Corey Harlock's Blog (29)

Are your Recruitment Strategies Helping OR Hurting your future?

There seems to be (what to me is a disturbing) trend in recruitment from some hospitality operations out there. Now, I have written several articles about how salaries are NOT going down, in fact they are going up. How good people are very aware of their worth and value and are not willing to take a step back or pay cut to go back to work and are in fact willing to wait it out for the right opportunity. How if you do get a great person at a “low ball” price, they are a “rental” and will be gone… Continue

Added by Corey Harlock on June 4, 2010 at 11:40am — No Comments

Having a hard time filling that Key Position – Maybe you have Over Advertised

We have all gone to a job board to find ONE company that has posted several jobs (sometime as many as 20 or more) back to back to back. I guess they thought that they would create a buzz and capture more interest from more people with more ads. Well I am here to tell you that you are actually creating the exact opposite reaction than you are intending to generate.

45% of candidates we surveyed said that they are actually LESS LIKELY to apply to a company when their ads appear with… Continue

Added by Corey Harlock on May 31, 2010 at 3:09pm — No Comments

So, is there a differece between Generations? Ah, yeah!

I was having a discussion with an associate about recruiting, managing and retention (you know, the usual stuff) when they said something that I thought summed the challenges that exist in all these realms in a very simple way. It went something like this:

Boomers – were happy with what they got

Gen Xers – worked for what they wanted

Gen Y’s – aren’t afraid to ask for what they want

Tweens – know what they want and just expect it!

As another associate said,… Continue

Added by Corey Harlock on May 28, 2010 at 8:00am — 2 Comments

Hiring? - Here are the TOP 5 things you NEED to Know.

I have written a lot about how hiring practices affect the size of your current and future candidate pools and thought that this might be a good time to talk about what you CAN do NOW to increase or maintain your current candidate pool.

I have read a lot of articles from other experts in the field and though they have not conducted the extensive surveys that we have, we all seem to share a common opinion; treat all applicants and future employees with respect and meet their… Continue

Added by Corey Harlock on May 21, 2010 at 11:42am — 3 Comments

Brace Yourself for Turnover - People are GOING to Leave you!

The economy is strengthening – the signs are everywhere. 1st quarter profits in all segments of hospitality are up and some are way up.

With increased business volume comes the hiring crunch. If you have been following my blogs you will know that I have been trying to prepare companies for this “next” step of the economic recovery for a while. Trying to get them to take care of the people they have in house, get the training in, get the cross training in – prepare them to… Continue

Added by Corey Harlock on April 30, 2010 at 12:25pm — 1 Comment

Get ready for your recruitment woes! – It is closer than you think.

I have talked a lot about how regardless of our economy we are in a labour shortage – period. With business climbing back and companies looking to hire again (yay) they think – no problem, we’ll just throw an add up online and get lots of great people to choose from. So how is that working for you?

In my estimation there are really 4 waves of hiring and available staff coming out of a bad economy and in to a strengthening one.

Wave #1 is when you can throw your net in the… Continue

Added by Corey Harlock on April 26, 2010 at 12:11pm — 2 Comments

Applying - getting progressive (maybe?)

A re-occurring topic of discussion in my world these days is how to attract good applicants as well as traditional application methods.

Surprisingly there are a lot of people in my industry as well as hiring managers out there who still believe in the old resume, cover letter, follow up call and interview for everyone, the same process for every applicant and for every position. They also believe that it is the candidate’s responsibility to know the accepted process and system and… Continue

Added by Corey Harlock on March 12, 2010 at 11:03am — No Comments

Industry Support - Help your fellow Hospo Professional

This week I don’t really have any advice or an opinion (yep, you heard it correctly – no opinion), I have more of a conundrum.

I have met with a few really great candidates in the past month or so who are facing some really unique challenges. Let me explain what I mean.

These individuals are all senior level people – area managers, franchise managers, directors or operations managers and the one thing they have in common is that they are victims of the economic… Continue

Added by Corey Harlock on March 10, 2010 at 7:00am — No Comments

Resume Roulette - Paper does not = people.

We all know that technology has made it very easy to advertise and receive applications. My belief is that it has made it too easy. Anyone can and will apply for every job that you post regardless of education/experience required and salary.

It is exciting to see the “number” of new applicants to your job post and that excitement soon turns to frustration when you realize that most if not all of them are not nearly qualified and/or live across a national border. I get it, but now is… Continue

Added by Corey Harlock on March 5, 2010 at 8:00am — 11 Comments

You're not bigger than your people - seriously you're not!

If you ever start thinking that you are bigger than your people – stop! You’re not. I have written about companies who say “their people are their biggest asset” and then proceed to talk about the bottom line and guest complaints with no mention of their people (remember that oh so valuable asset we just talked about?). I have been in way too many of those meetings.

You can’t manage what is inherently within someone. Yes people who are passionate about what they do and “live”… Continue

Added by Corey Harlock on March 4, 2010 at 9:00am — 10 Comments

“How does our service compare” or “What can we do better?”

If you are looking for a way to bring your team together, gain insight into what others are doing in the industry, raise the level of customer service in your business and get inspired about what you do, I have the solution for you. Get involved in your local service awards as a volunteer.

I know I have talked about this before – but I feel the need to bring it up again. I have spent 2 of the past 3 weeks as a volunteer for the Calgary White Hat Service Awards. I was fortunate enough… Continue

Added by Corey Harlock on February 26, 2010 at 9:00am — No Comments

Posting & Applying Online – Why it isn’t working!

With a recovering market there must be a lot of “great candidates” on the market – right? I believe that due to some unfortunate circumstances there are some “great” people out there looking. So when you post your jobs on Hcareers or any other job board why aren’t they applying?

I am fond of saying that the great thing about the internet is that it makes it easy to apply for any job you like and the bad thing about the internet is that it makes it easy for you to apply for any job… Continue

Added by Corey Harlock on February 24, 2010 at 9:00am — 13 Comments

What are you hearing about Hospitality & the Economy

I wanted to take this opportunity to share some of the information I am hearing these days and hopefully get some input into what you are hearing.

I have been talking to people in hotels, restaurants and in tourism and here are some of the things I have been hearing:

From the hotel sector:

January was good, February was the worst month ever but March, April, May and beyond are looking great.

From the restaurant sector:

The guys on Bay St. (Toronto)… Continue

Added by Corey Harlock on February 19, 2010 at 9:00am — No Comments

Get involved with our Industry

If you ever want to renew your passion for our industry, all you have to do is get involved with one of your local service award committees.

This past Monday and Tuesday I spent the days working with the Calgary White Hat awards. The White Hats are awarded for service excellence in many various categories and you must be nominated (either by your employer, co-worker, guest or anyone whom you have had a positive impact on) to be eligible. I should also mention that this award is for… Continue

Added by Corey Harlock on February 12, 2010 at 9:00am — No Comments

Psychology of a Counter Offer – The Trust Issue

We have looked at two different angles of how accepting a counter offer can change or limit your relationship with your current employer. I am now going to try and explain the employer perspective.

So after you bring your new offer to your current employers and they frantically piece together a counter offer, here is how the next few weeks play out in their head.

Stage 1 – Relief

They are happy and relieved that they have averted losing one of their top people. Whoa,… Continue

Added by Corey Harlock on February 10, 2010 at 11:00am — 13 Comments

Psychology of a Counter Offer – Fractured Relationships

So, my last post focused on the fact that making or accepting a counter offer is a bad idea. Now I want to attempt to explain some of the pitfalls of making and in this post, accepting a counter offer.

As a job seeker the absolute worst thing you can do is shop for a new job with the intent of taking it to your current employer in hope of getting a counter offer.

Most employers will spend a lot of time (which = money) and real dollars advertising, interviewing and… Continue

Added by Corey Harlock on February 5, 2010 at 9:00am — 1 Comment

Get ready to start countering – or not

As the economy picks up and more jobs come available, people are going to start resigning. With that, employers are going to counter offer. I say – Don’t do it!

Here are the facts;

over 80% of people who accept a counter offer cease to remain at that company after 6 months. WOW

54% of your current staff are looking for a new job – seriously they are. As soon as the market gains some strength they are shopping their resume.

So get ready to start countering –… Continue

Added by Corey Harlock on February 3, 2010 at 9:00pm — 1 Comment

Dr Pete - Ergonomics at Work

In an effort to bring you more information on a variety of topics, we have enlisted a few "guest bloggers."

I have spoken with a few managers out there and learned that workplace ergonomics was a topic of interest. I guess all managers and companies are in favour of finding ways to increase productivity while decreasing workplace accidents and sick days. So I give you Dr. Pete Moore - widely regarded in Ontario as a leading lecturer in workplace ergonomics and expert in his field. We… Continue

Added by Corey Harlock on February 1, 2010 at 3:43pm — No Comments

Things are getting better - really they are!

How about some “optimistic” news for a Friday? I think things are starting to turn around?

How do I know you might be asking? Here are some things I have noticed in the past week or two alone.

My phone is ringing – a lot more than it has been!

I just read an article that said hotel occupancies are up in Q4 to 07/08 levels. They say that ADR is way down, but occupancy is up. Still pretty good news.

There are more mergers and acquisitions in the Oil & Gas… Continue

Added by Corey Harlock on January 29, 2010 at 11:19am — No Comments

Quick Service Conundrum – Do Uniforms hurt your business?

There are more hospitality employees in Canada than in any other industry (and most industries combined), they number in the millions. When you look at restaurants more than half of all restaurants fall into the Quick Service or the QSR category and more that $.60 of every dollar spent dining out is spent in a QSR.

So if the largest number of employees in the hospitality field work in QSR, most of the restaurants in the country are QSR’s and more than 60% of all money spent in… Continue

Added by Corey Harlock on January 27, 2010 at 12:09pm — No Comments