Fighting back against the labor shortage means attracting, hiring, and retaining the right workers for your restaurant or pizzeria. Easier said than done, right? That’s why we’re taking the time to cover this important subject in a multi-part series.
Our last article shared 7 Tips for Attracting Workers to Your Restaurant. These tips focus on what you can do to generate more interest in working for your restaurant and increase the pool of job applicants. It includes offering a competitive wage and creative benefits, getting smart about where you post your job openings, creating an employee referral program, standing out in your community and on social media, and highlighting growth potential.
So, if you follow those tips, you should have a nice pool of job candidates who have applied for your position. What next? What things should you look for in job candidates? What questions will best help you evaluate their potential? What other techniques can you use to ensure you choose the right people?
That’s what we’ll cover in this article, as we share 5 creating hiring tips restaurant owners can use to find the best restaurant workers.
5 Creative Hiring Tips for Restaurant Owners
These creative hiring tips cover everything from what to look for in a candidate to the questions you should (and should not) ask to the extra things you can do to evaluate a candidate’s potential.
1. Hire for What You Can’t Train.
Chances are, you have a picture in your mind of your ideal job candidate. You’ll probably have to let that go (especially during a labor crisis!). Finding someone with the exact skills and experience you need is tough right now. So, an alternative is to hire for character and train for skill.
There are certain things you can’t teach an employee in your training programs. For example, you can’t train:
- Genuine interest in your restaurant and job position
- Shared values
- Emotional intelligence
- Drive
- Resilience
- Adaptability
- Curiosity
- Humility
- Integrity
Make a list of the non-teachable characteristics you’d like to see in the employees you hire, and design the interview process in a way that allows you to assess and evaluate these things.
2. Speed It Up
Another important hiring tip – especially for the current labor shortage – is to speed up the application and hiring process. In today’s job environment, job seekers have many excellent job options to choose from, and you can’t wait around if you want to hire top talent.
If you make the application process too complicated, job seekers will apply elsewhere. You can streamline the application process by limiting the number of questions you ask and making the application mobile-friendly so job seekers can apply on their smartphones.
And if you are slow to ask for an interview, the best job candidates might have already been hired by a competitor. Have a process for reviewing applications as soon as they come in and then follow up right away to schedule an interview. If you use a VoIP phone system, you can even use text messages to confirm an application is received and schedule an interview.
Finally, you’ll also want to decide quickly after the interview if you’ll hire the person or not. During this current labor shortage, job candidates aren’t waiting to hear back from you; they’re submitting more applications and going on more interviews. Make your evaluation process as efficient as possible so you can follow up with candidates within a day or two (or sooner if possible). At the end of the interview, let them know when they can expect a decision, so they aren’t left wondering. Speeding up your selection process can mean the difference between hiring top-notch restaurant employees and hiring whoever’s left.
2. Ask Interesting Questions
Boring and overused interview questions won’t get you the insight you need to make good hiring decisions. Here are some common interview questions that don’t work:
- Tell me about yourself. Although this is a common interview question, it wastes time because there is no direction. As the interviewer, you should strategically guide the process and select questions that allow you to get the specific information you need to make a decision.
- What is your biggest weakness? All job candidates have a canned response to this question. And most will choose a ‘weakness’ that isn’t ‘weak’ but makes them look good. For example, you’ll likely hear things like “I’m a perfectionist” or “I’m too dedicated.”
- Are you a team player? Or any other yes/no question where the answer is obvious. The candidate will almost always say yes because they know it’s what you want to hear. If you ask a question like this, follow up to get more details and specific examples.
Instead of asking the same old boring and ineffective questions, write out some interesting questions that get to the heart of what you want to know about the candidate. Here are some examples, and you can check out this article for more ideas.
- What are three things that are most important to you in a job? This will help you identify if there is a culture fit and if you can provide the type of workplace environment that will entice them to stay long-term.
- What skills do you think a restaurant worker needs to be effective? This will help you assess whether they understand what is required and expected of them if hired. You can follow up by asking them for examples that demonstrate if they have those skills.
- Give me an example of a challenge you faced during your last job and how you handled it. This will help you understand the candidate’s thought processing and how they address challenges.
4. Make It More Interactive
Another creative hiring tip for finding quality restaurant workers is to find ways to make the interview more interactive, so you have more information on which to evaluate the candidates you interview.
Asking questions is interactive, but it is not very dynamic, and it’s also one-sided. Here are some hiring tips restaurant owners can consider if they want to make the interview process more interactive.
- Take Them on a Tour: Show the job candidate around your restaurant or pizzeria so they can see what it’s like behind the scenes. Are they asking questions about what they see? Do they seem curious? How are they treating the employees they meet?
- Share a Meal: Perhaps it is possible to have a meal with the interviewee at your restaurant or pizzeria. It could be a cool perk of the interview! Plus, you’ll be able to evaluate how the candidate interacts with those who are serving them and their familiarity with your restaurant and menu.
- Let Them Ask Questions: Another way to make the interview more interactive is to flip the table and have the job candidate ask you questions. You can tell them about this part of the interview beforehand (so they can prepare) or just open up the table to questions before you conclude the interview.
5. Get Employees Involved
A final hiring tip restaurant owners can consider during the labor shortage (and beyond) will make the interview process more interactive for prospective and current employees. Here are some ways you can get employees involved:
- Trailing: Include some trailing time during your interview where the job candidate follows an employee as they do their job. As little as 15 minutes of trailing will help the interviewee determine if the job is a right fit for them, plus you can get feedback about what the employee thinks when the interview ends.
- Prepping: Talk with other employees in the same position you are hiring to find out what questions they think should be asked to screen for someone who can do that job.
- Joining: You may even consider having an employee join the interview. They may get time to ask the job candidate a question or two, and/or they can share their opinions when the interview ends.
Including employees in the hiring process will make them feel even more like they are a valuable part of the team. Plus, you’ll get extra insight to help you make better hiring decisions.
From Hiring to Retaining Workers
This list includes several creative hiring tips restaurant owners can use to evaluate candidates and select the right workers. Once you find quality workers, the final step to combat the labor crisis and strengthen your business is to retain those workers. That will be the topic of our next article, so stay tuned!
