One of the hardest pitches to sell is marketing a sill set. It is one of those ‘intangibles’ that cannot be shown. A manager’s skill set is intangible. How do you prove you can do the job? At one time in their career a manager needs to step into the shoes of a salesperson and convince a recruiter that they can do the job, but how?
If you are in Canada there are several organizations designed to help you. If you are in Canada there are resources to help you through this pandemic, find a job, and keep healthy. These include www.traincan.com, https://tourismhospitalityworkers.ca/, https://otec.org/, www.geckohospitality.com. If you are in the USA there is www.restaurant.org, State restaurant organizations, https://www.restaurantbusinessonline.com/, https://chooserestaurants.org/, and more
As we come out of 2020 the horizon has changed. In the past, resumes and job interviews focused on how to ‘sell your managerial skills’. These are intangibles that are difficult to add to a resume.
The Elevator Speech
The job interview professional is going to decide whether to waste time on you, or not, in the first minute. You want to appear organized, confident, skilled, and now, that you care. Are you the type of person who will wash your hands after every client, as long as it takes? These are the new intangible skills restaurant managers need.
The Elevator speech is a sales tool that every Management Candidate needs to develop, long before they need it. As a career coach, I’ve worked with many people who brought professionally made resumes to me. At first glance, the management candidate appears to be everything a management Candidate could desire. However, after listening to them talk for 30 seconds I am left wondering ‘What can this person ‘do.’ The same thing will happen in a job interview.
Your resume is the continuation of your elevator speech, just a little less personality focused. It tells the world who you are, and what you do – well. When I read a resume that lists ‘tasks’ I see someone who ‘works for a paycheck.’ When I see a resume with passion, action, and accomplishments I see someone who will work hard to reach my goals.
And that is the ‘secret to success’ in the hospitality industry. The Candidate’s task is to get hired. The recruiter’s task is to solve a problem. The problem isn’t an empty chair behind the manager’s desk. In fact, a good manager can delegate tasks and free themselves from the desk. What today’s businesses want are people who see a direct relationship between their time at work and the revenue generated by the restaurant.
There are a few ways to get started:
- What do you do well?
- Have you saved your previous employer’s money?
- Have you increased revenue?
- Can you manage people, well?
- Are you a good analyst who can find and fix problems?
- Are you good at taking the leadership role through a transition?
- Can you see the employer’s vision?
The Job Life Cycle
Not every restaurant needs a manager that will stay forever. Some restaurants have a two – five-year plan that needs a Restaurant Manager who can ‘make things happen.’ Don’t lock yourself into the belief that every job is a forever job. And don’t be in a rush to leave a job posting just because you’ve been there a specific length of time. Take the bold step and write a resume that will win you a ‘project’. This may help keep you employed when other Candidates cannot find a job.
Stay up to date with current trends. Recruitment firms, like www.geckohospitality, published 6 – 10 articles a month telling potential restaurant managers how to become qualified candidates. It’s all in that word. Can you present yourself as a ‘qualified’ candidate? Or, are you an accidental restaurant manager who stumbles from one job to the next, keeping the restaurant alive, but never able to take it to the next level?
Be Patient and Work with Your Recruiter
“I had a candidate that I spoke with regularly for close to 4 years. He was an A player that was earning a great salary. He was comfortable where he was at and knew his job inside and out, but there would never be an opportunity to move into multi-unit management with them. His performance was very strong, and as a result, so was his bonus payout.
This candidate was looking for a concept that could compensate him in a manner he was accustomed to, but also provide him with an opportunity to one day get into multi-unit management. He didn’t think it would be possible, but we found it for him with a growing concept that knows how important it is to have the right people running their units, and believed in compensating them accordingly. He joined the team and within a year, he became a DM for them, and he was just promoted to a Regional Managers position.” Mike, New Orleans, Management Recruiter, http://www.geckohospitality.com