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3 Reasons It May Just Be Harder Than Ever to Hire

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Staffing and keeping a restaurant staffed is possibly the most difficult task managers and owners constantly face. Turnover is nearly what the hospitality industry is known for. Regardless whether hiring back- or front-of-the-house positions, it may be harder than ever to staff restaurants.

 

Here’s three reasons why some hospitality industry experts believe it’s harder than ever to staff:

  1. More people are looking for jobs because of the status of the economy, but means there’s less people with experience to hire. The ex-sales manager, teacher, lawyer, etc. are looking for any position, even if a complete career changes. Less experience doesn’t always count as a disadvantage, but sure can lead to longer trainings and more direct management needed until they have significant industry experience. Weigh out the pros and cons of hiring and applicant with no hospitality industry experience.

 

  1. Chefs are always looking for good cooks, but with more applicants who have completed culinary school, their demand for higher pay is greater than ever. With a demand for higher pay, their skills should match, but that’s not always fact. Regardless of schooling, experience is the best style of learning. Finding a balance to pay what’s appropriate for keeping each employee happy with what’s possible financially can be a great challenge.

 

  1. Employees formerly accepted one job and kept it for years, even decades – a sense of pride developed over time about the company they worked for and how they advanced. Today, more than ever employees are exercising their rights and embracing their inner adventure spirit and moving from job to job. The average time a candidate spends at one job in the hospitality industry is six months or less.

 

Perhaps that bottom line is, most people don’t want to work. In today’s world less is more – and work ethic seems to follow that directly. Employees can be extremely unreliable and have no sense of drive to accomplish and carry your business forward.

 

Hiring is a beast for most. Finding dedicated job applicants that have experience and work ethic as parallels is no easy task. What do you think, is it harder than ever to hire?

Tips For Hiring

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©istock.com/michaeljung
©istock.com/michaeljung

Restaurants and commercials kitchens often have a high turnover rate of employees and making new employee hires and training is a constant chore for managers.

 

A few tips and basics can help to maximize retention and reduce turnover, which in the end reduces cost and improves productivity for the business as a whole.

 

When you have a job opening, it’s always best to spread wide the notice for hiring. Using a recruitment agency can help to maximize and reach the largest candidate pools and help you find the ideal next hire along with not sucking up all your time searching for top candidates.

 

Once there are candidates for screening, there’s a few key factors we know are best to look for – and here’s why!

 

Relevant Job Experience. The more time a candidate has had a similar experience, the less time they’ll take to train for superior work habits.  However, be sure and catch if their job changes are frequent  and the root as to why all the changes i.e. bad attitude, laziness, etc.

Salary Expectations.  Candidates who have reasonable expectations for compensation show experience and knowledge about the job/ industry. When candidates expect much higher pay and have to take a job that doesn’t meet their needs, the working relationship instantly begins under pressure and frustrations.

 References. There’s nothing more telling about a possible employee than what formers employers or co-workers think. Get in touch and ask questions that matter and will give good insight into the candidates past.

Set a positive example. All else goes wasted if during the hiring and retention process if  you yourself as a manager no not set a positive example.  Create the work environment that you would want to work in – high values, mutual support and respect, and a place that values constructive criticism.   A strong and positive work environment will reduce employee turnover and improve customer service.

Am I a Good Manager – Questions to Ask Yourself

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So you’ve been a manager for a while, maybe weeks maybe decades. Whatever the timeframe, we can all use a little gut check to get back in line with what it takes to be a top hospitality industry manager. We’ve outlined a few interview questions we’ve recycled here for you to do a little asking of yourself.

 

 

-What’s your biggest achievement as a restaurant manager been?

-What big things were you trying to achieve this past year?

-What were your staffing goals for this past year? How’s they turn out?

-What’s an example of a goal you didn’t meet? How come? How did you respond to that?

-What will success look like for your restaurant this year?

-How can you ensure that success to happen?

-What are the biggest obstacles your team will face this year?

-How has your management philosophy evolved as you’ve gained more management experience?

-What does the balance between not micromanaging but still being involved enough to be able to catch problems early on look like?

-When was the last time you fired someone? How many people in the past two years have your fired? Why?

-The best manager generate complaints from employees – so what complaints have you received and how can you change those to positives?

HIRING THE BEST TO RECRUIT YOUR BEST HIRES:

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It’s simple, we recruit the best, most qualified leadership talent for top hospitality organizations across the western U.S. and British Columbia.  But to do that, we’ve worked hard for years to be accomplished, polished, trained and equipped to spot the right candidates.

It’s important for you to know who we’re recognized by, a little credentials goes a long ways when it’s your time and company depending on top talent to be found. We’re not the usual restaurant recruitment firm. We find people not typically found through traditional channels because we’ve been trained to do that.

Hiring the best staffing service will make a huge impact on your company and lead to you feeling confident with each new hire.  Be sure and not wait until your staffing needs are urgent to research and find the right recruiters/ staffing service for you.  Give yourself time and know who you’re calling to recruit when it’s time to hire.

Here’s Pacific Coast Hospitalities Affiliates:

  • National Assoc. of Personnel Services (NAPS) logo
  • National Association of Personnel Services logo
  • National Restaurant Association logo
  • Oregon Restaurant & Lodging Association logo
  • California Restaurant Association logo
  • Hawaii Restaurant Association logo
  • Alaska Cabaret , Hotel, Restaurant & Retailer's Association logo
  • British Columbia Restaurant & Food Services Association logo
  • Washington Restaurant Association logo

Spice Up Your Resume So You Can Spice Up in the Kitchen

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resume
©istock.com/PaulPaladin

It’s a first impression – your resume is who you are without ever meeting the recruiter looking to place candidates.  So it’s essential whether you’re writing your first resume or revising it for a mid- career job search that you avoid the most common pitfalls.

  1. Typos and grammatical errors

    2. Your resume should be grammatically perfect. Employers will instantly see the mistakes and read between the lines to assume your lack of detail or level of commitment to excellence. Alter your resume to be perfect – spelling, punctuation and formatting.

  2. Highlighting duties, rather than accomplishments

    3. It’s easy to comply list the start and end dates of each job you’ve held- but employers don’t care so much about what you’ve done, but rather what activities/ projects you’ve accomplished.

    Outline big projects of events you’ve worked to accomplish. Include details on the scope of work and skills required to complete those. What makes what you did above the rest of those applying? Tell that.

  3. Don’t miss the specifics

    4. Employers need to understand what you’ve accomplished and how you’re experienced. For example:

    • Worked with employees in a restaurant.
    • Recruited, hired, trained and supervised more than 50 employees in a restaurant with $1 million is annual sales.

    Both of these tell the same person, yet one states details, and details matter.

  4. Choose verb actions with care

    5. Avoid using the phrases “responsible for”, instead, use action verbs like “resolved”, “developed”, “managed”, etc.

  5. Include all information

    6. It may seem logical to eliminate odd jobs held while in school or in-between jobs. But those are important too – they show a variety of skills you hold and may directly relate to the position you’ve applied for. Don’t be afraid to list the odd ends of your career path-  in come cases, variety is attractive to hiring companies.

  6. Get your contact information correct

    7. What would be the point of submitting a resume if your contact info was incorrect? Your resume may be incredibly strong, but if you can’t be easily contacted, you chances of getting an interview decrease.

On the Road and Back with Hires In-between:

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Over the past month, Pacific Coast Hospitality, has attend elite career expos at both Washington State and Cal Poly Pomona. There we have worked to recruit and hire graduating students along with alumnus who have attended the nation’s top hospitality management schools obtaining the skills and experience needed to lead a lasting career.

Our invitation to hospitality career expos like these with the top skills and training is what makes Pacific Coast Hospitality the best recruitment service for all pacific coast hospitality hires.

WSU School of Hospitality
The Collins College of Hospitality Management 2

The Collins College of Hospitality Management

 

Evaluating Your Seasonal Staff: Who Should Stay & Who Should Go?

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Like most hospitality organizations, you hired seasonal staff for the holiday seasons or will hire additional summer staff to help with the busy times of business.  Having friendly staff serving guest on your restaurant’s patio is always a great time of the year- but what happens when the winter comes and the patio closes? Those hires must move on, or be hired permanently.  Quickly after temps are hired, it’s easy to evaluate the newest hires performance levels and who you’d want to keep around.
Hiring from temp to permanent is a great way to “test the waters” – see how each hire works, responds to circumstances and accepts positive criticism.  Are they the kind of employee you want others to model after? If so, it might be time to make a long-term commitment to a few of those season hires.
According to the annual Snagajob.com hiring forecast, major U.S. retailers and hospitality groups could keep as many as fifty percent of their seasonal employees after the winter holidays, turning them into permanent hires.  Seasonal employment offers companies a chance to evaluate a worker’s efforts before making a long-term commitment.
Here are some tips for choosing whether or not to change the seasonal hires to permanent hires:
 
1. Find out the level of interest of seasonal hires and their long-term plans. Hold conversations to gage their intentions and if hired on post season, they will be around and worth your investment.
 
2. Look at an employee’s productivity and examine the numbers as well as their work ethic – punctuality, attitude with fellow employees, etc. Choose the seasonal hires that are the whole package and will produce the best results for what your goals are.
 
3. Take time and talk with your recruiter – as experienced staffing professionals, Pacific Coast Hospitality, we have recruited and placed hospitality professionals for years and can help to gage what temp hires would be the best converts to permanent staff that would help fit your company’s strategic staffing goals.
 
 

Evaluating Your Seasonal Staff: Who Should Stay & Who Should Go?

by

Like most hospitality organizations, you hired seasonal staff for the holiday seasons or will hire additional summer staff to help with the busy times of business.  Having friendly staff serving guest on your restaurant’s patio is always a great time of the year- but what happens when the winter comes and the patio closes? Those hires must move on, or be hired permanently.  Quickly after temps are hired, it’s easy to evaluate the newest hires performance levels and who you’d want to keep around.

Hiring from temp to permanent is a great way to “test the waters” – see how each hire works, responds to circumstances and accepts positive criticism.  Are they the kind of employee you want others to model after? If so, it might be time to make a long-term commitment to a few of those season hires.

According to the annual Snagajob.com hiring forecast, major U.S. retailers and hospitality groups could keep as many as fifty percent of their seasonal employees after the winter holidays, turning them into permanent hires.  Seasonal employment offers companies a chance to evaluate a worker’s efforts before making a long-term commitment.

Here are some tips for choosing whether or not to change the seasonal hires to permanent hires:

 

1. Find out the level of interest of seasonal hires and their long-term plans. Hold conversations to gage their intentions and if hired on post season, they will be around and worth your investment.

 

2. Look at an employee’s productivity and examine the numbers as well as their work ethic – punctuality, attitude with fellow employees, etc. Choose the seasonal hires that are the whole package and will produce the best results for what your goals are.

 

3. Take time and talk with your recruiter – as experienced staffing professionals, Pacific Coast Hospitality, we have recruited and placed hospitality professionals for years and can help to gage what temp hires would be the best converts to permanent staff that would help fit your company’s strategic staffing goals.