I have heard this term used more and more in the hospitality industry. I feel however the general idea of who a "right person" or "right hire" is, has become confused.
The "right people" has become this ambiguous term, more relegated to personality traits, appearance, and a certain "feel" from the interview process. This is the way I have understood it the last few years since the term has come into more use.
- Initially you have the resume. This is your indication of work ethic and progress. Depending on their previous history, length of duration and other factors, you can measure their success to a certain degree.
- References speak about the type of person they are and are an invaluable tool. You can also view their social media such as LinkedIn and Facebook to get a better sense.
- The interview process brings you a certain degree of knowledge and feel about the person sitting in front of you, although this can be contrived to any extent.
Always searching for "the right person" shouldn't mean we place these verifiable items to the rear. The ambiguous nature of "the right hire" takes away from the true strengths and weaknesses of a perspective applicant.
As long as their background checks out, their resume is progressive, and they have shown a solid direction in their education and future, they should be considered. These are concrete achievements that people have attained through hard work and dedication. Great work histories don't happen by accident. Rather than spending month after month trying to track down the right hire using relative intangibles, a new direction needs to be taken.
Right people are built. They are built as per your business model, standards and expectations. There are plenty of "right people" out there. I have personally interviewed great people only to see many of them never return because they somehow didn't fit the category of "the right candidate" but yet, 3 different department head managers were fully committed to their hire being the actual staff that would have to work with them.
Take your solid foundation and well referenced candidate and turn them into "the right person". This means the following:
- Be involved. Know your hire. What makes them happy/unhappy. What are their goals? Map out their interests with yours. Knowing your staff means retention. There is no reason why your staff's goals can't be mapped out for at least a year. This will help you forecast future moves with staffing and give a clearer picture as to future budgeting.
- Proper training. You want a specific standard, train it.
- Proper and sensible procedures and guidelines. If your policies and procedures make no sense, or create more hardship, staff will chafe against it. Line staff are savvy individuals who's attention to detail on a daily basis see these deficiencies.
- Proper management oversight. You want a specific thing, train it and follow up immediately until it becomes second nature. Lack of oversight means deficiencies occur.
- Proper equipment. You can't have an expectation of a happy employee empowered to shine towards the guest, if they have consuming technology issues.
- Daily follow up and action. Follow up. Every day. A huge morale killer is staff that faces the same issues every day. A lot of time this is chalked up to "nature of the job", and on occasion it is. But if something can be fixed and the staff knows it can be fixed, it should be. Positive empowered staff need to have as clear a path as possible. If their own management is apathetic, don't expect world class hospitality. It all runs downhill.
The greatest hallmark of a property from a service standpoint is staff retention. The most highly rated properties have some of the lowest turnover margins. Taking a progressive approach to your hiring and staff management will in turn create the staff that provides world class hospitality, guest retention, and world class profits.
