awards and industry accreditations over recent years, and the results are measurable. “People actually mention it at their interviews. Sometimes you question putting yourself forward for these things? Is it even worthwhile doing it? But actually people do mention it during the interview process. So obviously it is attracting people to work for us.”
The strategy now deliberately reaches beyond hospitality rankings. “In the last three years we’ve also tried to expand that into avenues that aren’t hospitality-based. The Sunday Times does a best places to work, and we’ve put ourselves forward for that and have successfully been named in that as well.”
What role does authenticity play in attracting the right people?
It is the whole strategy. “Yes, we’re saying Dakota’s a great place to work, we’ve got these accolades, and this is what we tell you that we do. But also, what are the stories and what are the journeys that people have been on, so that actually it demonstrates what you’re saying you’re doing.”
Dakota also works closely with Springboard, running immersive experience days that let prospective candidates see a hospitality career up close before they apply. “You’ll maybe have the chef come, the head bartender come, or the reception manager come and share their story of what a career in hospitality can look like from where they started to where they are now.”
Jasmine Brash represents a new kind of hospitality People leader: one who combines genuine care for the industry’s reputation with a rigorous, data-driven approach to how recruitment is run day to day. From championing Springboard partnerships and industry awards to overhauling how Dakota’s recruitment budget is spent, her focus is always on what can actually be proven to work. As Dakota prepares to open its seventh property, it is clear that the people strategy behind that growth is anything but accidental.
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