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Employees Quit – Here’s Why:

June 25, 2014 by PCHblog

Employee turnover sets every business back for a number of reasons – it’s expensive, but it’s also disruptive to regular operations for the business.

Avoid employee turnover by first discovering why employees are leaving – what’s the cause for rapid quitting and can be it changed? Act on those changes that can in the future prevent quitting.

On average, the reason employees quit isn’t just for a higher pay. There’s employees all over the world working for less pay because it’s a job they love. Pay rate matters, but it’s not everything. Seek out the real reasons the employees quit.

Here’s a few reasons we see employees quit:

Boss doesn’t trust his/ her employees

When hiring new employees it is essential to hire people you can trust, in and out of the office. Hiring employees that you can trust creates a value to the relationship and work that is to be completed. When employers can’t trust their employees- everyone is miserable. Employees are hired to do their job, so it’s best once trained that they do theirs, and the boss do his/ hers.

No real time off

As humans we often forget or flat out avoid that reality that we need rest to survive. It’s no wonder in American culture the rate of employees quitting is high – we’d bet mostly from burnout and employees never really having time off work. Ensure employees receive ample time off each year and reduce the risk of burnout and quitting.

Poison work environment/ co-workers

Half the battle of hiring is finding not only the correct talent, but a good fit for the culture of your business. Apart from the skills needed to perform the job- what type of person would you want working on your backline or serving the front-of-house? Be sure to include those characteristics on the job description as well. Let each interviewee know the style of establishment and how the current employees act. Ensuring the work environment is a good fit for each hire reduces quick quitting.

Lack of flexibility

Balance is key to success with employees – without the ability for employees to take the needed time off for family and personal events, they will quit. Plain and simple, people need to feel like their job enables flexibility.

PREP YOUR RESUME WITH THE HELP OF PCH

June 16, 2014 by PCHblog

Resumes are difficult. And each of us has felt this anxiety: “How do I create the perfect resume?” When you’re looking for a new position, the state of your resume can keep you up at night.

Is my resume ready for prime time? Is it good enough to get me an interview?

We’ll whip your resume into shape.

We’ve recruited for the restaurant industry for years. We’ve hired a small army of good managers for every imaginable position in every conceivable setting.

We speak and understand the language. We know what words to use and what kinds of skill sets hiring managers are looking for. We know what a good hospitality industry resume looks like. Which means we know how to help you describe your education and your skills to meet expectations and get interviews.

If you hire us to help with your resume, here’s what we’ll do.

Prepare your resume for digital and hard copy submission.
Arrange your information to showcase your strengths.
Describe your work experience and your education for best advantage.
Assess your history to determine the best type of resume to submit.
Place your contact information where recruiters like to see it.

The Rise of Social Recruiting:

June 2, 2014 by PCHblog

Hiring today looks different than it did 5 years ago, and will look different for the next 5 years and beyond. In today’s world social media is taking over the way the population as a whole from infancy to elders communicate and take care of life’s business. Likewise, the recruiting and hiring process has changed to meet the needs of an ever-changing digital age.

Here’s a few ways we’ve seen the industry change.

Social media is used as a new source for job postings and info. Companies are looking for candidates to hire and have forgone the former ways of advertising via newspapers and ads, but instead are posting up 140 character tweets letting the world know, “Help Wanted”. There’s social media accounts dedicated to solely posting job openings for companies – leading to connecting candidates with the hottest jobs.

The application process has altered from pen and paper to complete digital uploads and questionnaires. Many companies today also require personality test among other studies before an initial interview is even conducted. Technology allows employers to get to know a virtual version of each candidate upfront.

After applicants are selected for interviews, employers have also begun hosting online video interviews, rather than a standard live interview. This keeps employers time spent down to the bare essentials or candidates introducing themselves and answering a few short questions to rule out all unqualified candidates.

Here’s just a few ways we’ve seen hiring change, what ways have your experienced the impact of the digital world in hiring?

3 Reasons It May Just Be Harder Than Ever to Hire

May 7, 2014 by PCHblog

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:

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.

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.

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

May 2, 2014 by PCHblog

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

April 25, 2014 by PCHblog

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:

April 10, 2014 by PCHblog

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:

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

March 7, 2014 by Steve Weber, PCH

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.