A great employee can be trained quickly to do any job and in an industry where time is money, getting the right hire is of the utmost importance.
While intelligence, personality, and integrity are all essential traits to a good worker, being humble is just as important if not more so. Without humility, employees think they know best and won’t be as teachable.
Hiring should include a minimum of two interviews, reference checks, and background checks. The process will take at least two or three days but in the end your efforts will pay off.
Allow people to meet with the other members of your team during the interview, they might act differently to somebody they think will have no pull on them getting hired.
Hire two people for the same position at the same time. This will cut training costs and saves money if one should decide to quit soon after.
If you get a weird feeling about someone’s attitude during the interview—when they should be on their best behavior—you don’t want to find out how that person might come off to your customers.
Watch for smiling and eye contact. Everyone who works in your restaurant needs to have good people skills, and smiling during the interview is a good sign.
Spend the money and get a background check. They are cheap and easy enough that there is no reason not to. Even just telling applicants that you will be doing one can cause the seedier ones to eliminate themselves.
Just having a body in place is not helpful and can be detrimental to your business. Put in the time, effort, and money to get the best employees possible and they will return your investments many times over.
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