Last week I sent one of my hospitality clients the perfect candidate for a Kitchen Manager position that she had available.  This guy had the exact experience that she was looking for, the candidate was excited about the idea of working for my candidate and I sent her the resume.  One hour later I received the response that every recruiter dreads hearing, “I already have that candidate from another recruiter”.   

I called the candidate and asked him why he hadn’t told me that he had another hospitality recruiter submit his resume to the client.  My candidate swore up and down that he hadn’t.  He said that he spoke to someone about a different position but nothing had come of it.  To his knowledge his other recruiter had not sent the client his resume.   I called my client to ask her who the recruiter was and tell her the story my candidate had told me. 

My client said that the recruiter who sent her the resume had a reputation for sending her candidates without the candidates being aware of it and she also said that she would not interview or hire this candidate because then she would have to pay the other recruiter a fee and she doesn’t like the other recruiter.  When I asked her why she works with him then, she said that she feared that he would take her people if she cut him off completely.   My candidate was devastated. 

The recruiting world is ever changing.  People have 100’s of options on how to find a job and some candidates try to use all of them at once.  They post their resume on Monster, CareerBuilder and Hot Jobs.  They apply to every job on Craig’s List that they see.  They use Linked in and Face Book to tell the world that they are unemployed. 

STOP!!!!!!           BREATH!!!!!!!   RELAX!!!!!!

As soon as you put your resume on online for the world to see, you become a commodity similar to coffee, not Starbucks or Dunkin, just coffee.  If you choose to apply to jobs where no company name is listed then you are applying to a database somewhere in the world that will hold, reuse and possibly sell your information.  If you choose to engage with a recruiter who doesn’t tell you the name of the company that they are sending your resume to, RUN.   

The good news is there are people out there who can help you.  Look for a CPC certified hospitality recruiter who has the knowledge and ethics to get you the results that you are looking for.  These recruiters have sworn an oath the keep your information confidential, to follow the laws of the United States of America and to serve your best interests.  To find one in your area, visit www.geckohospitality.com .

I’ve been in the restaurant business for 34 years and have had the opportunity to work in Operations, HR, and Training with several great companies.  As fate would have it, I ended up in the Restaurant Management Recruiting industry in 2004 and have enjoyed helping people find a Restaurant Manager position or make a change to a better position.  A few years ago along came MySpace, the first social networking website I remember hearing about … but it was for teenagers (like my children) and young adults.  We used MySpace in our business but mostly to check a candidate’s profile (and also find out what my children were posting), which we know employers were starting to do, to make sure they were not sadistic or a Satan worshiper, a heavy party person (with beer bongs), or something else strange.  Often we had to instruct a candidate to make changes to their MySpace page. 

Then a couple years ago we started hearing about Linkedin, an online social network for business people … then FaceBook which is like the adult version of MySpace.  It still amazes me how much people divulge about themselves on these open websites.  But none of this is the point of my writing today. 

In the past 12 months I have re-connected with about a dozen old business friends from my days with Marriott/Roy Rogers and Hardee’s.  It’s been sort of like a High School reunion but on the business side.  It’s amazing to see what has happened to people.  The true beauty of this phenomenon of online social networking is that I have been able to help two of my former colleges at Roy Rogers get jobs in what is the toughest job market in 60 years.  One guy sent me a resume and I recognized his name and sure enough, on his resume was Roy Rogers Restaurants, 20 years ago.  He just started his new job which I was able to place him in.  In another case a former employee of mine (from 30 years ago) found my name on Linkedin and contacted me because she was looking for a Restaurant Manager job.  I was able to hook her up with our Maryland office and she was placed.  And currently I am in the process of helping another Roy Rogers friend (from 25 years ago) find his next position. 

So the morale of this story … if you can get through all the garbage online, move past all the spam and cons, there is this great reward in connecting with people from your past, and maybe even helping them!  Get your business profile out there, watch how much personal information you share, be completely honest in what you post, always keep pictures and everything about you professional, and search for former colleagues … you will be amazed and surprised at what you find.

On Martin Luther King weekend I had the pleasure of backpacking the Appellation trail on a cold weather camping trip with my sons Boy Scout trip.  It’s a trip we make every January and I always look forward to it.  We decided to arrive Friday night after a 4 hour drive and hike 2 ½ miles, climbing 2600 feet, so that we could sleep in the Roan Mountain Shelter.  The Roan Mountain Shelter is the highest shelter on the Appellation trail.  Around Midnight, after hiking in two to three feet of snow, we arrived at the shelter under a cold, clear sky, the Milky Way lighting our way.

We awoke the next day and hiked about 5 miles, again in 2-3 feet of snow, until we arrived at the next shelter.  This shelter was small and only had three sides so we used it as a place to dine and play cards while we pitched tents and prepared for a windy and snowy/rainy night.  We knew there was a chance of rain but hoped that we were high enough on the mountain that it would snow, rather than rain.  This is when things started to fall apart.  When you pitch a tent in snow, traditional tent stakes don’t hold.  We tried to use downed tree branches as steaks and they worked well at first until the winds broke 30 miles an hour and the rain, not snow, was blowing sideways.  We did the best we could with what we had and tried to sleep with the wind howling and the rain pelting our tents.  I didn’t sleep well but I managed to stay dry.  I later realized that I was the only one is our group that stayed dry that night although my boots under the rain fly weren’t so lucky, therefore my feet would be wet all day.   Everyone was wet and it was a cold, windy 35 degree morning.  We decided to eat and pack quickly and then try to keep moving forward and hike out to where we had a truck parked about 6 miles away.  

When you are wet and cold, as long as you keep moving, you can keep from getting hypothermia and frost bite.  The key was to keep moving and heat up the moister in our cloths.  The first half of our Trek was on a virgin trail, three feet of snow that no one had walked on since the snow had fallen.  On the Appellation Trail the blaze markings are spread out about one every fifth to one every tenth of a mile.  As a team we found our way to the over mountain trail 3 miles away at a rate of less than one mile per hour and then proceeded to head down about 3000 feet to our car.   At this point we were struggling to find the trail and found ourselves hiking through a briar patch.  A branch flew back and penetrated my left eye.  I was in saver pain but realized I would have to suck it up in order to make our truck by dark.  If we didn’t make it, then we would risk hypothermia and possible frost bight.  We moved forward.  At 5:15 pm after hiking for 7 hours, we made it to the truck and drove to the hospital and home. 

I look back now, mostly out of my right eye, and think about what I learned from the trek and the ordeal.  Mostly it is this, when you have no choice but to achieve a goal, a literal life and death situation, leaders figure out a way to make it happen.  In the past 18 months, the restaurant business has been on the brink of disaster and yet many companies, including yours, decided to move forward or change direction and are better for it today.  Others through up their hands gave up and made excuses.  They are now in the restaurant graveyard.  If you work for a company that has shifted direction but kept moving over the past year then you should be very happy.  Even though you may have had to alter your plans and move in a different direction then originally planned, you are still here, delivering guest service every day.

Although I believe the worst is behind us, we all must keep our eye on the prize, providing excellent customer service and delivering on guest expectations.   In 2010, I pledge that I will do just that, to my candidates and clients.  They are my customers.

After  6 years of recruiting restaurant managers and 20 + years as a restaurant manager, general Manager and Area Director, I have interviewed over 10,000 people.   What I can honestly tell you is this; It is much easier to get a new job if you are currently employed then if you are unemployed.  Now don’t get me wrong I successfully place unemployed people all the time however if you are currently employed and want to look for a new opportunity without posting your resume all over the job boards, You will get more interviews and be paid a higher salary then if you are not currently working.  The reason is simple, companies want the best managers out there and they often like the challenge of taking a great manager from one of their competitors.  Managers who post their resume on all of the job boards are not a challenge and usually not the best.  If someone put a Honda Accord next to a BMW 3 series and said choose the one you like, 9/10 people would pick the BMW not because it’s a better car but because it’s more expensive and their for harder to acquire.  Honda makes a great car and I have one myself but what I’m saying is be the BMW.  Make yourself more desirable through marketing yourself to the select few.

Managers who are unemployed are unemployed for a reason and usually that reason is they were let go or forced to resign. Sure people quit every day because they need time to interview and want to take a break before starting something new but what I will say is this.  When you are hired to run a business, you are hired to make good sound decisions and quitting a job with no job in your pocket is a reckless and a reflection on your ability to make good sound decisions.  Before you give notice, call me and we can discuss all of your options, you won’t regret it.

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