Mr. Walner

Human Resources, Recruitment & Training

How To Avoid Hiring Dr. Jekyll/Mr. Hyde

By Doug Walner, President & CEO, Psychological Services, Inc.

Making bad hires in the hotel industry can result in more than just lost time and wages, extra paperwork and personal trauma for those involved. It can cause severe, even irreparable, damage to a hotel's reputation and loss of revenue due to cancellations, lack of repeat business and poisonous word of mouth.

Hotel guests all have memorable moments about their stay. For some, it's the spectacular oceanfront view. For others, it's the four-star steakhouse downstairs. Amenities like pillow-top beds or HD TVs might also linger in their minds.

But for the discerning guest, it's the four-star customer service...or the lack thereof. If a guest is left uattended at check-in or has to wait over an hour for his luggage to be delivered to the room, the blame isn't going to fall solely on the shoulders of those responsible for those tasks. It's the hotel as a whole that will suffer.

Customer service positions are key to the performance of virtually every business organization. In the hotel industry, however, customer service can truly spell the difference between success or failure. It is, therefore, not only important, but crucial, for hotel management to hire employees who best personify their establishment.

Ten years ago, before the terms "internet" and "blogging" became household words, hotels were rated by a select group of professional travel writers and industry experts with names like Fodor and Frommer. Fast forward to 2006, and it's a whole new ballgame.

Travel and hospitality websites like CitySearch, TripAdvisor and TravelPost provide open forums where anyone can post a "user review." Anyone who's had a negative experience with Hotel X can rant; anyone who's had a positive experience can rave. But let's face it. Those surfing the net for "user reviews" aren't doing so to hear glorious praises from biased parties; they want to know the "horror stories" -- what could impact them.

We've all heard of or experienced incidents like lost reservations, booked rooms given away without notice, and undelivered messages. But other issues like courtesy, prompt attention to requests and employee attitude all factor heavily into a guest's overall evaluation of your hotel Take a look at an example of some actual user reviews of one Los Angeles area hotel:

Which of these reviews is the most memorable? "Absolutely awful" service tends to linger as the other words fade away. With message boards and travel blogs readily available today, unsatisfied guests can cause severe and lasting damage with a single click of the mouse.

Service-oriented jobs in the hospitality and travel industry are not only demanding. They require exceptional interpersonal communication skills, the ability to deal with a wide range of personalities with different ethnic, education and social backgrounds, the facility to adapt quickly to constantly changing situations and, of course, enormous patience.

When assessing candidates for service positions, hotel managers need to evaluate the basic skills, experience and desire that are intrinsic to those positions. But there are four traits that those candidates should possess above others and which, if lacking, could put the hotel's business and reputation at risk. They are: courteousness, cooperativeness, attentiveness and extroversion.

Courteousness:
The candidate should be considerate and respectful toward others, polite when dealing with others, never hostile or argumentative and aware of the impact that he/she has on others.

Cooperativeness:
He/she must be willing to work with others to accomplish a common goal, to accommodate the needs and objectives of others, and to be flexible when dealing with others.

Attentiveness/Helpfulness:
The applicant should be perceptive and mindful of others; pay attention to others' needs and actions; notice and respond to others' suggestions, requests or questions; and respond to others in a considerate and helpful manner.

Extroversion (People-oriented):
A good candidate should enjoy working with people, as opposed to working alone; is not shy; and is comfortable in dealing with all sorts of people in a variety of situations (e.g. face-to-face, by phone).

Identifying job candidates who exhibit these traits is all part of the assessment process. But how does one objectively sort out the best performers in important areas and determine who would be best suited for the job? For years, hotel managers have use traditional ways to assess talent, such as reviewing resumes, conducting one-to-one interviews, and checking employment references. However, that can produce biased results. Interviewers, it has been shown, often tend to prefer candidates who are similar in personality or other ways to them. Some interviewers are influenced by race, age or gender. So, what's the answer?

Today, more and more prospective employers - in hospitality as well as other industries -- are using pre-hire assessment tests to help determine the abilities of candidates applying to service-oriented positions. Here are some reasons why:

Assessment tests provide a "below the surface" view of a candidate. The tests look for characteristics that are not readily revealed during other recruiting procedures. For example, an employer may want to hire a candidate who is not only a strong front desk manager, but who also has outstanding presentation and sales skills. Those qualities are difficult to detect during a formal job interview, in which it's easy for a candidate to talk up his strengths and abilities.

Pre-hire tests are neutral, third-party assessments of a candidate, and help identify which candidate truly possesses the necessary skills to succeed on the job. At the same time, they help weed out those candidates who are unqualified for one reason or another.

Assessments for guest service positions typically focus on several fundamental abilities and work attitudes. These include:

As an HR test publisher and consulting firm, PSI (Psychological Services, Inc.) has evaluated a variety of service-oriented jobs in corporations, government agencies and for-profit and not-for-profit organizations throughout its 60 years in business. Over those years, it has gathered a huge amount of information on what makes for a good hire, how employee turnover can be reduced, and what companies can do to attract and keep talented people for new positions as their organizations grow. The bottom line is: the "old," conventional ways of hiring just don't work in today's driven, ever-changing marketplace where customer service and satisfaction are paramount.

For our clients who employ service representatives, we've recommended a line of tests called ServiceViewTM, a screening tool for any front-line position that interacts with either internal or external clientele, and is designed especially for those people at the "tip of the spear" or serve in direct customer-facing positions. ServiceView measures a candidate's strengths and weaknesses when it comes to courteousness, cooperativeness, attentiveness and extroversion.

What kind of qualities can be profiled? Here are some characteristics measured on the Service Orientation Scale:

It is always prudent to gather as much information about the candidate as possible to support a hiring decision. Assessment tests often play a crucial role in the decision-making process and may be used in different ways in support of different decision models, depending upon the goals of the business organization. Usually, these test results are combined into an overall score profile, and the employer will have a pre-set decision policy on what results would warrant moving forward to the next step in the recruitment process (such as a reference or background check).

While such tests are not typically the sole source of information, they often provide reliable and valid information. And they can be used to eliminate candidates who are less likely to be successful, or who are not competitive in the candidate pool.

Getting through the hiring maze may appear difficult at first glance. But it's not. There are a number of assessment tests available to choose from - any one of which could help you avoid making the mistake of hiring that Mr. Hyde personality in disguise.

Doug Walner drives the goals and day-to-day operations of PSI. With nearly fifteen years of experience and expertise in the technology sector, Walner was appointed President in 2002 and CEO of PSI in 2005. Under his leadership, PSI has developed and introduced ATLAS™, a technology platform which provides comprehensive examination administration services, and web-based pre-employment selection products and management assessment tools. PSI has experienced revenue and profitability growth during his tenure. Walner received his Bachelor or Arts degree in History from Tulane University. Mr. Walner can be contacted at 818-847-6180 or doug@psionline.com Extended Bio...

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