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Do you crave structure or strategy?
In order to grow in your career within the restaurant industry you must understand your management style and then find a company that is going to cater to that style. There are many different elements of a management style, but the one that I think is extremely important to maximize a career fit is understanding the degree of structured decision making capability you desire.
Let me define the extremes of this arena:
Neither extreme is healthy or unhealthy and neither will be predominant in the level of leadership you can provide; however, different organizations cater more to one or the other so it is important that you are settled with an employer that can cater to your need for decision making capability.
In general, in the large, corporate companies managers will have less big picture decision making capability. This means the managers will have clearer expectations of how to succeed, be expected to follow the lead of their supervisors and adhere to strict policy. These companies have a track record of success and straying from their strategy is not going to lead to success or career advancement within these organizations. On the other hand, if you are able to meet the expectations set forth there is usually good promotability and development opportunity. If a company has over 200 units they typically fall into this category of employer.
In the smaller companies there is a need for manager who will set direction, strategy and make changes as the company adapts to the market. Managers who are able to do so will set the pace, systems and future for these growing companies. If you are a manager that thrives under structure and you step into a growing company like this you will find yourself very frustrated and not as successful as you would be in a highly structured environment.
A great way to determine where you are on this spectrum is to look at your past. Put a horizontal line on a paper and document the highs and lows in your career. After you have done so you should be able to identify some common denominators around the environments you have been in that have led to high levels of your success. Then think if these were very structured environments or if these high points where times when you had to utilize a lot of unstructured decision making. This simple exercise should give you more clarity as to your management style in this arena. Once you have this knowledge you should analyze the ideal career path based on how the company will allow you to leverage your structured / unstructured decision style. Finding a great employer match will help you grow your career, skills and advance to higher levels. Do not leave career growth to luck, make sure you are aware of your management style and find a GREAT fit!
Resume Best practices to convey how your career has increased profitability
I met with a friend recently who has started to think about a career transition. He has been with the same company for about 18 years and started with them straight out of college. 
The task of resume writing, interviewing and marketing himself for a new job was daunting because he had never done any of these activities. I think many great employees find themselves in a similar situation and stay in a mediocre career because they perceive the process of changes will be greater than the pain staying in a position that is not the best fit. I have a lot of compassion and understanding towards this stance so I began to talk through some very simple tasks with my buddy to help him break this process down so it seemed more manageable. It was very helpful to him and he has made great progress. I believe these generalities can help every career seeker in any stage of their career.
A resume is a place to start to communicate your marketability. I am not the guy who thinks you need to spend oodles of money or time worrying about the colors on your resume, the format or how many pages it is, but the general gist of a resume is that it is the key and first step to open doors to an interview and potential job offer. There are so many different thoughts on what makes a good resume but I believe the most important element of a resume is its conveyance of the individual’s track record and ability to increased profit. This seems obvious, but what is not so obvious to those that do their job and do it well is the microcosm of their activity that leads to profitability. Here are a few areas the job seeker must convey on the resume and throughout an interview to maximize their marketability:
If I can boil all this down, I would say to be extremely marketable you must not focus on the forest of your accomplishments, you must be able to see the trees in that forest. Every decision we make in our business leadership has an impact. Consciousness around this truth will give you a new mindset to understand how you add value in your career. If you can come to the resume, interview or performance evaluation with preparation in these areas I guarantee you will open doors to career growth and prosperity. Please chime in if you have additional insight to help others develop a marketable resume that shows profit focus.
It is always fascinating to look on how our rapid pace of change in life is changing even the smallest details of finding a new career. Among these changes are the realities facing career seekers that are looking to relocate or make themselves available to do so. I surely don’t claim to be an expert on all relocation details in all industries, but I am involved in at least 10 relocation placements per year and have been for many years. I have watched these become more difficult since the housing crisis so can draw some generalities about best practices. It is important for career seekers to understand how to best market themselves if relocation is their reality. For that purpose, let’s define the two type of candidates seeking relocation and unpack some perceptions hiring managers have in both instances:
+ The first type of relocating candidate is one that seeks to relocate to a certain city for a specific purpose. Usually this is to get closer to family or their roots. In this case the candidate should ensure that they make it clear as to why they are seeking to move to that area. In this instance, it should be noted on resumes exactly where the candidate is seeking to move. If a living location has already been determined in that city, it is appropriate to put that on the resume during submittal. Candidates should make sure they communicate their knowledge of the market they are moving to. More than ever, companies desire that candidates are very knowledgeable of local trends and demographics of the market they are hiring for so this knowledge is imperative for the relocating candidate to be able to communicate
+The other type of relocating candidate is one that seeks the best opportunity for the growth of their career and is willing to go most anywhere to do so. Most companies have become apprehensive to even interview these types of candidates, but if candidates in this category can market themselves correctly they can have a huge advantage in gaining great opportunity; however, without intentionality they will find themselves spinning their wheels. The best way for candidates in this category to gain traction with this strategy is to specify and take aim the top 3 companies they would want a career with, apply to a local area or an area with a vested interest if possible and then communicate their relocatability. In this instance the candidate is seen as more marketable.
Most importantly and relevant to both types of candidates, relocating candidates must have thought out their relocation strategy in depth. If a relocating candidate is not able to explain specifics of getting out of a lease, selling or renting a current home and family plans they will not convince a hiring manager that they are serious about a move.
Advancing in our career is important and relocation can certainly help, but without being conscious of relevant hiring trends candidates will not be moving forward. If I can draw one safe conclusion across all industries is that candidates that are seeking to relocate usually do not have a good blueprint to learn from to market themselves. Please chime in and share your experience whether you are a hiring manager, employer or candidate who has relocated. Together we can help those that are serious about growing their careers in a different geography.
First Impressions – are you interviewing with a GREAT employer
I have focused most of the thoughts in this blog on interview best practices for job seekers and advice to get offers of employment, but I also want to encourage and develop employers to better understand how they can recruit, hire and retain top talent. Truth be told, there is not a surplus of GREAT manager candidates in our industry and we are starting to see separation from those GREAT employers who are intentional about selecting GREAT managers and those that will settle for the GOOD managers. The outcomes for the employers who can find, recruit , hire and retain those GREAT managers is obvious. These employers are becoming the leaders in the industry while others are just sustaining.
While working with many employers, one development opportunity that we see as integral for the recruitment of GREAT Managers is developing interview best practices. One interview best practice for employers is to be intentional about creating a great first impression for candidates. It is said that a hiring decision is usually made in the first 5 minutes of an interview and I believe the same goes for top talent decided if an employer is GREAT. If a hiring manager is able to well develop rapport within the first part of the interview process, the candidate is much more likely to want to work for that employer. The GREAT employers we work with get this and go to great lengths to ensure their professionalism, courtesy and communication is impeccable from the start. We are in the people business and those employers that understand how to treat people to make them really love their brand are gaining a great competitive advantage, maximizing the opportunity to make GREAT hires and increase profitability through best leveraging their human capital. KUDOS to our clients for being GREAT employers!
If you are an employer, a hiring manager or aspire to be one, please chime in and let us know how you set the stage to recruit and hire GREAT talent. We want to all learn from each other’s interview best practices to redefine and develop on how to best handle hiring trends.
I recently came upon a very interesting infographic about the mindset of today’s Millennials whose job-hopping choices impact restaurant profitability. I was intrigued by the statistics within the information, because years ago, I wrote my Master’s thesis on the topic of managing generational differences in a diverse workforce. As I reflect back on all of the knowledge I gained on that topic, it still sparks a big curiosity in me since I interview so many Millennials and prepare them to meet with our great restaurant employers nationwide. My hyper-awareness of this specific demographic is so second-nature to me because of my knowledge and experiences working this particular age group. Now that the Millennials are coming, we need to spend some time to better understand tehm so we can include them into the diverse restaurant workforces of today. We will be hiring Millennials, retaining them as employees, and motivating them to advance in their career path; so it should become a bigger priority to get to know this generation.
Millennials are made up of those born from roughly 1980 to 2000. This generation makes up a large majority of restaurant workers (about 75%), so managers and employers need to be attune to behavior and motivational factors among this generation in order to maximize profit through employee retention. It seems Millennials are one of the toughest generations to truly adapt management strategies. So how do we tackle this opportunity?
Because of the era they have grown up in, Millennials tend to have distinct personality traits. In order to fully embrace these differences, managers and employers must adjust their attentions to wanting to learn more about the habits and expectations of this particular group of people who endorse the company’s brand. With the familiar, yet unfair, stereotypes that Millennials find themselves battling, I’m very interested in learning about what techniques hiring managers are using to ensure that stereotypical barriers are not getting in the way of finding those best-fit restaurant staff members.
For instance, it’s amazing to contemplate the fact that Millennials are the first generation to have been raised in an era of such advanced technological breakthroughs that impact daily life at an astronomical level! Never before has any generation been continually exposed to high-tech gadgets that provide instantaneous results! Microwaves, computers, cell phones, satellites, and ATM’s seem to have always been so commonplace in the life of a Millennial, that without just one of these things, the disruptions that would be experienced would be – well, AWFUL! Of course, we must admit that not every single Millennial has grown up with every bit of technology I’ve mentioned; but chances are very high that the majority of this age group knows about every one of these things that I’ve mentioned.
Let’s learn together through best practices! So, Managers — How are you addressing your Millennial employees’ generational differences to ensure productivity and retention?
