You run a people-oriented business, a business dependent on not only customer service but the customer experience. Shouldn’t hiring the right staff be a top priority? Having a great team is crucial to your business’s success… Without the right employees, even the best business model is practically worthless.

What constitutes the right employees for restaurant and hospitality jobs? You need to ask yourself who are the people who will represent your brand and your vision? They’re the people who posses natural traits necessary for success specific to the hospitality industry. Traits don’t necessarily mean everyday skills, and should be highly considered when reviewing candidates throughout every step of the application and interview process for hospitality staffing. Things to consider when evaluating your hiring process:

• Teaching someone to be a people person isn’t something that just happens. While it’s something that can be developed overtime,  natural abilities to empathize with strangers,  to work well with others, and to express sincerity are innate traits often necessary as a hospitality employee, and should be considered a top priority in the evaluation of a potential candidate. 

• Evaluating experience vs. train-ability is key.  A highly experienced applicant can sound like a dream come true, but remember they were trained by someone else to fulfill that someone else’s vision.   We all love hiring someone who’s got the experience necessary to succeed quickly, but experience comes with habits, and those habits may not always be good ones.  Be sure emphasize your company’s protocols and expectations early in the hiring process.  If the traits we referenced earlier are strong in the applicant but the resume is thin, consider this a blessing in disguise.  This employee may have the potential to be your protege, and you have the opportunity to mold them as such!

• Comparing the successful traits and previous experiences of your best current personnel can be a great benchmark for acquiring quality new hires.  Take the time to make a list of the qualities that make up a great applicant profile based on what you’ve seen succeed for you in the past.  Once you’ve identified the traits and previous experiences that excel  in your business model, you’ll have a perfectly outlined road map to hiring the right staff necessary to to succeed in the hospitality industry.

We all know that a 100% hiring success rate is unattainable, but over time you’ll develop an “eye” for what works in your system, and you’ll find that your ability to not only evaluate talent has improved, but your ability to attract it as well!  On that note, remember to make it easy for your potential new talent to find you!  Leverage your brand and create a careers page on your website to attract qualified applicants, and use your social media following to drive traffic!  A great applicant tracking system can be a huge asset in your hiring process to not only increase applicant traffic, but help you manage and evaluate your next awesome hire!