How to Find Restaurant Staff

The restaurant industry is notorious for poor working conditions and job seekers are well aware of this. Therefore you need to craft a job post that will address possible concerns. Do some research to find out what neighboring restaurants are offering their staff in terms of benefits and compensation, and see whether you're able to give potential hires a better deal.

Some things restaurant staff value may include:

• Health insurance, including dental and vision insurance.
• A healthy, well-supported work environment.
• Paid parental and holiday leave.
• Free meals and/or meal allowances.
• Travel allowances.
• Tuition benefits.
• Regular team building activities, like parties, dinners, etc.
• Fair compensation and bonuses.

Creating one job post that lists all the vacancies at your restaurant is a quick way to advertise available positions. However, restaurant workers—especially top-quality staff who will help put your establishment on the map—want to know specific details about the jobs you are offering, including the compensation, benefits, and incentives you offer, as well as working conditions and job responsibilities.

Be sure to provide an outline of the day-to-day duties for each position and to identify any required training and skills.

Staff you may need to hire include:

• Waiters and waitresses.
• Chefs.
• Line cooks.
• Restaurant managers.
• Kitchen managers.
• Hostesses.

You don't have to spend hours crafting individual job descriptions for each of the restaurant positions you need to fill. A hospitality and tourism job description template will provide much of the boilerplate information you'll need, such as the responsibilities, skills, and qualifications, making it a bit easier.

Start by posting to general job posting sites such as Indeed. These are great places to start because they get plenty of traffic and they're free.

Google for Jobs allows your posting to be seen in search results. This can greatly increase your job visibility. You can get it picked up by Google by having someone properly format it on your website, or by using a service (such as Betterteam) that creates a properly formatted jobs page for you automatically.

Posting your restaurant positions on restaurant job boards will help you narrow your search for restaurant staff.

A great way to find and hire competent restaurant employees is to ask current employees for referrals. Create an employee referral program to motivate employees to participate in the recruiting process. Essentially, the program offers rewards for any referrals leading to hires. Make sure it is clear to your employees that the restaurant workers they refer should have the necessary skills, qualifications, experience, work ethic, and attitude.

Once the applications start rolling in, respond with an email that asks a few important questions related to each role. The answers to these questions should help to reduce the number of suitable applicants by revealing who is not adequately qualified or a good fit for your restaurant.

Example questions:

• Have you received any formal training in this field? (This is particularly relevant for a chef or line cook).
• Do you have experience working lunch shifts or in another high-stress environment?
• Has a kitchen you worked in failed a health and safety inspection? If so, why? (This is particularly relevant for a head chef or kitchen manager).
• Are you available to work night shifts, weekends, and holidays?

A phone interview will further shorten your list of candidates and it is less time-consuming than an in-person interview. This stage of the recruitment process allows you to verify answers to the screening questions and to get an idea of the types of personalities each applicant has.

Some example questions include:

• Can you describe your customer service experience?
• Why did you leave your previous position?
• Which restaurants have you worked for previously?
• What kind of training have you received in the food service or hospitality industries?
• What are your salary and benefits expectations?
• What makes you the perfect candidate for this position?

Use the phone interview to elaborate on aspects of the job candidates are most interested in, such as the benefits and compensation structure, and growth opportunities. Also, provide an accurate description of the work environment and culture, and allow each candidate to ask questions or voice concerns.

At this stage of the recruitment process, you will have a good idea of which candidates are sufficiently qualified for each position, but you will still want to ensure that they will fit in with your team and be comfortable with the working environment.

Invite candidates on your shortlist to an in-person interview, during which you will show them around your restaurant, describe the processes you follow, from greeting guests to re-setting tables, and introduce them to your staff. To save time, you can also combine the in-person interview with the test run, especially for waiting and other front-of-house positions.

To help you assess a candidate's skills and abilities, you'll want to invite them for a test run in your restaurant. The necessity of this may vary, being incredibly important when hiring restaurant employees for food preparation, but less so when recruiting, for example, dishwashers. In the case of servers and hostesses, you'll want to evaluate their customer service skills.

Once you've decided which candidates you would like to hire, give them a call to inform them that you are offering them the position. Do this fairly quickly, as the restaurant industry is known to be very competitive and candidates are likely to be looking at several options while they are actively seeking work. After the phone call, send an email or letter with a formal job offer.

Onboarding is a key final step in the hiring process that is not to be overlooked. Make a good first impression and get the new hire up and running fast by having a detailed and organized onboarding process.