For front-desk receptionists, we paid
attention to the applicant’s personal
appearance. Was it important to them
to put their best foot forward with
strangers? We also wanted to know if
they had skills in conflict resolution.
“Are you able to cheer people up?” we
asked. “When somebody is irritated
about something, how do you respond?”
For a salesperson, we measured
competitiveness. “Have you ever been
part of a winning team?” we wanted to
know. We also looked for persuasiveness,
as in, “Do you like getting a person to do
something they don’t want to do?” and
“How good are you at getting someone’s
attention?” In addition, we also sought
to measure self-discipline. “Can you
keep track of many details at the same
time?” we asked.
We found that a lot of people who looked
good at first glance were not right for the
jobs we had in mind. We had to carefully
select. Even to get a good dishwasher,
we had to interview at least ten people
on average before choosing the right
one.
But the reward came as we watched our
employee turnover rate drop dramatically.
In the hotel and restaurant industry,
this can run as high as 120 percent
per year. We got ours down into the 20
percent range. And it wasn’t because
52 • Solutions
we paid more. We never became union-
organized. We just carefully selected
people, and they stayed because
they enjoyed what they did. It fit their
personality. Meanwhile, their valuable
job knowledge didn’t just walk out the
door. And as a result, we saved a lot of
time and money by not having to retrain
and retrain and retrain.
Don’t Take Shortcuts
Hurry can be a great saboteur. I’ve got to
have somebody on board by next Monday!
we tell ourselves. Yet all too often, the
person we grab to fill a slot doesn’t
belong there at all. Our momentary sigh
of relief in the beginning turns into a
groan later on down the road.
I will always regret letting myself get too
rushed the year we were incredibly busy,
opening eleven new hotels. I needed to
hire a general manager for each hotel. I
couldn’t find enough internal candidates
I could promote. So I ended up choosing
two men I had worked with in a different
company—old friends of mine.
We had done good things together. Both
of them were excellent people—honest
and hardworking. I ran them through the
“success profile” for a general manager.
To my dismay, they didn’t fit. I had given
my organization strict orders that no
one should be hired without passing this