In her work with large restaurant companies and hotels, Prueter, learned to make quick but effective work
of hundreds of interviews by asking a list of key questions (see “Inquiring Interviewers” below). Once asked
these basics, she said the prospect’s character, attitude and ability moves to the surface.

Good interviewers, she said, also ask open-ended questions that reveal a person’s goals, standards,
desires, passions and attitude. If a job candidate responds mechanically or predictably to such queries
—“basically telling you want they think you want to hear” — it’s a good bet his answers lack substance.
On the other hand, the answers of honest candidates, she said, typically form recurring patterns of thought,
beliefs, feelings and behaviors that match the job requirements.

Prueter calls candidates whose answers don’t match up, “no” candidates -- persons who she’d not consider
hiring. And in her opinion, even those candidates an interviewer might call a “maybe,” should be scratched
off the list. “I only hire a ‘yes,’ I never hire a ‘maybe,’ thinking they’re going to get better,” Prueter said.
“The key is to find a person whose heart is in (this business). These are the great people who want to work
for great restaurants.” Hiring only “yes” candidates, Prueter added, may seem unrealistic, but when operators
see their labor turnover drop “because the right people are happy in their jobs,” they become believers.

“Jim Collins (author of the book “Good to Great”) said that hiring great employees comes down to getting
the right people on the bus, the wrong people off the bus, and the right people in the right seats,” Prueter
said. “When you have that kind of people, they are self-motivated and they don’t need babysitting.”

On the lookout
Prueter insisted that operators never stop looking for great talent and recommended they should conduct
regular interviews regardless of whether they need new employees. “I’d look for prospects at least every
three months. That way you can have a ready supply of people.” She stressed the value of asking friends
and family about potential good hires, as well as making the effort to build relationships with sharp
employees of other businesses. By building a deep reserve of staffers, an operator also gains the confidence
to prune from the staff employees who don’t pass muster. Too often, she said, employers will keep bad
employees because they fool themselves into thinking they’re better than no one at all.

“Do you have someone on your staff who needs to be fired, but you’ve not been willing to do it?” Prueter
asked. “You need to be able to say, ‘Buddy, you’re out of here,’ because it’s not to your benefit to have a
person in your organization who’s not willing to work up to the standards you set.”

At the end of her presentation, the silly side of Prueter returned when she led the audience in a pledge
never to hire poor performers again. Grinning facetiously but speaking seriously, she led the group to
raise their right hands and “promise to never again hire out of desperation, for the price we pay is too
dear. I shall set the highest standards and hire only winners because only with great people can we
achieve great things.”

Back 1 2 3 4