This time out we'll look at how one restaurant operator improved his hiring practices with a change in interviewing technique.
The restaurateur: John Metz, who is a partner in Georgia-based Doc Chey's Asian Kitchen, a fast-casual concept during the day and full-serve at night. He's also chef/owner of Marlowe’s Tavern.
The opportunity: A pretty typical scenario. Business is good, but you don't have enough cashiers, and your employees are threatening a mutiny if you ask even one to work another double shift. But hope is on the horizon; you're interviewing a person today. You'll make him or her fit the position, no matter what.
This is called desperation hiring, and it creates a vicious cycle
The solution: According to Chelle Parks of business-improvement consultancy CorVirtus, it's time for a different approach to interviewing. Most employers, she says, are trying to opt people in instead of weeding them out. "They have their list of questions that they want this person to answer a certain way so that they can make the person fit. Whereas our system is a different mindset: Find out why this person should be 'selected out.'"
CorVirtus’s interview strategy is a process of elimination of sorts that works through creating standardized questions pertaining to what each restaurant operator needs in three categories: Performance, Fit, and Retention.
Performance addresses the candidate's skill and aptitude and whether or not he or she has the skills to do the job. The basics of the Fit category include the hours of work a candidate is available, pay, and transportation. Also considered is the culture of the company. Will the candidate's personality and delivery provide the hospitality or customer service an operator needs? Rentention questions might be: What's the candidate’s job history? What's the likelihood of him or her sticking around?
Parks says honing in on these three characteristics is the best way to decide if a candidate is the best match for the position and your business. The questions should be behaviorally based on topics like team focus, operations awareness, service mindedness, and hospitality. Answers are then scored and conclusions drawn.
Sample questions for the restaurant industry clients include "Why is it important for the front of the house and back of the house to work well together?" Or, "If a fellow team member isn’t carrying their weight, what would you do?"
Parks maintains these types of questions help the interviewer uncover whether or not the candidate understands the importance of certain concepts. They can also tell you a lot about a person's work ethic and attitude.
The final verdict: This approach has worked well for Metz, who has been using CorVirtus's interviewing process for about a year to hire hourly and managerial workers. In that time, he hasn’t lost any employees.
"It’s about a consistent interview process coupled with consistency on the question side," he says. "We learn much more about any potential employee --- whether managerial or hourly --- way before they become a part of our team, and I think that’s the biggest help."
On the web: Doc Chey’s is at www.doccheys.com, while CorVirtus is at www.corvirtus.com.
