Hospitality consultant Alison Arth shares her top 10 tips for hiring the best restaurant employee when filling open roles.
If you don’t hire the right people, your restaurant business won’t be successful. It really is that simple. Your people are your biggest asset, and in our industry they’re often the scarcest resource. With that in mind, you need to have a strategy in place for identifying the most qualified candidates before starting the hiring process.
Developing and executing a hiring strategy requires a significant investment of time and energy, but skipping it will cost you big time in the long run through frequent employee turnover, negative guest experiences and brand inconsistency.
This article outlines 10 key tips for bringing on the best team members for your new restaurant.
1. Define greatness
Never assume that all of your managers have the same definition of what makes a good restaurant employee. Sit down with them before conducting the first interview to collectively establish the core values that all employees and team members will need to possess.
2. Post specific and informative job ads
The ads that you post should include keywords describing your company culture as well as your restaurant’s concept, style of service, projected opening date and any relevant specifics regarding job description and schedule requirements. Ads for open roles should be professionally presented and shared through multiple channels (online, job boards, word of mouth and social media).
3. Have at least two managers interview every candidate
Passing over a great candidate can be as big of a loss as hiring a bad one, so make sure that you’re taking more than one person’s opinion into account. Managers should sync up between interviews to highlight any areas of concern for others to further investigate. This practice also ensures hiring managers all have buy-in, so no team members are brought on board because one manager lobbied for them.
4. Develop a core set of interview questions
Assembling a thoughtful list of questions designed to determine whether a candidate shares your values and uncover details of their professional experiences will eliminate haphazard interviewing and keep the process objective. It will also ensure that your interviews are efficient and will immediately demonstrate your level of professionalism to the applicant.
Online resources provide a good starting point for key restaurant interview questions to ask your candidates. Make sure you tailor these to the role you’re hiring for.
5. Take notes
This is particularly important when you’re interviewing for an opening team because you’ll be meeting with applicants constantly. It’s easy to forget how you felt about someone or mix them up with a different person when you’re in the throes of pre-opening onboarding.
6. Attitude is king
Skills and information can be taught, but a person’s attitude usually cannot be altered. Don’t let yourself be wooed by an impressive resume if the applicant is missing any of the core values your team has collectively established as critical. Remember that an interview is a controlled, deliberate presentation of a person; if they are not projecting positively in this setting, how will they behave under pressure?
7. Train managers to assess physical cues
Train hiring managers to read between the lines. If an interviewee is describing how friendly and warm their service style is, but they’ve barely cracked a smile since walking through the door, don’t assume that they will suddenly change when they are on the floor. When you ask why they left their last position and they avoid eye contact, dig deeper.
8. Make interviewing a two-way street
Interviews are, of course, about identifying great candidates, but you can never overlook the fact that candidates are also evaluating you. B on time, read their resume beforehand, and dress appropriately – it will go a long way to creating a strong impression of what can be expected if they come on board. You’ll want your managers to always be putting their best foot forward to ensure that when you come across qualified candidates, you’re able to hire them.
9. Check references without exception
Ask every candidate you’re seriously considering to provide you with professional references. Let the applicant know up front that you will need to hear back from their referees in order to move forward with the hiring process. No matter how great someone seems or how strongly you connect with them, do not skip this step. You don’t want to learn this lesson the hard way.
10. Aim for balance
In order to select great people, you must first decide what essential qualities an employee should have to deliver the best iteration of your brand experience and positively contribute to your company culture. Restaurant openings are a rare and valuable opportunity to hire a group of aligned people from the get-go, so it’s crucial that your leaders use an organised process to determine which candidates are the right fit for your opening team.
