Many experienced and seasoned restaurant owners have had to deal with the consequences of a poor hiring choice at some point or another. Whether it was just a busy time of year and management didn’t filter through the applicants well enough, or possibly it was the management that was the bad choice- everyone’s been there. Usually, restaurant management handles the hiring and training but sometimes, a bad choice slips through the cracks. Avoiding a number of common hiring mistakes can cut your losses, actually. A poor choice in employees often results in loss of time, wages, advertising, and occasionally and employee lawsuit, so this is something to consider very deeply and take seriously.

Before you begin to even advertise for the position, sit down and really outline everything that you are looking for. Begin first with the positions you need filled, and the qualifications needed to fill them. When you do advertise the position, be exact in what you are looking for- this will save you a great deal of time and money, and prevent any mistakes in someone perhaps applying for a job that they are not qualified to handle. Ensure that the place that you plan to interview is casual, that it does not set the person at ill ease or make them feel uncomfortable- something which may make nerves worse and cause you to miss out on a potentially great employee based on a case of nerves.

The biggest problem usually comes in relying too heavily on references. More often than not you do not get a balanced opinion from these, even if it is a former supervisor. The best thing to do is to balance the references with the impressions that you get of the potential employee during the interview process, and go from there, rather than leaning too heavily on the references alone. Interviewing very carefully, perhaps conferring with an assistant manager or even your staff trainer may help. Often, having someone else there for the interview not only further puts the prospective employee at ease, but it can help to pool your opinions and impressions and make a much more informed choice.

Lastly- one of the best way to make sure that you hire on good employees, is to be a good employer. Reputation is everything in the restaurant business and people do tend to desire working for a much more highly spoken of business. It has been shown that the more desirable the position is within the restaurant, the better quality of applicants you will receive, and in that, you’ll find much better employees and less turn over rates. One of the biggest issues in the food service industry is it is typically a higher turn over- due in part to younger people accepting the positions but also, because often, employers are not doing the best they can to retain these employees. Things like promoting from within and you will  find that you are not only more able to hire better employees, but keep them working for you for a long time and reduce the need to hire quite as often.