Seven Recipe Tips to Win the Best Brew of Candidates

The act of hiring is part art, part science and filled with uncertainties. Every restaurant manager knows recruiting the right people for the right job can make or break an eatery. Mistakes made when seeking out employees can cost a great deal of money and it’s safe to say a heavy percentage of the business’s productivity and the revenues it generates depend on the strength of its employee base. Therefore, it goes without saying that hiring personnel should be considered top priority. Successful restaurant managers or entrepreneurs realize that investing in people is just as important as investing in ideas. Aside from poor management, troublesome, unhappy or incompetent employees, poorly trained workers, an unhealthy work environment, or rapid turnover can all easily make any organization more prone to collapse.

So how can you prevent a collapse at your restaurant? Simple, by observing a few practices in the hiring process that will make the job easier and the chances of success much more likely. Some practices considered best for the purpose include the following seven tips.

Conducting Group Interviews

To increase chances for the selection process to be a smooth one, you should consider having more than one interviewer present. Reason being, we have come to the realization that every candidate is different. Some candidates are introverts and may be hesitant or intimidated by one interviewer other than the other. Or they may be an extrovert, someone who is a little more outspoken and eager.

Either way, having multiple interviewers allows different perspectives from the interviewers. By having more than one interviewer, each with a different personality type you can see firsthand how the candidate interacts with varying personalities. The candidate having trouble engaging with both personality types is probably not going to be your must desirable pick. Employees should be social and should be able to communicate with any and all types of personalities.

Conducting Follow-Up Interviews

Often, candidates prepare for the first interview more keenly than they do for the follow up. If this trait is shown these individuals should no longer be considered for the position. Conversely, some candidates put in the same amount of effort, if not more in preparing for the follow up; these are the kind of candidates you want.

Successful restaurant managers realize investing in people is just as important as investing in ideas.

Conducting a follow-up interview allows the interviewee a chance to shake off their nerves and it helps provide the interviewer a more concise picture of the candidate’s personality and character traits. In addition, it gives both a second chance to cover any missed questions; it allows an interviewer another chance to ask the same question to ensure the candidate actually knew what they were talking about. Another perk for conducting a follow up interview is changing the environment where you’re conducting a follow up interview. For instance, moving the interview setting can change the atmosphere, making it far more comfortable. If the interviewees feel more relaxed then they’ll be able to showcase themselves more effectively, thus improving the quality of all your interviews. Additionally, by changing the venue of the interview it’ll introduce the idea of variety early on, which will help employees prepare for what awaits them: working with different types of people in many places.

Use Social Media

These days, advancements in the internet have made it so easy to look for a job and to look for people to do a job for you. Taking a moment to review a potential candidate’s online profile can be very insightful. A candidate’s online presence whether on LinkedIn, Facebook or Twitter allows the employers to essentially take a peek into the employees’ activities and behaviors and see if they are a good match.

Follow Up with References

When completing your due-diligence, make sure one of the top priorities is to conduct a reference check. Reference checks are amazing sources to hear about the candidate through a management perspective. As you go through your questions you should always have an objective in mind. Your questions should be formulated in a way to gather a clear precise picture of the prospective candidate. Keep in mind that an employer can’t give a bad reference check; which is why you should generally conduct at lease a minimum of three reference checks. In general, once you hire someone they represent your restaurant. Also, their personality will greatly reflect on the activity and performance of your business. Therefore, gaining some insight on how their previous employer viewed them can be of great value since it’ll provide a good picture of how they will perform and influence your business. Honesty, work ethic, attitude, dedication and other such characteristics pertaining to the employee can all be evaluated on the basis of their provided personal reference. Are they reliable? Are they responsible? What kind of attitude do they have on the work premises and otherwise? Are they social? What sorts of communication skills do they possess? These are some of the questions that can be answered by a personal reference, perhaps more accurately than the candidate.

Utilize an Aptitude Test

One of the easiest practices to sort through a group of potential candidates is to conduct an aptitude test. These tests are generally designed to be specific to your role or industry that you are in. It grants the employer an opportunity to become aware of the candidate’s knowledge. For example, a test can focus on Forecast, Budgeting, Cost of inventory, financial statement, accounts receivable and bad debts expenses. A reliable source to gather an aptitude test would be Accounting Coach.com.  

Immerse the Candidate

The working environment is a key attraction to potential candidates. Incorporating a tour (either physical or virtual) is highly important. The tour provides an employer the opportunity to showcase their establishment and the current employees that are working there. On the other hand, it gives the go ahead for the employer to get a firsthand glance of the potential candidate’s knowledge of the working space. Furthermore, taking a tour with the candidate will work as a two-fold. Seeing how interested the candidates are in the company; and also giving you the opportunity to observe how your current employees receive the potential candidate.

Ask the Right Questions

When creating questions for the interview, you should always be mindful of using the right questions for the right situation. For example: An open ended question is used to allow the interviewee a chance to elaborate on a particular point. Whereas a close ended question will subdue the interviewee answer and keep it direct and to the point. A great example of an open ended question would be “Tell me a little about yourself.”  On the other hand a great close ended question would be “Were you ever in charge of a team before? You generally, always want to follow the 20/ 80 rule structure. Allow the interviewee the opportunity to speak 80 percent of the time and leaving yourself with only 20 percent. By applying this rule, you will gain more in-depth insight into a perspective candidate.

Lastly, candidates who show great interest in your company, who provide suggestions, who are team orientated, ambitious and well-spoken should always be given priority over others who lack these qualities. These are the traits that make an organization achieve its goals and objectives. Why? Because the candidates who possess these qualities, consider the company’s goals their own.