The secret to building a successful bar or restaurant lies in the quality of the staff that you hire. But how can you make sure that you hire the RIGHT people to staff your establishment? Follow these key tips when making your hiring decision:

  1. Personality
    The key hiring criteria for customer-facing employees are their personality traits rather than their skills. If a person’s personality and interpersonal skills seem right, then does past experience become relevant to the discussion. Hiring employees that display empathy, curiosity, grit, and collaborative tendencies will help ensure the success of your bar or restaurant. These types of employees are guaranteed to be intrinsically motivated and their hard work will definitely be a plus for your establishment.
  1. Connections
    In their Harvard Business Review article Shannon Dunlap and Brian Uzzi stated that “networks determine which ideas become breakthroughs, which new drugs are prescribed, which farmers cultivate pest-resistant crops and which R&D engineers make the most high-impact discoveries.” An employee with a lot of solid connections is virtually priceless. When you harness the talent and energy that is in your combined network, you will be able to expand your reach and achieve your business objectives in a relatively efficient manner.
  1. Skills
    In Breakfast for Champions, Kurt Vonnegut said, “New knowledge is the most valuable commodity on Earth. The more truth we have to work with, the richer we become.”Nowadays, it not just WHO you know, it’s also WHAT you know. Most professions are becoming more specialized so, an employee with a specific skill-set is a very valuable asset; especially when compared to someone who only has generalized knowledge.

Hiring the wrong candidate gets costly. It is important that you look beyond the applicant’s cover letter and resume to find the right person for the job. Choosing a candidate with a winning personality,  connections and skills will ensure that you hire an employee that will do his or her part to help your business succeed.