Recruiting - Part 1 (Hiring)

"A pint of sweat will save a gallon of blood."
General George Patton Jr.

Hiring. We all have to do it, if running a business. It's a tough process. We have to find that right person that will help enhance our business and we have to do it via paper at first. We take an application or resume and we review it. Something on that page strikes our attention enough to the point that we decide to meet them. We sit in an interview with them for 15, 30, or even 45 minutes. During that time frame we are taking notes and realizing the qualities that they can bring to the table: they plated 100 plates an hour, maybe 200; they sold $3,000 behind the bar on a Tuesday; they sat 150 guests an hour; or, whatever the case may be. We love them. So, we hire them and get them in the system. Wow! If only that were the case. More times than not, it's not even close.

For many years working in the industry I saw managers (and was encouraged to follow suit) hire people solely based on their availability. "We need someone for Sunday mornings. Hire them!" What a common statement that was. But, at what risk? You end up hiring out of need instead of to succeed.

So, let's break it down for the number folks first. Let's say your average server (for example) sales an average of $10 per person. During the course of the week you deal with 5000 guests. This means that your average sales would be $50,000 / week. Now, let's say you just "hire" someone and they are just 10% below the curve as your average server. This would mean that they would be selling $9 per person. Now, if your hiring methods made you 10% below the norm, then if the guest counts were the same across the board you would only be selling $45,000 / week. So, by hiring people just 10% under the norm could cost you a potential of $5,000. Now, you can compare this same thing to a cook. Let's say you have a cook that can generate 50 plates an hour and each plate costs $10. This particular cook is generateing $500 / hour for you. Now, if that cook is 10% slower than that average person, then they are only generating 45 plates per hour and are now costing you $50 / hour. Now, how much could this cost you throughout the course of the week?

Now, we can also look at the initial training cost. Let's assume that it takes you 20 hours to train a person and in this time they are going to be average or just slightly below average (you know, like 10% below average). So, in that 20 hours you still have to pay your trainee and in theory you have a trainer that is training them. During this time you are in essence paying two people to do one job. With this basic principle you are adding to your cost and not increasing your sales. By definition, this is going to increase your overall cost during this training process. Your normal cost % equation would be C / S (where C is your labor costs and S are the sales generated). So, during this time period of training your C may increase x1.5 or x2. Now, if this time period is even just for a week you have a considerable amount of money invested. Imagine if you have invested that time for someone that is just 10% less than your average staff. You've invested money and now are generating a loss of either $50 / hour or $5,000 / week. What a great deal it is to hire out of necessity!

Another way of looking at this would be to hire either a cook or server that is slightly lower than your average staf member. Let's assume that your average server makes a tip % of 25%. You hire a new server and they make an average tip % of 20%, or roughly 20% lower than your other servers. Now, this is an average. It means, in rough terms, that 1 out of 5 people didn't think s/he was that great. This means that 1 out of 5 people may not come back to your establishment because of the care that they gave. Now, maybe this server only handled 10% of your guests throughout the week. So, of the 5000 guests throughout the course of the week s/he only encountered 500 people. However, of those 500 people 1 out of 5 of them will not be returning (or, 100 people). What is worse is of those 100 people, how many other people will they share their experience with? Now, the reality of the situation is that we've all (presumably) been with a group of our friends trying to decide where to go. We may not all agree initially where to go but we can all agree where not to go. And, that is determined the moment one of our friends tells us where they will not go - and a reason isn't necessary! So, now we've hired this person that isn't selling as much, is chasing away guests, and they aren't making money so they are probably even more miserable; but at least we have them for a Sunday! We can use the same comparison for the cook. Let's assume our average cook makes $10 / hour and we manage to hire a mediocre cook for 10% less than our avearage cook, or $9 / hour. However, during their first hour of work we had to recook 4 different entrees ($8 / piece of raw cost), they dropped 10 plates ($5 / plate of raw cost), and took 10% longer to cook items ultimately costing us another $10 / hour in comps. So, we're paying this individual 10% less and spending $10 (in comps) + $9 (hourly wage) + $50 (broken equipment) + $32 (food costs) = $101 / hour! And with this cost, we would NOT be receiving any additional sales...only costs! If this individual after the first week or two decides to quit or to avoid us, then they have increased the costs and NOT increased the sales!

So, with all of this information coming at us we should think about the hiring process as one of the more critical processes in our restaurant (followed by training). It is imperative to get the right people on board. You should be selective. These will be the individuals that generate your product. They will be your voice. They will be your face. They will be your presence with ALL of your guests. You must take the time to hire the right people!

I personally recommend when hiring to break the hiring process up into two parts: 1) the first interview and 2) the second interview. I also believe that when doing these interviews it should be run by a different person to keep perspectives fresh. At the end of both interviews discussions should be made by both interviewers to confirm that the candidate is the right choice for the job.

The first interview should really take no longer than 5 or 10 minutes. In this time frame you should ask the basic of questions: availability, desired hours, position, experience, etc. During this time it is more important for the interviewer to just get a feel for the candidate. Are they comfortable? Are they dressed properly? Are they polite? Are they taking the interview serious? Are they giving coherent answers? Are they trusting? Is there a sense of comfort when speaking with them? Remember some of your staff will only have a few moments to interact with your guests, perhaps only 5 or 10 minutes of total interaction time. If during the first interview if they are creeping you out, then they will probably do the same to your paying guests.

The second interview should be a little bit more in detail. I would recommend having a dozen or two dozen questions drafted up that are more job specific. Now, you don't want to base the questions on experience only because some of your candidates may never have worked in a restaurant but may still be phenomenal new hires. Instead, try to make questions that represent the qualities that you are looking for in the particular field of your restaurant. Once again, during this time frame you not only want to listen to the answers that your candidate is giving but how they are giving them. Are they calm? Are they fumbling with their words? Are they nervous? Are they giving short answers? Are they giving long, lengthy answers? Do they seem calm? Do they seem anxious? All of the answers to all of these answers and then some should come together to give you a more concise, logical answer as to whether you should hire this person or not.

Remember, hiring shouldn't be easy and it shouldn't be taken lightly. You need to break the mold of restaurants being a vagabond industry. Sure, the candidates can probably get a job at any other resturant. And you know what? Good...let them go work for the other restaurants. Let them make the war within that restaurant more difficult. Your job is to make sure that the war within your walls stays as controllable, as manageable, as possible. This begins by making sure that the troops that are going to help you are the best that they can possibly be and not just because they can show up.