"With a proactive & disciplined approach to hiring you can field the team best suited to help you realize your vision."
"With a proactive & disciplined approach to hiring you can field a team best suited to help you realize your vision."
Your team is your most valuable asset. They are the face of your brand and have a huge impact on the guest experience and ultimately, the success of your restaurant. Let's face it, we pour our heart and soul into opening a restaurant and hand it off to a bunch of strangers. Add a tight labor market to the equation and you have some real challenges.
However, by taking a proactive & disciplined approach to hiring you can take control and position your restaurant to field a team best suited to help you realize your vision.
In order to get in the drivers seat it is critical to hire "proactively" rather than "reactively." You know the difference, proactive hiring is hiring when you don't necessarily need to fill any role in your restaurant. It positions you to bring in great talent because you want them on your team, not because you need them on your team. The result leaves you in a position to move staff up the ladder in response to terminations and the like. Furthermore, you can hold your team accountable to your expectations without fear of being short staffed. Over time, you will begin to elevate the quality of and impact of your team. Today's top performer may be tomorrows middle performer. It's a powerful place to be as a manager or owner.
By comparison, hiring reactively is hiring when you "have" to hire someone...now! By necessity, you hire the first or second person you interview, often hiring on the spot and ignoring the warning signs that they might not be a good fit. We've all done it. It may work out but most likely you'll find yourself in the same situation a few weeks down the road.
Proactive hiring takes discipline. Make recruiting and hiring a part of your daily routine. Just as you work on your schedule, take inventory, hold pre meal meetings or meet with vendors, schedule multiple times each week to recruit, interview, hire and train. I always have a job posting on a well respected job site and monitor it often.
Get your team involved in hiring. Most likely you won't be working directly with your new hire. Why not have those who will get in on the excitement? Let your team know to expect a candidates arrival. Have them be on the lookout for clues that provide a glimpse into what working with this individual will be like. Are they polite? Do they smile? Do they say "please" and "thank you?" Do they ask interesting professional questions? This accomplishes two important things...First, it tells your existing team you trust and value their opinion. That has a positive impact on your culture. Second, candidates usually put their best foot forward during an interview. However, they are more likely to be "real" when interacting with others on your team. We want to see the "real" candidate.
Please, please, please...never hire on the spot! Hiring is a process in which we peel away the layers of the onion. Each interaction with a candidate brings us one step closer to understanding the true character and competencies of an applicant. Your interview process needs to include multiple steps. Have each candidate meet with an Assistant Manager or Floor Manager, then pass them on to the GM or Owner. After those series of meetings schedule a working interview with a valued team member. The goal here is to determine the following...will this candidate help you realize your vision? With the managers out of sight, they will be more likely to be their true self and give you a real understanding of who they are and the contributions they will be able to provide your team and your guests.
Hiring is one of the most important tasks a management team will perform as it has a massive impact on your business. Proactive hiring will require a change of habits and perhaps some new systems but will pay big dividends. Having a team on the floor that understands your vision and the role they play in helping you get there is critical to your success. By building a strong team, one person at a time, you will position your restaurant to attract and retain top talent. Good people want to work with good people. Good people want to be challenged, they want to learn & grow. Proactive hiring will take you one step closer to solving your labor related issues and allow you to focus on running your business.
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