The Gym Group is seeking staff from the hospitality sector to help fuel its expansion as the gym chain looks to inject extra dynamism and personality on the gym floor.

With plans to expand by 15-20 sites during 2016, recruitment is a key area for The Gym Group and the company is eager to bulk up the ‘soft skills’ of its staff to improve services for members.

Interpersonal or ‘soft skills’ have traditionally been an achilles heel for the health club sector and many observers believe these qualities require greater prominence within industry qualifications. A December 2014 survey from Premier training International found that the lack of soft skills possessed by young personal trainers is one of the biggest concerns for physical activity employers.

Eager to overcome this issue, The Gym Group last year put all of its staff through a course on customer interaction and is looking to bring in new recruits from other service sectors such as hospitality.

“Compared to the hotel and restaurant sectors there’s a lot we in the gym industry need to learn in terms of customer interaction,” The Gym Group CEO John Treharne told Health Club Management.

“I’ve always found it ridiculous that someone can become a REPs Level 3 fitness instructor in just weeks. So now, we’re recruiting from areas such as hospitality where staff possess the soft skills that we’re lacking. And then we train them up.

“In my experience, soft skills are the hardest things to train. We find our most successful managers are naturally gregarious and outgoing – traits which are very difficult to teach people – so it’s certainly an advantage if new starters have this already.”