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Hospitality Manager 101: Why You Lost The Job

A hospitality manager is a breed apart. They have a little charisma, a lot of courage, and a little bit of moxie. But in reality, a manager is someone who can be ‘on the job’ in all aspects and never ‘let the balls drop.’  There are several things that signal ‘red flags’ for Human Resources. Rtre3There are several things that signal ‘red flags’ for Human Resources. Rtre3

  1. Inconsistency

When I see a well-polished professional, perfect cover letter, excellent presentation then I am immediately interested. But too many times that ‘first impression’ is followed up by poorly structured emails, including typos.

When I am hosting an interview, I am part of my team. The receptionist has been coached. And depending on what I have riding on a successful hire, I may hire someone to sit in the waiting room, or have another employee involved. What am I looking for in a hospitality manager?

I talked to a colleague of mine who described an interview with a perfect candidate. Her ‘thing’ was to watch the security cameras to see how this person conducted themselves from the moment they left their car, until they returned to it. In one incident she saw a candidate take an elevator from a woman who was holding an armful of file folders. Another time she saw a candidate leave the building, light a cigarette, smoke a few puffs, and throw the rest in the company garden.

Another small matter that is vitally important in American culture. Did you send a hand-written thank you note?

  1. Be Honest

It is actually insulting to force us to listen to old clich’s like ‘my biggest weakness is perfectionism.’ Personally, when I hear something like that, the interview is over. A hospitality manager needs to focus on fact, not cover up mistakes. They need their whole team to solve problems from the hour they start – not cover up until the restaurant or hotel implodes.

There is more to being honest than telling me the truth. It measures your personal self-awareness. If you cannot tell me your own weaknesses, honestly, then you may miss problems in the restaurant, or hotel, until they blow up in your face.

Honesty includes stating whether you are over qualified in your letter. This gives us the opportunity to choose whether we want to interview you. The fear that you will be bored, or only taking this job until something better comes along haunts us ” constantly.”  If you are over qualified tell us why you want our position. Tell us what your goals are. Give us enough information to determine whether you will be a good fit.

Even if you are only looking for a 2 or 3 year job. If your strengths are setting up protocols and procedures so that a business can ‘run itself’ and you have a good track record then we may be willing to take a short term candidate.

  1. Stay Focused

Too many candidates ruin their opportunity by being too informal. I don’t want to hear about the people in your old job who don’t like you. I don’t want to know about your children.

Keep your opinions to yourself. You may be a great organizer, but I don’t have time. Tell me what you have organized or leave it off the resume. Another thing to leave off the resume is objectives. These are a major problem because it is very difficult to focus them on the aspects of the job I need covered. Many hiring agents have listed the objective section of a resume as their way of ‘weeding down the stack of resumes.

Stay focused on the phone. Many people have a difficult time remaining professional on the phone. It is a learned skill. Too many people fail their job interview because they talk to me like they are an old friend. It may be a phone interview, but it is still an interview.

 

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