First Impressions

First impressions are everything in the hospitality business. Which is why I am floored by the lack of genuine hospitality sometimes from front line staff. And even more shocked at the owners and managers who hire these folks!

I am in Columbus, Ohio for the weekend to visit my wife's family, and sometimes friends from when I lived here myself. Making this trip about once a month, I try to visit some of my former haunts and a few new places. A game I always play is called "2 minutes", in which I decide if I would hire this person based on the first 2 minutes.

Let's just say this weekend I have effectively "not hired" 10 employees at 4 establishments.

(On a side note, I did want to hire the young pregnant girl who attempted to hold the door for me. I declined and returned the favor.)

The various undoings range from trivial to overall bad attitude to lack of attention from 4 bartenders in an empty pub. As a recruiter constantly searching for good talent, this frustrates the hell out of me.

The common theme in the people I did not hire was poor attitude, and should have clearly been noticed by the hiring manager in the interview, or at the very least in the reference checks.

(Remember reference checks?!)

Great personalities and hard work can be trained on technique and position duties. Bad attitude can only spreads through your staff like a virus.

Happy Hiring!