“Cocktail lounge attendant” isn’t the sort of job one often sees for a senior living community, but Atria Senior Living’s Coterie Cathedral Hill is not a typical senior living community. The San Francisco luxury property, which opened in the spring, is drawing employees from a variety of work and educational backgrounds to fill niche positions.
chief human resources officer (Courtesy of Atria Senior Living)
“At Coterie, luxury senior living customers expect a one-of-a-kind dining and cocktail experience. To do so, we worked with a master sommelier and are hiring a cocktail attendant to deliver a well-balanced food and wine menu,” Karen Sheean, chief human resources officer at Atria Senior Living, told the McKnight’s Business Daily. “This position is one way we are hiring differently at Coterie to deliver the quality, luxury experience Coterie residents expect.”
Coterie is one of a family of brands that includes Atria Senior Living and Holiday by Atria, formerly Holiday Retirement. Atria acquired Holiday about a year ago.
Sheean said that growth opportunities exist at each level of employment, from frontline caregivers to wait staff to cocktail lounge attendant to department directors to regional support. Sometimes, she said, filling positions and finding the ideal people means hiring workers from diverse and eclectic backgrounds.
“Our industry is a fast-moving, fast-evolving one,” Sheean said. “We know the best work comes from having the best people in the room. The best people can be hired from different industries, too — hospitality, restaurants, healthcare, fitness and educational backgrounds.”
For example, she said, one Atria chef chose a job in senior living after working in restaurants, and an executive director at one property joined Atria after working as a licensed behavioral psychologist.
“To recruit the best talent to our communities, it takes more than creative job titles, but we have those, too, including engage life director, digital innovation director and food and beverage director,” Sheean said.
