Hospitality Online Blog

Writing Better Employment Ads

August 17th, 2010

Competition for the best candidates is heating up.

There are not near as many qualified candidates as employers think. Highly qualified people typically make up the Top 20% of the labor force.

Do you need the best?

Do you really need someone who is among the Top 20% in their job? If so, expect to pay at the top end of your salary range or higher.

Employers don’t need the absolute best as often as they think. Two questions to ask when a hiring manager tells you they need the absolute best:

Answers to those two questions identify the types of information that needs to be included in your employment ad.

Concentrate on what candidates want to know in your ad.

Most employment ads concentrate on what the employer wants to know. Then employers wonder why they aren’t getting great candidates.

The best candidates expect to be courted. Great majority currently have jobs. They don’t need your job. Even the best of the unemployed have severance packages. Odds are they don’t need your job either. The objective of your employment ad is to sell the candidates on your job and company.

What information should be in employment ads?

When you want the best, write ads that appeal to the best.

Tags: attracting candidates, employment ads, ideal candidates, top 20%, writing employment ads
Posted in Advertising Tips, Human Resources, Recruiting News | No Comments »

Should Job Descriptions be Illegal?

August 13th, 2010

Many employers are just pasting job descriptions into their employment ads. This practice assures the employers will see mediocre candidates.

Job descriptions describe the universe of employees in the job category. That means average skills, not the skills your top performers have.

Employers who hire the best diversity candidates recognize that most diversity candidates have different experiences than are typically defined in job descriptions.

We judge employee performance on how employees use their skills. A job description only lists skills that are needed. Employment ads need to concentrate on the “how” instead of the “what.”

Best reason to avoid using job description material in employment ads? Job descriptions are boring.

Your best employees usually get promoted faster than the “average” employee. Requiring a minimum number of years of experience often precludes seeing the best candidates.

If not job descriptions, what?

Instead of a job description, list the performance objectives to succeed in the job. During the interview ask candidates for examples of their success in each of the performance objectives.

The best candidates, the people you want to hire, are interested first in the challenges of the job. Second, career growth.

Tags: career growth, diversity candidates, Interviewing, Job descriptions, performance, performance objectives
Posted in Human Resources, Recruiting News | No Comments »

Creating a Revenue Management Culture

July 25th, 2010

To maximize revenue all employees need to know how they can contribute.

In the old days revenue management meant up-selling at the front desk, or in the restaurant, or selling the most profitable brand in the bar. Now we know that all employees can be involved in revenue management. To out perform the competition effectively managing all aspects of revenue management is crucial.

What is revenue management?

Anything that any employee or guest says/does to encourage people to buy something.

I’ve seen lots of definitions of revenue management. The definition really isn’t important. What is important? Recognizing that every employee and every guest have opportunities every day to increase your revenues.

It all sounds so simple. Just get our employees and guests to help sell our hotel. Ah, but what are we going to sell today? I rarely get an answer from hotels when I ask that question. Why? Most businesses encourage people to up-sell. Front desk is easy. So is the restaurant and bar. But how about housekeeping, engineering, security, bell staff, etc. What’s your concierge doing to sell your hotel today?

What one hotel does.

I was talking to a GM last week and asked what they were doing to drive revenue management. His answer surprised me and got me thinking.

Each day he has his Department heads talk to their employees. The Department head identifies one specific thing to sell today to drive revenue. Departments are given 5 minutes per day to meet with employees to get them excited about today’s revenue tip.

I asked GM for an example. Yesterday, the Executive Housekeeper had two coconut cream pies from the restaurant for employees to try. Then Executive Housekeeper asked each employee to ask any guest they saw if the guest had tried the wonderful coconut cream pie in the restaurant today. If the guest answers no, the housekeeping employee asks the guest “Are you working hard today?” When the guest says yes, the employee says “Then reward yourself. Take a break and have a cup of coffee and a piece of pie. They’ll even deliver it to your room if you would like. You deserve a treat.” Then the housekeeping employee goes on with their job. GM says the dialogue rarely takes more than 15 seconds. Of course some employees are better than others.

Director of Engineering, on the same day, had their employees greet guests with a question. “Have you had a good enough day to reward yourself yet?” The guest can answer yes or no. Either way, the engineering employee can say, “You deserve to reward yourself, either in the spa, or visit the gift shop and pick out a good book or magazine. Make it a great day, and thanks for staying with us.”

Give me a break here. How many of your employees are really willing to do that?

That was my reaction to the GM, who laughed. “You’re right, not every housekeeping employee or engineering employee is that outgoing. I had the exact same thought before we tried this. We have been amazed at how many employees have gotten into the spirit, including a lot of employees we would have thought were too timid.

I asked about employees who may lack good English language skills. GM indicated that described most of their housekeeping staff. Hotel bought an inexpensive business card printer. Executive Housekeeper has cards printed up each day that say: Thank you for staying at our hotel. If you would like a treat today, try the coconut cream pie in the restaurant. It’s great. Have a nice day and thank you for staying with us.” The caveat? Housekeeping leave these cards in every room they clean. Housekeeping employees who don’t speak much English wear buttons that indicate they are just learning English. The employee can point to the button when they hand a guest the card. Or when guests ask questions. GM indicates that this is working very well.

Hotel has been doing this for few months now. Guests are talking about it. Some guests even ask about it when they check in. GM indicates they are tracking between 25-30 room nights per month from new guests that mention the friendly staff that give tips every day. These are room nights that used to be at competing properties.

Last added benefit. GM indicates the restaurant is getting more locals every month as employees are introduced to good desserts and then tell their friends.

Do you have revenue generating tips you can share?

Tags: increasing revenues, Revenue management, sales tips
Posted in Revenue Generation, Sales Tips/Ideas | No Comments »

Employment Market: Third Quarter

July 22nd, 2010

Business is up…a little. Experts expect people will continue to take vacations, perhaps shorter vacations and closer to home, but people will take them. Business meeting market is improving…some. Unemployment seems to have peaked. So what does it mean for your recruiting efforts? What does it tell us about applicant expectations?

Majority of employers still think it’s an employers market. That there are plenty of candidates available. That’s true if they are willing to hire the unemployed.

Majority of employers want to hire people who are currently working. Employers want, and need the employees with the best skills, attitude, and capabilities to be cross-trained or promoted. Candidates that meet these criteria are in high demand and commanding 10-15% salary increases. Many employers are having a tough time dealing with this reality.

How should you recruit if you need to find candidates who will make lateral moves or take very small salary increases?

Give candidates the information that’s most important to them. Instead of asking questions to determine if the candidate has the skill set you want, ask the candidates what they want from this job, the company, and what position they see themselves in 2-3 years from now. Then ask them what types of experience they need and what training they would like to prepare them for the job in 2-3 years.

When candidates tell you what they want, and what they think they need to get there, ask them to go into more detail. Listen to how they think, how they express themselves, how logical they are in their aspirations. Now start to weave what you want to know about them. Ask candidates to explain how they would handle different situations you know they would deal with in the job they aspire to.

Most management jobs require similar skill sets. The higher up the ladder people progress, the more skilled we expect them to be in those skill sets. Asking candidates how they develop people, how they train, what they look for in employees, how the correct behavior, etc. Then sit back and listen to their answers. Those answers will tell you whether they have the skills in the depth you need for your current vacancy.

How about technical and analytical skills? Ask them the numbers questions. Then ask them how they could improve those numbers in their current/last job. Ask them what their guest service scores were. Then ask what/how they would improve those guest comment scores by 5%.

We’re all interested in people when they are interested in us.

Yes, it’s a cliche, but it’s also true. Candidates that feel employers are truly interested in them, quickly become more realistic in their salary expectations. Likewise, candidates that give great answers may well be worth more money than you had planned to pay.

Concentrating on what’s most important to the candidate can still enable the employer to learn what you need to know. You’re just coming at the interview from a different angle. Those of us with hiring authority or in positions to get candidates interested in our companies, have an obligation. We need to find the best qualified candidates while staying within budget guidelines.

What do you do when you have a great candidate and they need $10,000 more than you planned to pay?

An extra $10,000 in pay is just $192.31 cents a week. Tell the candidate you need their help. Ask candidates to tell you specifically how they will increase profits enough to justify the extra money. If they can justify the extra money, pay it.

Tags: employment, hiring, Interviewing
Posted in Human Resources, Recruiting News | No Comments »

Economic Analysis: Weathering the Storm

April 24th, 2010

Was just reading that 61% of US Government expenses are covered by the taxes the government collects. Other 39% has to be borrowed.

The Congressional Budget Office (CBO) has already forecast a 4.5% deficit to GDP for the next 10 years.

Meanwhile, the government continues to spend money we don’t have on programs that will never increase real tax revenues or the size of the taxpayer base. In the last 50 years the federal government has made no real attempt to solve the above deficit problems long term.

So what does it mean for hotel business as we look “down the road?”

One persons problem is another persons opportunity.

As the government gets bigger and bigger obviously there will be more business from governmental agencies. Equally important will be all the companies calling on various government agencies either to sell to, or get something from the government. Then there will be all the companies who call on the government who are just trying to get a piece of the action.

Historically, “insiders” have gained the most from swings in governmental spending. That’s why there are so many lobbyists trying to influence governmental agencies. Yes, they are trying to influence policy, but more important is having advanced information that can benefit them.

How do you become a government insider?

Knowledge is power.

Who in your community will benefit from the government taking a more active role in our economy? How much do you know about those entities? How can you learn more?

Even if your business is in a small town there are businesses and organizations that work closely with various business organizations. Be sure you know who they are and have a plan on how to increase your business from those organizations. They are going to have needs for hotel rooms, create group business, and have a need for recreational programs. They can benefit hotels that specialize in transient business or group business, and they can benefit resorts.

What’s the best way to tap into this buisness?

Use the Internet.

Create a social media campaign using email to reach out to organizations for each market segment you are interested in.

When thinking social media we immediately think of Twitter and Facebook. Instead, create your own social media network and let it expand based on people who are interested in what you are offering.

Have a monthly email that appeals to a highly targeted group of your customers. Ask them to subscribe and to share your emails with others they know who would be interested. By appealing to a highly specific group of customers it becomes very easy to write to them. It’s much easier to write for a narrow market. As soon as we try to write information that will appeal to a mass market we have to spend a long time carefully thinking about the market we are trying to appeal to.

This blog is written first for the hotel industry and secondly has some applications to the overall hospitality industry. Were I to write this for a much broader audience I would have to write much longer blog articles and use lot more examples, and I could not be as specific. I have a great deal of admiration for people who have the ability to cogently write for large mass audiences.

Break your marketing emails down to as small a market segment as you can. This will enable you to exchange information and feedback that is highly targeted to the needs of the specific segment. Your goal is to increase your business from that segment by 10% each year. Will you always hit the goal? Probably not, but having an aggressive revenue goal will keep your monthly emails highly targeted.

Share what’s working for your hotel. We are all peers, very, very few of us are really competitors.

Tags: goals, market segments, marketing, Revenue Generation, social media campaigns, targeted marketing
Posted in Leadership, Revenue Generation, Tom's Take | No Comments »

Uncertainty Can Be Good News

April 22nd, 2010

Robert Frost said, “In 3 words I can sum up everything I have learned about life. It goes on.”

Friday I was reading that crisis in Greece continues to worry investors. RE market seems to have turned the corner in the US. Next article said RE market remains weak. Meantime, volcanic eruption in Iceland has royally screwed up airline flights. To point UK has sent ships to pick up stranded citizens in the Baltic. Stock market rallied. Wait a minute, it dropped Friday on news of yet another scandal.

What the heck (alright I tamed that down) does all of this mean? How do we make it work for our businesses?

The more I read the less I know. If I don’t like one analysis I can read a little more and get the opposite analysis. Economics has always been more art than science. Yet, people, or at least the media seem to be dwelling on economic predictions more than ever.

“At first I was uncertain, now I’m not so sure.” Anonymous

Those of us in business need to be aware of what’s going on in the world. But then move forward without relying too much on what’s going on. Another quote I like, “There’s nothing wrong with looking back, just don’t stare.”

There are certain things we know.

The world knows that natural resources are depleting and the population is exploding. Likewise, each of us should know what is going on in each of the communities we do business in. Which businesses are growing and which are contracting. But do we?

I was recently talking to a VP Operations who has been asking their hotel management teams:

When was the last time the GM’s asked their teams, specifically, which local businesses were growing or poised for growth? When was the last time the sales team visited those businesses to learn what their needs were?
When was the last time they attended Chamber of Commerce Meeting? Met with the local CVB? Had lunch with their peers from other hotels? Attended a Rotary or Kiwanis meeting? Were involved in another civic activity?

This VP was worried that the teams were concentrating on today’s business to the exclusion of future business. The VP was right. The GM’s had not been asking the first question. Attending a staff meeting it was quickly apparent Department heads were not getting into the community to learn what was coming. Most of the Department heads belonged to one or more organizations, but they rarely attended meetings.

Action Plan

Hotels had their sales teams calling on known accounts and local businesses. Department heads had to attend at least one civic function a month. By dividing up civic organizations, each hotel assured attendance at majority of meetings and functions. Things that should have been happening all along, but in the effort to get immediate business, things that were not being done systematically.

Results

First month hotel picked up 4 additional catering functions. Booked 3 small meetings for the next month. All a result of sales team calling on businesses they added to their list of prospects. Attendance at civic functions and meetings resulted in booking 3 wedding receptions, an anniversary party, role out party for expansion at local business, and events for 3 new businesses that were opening within 3 months. Plus over 20 leads for other business functions with potential for over 300 room nights.

VP’s prodding reminded Department heads they were all responsible for sales for their hotel.

Tags: business uncertainty, economic analysis, sales leads Tom's Take
Posted in Leadership, Revenue Generation, Sales Tips/Ideas, Tom's Take | No Comments »

HR on Wheels: Do You Have A Career Life-Cycle Blueprint?

April 18th, 2010

Is turnover too high? Are customer service scores low? Is no one ready to take on a leadership position when someone leaves?

Perhaps you need a blueprint. We all understand blueprints in the architectural world. A Career Life-Cycle blueprint is a clear definition of the management of employees. It starts when you decide that you need to hire a new employee, to on-boarding, to performance management, to promotion and ultimately to their leaving the company.

Your Career Life-Cycle blueprint starts with selection.

Key questions to consider:

Have your managers been trained in how to picture the perfect candidate or do you just assume that since they were successful in the job that they know what they are looking for?
Have you created objective matrixes to evaluate the candidates for each opening?
Do you have documents that lead them through the process?
Is on-boarding the same for every employee?
Are there clear expectations of what the first day and week feels like or does every manager create their own?
Do performance management tools look the same across departments and locations?
Is discipline administered fairly using the same standards or does every department manager have their own definition of excessive absenteeism or successful performance?
Are you using your soon to be ex-employees to assist you to grow? Exit interviews, done by a impartial manager offer windows into a department and its management that allow you to determine and schedule effective training.
What’s it look like where you work?

Could you use some assistance in putting formal programs and documents in place to become an employer of choice?

If so, contact me

scottwheeler@HRonWheels.com

Scott Wheeler is recognized as a resourceful change-agent with strong business integration expertise, cultivated during the start up or repositioning of 15 business operations as Corp Dir HR for JHM Hotels and GM for Marriott. His consulting strength is his combination of operations and HR experience backed by his MBA and exceptional motivational and communication skills.

Tags: Career Life-Cycle, employee selection, exit intervies, hiring, life-cycle blueprint, on-boarding, training
Posted in HR on Wheels | No Comments »

Reaching Your Goals…Everyday

April 9th, 2010

John Giusti, VP Small Business Marketing for Staples recently stated “You’re 80% more likely to reach a goal if there’s a commitment with some level of incentive and accountability.”

John’s quote got me thinking on what each of us can do to be more effective. Following are things we have started.

Each of us has more to do in a day, than there is day. Give yourself incentives to complete items on your “To Do” list. Give yourself larger incentives for the strategic tasks on your daily list.

Hold yourself accountable to the critical items on the “to do” list. Carefully evaluate which tasks will impact your business and career the most.

Now pass along the above tips to your employees and then have some fun comparing results and offering a prize to the team member that does the best job staying on task for the week.

It’s not easy. Our business world has lots of interruptions we can’t control. We each need assistance in “staying on task.

Share what works for you.

Tags: accountability, commitment, daily tasks, goals, incentives to-do lists
Posted in Career Advice, Leadership, Revenue Generation, Sales Tips/Ideas, Tom's Take | 2 Comments »