Once you have determined who you might need to run a successful bar, you will have to start looking for appropriate staff to hire. For many bar managers, this can be a very daunting and time-consuming task. It can also be difficult to know where to find the best bar employees possible. Successful bar managers often use a number of techniques to help them find the right staff:
Advertise. Putting an ad in the local paper, in the window of the bar, and in an online job bank will usually bring in many applicants, ranging from the novice job seeker to the experienced bar staff. The advantage of this method is that you will get many applicants. The disadvantage is that you will have to weed through many poor applications to find likely candidates. Most successful bar managers use this method occasionally to see who is out there, but few rely entirely on this method.
Targeted advertising. Targeted advertising can help ensure that your ad is seen by the people you want to hire the most. For example, if market research shows that your targeted patrons will most likely be college students and you want to hire college students to work at your bar, try advertising in the student paper or the local college’s student employment center rather than in the local paper. If you want to hire professional staff only, consider advertising in trade publications.
Recruiting. The best experienced staff are generally already working for other bars. If you want to hire these employees for yourself, you will have to make them an offer yourself.
Ask around. Your existing staff or other bar owners you know can make recommendations of people who have worked at a bar and are currently looking for work in your area.
Past applications. People who have applied before to work at your bar and were a close fit can still be a great choice—and in the time between their last application and now, they could have gained valuable experience that can make them good employees now.
The Next Step in Hiring: Filtering
Once you have determined who you want to hire and once your advertising and searching have brought in some applicants, you will have to go through the difficult process of deciding who to hire. In general, if you have plenty of applications, you can start by filtering out those employees who do not seem to be a good fit for you. Read the applications and eliminate anyone who seems to switch jobs very often or who has no applicable skills that could help with working at your bar. There is no need to interview everyone who applies for a job with you.
Next, make a list of the qualities you want in each employee—these comprise the checklist you are measuring each applicant against. Also, note the type of traits that you want your bar to project. These are also traits to look for in employees. The more precise you are, the easier it will be for you to recognize the ideal employee when you see him or her.
Once you have narrowed down your list of applicants to a few candidates, ask them in for interviews. Before the interview, check all the person’s references by calling each reference given and asking how long the employee worked for the reference, why they left the job, and whether the employer would rehire the worker. Before the applicant arrives, be sure to create a list of interview questions you want to ask them. There are several questions you will want to ask:
Questions about skills. You may want to ask applicants about the skills they think they have that will help them work at your bar. This will give you a good sense of what the applicant thinks that the job
involves and will give you a chance to see what skills the applicant has to work with. Stay alert not just for general statements but for proof.
Any applicant can say, “I’m a real ‘people’ person.” But the applicant who says; “I’m a real ‘people’ person; I have led camp three years in a row and have organized every social event for the debating team at my college,” really is comfortable with others.
Integrity questions. You can get a sense of how honest a potential bar employee is by asking questions such as, “Have you ever taken something that is not yours?” or “What do you think of taking something that does not belong to you?” Hesitation or a sudden jump in nervousness can indicate a potential problem.
Experience questions. You can ask potential employees about what work they have done in the past and how that work applies to the work they will be doing at the bar.
“What if” and problem-solving questions. “What if” and problem- solving questions can be a great way to gauge how well potential employees think on their feet (which is a key trait of bar staff).
Questions such as, “What would you do if a patron asked for a 7-Up and you knew there was no 7-Up left at the bar?” can give you a great sense of how potential staff would respond to certain situations.
Life questions. Asking about what the potential employee wants from life and what else they are doing currently gives you a better sense of the person as a whole. It can also tell you about potential problems—in general, those employees who have stable lives (students, family- oriented applicants) are more likely to work hard as they have the motivation to do so.
Goal questions. Asking where the applicant sees themselves in a few years can be a useful way to gauge whether the employee will be happy
in the job or whether the employee sees your bar as only a temporary way to make money while waiting for something “better.”
Questions about concerns. If you have any concerns, you may want to raise them. You should also give the applicant a chance to ask questions about the job. Sometimes these questions can be very revealing. Asking about vacation times and asking about how much creative control bartenders have in developing new drinks clearly reveals two very different qualities of employees.
During the interview, ask for a demonstration of skills, if appropriate. Ask a potential bartender to mix a drink or two and ask a server to balance three drinks on a tray. Also, be sure to jot down notes to yourself about the overall impression the employee makes. It’s perfectly normal to be nervous during a job interview, but if the applicant is glum and does not meet your expectations at all, there is little hope that he or she will make a favorable impression on customers.
Remember, you cannot discriminate applicants based on their religion, race, or appearance. There are also some questions that you cannot ask under labor laws.
Click on www.dol.gov for federal law regulations, and your state’s Department of Labor Web site to find out what interview questions could land you in trouble.
After the interview, do a background check with a service such as www.ussearch.com to ensure that you are not hiring someone you shouldn’t be.
It is especially important to check out anyone who will be working with money and to check out your security staff. You may also want to run a credit check on any employee who will be handling larger amounts of money. These simple and low-cost checks can help save you lots of grief later.
If you would like more in-depth information on hiring employees, check out these books:
How to Hire, Train & Keep the Best Employees for Your Small
Business: With Companion CD-ROM. This book covers all the essential elements of employee management in an easy-to understand and practical manner. Topics include: recruitment strategies, hiring and interviewing, effective communication, training, motivation, leadership and team building. The companion CD-ROM contains dozens of employee training and human resource forms including unique employment applications, interview questions and analysis, reference checks, work schedules, rules to live by, reporting forms, confidentially agreement, and an extensive human resource audit form. Simply print out any form you need, when you need it. To order, call 1-800-814- 1132 or visit www.atlantic-pub.com (Item # HTK-02, $29.95).
501+ Great Interview Questions for Employers and the Best Answers for Prospective Employees. This book contains a wide variety of carefully worded questions that will help make the employee search easier. These questions can help you determine a candidate’s personality type, the type of work he or she is best suited for, and if the person will mesh with your existing employees and workplace. Once you learn the right questions to ask, you’ll get the best employees. To order, call 1-800-814-1132 or visit at www.atlantic-pub.com (Item # 501-02, $24.95).
365 Answers About Human Resources for the Small Business Owner:
What Every Manager Needs to Know About Workplace Law. This book has 300 common questions employers have about employees and the law; it’s like having an employment attorney on your staff. To order, call 1-800-814-1132 or visit at www.atlantic-pub.com (Item # HRM- 02, $21.95).