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Hospitality Management Candidates Frustrated With Job Interviews

The job interview is the most frustrating for a hospitality candidate. The hospitality management candidate is faced with one infuriating road block after another when they prepare for a job interview.

Let’s take the housekeeping directory. They need to dress to impress for the job interview. By the time they are in a suit and tie, or makeup and earrings, it is hard to imagine them effectively handling a staff of 20 maids, purchasing, and laundry.  They have lost the advantage of the first impression.

What about the Executive Candidate who dresses for the interview, only to lose the job because they don’t look like they will fit into the company’s ‘nose to the grind’ management method.

Then it comes to the resume. How do you ‘show’ that you are effective at reducing employee turnover. You may not always be in a position to have the correct numbers of the impact you had on your department. You may not have access to the turnover numbers of the last manager, or other departments.

In one page, how does a restaurant manager explain that their restaurant redesign increased the patron experience, increasing the sales. Or maybe you made a small suggestion to wait 10 minutes before giving the bill to restaurant patrons. The results of that one change may have increased profits, but there is no room on the resume to express this.

As a HR professional it is easy to see why the resume and job interview process are causing the vast majority of ‘wrong hires’. Many of us in smaller job markets meet the candidate we overlooked, who went to the competition and helped their restaurant blossom into one of the ‘must visit’ places in the city.

Unfortunately, there is no solution to this problem. We must stumble along hoping to do our best. But even with all these problems there are ways that we can stack the odds in our favor.

First Seven Words

Your first seven words will define your education level, social status, and reliability. Yet, most of us do not worry about first impressions. We may practice our answers, but not our vernacular, and not our cadence or diction.

We make friends in those first 2 – 3 sentences. We decide to buy, or walk away. Yet most of us don’t worry about this first impression. Instead, we practice elevator messages, ‘fake’ answers to interview questions, and greetings.

Diction and Cadence

Have you ever recorded yourself and listen back? How we talk may sound right to us, but it can create a false impression to the listener. Talking too fast, slurring words, and pausing can have a serious impact on how people ‘categorize us.’ Unfortunately, their perception also defines whether they believe we can do a job, or not.

Even if you train yourself until you use the right words, you need to say them in the right way.

Facial Expression

Which way do you look when you are thinking? Left, or right? Well, it doesn’t really matter but unfortunately, thanks to Zig Ziggler, and a few reports that were misinterpreted, we often think that a single glance to the left can indicate that someone is lying.

Even though we know the art of ‘lie detection’ is multi phased, part talent, and instinctual, too many people still believe that if you look down, or look to the left then you are lying. Even if the job interview professional is not consciously thinking of catching you lying, if they believe this than the most innocent facial movement can cost you the job.

So what do you do? Learn how to control your facial expressions. Take the time needed to learn how to market yourself and avoid making mistakes.

Movements

Nothing will cost you a job faster than fidgeting, not knowing where to put your knees, crossing your leg, or not crossing them. It isn’t really the way you move, it is your confidence level and casual air. The best way to learn how to move is to take a modeling class.

If you can avoid these issues then you’ll feel more confident in a job interview, and you will stop hating them. Empower yourself. Train your self to successfully handle job interviews. Then you won’t need to fear them.

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