The restaurant business is not for the faint of heart. Whether you’re a greasy spoon diner looking to build up clientele or you’re struggling to earn your first Michelin Star, it’s important that you focus on hiring restaurant employees to boost your business.
Turnover is Never Your Friend When Hiring Restaurant Employees
The restaurant industry has high turnover rates, which means that it’s inevitable you’ll lose some employees along the way. However, you need to keep a positive outlook and not resign yourself to steady turnover rates. Managers that take their time hiring restaurant employees can eliminate the potential for non-performing employees. By taking the time to interview the right candidates, you can avoid turnover-related personnel issues.
Structure and Standardize Interviews
It’s not uncommon for restaurants to have dozens of job interviews each month. To make sure that you’re making the most out of each interview, create a standardized template and follow a strict set of interview procedures. If applicants don’t provide satisfactory answers, eliminate them from the second round of interviews. Consider implementing a minimum of two interviews before hiring.
Star Performers
Before you get too involved in the hiring process, take a step back and ask what is your ideal employee? To help identify positive traits, look to your current top performers. Whether they work every ticket to the best of their ability or go the extra mile to ensuring customer satisfaction, these employees’ skills are critical to your restaurant’s success. If potential candidates do not possess the skills that your top employees do, nix them and move on.
Always Verify References
Always check references to confirm applicants’ work-related experiences and skills. You may catch some applicants in outright lies about their experience, so it’s better to find these things out during the reference check than later when you hire them. Some restaurants incorporate computerized personality tests to help identify hard-working, competent and honest candidates.
Future Leaders
You need to focus on hiring candidates that are strong leaders. You can’t manage every employee all day, which is why you need to hire employees that are self-starters, motivated and want to better themselves. Whether it’s hiring wait staff, line cooks, sous chefs or kitchen managers, implement a trial-by-fire audition that shows how well employees perform in the real world.
The key positions in your restaurant demand that you hire excellent employees. Using a combination of targeted interview questions and personality tests can help you assess suitable candidates. Your key employees should also be able to perform well under pressure. Hire the right employees for your restaurant and take your business to the next level.
Read more tips for hiring first-rate restaurant employees.
Ninja Gig provides online job application solutions. You can quickly post and advertise your job online, receive notifications of online applications and sort through applicants to find the most talented employees to interview. This will give you additional time to carefully interview potential candidates, as you can weed out applicants that do not have restaurant or leadership experiences. Sign up today for your free trial and you can start accepting job applications online within minutes.