By Debbie Pern CCM
How many times do you go through the recruitment process, select who you think is the right candidate and within a week realise that perhaps you’ve made the wrong choice.
Recruiting the right team around you is the key to your success – think about that! You are only as good as the people you hire.
It doesn’t matter if you are recruiting for Management, Department Heads, Kitchen, Front of House or office the criteria required in a club environment is completely different to the outside hospitality or commercial world. The most important thing in recruiting club employees – you must see passion in their eyes, a smile on their face, smart body language and a spring in their step. The rest is easy!
The right people will adapt to change, the right people will help attract and retain other “right” people and the right people will make your job a lot easier!
So where are the “right” people – where do you find them? Sometimes they are right in front of you and sometimes you just have to go out and find them.
Advantages of Internal Recruitment – You can better assess their ability for the job, you know the person and the cost is significantly lower.
Disadvantages of Internal Recruitment – You have to fill another position down the line, it perhaps doesn’t bring a fresh pair of eyes to the department and can cause unrest among other members of staff who find it hard to suddenly take orders from their peers.
Advantages of External Recruitment – It brings new blood and new ideas into the Club.
Disadvantages of External Recruitment – It’s harder to find a “good fit” to the clubs culture and management philosophy.
More details on Advantages and Disadvantages on internal/external recruitment can be found under the Recruitment Section of Contemporary Club Management third edition.
Much of the work in recruiting is done prior to placing any recruitment advertising. This process includes – Review the position, check the job analysis, job description and job specifications. Also review the Clubs recruiting methods, for example, if you are looking for a younger employee advertise online that is where they are looking for employment and start with your own website.
There is no right or wrong answer as to how many candidates you should interview, however looking at candidates on paper is completely different to meeting candidates face to face. If you have ten good paper candidates arrange an interview for all ten. You will lose four/five on the first handshake.
Before the interview ensure you are prepared, read the CV of the candidate, during the Interview ensure the candidate is relaxed, offer some small talk to start with, then ask open ended questions to allow the candidate to settle into the zone. Tell me about a situation/time? What did you feel/think?
Bring back a short list of candidates to a second interview and involve other members of staff. Leave the candidate with the heads of department for half an hour – see how they interact, get feedback from your managers.
Finally – remember Hire for Passion Train for skills!
Debbie Pern CCM is the Club Manager of Deeside Golf Club. Debbie oversees operations, leads, trains and develops employees. The highlight of Debbie’s career is achieving her CCM in March 2017 and being one of only two women in Europe to achieve this. Debbie also sings with the award-winning Aberdeen Chorus, Sweet Adelines International and accredits most of her employment success to the confidence Sweet Adelines has given her.
