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Recruiting to Retain
Despite the perennial rainy weather, Scotland continues to attract visitors from far and wide, as well as those closer to home. The hospitality industry plays a central role in attracting tourists and creating a warm and welcoming impression for visitors to the country. Front-of-house staff are the face of the hospitality industry, and how they perform their customer-service duties can make or break an enterprise. Identifying the right people is therefore essential, particularly when it comes to managers.
Kam Jardine outlines how to find the perfect employee…
Running a successful business that will attract customers and clientele isn't merely about providing great accommodation, food and drink; it is equally important to ensure your staff are well-qualified, enthusiastic and skilled, or the customer experience may be very different to how they had first hoped it might be.
It is important to discover early on in the selection process what motivates a particular candidate and to determine where their aspirations lie. By examining their employment history and identifying the kind of environment in which they thrive, you can select roles for them which will create and nurture enthusiasm. Consultants can then match the candidates with positions that will best utilise their skills and experience, resulting in a happier employee, better team camaraderie, and greater staff-retention.
From a client's perspective, it is just as important to visit their premises and to obtain a feel for the company in question, and to find out what its ethos and objectives are. Understanding the clients’ needs is key to securing the right candidates for them.
However, in this tumultuous economic climate, selecting the best-qualified person for the job may no longer be enough to retain talent. Having listened to candidates and clients over the years, it is clear that a long-term strategy needs to be adopted, which essentially means going back to basics.
This, together with simple succession-planning, is the key to disproving the misconception that the hospitality industry is a transient one – and it will also help to promote the fact that it can provide a great career choice for anyone with enthusiasm, determination and drive.
Kam Jardine is a specialist in front-of-house recruitment at Search.
Visit www.search.co.uk for more information.
This article has been edited from its original version. For the complete feature, please see Catering in Scotland magazine February/March 2008.
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