Make Your Next Hire, Your Best

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The hospitality industry is booming with increasing sales like never before. Hotels, resorts, and entertainment venues are benefitting from customers, who have more disposable income than ever.  Restaurant sales are also on the upswing, as new technology makes serving customers faster and easier.

With so much growth to be happy about, why are many industry professionals like you so stressed?

It’s because the hospitality industry’s turnover rate is at a post-recession high of 74.9% and you are understaffed, to put it mildly. 

You are gaining sales, but losing profits

Your typical day starts with customers complaining about poor service.  As you search for the causes of poor service, you see the effects of being understaffed:

  • You have only one employee that takes care of customers instead of the three that’s needed. 

  • Your employees are tired, because they’ve worked so many shifts without a day off.

  • Your new hires don’t get along with others because of personality conflicts. 

  • Your management team works in hourly positions to help the team get through the shift. 

So, you constantly “put out fires”, instead preventing them.  Out of frustration, you look at your team and ask yourself, “why are we so short-staffed and who hired these people?” To stop this cycle, you must get staffed and stay staffed.

Getting staffed means hiring enough qualified candidates to fill your staffing needs. The better interviewer you are, the higher quality candidates you can hire.  Master “The 5 signs to look for in an interview” to consistently hire the best candidates for your job openings.

1. Good Eye Contact

Good eye contact is an important indicator of the type of candidate you could be hiring.  Generally, candidates who are sincere will maintain good eye contact, without staring. If a candidate looks away often or blinks inconsistently, it may be signs of deception. Keep in mind there are exceptions.  Some people naturally make good eye contact (extroverts), while others struggle to hold brief gazes (introverts). The key to spotting good eye contact is watching how the eyes flow with the conversation or seem unnatural.

2. Appropriate Facial Expressions

Facial expressions are universal to all of us.  It conveys emotions, that are easy to read. For example, do you remember the “this is your final warning” look your mother flashed at you to stop your bad behavior as a kid? 

The most important facial expression to look for is a smile. Look for a natural smile from a candidate, because it indicates enthusiasm and interest.  A natural smiler will attract positive emotions from everyone that sees them. They make great customer-facing employees like front desk clerks and hostesses.  When you see a smile that contradicts the content or context of the conversation, be suspicious.

3. Great Gestures

Have you ever hit the “mute” button on your remote control while a political debate was happening? If you have, do you remember the non-stop hand gestures of pointing, grabbing, and crafting as if the person was telling “someone” to do something? That “someone“ was you, the viewer. Just like the speaker on the T.V., your job candidate will use gestures to communicate their ideas and feelings. The key for you is to know how to interpret the gestures.  Look for gestures like head nodding and thumbs-up that convey positive feeling. On the contrary, interlocked fingers and crossed arms indicate a negative disposition.

4. Confident Posture

A confident posture shows you how much a candidate believes what they say.  When a candidate believes in themself, their shoulders and back are straight, never slouching. This includes whether the candidate is standing or sitting. Look for their chin to be upright and head position in line with yours. If you see the following signs of bad posture it may mean a candidate lacks self-esteem and energy: forward head and shoulder tilt.

5. The Right Vocal Tone

How many times have you heard the phrase, “It’s not what you say, but how how you say it”? It’s a testament to the impact vocal tones have in communication.  You witness the power of vocal tones everyday. Just saying three words with different pitches, volumes, and emphasis make a big difference. For example when you say “I love you”, “I LOVE you”, and “I love YOU”, you communicate with different tones. If a candidate is increasing their vocal volume, rate, and pitch, it tells you they are happy, excited, or angry. But, if a candidate is decreasing the same tones, it indicates they are sad or indifferent. There are exceptions to these signs, but remember to listen for the dominant tone a candidate is using throughout the interview.

Putting It All Together

Mastering these signs go a long way to consistently hire the best fit for your company. No candidate will perfectly show you every positive sign you’re looking for. That’s ok, it means they are human, not unfit to be hired. The best way to use these signs is to combine them to get a “picture” of your candidate’s potential fit. Will this “picture” bring value to the your job opening and culture? You decide!

Now that you have a better way to interview, you will start building a winning team. That’s awesome, but since you’re so short-staffed like the rest of the industry, you need to hire a lot of quality employees now! 

The problem with getting staffed now is:

  • You don’t have time to sit down for a 15-minute interview that may drag on for 30 minutes. 

  • Your can’t schedule enough interviews for the limited time you have blocked off.

  • You schedule interviews, but some candidates never show up.

  • You can’t focus on the right signs to look for in a candidate, because you get interrupted.

  • Your management team can’t give you any opinions on the candidate’s fit, because of scheduling conflicts.

Even though you have an application process, it’s not equipped to get you staffed fast. What you need is a feature that allows you interview the most candidates in the least time. 

This Is Where Harri’s Video Interviewing Comes In

With Harri Video Interviewing you can:

  • Interview candidates when it’s most convenient for you and them.

  • Involve your management team to assess candidate’s “fit”.

  • Customize questions to get efficient answers from a candidate.

  • Look at multiple candidates in a fraction of the time it takes to in-person interviews.

  • Focus on the “5 signs” of a good candidate without distraction.

    • Eye Contact

    • Facial Expressions

    • Gestures

    • Posture

    • Vocal

Imagine being able to get that in-person feel of interviewing a candidate, using Harri’s Video Interviewing. Imagine also, being able to evaluate each candidate with the help of your managers. Now, imagine interviewing hundreds of candidate a week until you get staffed. When you adopt Harri’s Video Interviewing feature to your hiring process, you won’t need to imagine being staffed ever again!