Easter is usually that time of year when many professionals take the opportunity to relax for a few days. For others, on the contrary, it is a job opportunity, with the hope that the contract will be extended until summer.

The forecasts made by Randstad is that 162,500 new contracts will be signed during Holy Week, a 7.6% increase over the previous year, which totalled 151,000. These figures allow us to expect one of the best Easter campaigns in recent years. Another Human Resources agency, Adecco, has the same expectations. According to their figures, a total of 141,493 new contracts will be signed over the next days.

“The later Holy Week falls, the better the weather tends to be and, therefore, hotel reservations tend to increase. In addition, this contributes to the lengthening of the contracts as the Easter campaign merges with the summer campaign”, explains Luis Pérez, director of Institutional Relations at Randstad.

As Spain is a tourist destination, the sectors connected with this activity will be the ones with greater demand. Hotels and restaurants, leisure, transport… are the fields in which jobs will presumably be created during Easter. However, companies are not only looking for waiters, although these profiles are clearly in great demand. They also need other types of professionals, such as cooks, kitchen assistants, room service waiters, receptionists, tourist guides, porters… all jobs linked to tourism.

Fluency in languages is also one of the skills most frequently demanded by companies. An obvious requirement, considering that most jobs are related to foreign tourism. Furthermore, prior experience in the sector is an added value for Human Resources departments.

A path towards stable employment and additional income

“These contracts are a way to access the labour market and they serve to increase the employability of workers and their chances of finding a new job in the future”, says Pérez. “They are an opportunity for workers to be able to show their worth. Why miss out on the opportunity to be able to work even if it is for a short period of time?” Álvarez asks.

Prior to 2008, when the crisis began, the profiles of applicants for these jobs were mostly that of young people looking for their first opportunity or trying to obtain additional income. However, given the unemployment figures, the profile has changed considerably.

Now, in addition to students we have housewives or the long-term unemployed. They all have the same goal: find a job to provide some additional income for the family unit and that may help them to access the labour market for the first time or return to it after a period out of work.