Fantastic Employees for retail and F&B | How to find them?

Business is only as successful as Its employees, from Its CEO to the youngest cashier in the smallest branch! Therefore, sectors and businesses are constantly looking for fantastic employees.

In a study on business performance done by Mr. Green, the results showed a statistically significant correlation between a business’ stock returns and employees’ satisfaction. Moreover, employees carry out their institute’s mission and directly influence the demand for Its products and services.

In light of their vital rule, we decided to examine the “perfect employee”, who are they? and how do we find them?

Obviously, the definition varies based on the businesses and the sector’s needs. However, when looking at retail and F&B businesses, you will need someone with exceptional communication skills, efficiency, and patience.

The question now is how do you find this exemplary fantastic employee?

We reached out to a couple of recruitment specialists regarding the recruitment process of the right employee, and we arranged their feedback starting from the initial step! 🚀

1. Recruitment

Remember that retail and F&B positions have different requirements based on the role and type of contract (full-time, part-time, or flexible). In addition to that, the industry recruits for skills and experience more than It recruits for certificates and accreditations. Hence, the population you are targeting is much larger and wider than other sectors. Therefore, you should aim for multi-channel recruitment advertising.

As for the recruitment specialists’ strategies, we organized their preferred recruitment channels as follows:

1. Specialized recruitment sites (LinkedIn, Bayt…etc), and social media.

These are considered your standard, well-known, and easy-to-use (on both ends) recruitment channels.

2. Hiring pages.

Your business/company’s hiring page increases your site traffic and allows you to give a clear, direct message to your applicants. It also helps you archive applicants’ CVs for possible future positions.

3. Past applicants from previous positions.

2. CV

After your job advertisement is published, you’ll start looking at some CVs. Now, what should you focus on in an applicant’s CV?

1. Career objectives

In a Forbes article that included 12 HR specialists, Ms. Short (VP of HR at Yorktown Systems Group) mentioned the importance of “career objectives” in showing the applicants’ strengths, skills, and work background in brief. They also mentioned that how applicants write their career objective matters. In fact, it’s one of the main determining factors of whether they’ll go on to fully read the CV or not.

Be realistic in your search, blue-collar jobs are usually transitional/ladder positions. They are usually not the end goal. Hence, a blue-collar applicant will likely not have the specific position as a goal. Therefore, look for those applicants who show their dedication to growing and learning, or their desire to work with people in general.

2. Skills and experiences

While the specialists’ answers differed in their phrasing, they all agreed on the importance of skills, accomplishments, and experiences. Education is no longer the vital component of a candidate (with the exception of certain fields such as healthcare, law, and finance).

One of the specialists had a unique focal point, he mentioned: “I mostly focus on career shifts that give me an indication of the learning paths the candidate is looking for and it helps me a lot to know how to provide an interesting career path for them” 🙏🏻

Career shifts are expected at the beginning of anyone’s career. They could be an indicator of the individual’s interest in learning and growing. It is also preferred by younger generations as it gives them a chance to cultivate new skills and experiences in more than one field.

3. Interview

The interview is your chance to find out whether the candidate has the soft skills you need from them or not. It allows you to spot how advanced their communication skills are, which is one of the most essential skills to look for in customer-facing jobs.

While the requirements differ based on the position, our specialists agreed on three main points:

1. Communication: the applicant has to be able to communicate their thoughts and opinions articulately, coherently, and eloquently.
2. Mannerism/attitude: tone, choice of words, gestures…etc.
3. Adherence to requirements: arriving on time, bringing all required documents.

Focus during the interview on the applicant’s personality and attitude, and remember: “Hire for Attitude, Train for Skills”. If the applicant shows you in their CV and during their interview, their enthusiasm for working and developing, training them for the job will be much easier.

Make sure your interview is more conversational than It is question-and-answer, avoid questions that allow for rehearsed answers. Dig deeper, and be clear about your expectations and requirements.

4. Training Period

Tom Goodwin (an author in digital advertising) says: “the real future of retail is treating staff really well & training them well”.

Above all, the training period is your chance to notice great qualities and shortcomings (areas where the candidate will need guidance). Specialists noted that the most important point to focus on during this period is “taking time”. Notice whether or not the candidate is taking their time getting to know the institution and Its team, and the policies and procedures. This is a great indicator of their commitment.

In retail and F&B, the training period is considered the most important time, both for you and for the candidate. They will be your first point of contact with your clients, and likely the first encounter a client has with your product or service. Focus on training and educating the candidate, ask yourself: did they get all the necessary work requirements (policies, procedures, tasks, team orientation…etc)? Plan the training period well, and make sure you have an established training program for any new staff onboarding. You’ll learn during this period a lot about the candidate’s learning abilities, flexibility, and sense of responsibility.

General notes..

We asked our specialist about any general good indicators to notice in any candidate during the hiring process? The answers were: confidence, teamwork ability, sense of initiative, learning desirability, and flexibility.

Other methods?

Finally, we wondered if there were any other way you can get to know the applicant other than the traditional, and aforementioned methods? The consistent answer was phone calls that precede the interview. They are your chance to get an initial impression of the candidate.

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In conclusion, always remember that the quality of your work is in the quality of your employees and that you might already have the right people, they just need a little encouragement 🚀

Look for commitment, communication, and learning desire and you will find your candidate.

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