As a career and life coach I deal with soft skills on a daily basis. These are not inherent in humans. They are learned behaviors that many people do not learn. What is surprising is the number of people who do learn these behaviors. When we develop soft skills we have a ‘change of perspective’ that changes how we interact with people.
When I talk to recruiters about their conversation skills I often receive the same feedback.
“Steady growth pattern through the industry. Being an assistant manager for over 5 years would make a recruiter wonder why you were not able to move up to a higher position. Conversation skills, many managers will talk about their ability to control food costs, or ‘really kick it’ in the kitchen, but aren’t comfortable talking to guests during table visits. Results, what accomplishments have the candidate made? Sales increases, cost controls. The recruiter wants to know you understand the business of running a restaurant.” Marty T., Eastern Pennsylvania, Management Recruiter, http://www.geckohospitality.com
This statement sums up the secret to success succinctly, “Honesty Genuine enthusiasm Excellent communication skills,” Sterling Leadership Consulting, LLC dba Gecko Hospitality.
The problem with soft skills is that many of us believe we have them when we don’t. We see ‘fear of losing a good job’ as motivation. We mistake a reluctance to take responsibility as being a team player. We don’t want to learn good communication skills, so we see ourselves as self motivated.
Soft Skills
- Honesty and Integrity
- Strong Work Ethic
- Emotional Intelligence – including the ability to accept feedback
- Self Motivated/Confident
- High energy/positive attitude
- Team Player
- Flexibility
- Good Communication/Negotiation
- Problem Solving
- Creativity
You can read 100 articles on promoting your soft skills. There is a wide variety of advice, most of it wrong. A soft skill is something that is inherent in your beliefs about who you are. These are reflected in your behavior. Small subtle things reflect your beliefs. Something as small as a hand gesture, or the way you answer a question can speak volumes.
Experienced companies have candidate’s complete personality tests. These are designed to identify the client’s priorities, beliefs, and also uncover whether the client has lied.
The first step to developing your soft skills is to ask friends and family to offer an honest evaluation. It is very common to learn that others do not see us with the same rose tinted glasses as we see ourselves. It is also common to discover that you are one person at home, and another at work.
This information comes as a surprise to many who feel that behaviors are an integral part of your identity. These people feel that the world should ‘take them as they are’. This rarely works in today’s job market.
Another problem with soft skills is simply put, ‘if you need to list your soft skills for your manager then they are not part of your behaviors.’
Learning to develop soft skills is easy, but it can take a while to experience a change in your behavior. It can take several months. As you learn to develop your soft skills you will change your method of solving problems, dealing with conflict, and handling workplace drama and politics. People will see a difference and start commenting on the change.
Actions speak louder than words. This is a simple fact. When reading a resume recently I saw one clause ‘I am a good problem solver with excellent communication skills.’ I immediately skimmed down the resume looking for problems this person had solved. Large blanks in the resume showed that they couldn’t solve the problem of unemployment. There were no volunteer or internships, no education upgrades, and no examples of solved problems. Either this person lied, or doesn’t see this soft skill as important to their job. The only other alternative is that this person’s communication skills are not developed enough to ‘prove’ their claims.
Article 6
Job Search Tips: How to Appear Employed
Unemployment creates a series of events that can force you to seek another career. Causality can destroy the brightest career in a few short months. Unemployment forces managers back into the work force. They are now older. Their hard skill set is more out of date. Their management skills need to be updated. This is not always an easy thing.
A restaurant manager who remained employed for the last 10 years is now competing for jobs with people who’ve invested a year studying life coaching, communication, personality analysis. All these are terms that were nondescript when this manager started the last job. Now, they are the difference between being employed and quickly becoming unemployable.
It can take a while to catch up on skills, especially when there are financial obligations to fulfill. It can be difficult, but there are ways to make your resume look like you are proactive and desirable in today’s market place.
Recruiting
First and foremost, contact a hospitality recruiter to help you find a restaurant management job, or a position in the hospitality industry. Their goal is to keep you working.
Online Internships
There are companies that offer online internships to qualified candidates. There will not be any restaurant manager internships, but there may be openings that can broaden your skill set. This is also a short term way to prevent a big hole in your resume.
Volunteering
This is a good way to stay active, but make sure that you are building your management skills. A position handing out brochures door to door is not going to help your career. Taking control of a project and seeing it through to completion, before the deadline, is an excellent choice.
Temp
There are very few management jobs with a temp agency, but if you’ve been out of work for a few months then a temp agency may be the best way to fill the gap.
Study
Take a university course. If finances are tight then audit the course. This can make it look like you took a sabbatical from work to study. It also shows that you are pro active and aggressively improving your skills.
The courses must reflect ‘problem solving’ skills that the Hiring Manager needs to address. This is an excellent way to show your soft skills without having to spoon feed the information to the Recruiter.
Work Online
There are many websites that offer consulting jobs, online. Sites like Guru.com and Elance.com can help connect managers with ‘relevant’ jobs.
Coaching/Consulting
Setting up shop as a coach/consultant can be a great way to stay active and promote your skills, stay employed, and improve your skill set.
Go Social
How many times have you listened to someone and thought “what’s the point?” There’s a line between talking about something relevant to the conversation and blatant egocentric, self promotion. When using social sites as a way to promote your career thing ‘showing not telling.’ Being told puts distance between you and your audience. Showing creates interaction and relationship. The audience engages the audience. Learn to keep the focus on the other person. Ask questions, encourage conversation, and help people come to their own conclusions, influenced by what you want them to know.
This may not create a strong resume. This type of promotion will help build your network and ‘show’ your skills through references and online communication.
References
There are several ways to get references. LinkedIn is one way. Written references, or votes on a freelance website are also a powerful way to promote your skills. These references can be promoted on your business card and your resume.
Focus on the Important Aspects of Your Job
Many candidates have a narrow focus of what companies want in a manager. They are often shocked to see how far ‘off base’ or unrealistic their beliefs and perceptions really are.
“Steady growth pattern through the industry. Being an assistant manager for over 5 years would make a recruiter wonder why you were not able to move up to a higher position. Conversation skills, many managers will talk about their ability to control food costs, or ‘really kick it’ in the kitchen, but aren’t comfortable talking to guests during table visits. Results, what accomplishments has the candidate made? Sales increases, cost controls. The recruiter wants to know you understand the business of running a restaurant.” Marty T., Eastern Pennsylvania, Management Recruiter, http://www.geckohospitality.com
Article 7
Job Search Email Etiquette
Have you ever pressed ‘send’ on an email then realized you sent the email to the wrong person. Hopefully you did not alert your current boss that you are looking for a new job. There are several ways to avoid making a drastic mistake.
- Job Search Email
Do not use a free email. If you’ve created a job website or blog, then you can create an email for job searches only. Do not use your personal email. It ‘brands’ you as personal, not professional.
The same importance needs to be addressed in your signature. Make sure all your contact information is included. Remember that the hiring manager may be swamped with emails and might use search to find yours.
If you include your website and LinkedIn information then the recruiter may be able to find extra information, or references, without needing to search.
- Reply All
The problems with using the reply all button is obvious. If you are use to using the reply all button, then you increase your chances of having the wrong person receive an email. There is also the impression that the hiring manager, or contact person, is not important enough to receive their own email.
Address your email to one contact person. Send a BBC to yourself so you have a record of the email. Make sure the job position, number, and your name is in the subject line.
If you do not know who to address the email to then ask, or address the email to ‘Dear Hiring Manager’
- Importance feature
Never mark an email as low importance – ever.
- Keep Emails Short and Sweet.
A general guideline is to write an email and then cut it down to 150 words. It is amazing how easily you can edit out all the fluff. If you need to write a longer email then break it into sections using sub titles that highlight and summarize the topic.
- Answer Questions
Make sure you’ve answered all the questions the recruiter asked. There is nothing worse than exchanging more emails than necessary. It also shows the recipient that you were uninterested in the topic.
- Don’t Abbreviate
It is not acceptable to use improper grammar or incorrect spelling. This includes any texts you may send. It is important to use the same grammar and spelling that you would use in a formal letter.
- Answer Emails Immediately
If you wait three days to respond to an email then you’ve lost an opportunity. In the professional world email replies are sent promptly. If you fail to respond to a job search email then you can appear irresponsible.
- Stay Away from All Capital Letters and Don’t Use Emoticons
This is annoying and can be misinterpreted as anger or rudeness.
Emoticons should never be used. There is no way to properly interpret them, and they send the wrong message to a recruiter who is looking for someone responsible enough to manage a profitable restaurant..
- Write Well and Proofread
Do not trust spell check. Quickly scan emails before sending them to a professional. Silly and embarrassing mistakes can become costly, career damaging, blunders.
Emails have become one of the forms of communication that we pay little attention to. We forget to read what we wrote and make sure we’ve conveyed our message effectively and succinctly. Google sentence structure and writing a well constructed email will say more about your skills as a manager than the best website or resume.
Sending a test message is a good idea. Sometimes you can see errors that you missed in the draft.
- Attachments
Keep your attachments clean and neat. Make sure they are printable. Sending your resume in PDF format is better than sending a word document. Even if you have a copy of your resume on your website, attach it to every email. Never make the recruiter or hiring manager chase down your information.
Article 8
5 Steps to Picking the Best Job Posting Sites for Restaurant Managers
When is it time to look transition from one restaurant manager position, to another, or to move into a restaurant general manager’s position? Career development can be a vital part of a manager’s survival. Stagnating in one job can be as devastating to a career as leaving a job placement too early.
The options are obvious:
Do It Yourself
Work with a Hospitality Recruitment Firm
Work with a Career Coach
Wait until the economy improves and something drops in your lap
These are all options, but which one is right for your career? This decision can affect your wealth generating potential for the next decade.
Step 1: Which Job Site Is The Best For Your Career?
There are several top job posting sites but the best one for managers is to find a firm that specializes in your niche. We’ve all spent at least one afternoon looking for a better job. The typical sites like indeed or monster can offer several jobs in our area of expertise.
The choice depends on where you are in your career. If you are looking to ‘experiment’ and try something new, then grabbing a job from a public job board may be the best choice. You may find a short contract position, or a temp job.
Management Candidates who are looking for a long term placement where they can take control of projects to the end, and possibly make full time career out of their next job placement would be better to work with a recruiting company. These companies not only have access to jobs before they hit the job boards, but they also have insider access to jobs at the large franchises.
Step 2: Is Relocation an Option?
There are more opportunities for people who are willing to relocate. If you are willing to relocate, and want a long term position then you are a ‘dream candidate’ for a recruitment firm. Working with a recruiter will help ensure that a move across country will result in a good, long term, job placement.
Moving for a job listed on a job placement website, or classifieds can be risky. The employer may misrepresent the job. There is less chance that the job will be long term. There is no proof that the job is real, or more than a ‘let’s try this out’ job.
Step 3: Age – From Graduate To 50+ Jobs
There are jobs for the 50+ managers in the hospitality industry, both for experienced restaurant managers and those in transition. Robert Krzak CEO of www.geckohospitality.com , the hospitality industry’s largest recruiter/headhunter franchise is quick to assure the 50+ managers that there are job placements for their age group. This is especially true for those looking for long term jobs.
This is not surprising for anyone in human resources. The younger generation often jump from one job to the next, in less than a year. They barely ‘break even’ before they are looking for the next challenge. The older generation were trained to expect longevity. They are content working for a decade in one job. This is beneficial in some restaurants that need someone to see projects through to the end.
Other job positions fit the high energy and enthusiasm of a recent graduate. These jobs may follow the more traditional route, hoping to snag a graduate who doesn’t have a professional career development team in place.
I asked for advice that I could share to 50+ candidates from recruiters at http://www.geckohospitality.com which specializes in placing restaurant managers and general managers in long term positions.
“It shouldn’t change anything, but it can tip the scales for some companies out there, sometimes in a candidates favor and sometime it can hurt them. In this case, it is important to not list all of your employment on your resume, but rather the last 10 years or so. It is also suggested that dates of education be removed from the resume as well. A candidate over 50 needs to focus on the great experience they have had, but also be sure to convey to a perspective employer that they are not set in their ways, but rather, a sponge that is still willing to accept feedback.” Greater Heights Consulting LLC dba Gecko Hospitality, Management Recruiter.
“Your objective at the top of your resume should not say anything about your “over 35 years” of hospitality experience. Companies can make decisions whether or not to call a candidate simply because of what they view on a resume. Make your resume as relevant to the position as possible. Correct your on line presence to remove age related information. Pictures of grand-kids immediately dates you.” Marty T., Eastern Pennsylvania, Management Recruiter, http://www.geckohospitality.com
Step 4: Currently Unemployed
All the rules change if you’ve been unemployed for more than a few weeks. The typical resume submission and job application sites can make you appear desperate. There is the stigma in the HR world that an unemployed person is unemployable.
It is possible to overcome this. In this case you want to appear valuable. You want a team of highly trained professionals on your side. Presentation is everything. The job search market is not the place to learn how to find a job. When you are gambling with your career and limiting your wealth generation for the next decade, you want to play smart.
Step 5: Don’t Limit Your Potential
As a career coach I can honestly state that most people who feel they’ve reached the ceiling have limited their own potential. Our beliefs and perceptions may be founded on information that we believed was up to date and industry related, but that doesn’t make them true, or realistic.
On the other end, our expectations may not be realistic and result in us loosing job positions that are a perfect match for our skill set. If your sights are set too low, or too high, then it might be time to develop a team of professionals who make money based on your career success. These professionals can include a recruiting firm, career coach, writers, bloggers, colleagues, and most important a network of people who are currently working in your dream job.
Successful people can teach you how to be successful. But don’t think it is all one sided. When working with professionals you can expect to do most of the growing, changing – the work. This is part of your training. Success isn’t a goal. Success is a behavior. It is an action. Once you learn this then your chances of having your dream job ‘dropped in your lap’ increase exponentially.