Hospitality Job Interview Advice , Can You Attract Talent?6482910

Hospitality job interviews can be difficult. No matter how you prepare, the questions defy ‘cut and paste’ answers. This can be especially true in a restaurant manager jobs, or a panel job interview. The employer rarely wants to know what your greatest achievements are. They are looking for insight into your attitude, and to identify your priorities. How to Answer Job Interview Questions When you are in a job interview remember that the recruiter really doesn’t care what your management strategy is, or what your greatest achievements are. What they want to know is whether your goals and strategies align with the company’s mission statement and management platform. There are a few things that are safe interview answers. Most of them have to do with employee development, retention, increasing performance and improving the financials. If you can remember that a job interview is about the company solving a problem, not you landing a job, then you have overcome the first job interview hurdle.

How to Attract Talented Employees All companies need talent, but talent is difficult to manage, and difficult to retain. Hospitality recruiters do not want to hear the cliche answers ‘success is a habit’ or ‘a failure to plan is a plan to fail.’ They want to hear what you’ve done, how you did it, and whether your strategy works. When you are looking for a job website that a potential employer doesn’t need you. They need your skillset, your experience, and your strategies. When a restaurant manager is hiring they should look beyond experience and training. They should know how to hire people with a good attitude, talent, and who possess the skills and tools needed to be successful on your team. What is Your Recruitment Process? Managers need a recruitment process. They need a set of benchmarks they measure potential employees against. This needs to be developed based on people they could work with, and people who performed well in the past. They can use personality testing tools, or other hiring tools designed to help them find talent. The important things is to make sure that you can discuss your recruitment process when talking with the recruiter. How to Develop Talent How do you develop talent? How do you assess their strengths and weaknesses? Do you have a method of assessing skills and placing employees where they can be used effectively? Document Your Results What results have the individual employees achieved in your current company. Can you give specifics? Take the time to document the criteria that measures human resources. Problem Solving and Innovation A hospitality recruiter will be very interested in learning your management strategy for handling problems. Few employers are interested in hearing that you just ‘wing it.’ This is not a productive environment for employees, and owners don’t like hearing that their profits depend on your ‘gut feeling.’

Hopefully this series of articles will help you develop as a manager, and more important, learn how to articulate your skills and successes in a way that will help land your next hospitality job.