Learn How To Start Hiring Employees Like A Seasoned Restaurant Owner

The foodservice industry is a volatile industry. In foodservice, employees turnover as quickly as McDonald’s turns tables. One minute Jerry is your new pastry chef, the next minute he’s filing his resignation. What can I say? That’s just the way it goes.

I can tell you two things though. First is that, as a restaurant owner, you need to learn to roll with the punches. Don’t take your losses to heart. Instead focus on your human resources programs. Which brings me to my second advice—basically, tips on how you can reduce training costs and increase efficiency by improving your hiring campaign.

1.    Cast a wide net
Don’t hold back on your advertisements. As the restaurant owner, whenever you have an opening, get the word out, I mean really out, so you get the most number of candidates possible. The more people that shows up, the more likely you’ll find the right candidate.

2.    Use multiple media, such as:

• Word-of-mouth by your existing employees
• Internet postings (careerbuilder.com and craigslist.com are good sources)
• Paper classifieds

3.    Screen carefully
Going over every resume and interviewing every candidate takes a lot of time and effort if you want to do a good job with it. But it all pays off in the end. Take it from me. A little careful screening goes a long way in helping you save money down the line.

Here are a couple things you, the restaurant owner, should look into during the screening process.

Revelant job experience. This is one of the most important things you need to remember about being an employer and restaurant owner. The more experienced a person is at the job, the faster he or she’ll be able to plug in to your operation.

Interview. You should ask questions that require more than just one or two words to answer. Ask questions that would help you understand the candidate’s views on his prospective job and, even better, how he stands in his life right now. Pare down the candidates and conduct a second interview if necessary.

Structure the interview process so that everyone who’ll be working with the new employee is involved in some way.

Salary requirements. I recommend you to just go straight out and ask the candidate his or her minimum salary requirements. This will help you make a better decision later on.

“Now you know,” says Manny Pacquiao. Now get out there and start hiring employees like a real restaurant owner.