Every business wants to hire the best candidates for the job, but restaurants looking to hire servers must select candidates that will represent their company’s image. The interactions between customers and the wait-staff can make or break a business in this industry. Restaurant owners and managers need to know what qualities to look for, master the interview, set clear expectations and select the right candidates to successfully hire wait-staff.

Restaurant owners and managers need to know what qualities to look for, master the interview, set clear expectations and select the right candidates to successfully hire wait-staff.

Know What Qualities to Look for

Servers represent your establishment’s values, personality and overall restaurant quality. It’s crucial to identify specific qualities in potential employees that will match wait-staff expectations. Knowing what qualities to look for during the candidate selection process will save your business from complications and expenses associated with employee turnover. Some of the most important qualities to look for in potential wait-staff includes determination, an ability to multi-task, a friendly personality, adaptability, an overall positive outlook and flexibility.

While accuracy is important, mistakes are inevitable and a personable wait-staff can quickly turn a customer’s bad experience around with empathy. Ensuring that you are hiring potential employees that have the necessary qualifications to become a good server is critical because not everyone can take the low pay, high expectations and customer service orientated workload. An individual who struggles with flexibility and adaptability, for example, will likely feel unsatisfied in a role that demands such traits. Similarly, a non-personable or shy server will not do well in this position where a lack of tips can leave them feeling overworked, overwhelmed, and underpaid.

Master the Interview

If you have determined the qualities you are looking for in potential staff but fail to properly use the information in the interviewing process, then you’re likely to continue dealing with high employee turnover. The best approach to interviewing candidates is to pose questions that cause the individual to expose truths about their character and personality. As a hiring manager, you can use this information to determine if the individual is a good match for the job. Working well under pressure, for instance, is a crucial trait for wait-staff.

You can gauge a candidate’s ability to deal with pressure by asking questions like, “what is the most stressful work situation you’ve been in, and how did you handle it?” Hiring staff should pay particular attention to the candidate’s confidence level when answering various questions because restaurants are typically staffed by strong personalities. Interpersonal and communication skills are fundamental to the customer service industry, so get creative with questions to elicit more authentic responses.

Set Clear Expectations

As important as it is to assess a candidate’s qualifications, it’s equally imperative to clearly explain the expectations, workload, restaurant dynamics and workplace policies to each candidate. Honestly communicate the company’s values in a realistic manner. If you tend to oversell or idealize working for your business, then employees will become frustrated when working conditions are not as advertised. Clear expectations allow employees to reach their full potential, establishes goals and increases overall employee engagement. Failing to clarify specific roles and duties for new employees makes it incredibly difficult for newly hired members to succeed in a team environment.

Select the Right Candidate

After implementing the above tips and going through the interviewing process, you will need to sort through the potential candidates. Narrowing down your options can be difficult, but ideally you want to hire the best match for your company. Specific skills and past experience are usually highly desirable, but these characteristics do not fully define what makes a good employee. Potential candidates must have a willingness to learn, a passion for genuine human interactions and the ability to reflect your business’ values and personality. Look for people with attitudes that match the work atmosphere you want to create.

Failing to properly fill server roles with the right potential candidates will result in high employee turnover and dissatisfaction rates. The customer’s experience can be disrupted and the company’s image can be harmed when servers fail to match the restaurant’s values. Restaurant owners and managers need to know what qualities to look for, master the interview, set clear expectations and select the right candidate to successfully hire wait staff. A thriving restaurant business requires a team effort, so make thoughtful decisions when considering who to bring into your team.