Restaurants across the country continue to struggle to find employees. Candidates aren’t showing up to interviews and even when someone gets through an interview and accepts the job, they don’t show up for their first training shift. This shortage in restaurant staff and job candidates is trending across North America. To overcome it, remember that, good employees are not found, they are trained!
Step 1: find candidates
Post your job(s) to multiple websites, but also look for sites that do some of the work up front, such as personality profiles or review of résumés/applications as compared to your job posting. To increase the chances of a good match from your pool of candidates, make sure they meet these five criteria:
- Pay: Are they asking for a salary in your range?
- Availability: Do they meet your scheduling needs?
- Transportation: Do they have a dependable way to get to work on time for the shifts that are needed?
- Appearance: Do they understand that appearance is a condition of employment as far as being well groomed?
- Culture: Do they fit your company culture?
Step 2: understand importance of training
In a nutshell, having poorly trained staff on your team costs your business tens of thousands of dollars annually in lost revenue. Plus, high-turnover robs you of your hard-earned profits quickly. To overcome these challenges, you need a great training system. I cover training on my YouTube channel in great detail as well as on my blog at TheRestaurantExpert.com.
Step 3: create a great training system
What does a great training system look like? Here are the key components you need in place:
- Job Description: a great job description is more than “here’s what the job is.” It’s detailed and includes what the job is, how to do it, how well you want it done and by when.
- Daily Tests: with daily testing, if new hires they don’t pass the daily test, they don’t get to move on to the next day of training.
- Evaluations: not the ones with a 1–10 grade scale, but instead use the exact language from your job description. The employee either Exceeds, Meets or Does Not Meet the standards you trained and tested them on.
- Trainer’s Guide: having a new hire simply follow a longtime employee around for a shift or two does not work. They need to have a trainer who follows the same training plan that every employee follows. Consistency in training is critical for the success of your employees and, in turn, your business.
A great training system increases sales with happy guests, lowers turnover rates, saving you thousands. In addition, it demonstrates to your employees you are committed to helping them learn and grow. A training system means managers manage consistently to a single standard, creating a positive work environment. And finally, when an employee knows their job, they are more likely to enjoy the work they do. All you have to do is add in a competitive wage and BOOM, you have a team of good employees.
