We are in a time when Catering and Hospitality businesses are set to have their busiest summer yet. Therefore, your recruitment process needs to be streamlined to ensure you have the right team to build your success.
There is an art to recruit the right people into your business. Get it wrong and it will not only cost you money and time but it could damage your reputation. Your recruitment process, meaning the way you attract candidates, run interviews and onboard, is all part of the candidate experience.
A bad candidate experience can lead to negative reviews. In fact, a recent report outlined a huge 72% of job seekers said they would tell others about their bad experience in person and online. 64% wouldn’t want to use your service if the candidate experience was negative. On top of this, 63% said they would reject a job offer because of a bad candidate experience. This means you are potentially losing out on great candidates for your Catering/Hospitality business.
Here at KSB Recruitment, we know what a streamlined recruitment process should look like and how it creates a great candidate experience. This article outlines 5 common mistakes within Catering and Hospitality that:
- Cause a bad candidate experience
- Damage your reputation
1 Unclear Job Descriptions
The clearer your job description is, the more candidates you will attract of the right quality. If your description is too vague or over detailed, it may attract the wrong candidates. I don’t just mean those that don’t have the skills. A candidate may come for an interview, realise the job isn’t for them when you explain an aspect that wasn’t on the job description. For example salary.
It could also put off great candidates from applying altogether. If we use salary as an example, 61% of candidates say they won’t apply for a job without a salary.
In the long run, this is costing you time looking through unwanted CVs and interviewing people who are not a good fit.
Top Tips
- Location, salary and job title should be very clear
- Don’t have a long list of duties, 5-6 will suffice
- List the benefits of working for your business
- Keep it to around 300 words
2 Your Process Is Too Long
We are in an instantaneous society now, this isn’t just online. It creates impatience, waiting too long for anything isn’t accepted and this includes searching for a job.
I have found that sometimes businesses hold out for the ‘perfect candidate’ instead of seeing the potential in an ideal candidate. Let me explain what I mean. I recently worked with a hospitality business who were looking for a Head Chef. One of the candidates I put forward was of keen interest to them. They were impressed with him at interview but felt he lacked a bit of experience. However, they could see he’d be able to pick this up quickly and was a great fit for the business. He was ideal, but not perfect.
Despite this, they wanted to see more candidates first before making a decision. After a few more weeks, they decided they would like to offer the job to the original candidate but he had accepted a role with another business. They lost out on a great candidate.
By holding out in case you find the perfect candidate, you are putting more pressure on your current team to deliver and in the long term, this will impact service levels.
If you would like an audit of your recruitment process, contact us today to see if we can help you improve.
3 Lack of Communication
One of the biggest issues candidates have when searching for a job is the lack of communication. If they apply for a job and don’t hear anything back within at least 5 days they may assume they have been unsuccessful and could accept another offer.
This applies to interviews, always give candidates feedback regardless of if they have been successful or not. It shows you have acknowledged their time and if they haven’t been successful, your feedback could help them with their next interview.
The important point here is to be consistent with your communication and manage their expectations. If you are inundated with CVs, state on the job advert when they will hear from you or if they are successful, advise candidates when they can expect to hear from you after an interview.
4 Not Preparing Your Candidate
This mirrors managing expectations, it’s important your candidate knows what to expect when they come for an interview. Who will they be seeing and what will they be doing? Will it include a practical element or is it just an informal chat initially, with a second interview if they are successful?
If you are not clear about what they should expect, it could put them off wanting to work for you. Imagine if you arranged the interview and they expected it to be just you and they turn up and have to interview with you and two of your key staff, then you ask them to do a practical. They haven’t had the time to prepare and it will give the impression you operate like this at work. Would you want to work in a place where it wasn’t clear what you would be doing?
5 Not Involving Your Team
Whoever you’re looking to hire into your Catering and Hospitality team, you need to know if they will be a good fit. You can’t do that without having input from those they will be working with.
For instance, if you need a Chef De Partie for your restaurant. Think about who they will be liaising with regularly. Ensure they meet them during the recruitment process and get their feedback. This will help you know you are making the right decision.
What Next?
We specialise in providing excellent Catering and Hospitality staff to organisations and have been supporting businesses for over 30 years.
As the hospitality sectors get busier with the easing of restrictions, we understand that having the best team in place is going to be essential to the success of your business.
If you need great candidates with the skills and personality fit, get in contact with us today on 0121 314 9365 to find out how we can help.
Thanks,
Dawn
About KSB Recruitment
We are expert recruiters in the catering and hospitality industry with over 30 years in business, placing the best candidates in their perfect roles with an obsessive attention to detail.
KSB is proud to be a Recruitment and Employment Confederation (REC) member, accredited Investors in People, and both Data Protection and Home Office Compliance registered.
Our catering and hospitality recruitment company specialise in roles in Birmingham, Staffordshire, the West Midlands, Warwickshire, Oxfordshire, Worcestershire and Northamptonshire.
