How To Make Your Business Profile More Attractive To Candidates

How To Make Your Business Profile More Attractive To Candidates

by | Mar 13, 2017 | Sirvo Stories

Making your business profile attractive involves a bit of strategic thinking and includes standing out in print, online, and through good old word-of-mouth. There are a number of ways to do this and, depending on your business strategy, it can get very in-depth. For now, we’re just going to touch on the three major components to drawing attention to your business while making sure talent flows your way. These are your website, your social media profiles, and a well done Sirvo profile.

Without further ado, let’s dive right in!

1. Make sure your website is on point.

These days, your website should be displaying more than just your hours and menu.

You want it to show exactly what your establishment is all about. People want to see appealing high-resolution shots of your food, cocktails, and the atmosphere. The foodie culture wants to engage in it all. Customers and employees have a lot of choices these days, so all of these things can help influence their decision.

People want to see appealing high-resolution shots of your food, cocktails, and the atmosphere. The foodie culture wants to engage in it all.

For more help on what you should include on your website, check out our blog post: Five Tips for Taking Your Restaurant Website From Good to Great.

2. Be present on social media.

Remember, social media is a way to interact with and engage with your community. Build your following on all relevant social sites and stay active. Keeping your social profiles updated daily is a great way to make your business stand out.

Most businesses understand the need for a social profile, but very few actually use it correctly. Whether we admit it or not, social media is a powerful marketing tool that you can use to take the temperature of your community, stay on top of trends, network with other business owners…the list goes on and on.

The trick is managing your social media well. If you’re not clear on how to do this or need some extra help, contact us. Sirvo offers a marketing package specifically for restaurants to help manage their social media – just shoot us an email at [email protected] for pricing.

3. Set up the perfect Sirvo recruiting page.

With the first two requirements complete, your Sirvo profile becomes an easy task. Let’s be clear, the first two take the most work, but they’ll allow us here at Sirvo to focus on placing the right talent into your business so you can worry about running your business. Filling out your business profile on Sirvo is a very easy process.

From the Home Page, log in or register for a business account.  To create your business page, select “Pages” from the left side menu and then select “New Page”.

You’ll be taken to a screen that looks similar to your personal profile dashboard. From here you can customize everything. We’d advise you to put a high-resolution image in your background header that highlights an aspect of your business you’d want others to know you for or be impressed with. Add your business logo for the main profile picture to complete the header.

Add a high-resolution image in your background header that highlights an aspect of your business you’d want others to know you for or be impressed with.

Make sure to give a short but interesting synopsis of the establishment. Describe the atmosphere, vibe, food, etc. Use this space to really attract the type of person you want. A good rule of thumb is to use the same branding on your Sirvo profile as your website and social media.

 

NEXT, THIS IS VERY IMPORTANT. Head over to the Settings Page to add your business address.

If you plan to post jobs on Sirvo (which you should be!), then making sure you have the proper city or address is vital! Since we push out your jobs to other affiliated job sites and social media feeds, whatever city and state you have listed in the settings is attached to your job listing across the web. Jobs that do not have address information receive far fewer applicants than ones that do (by a lot!!!).

Jobs that do not have address information receive far fewer applicants than ones that do (by a lot!!!).

If you’re business or concept with multiple locations, simply create another Page for free and specify the location in the Page Setting and by using an identifier in the Page Name (ex: Bobs Bakery – Boulder). This will allow you to specify jobs with different addresses and allows for better organization between hiring managers.

The last piece of the puzzle it to make your job listing stand out. Luckily, we know how to do that, too!

These days, it’s all about your online appearance. That can be as important as your business’s actual appearance. Looking good in the right places feeds into bringing the right kind of people into your building and to making you’re the place everyone wants to be.

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Tips for Making Your Sirvo Profile Stick Out to Employers

Tips for Making Your Sirvo Profile Stick Out to Employers

by | Mar 10, 2017 | IndiTips

We’ve all done it. We’ve all taken the time to fill out an online profile, whether for a social site, dating site, or even another job site. And we’ve hated every…single…second of it! After all of that, you’d think that you’ve got the process down, but how often are you really noticed?

Filling out a profile on a job site and making it stand out can be daunting. Especially here in the service industry where an outgoing personality, charisma, and the ability to self-promote are a necessity. What’s more, most of us seem to freeze up when we’re put on the spot and actually given the chance to brag about ourselves. It seems easy to do it when the conversation is flowing, but when you actually have to think about it…well, that’s another story.

So how can you stand out from the crowd here on Sirvo? How about we give you a few tips?

We’ll give you the most important tip right away…

You’re probably not going to want to hear this, but the absolute best way to get noticed by employers is to actually go through and make sure you fill out your entire profile. Attaching a paper resume to your application while only filling out one or two fields in the Sirvo profile makes your application look sloppy, and who wants that?

Another reason for this is employers use keywords when searching for candidates. So if you haven’t taken the time to describe yourself and to give some telling details about who you are and what you can do, then don’t expect to get too many callbacks.

If you haven’t taken the time to describe yourself and to give some telling details about who you are and what you can do, then don’t expect to get too many callbacks.

We know that filling out profiles sucks so we’ve made the process as easy as possible for you. We only have five sections: Experience, Education, Certifications & Additional Training, Skills, and Interests. We don’t ask too many questions because we want to allow you to showcase you. We let you get as creative about your story as you want.

PS. If you’re a new Sirvo user and have most of this information already filled out on your Facebook Page then sign up using the Facebook option and we’ll automatically populate the majority of the information for you!

Let’s start at the top.

First things first, let people see who you are. Maybe we don’t want to admit it, but we all start to form an opinion of someone the moment we see them. Photos get as much (if not more) attention than your experience, education, and skills. Make sure you start off on the right foot by adding a photo that lets employers form the right mental image of you.

HINT: Make sure the picture looks like you, isn’t blurry, and won’t embarrass you.

Also, make sure you add your full name and spell it right. Just kidding, we know you can spell your name. But double check for typos, just in case.

The last thing before finishing out the headline section is…make sure you’re a headliner! Give employers 3-5 sentences describing yourself. And don’t just let them know what job you’re looking for or where you want to fit in. Include something personal like your favorite motto or a talent you’re known for. Maybe you’ve won an award or have a hobby you’re proud of. Let them know!

Accomplishments count.

When filling out the experience section, describe what you’ve accomplished and what you can do. Don’t just list the duties of each position you’ve held in the past. If you’ve been a cook or server or any other position, employers will already have an idea of what that entails. They want to know things beyond your just your duties, like what you’ll bring to the table.

When you were a cook, did you create a dish that was so good the manager or owner added it to the menu permanently? Tell them! When you were a bartender, did the bar have higher sales when you were there than when you weren’t? They’ll want to know that, too!

HINT: If you have hardcore numbers to prove your accomplishments, provide them!

If you can add the contact info of a reference who’ll back up your story, feel free to put that in the Experience>Description section.

Education is important in the service industry, too.

Frequently, employees in our industry think this is less necessary than the experience section. That’s not the case. Employers look to this for any number of reasons. Two being, it adds a bit more insight to who you are and potentially shows experience(s) outside of the service industry.

HINT: Add your education in reverse order.

If you’ve just finished a degree, add that first and work backward to high school or trade/technical schools. And remember, dates are important.

Make sure you have the proper certifications.

If you want to work in the front of the house you’ll want to make sure you’re certified to serve alcoholic beverages in your state. If you’ll be in the back of the house, you may want to get take the necessary safe food handling courses your state requires. Having these in advance speeds up the hiring process and gives you a leg up when employers are making hiring decisions.

Find out more information about training and certifications specifically for bartenders, check out our blog post.

Skills

The popular thought here is “the more, the better” but that’s not true. Add the skills you want potential employers to know about but make sure those skills are relevant to the job you’re seeking.

Adding too many skills or random skills sends the message that you don’t really know what you’re looking for. Resist the urge to pad the skills section. Highlight what you’re good at. Leave the rest off. Make sure you can actually do what you say you can do.

What interests you?

This is the section where you can let employers know about any and all work related subjects you’re focused on or would like to focus on. It’s also a great place to let them know you have a life outside of work.

Before you finish.

Head to the Settings page and make sure your name, email, city, and phone number are filled in correctly. You can also add your Facebook, Twitter, and Instagram handles if you’d like. 

Filling out the entire Sirvo profile will be worth the time and effort. Not only will you pop up in searches more, but it forces you to add those intricate little details that set you apart from the crowd. Feel free to keep this open when filling out your profile to help speed up the process and remember to update your profile frequently!

Happy searching!

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How To Get Your Team To Show Up On Time

How To Get Your Team To Show Up On Time

by | Mar 8, 2017 | Business Toolkit, Management

Everyone has those days when they’re running a few minutes late, but tardiness becomes a serious hazard to your business when your staff starts coming in habitually late. Late employees equal decreased profits and revenue for your restaurant, not to mention unhappy customers who might be left waiting for service during a shift change.

Here are some ways to motivate your team to show up on time:

1. Tell them the why.

Employees (and people in general) are more likely to respond to requests when they understand the purpose behind the request. When you’re talking to your team about being on time, give them a better reason than “because it’s your job.”

The real reasons you need your team to show up on time have to do with how you run your business. Team members who show up late can cost an individual restaurant thousands of dollars annually in lost business and overtime for those employees who wind up staying late to cover part of their co-worker’s shift.

In addition to lost revenue, habitually late team members lower the overall morale of the team. Tardiness disrupts the usual flow of each shift and breeds mistrust and hard feelings among the team. These bad feelings can get in the way of the service you’re providing, which can reduce the overall experience for your diners.

2. Set the standard.

Now that team members know the why behind your tardiness policy, it’s time to set the standard. If your policy isn’t already clearly stated in your employee handbook, add a section that details it. Make it clear when you will take action, whether that’s after the first tardy, after 3 tardies in 3 month period, or whatever makes the most sense to you. Have new employees sign an agreement that they will follow the policy and they understand there will be disciplinary action if they don’t.

Have current employees sign the same agreement, even if you discussed tardiness during their training. Talk to each employee individually about the policy, have them sign the agreement, and notify them when you will take disciplinary action.

3. Follow through.

This is the part that can be the most difficult for managers: following through with the policy. The key to enforcing a tardiness policy is making sure you follow through on your end, even if it means terminating an otherwise good employee when they fail to adhere to their end of the tardiness agreement.

4. Come up with intermediate steps.

Termination doesn’t need to be the first, or even second, recourse. You can have intermediate disciplinary actions that give employees a wake-up call, but also give them a chance to figure out what they need to do on their end to show up on time. Here are some ideas of how to take disciplinary action:

  • The late employee needs to buy the team coffee (or donuts, bagels, etc.) the next day
  • The late employee is responsible for taking out the trash (or some other task nobody wants to do) for a week

5. Reward promptness.

Take the time to reward employees. You can do this individually, but to get the whole team to show up on time, put them to work on a goal. Make a team-wide goal for the month or quarter, and add an incentive. For example, if the entire team can go a whole month without being late, you’ll take them out to the movies or for ice cream. Talk to your employees during your next team meeting to come up with an incentive together that will encourage them without breaking the bank.

Late employees can hinder restaurant operations and cause friction among your staff. Use these ideas to get employees to show up on time and build some trust among your team.

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Remaining Relevant As A Restaurant Is About Being A Good Listener

Remaining Relevant As A Restaurant Is About Being A Good Listener

by | Mar 6, 2017 | Business Toolkit, Management

We’ve all seen it happen. Businesses, including restaurants, that pull in the crowds one day, the next day start to drift off the map. For some, it happens quickly. For some, it’s a slow drift over years.

When businesses experience just a short time in the sun, we can imagine either their market research was off and the first burst of customers came out of mere curiosity…or they responded in their origins to a short-term trend that came and went, a trend that didn’t offer obvious paths to development.

Nothing lasts forever, but there are some organizations, restaurants among them, that last longer before they start to struggle or go on life support. These restaurants start in response to a trend that represents something fundamental and offers opportunities for growth, development, and shifts in course without losing the original premise. With a solid start, remaining relevant as a restaurant is about being a good listener.

Here’s an example: In the 1930s, McDonald’s started serving “fast food” at an attractive price, first from a food stand, then a carhop drive-in and finally in a streamlined self-service environment. They learned from their experience what worked, what didn’t and what people wanted.

The McDonald’s brothers innovated with setting up their kitchen like a factory assembly line for more speed. In 1955, Ray Kroc came on board, taking charge of a franchising operation and opening his first McDonald’s in Des Plaines, Illinois. Over the years, the McDonald’s brothers, then Ray Kroc, narrowed and refined the menu, constantly streamlining their idea, assuring a uniform product throughout a growing operation. The menu, quick assembly line process, reliability and low price were a winning combination. To come up with that combination, these leaders listened, heard and applied what they learned.

In the 1990s, much of McDonald’s growth came from outside the country, where they showed flexibility (they listened) with regard to local tastes and food preferences while retaining their original vision. In the U.S. during the 1990s, franchisees complained there were too many franchises, cannibalizing each other’s sales. In addition, there were several menu flops as the company attempted to respond to current trends. As McDonald’s continued to experiment in the 2000s, it faltered. Its image for fatty, unhealthy food in an age when consumers seek healthy food hampered its growth.

In 2011, McDonald’s engaged in some major upgrades in menu, decor…and in July, they announced they would build their largest restaurant in the world on the 2012 London Olympics site. In January 2012, the company announced revenue for 2011 reached an all-time high of $27 billion, and that they would update 2,400 restaurants and open 1,300 new ones worldwide.

But by spring 2015, headlines trumpeted McDonald’s plunging sales, mass closings (700 locations) and losses in the fierce fast food fight. A May 2015 headline tells us “McDonald’s, Unable to Fix Its Dismal Monthly Sales Numbers, Will Now Just Stop Sharing Them.”

What can we learn from this story? First, some observations:

  • In the early years, McDonald’s not only tapped into contemporary needs and interests of a vast potential market, they listened to what those customers said with their dollars. Hot dogs were off the menu very early because they sold so many more hamburgers.
  • They listened to customers when they offered increasingly streamlined, quick meals at low prices, all enhancements of their original idea.
  • They listened to customers when they expanded into worldwide markets, adjusting their menu to suit local tastes and food preferences while staying with their original concept of fast, clean, consistent, relatively inexpensive food.

So what happened by 2015? There were several strong trends the company either ignored or missed or failed to address sufficiently: 1) a worldwide recession that left many traditional McDonald’s customers still struggling in 2014 and 2015, 2) a growing movement toward healthy foods, that is, fresh, “real” foods, with an emphasis on plants, 3) an animal rights message catching on, and 4) concerns with workers’ rights, prominent among them, food workers.

The conditions and consumer interests of the time might be different from those in the 1930s, but one wonders, had the company been more engaged with these trends, could they have done better? With better listening, could they have taken their core idea, fast, accessible, reliable, consistent, very affordable food and adapted it to the requirements of our time?

McDonald’s did make attempts, but in a time when consumers want instant gratification, the time frames for change are protracted. In May 2012, McDonald’s announced they would end pork gestation crate use by 2022. It wasn’t until 2015 that they announced a cage-free commitment for laying hens. The voices for these kinds of changes and more were speaking as early as the 1980s. One wonders what would have happened if McDonald’s had listened to these voices instead of fighting them.

The American Institute for Cancer Prevention, the World Health Organization and the American Heart Association all warn about risks associated with red meat. The warnings are not new, just the formal, research-backed warnings. Consumers had these concerns before the major medical studies confirmed their worries. Still, McDonald’s ubiquitous hamburger remains the centerpiece of their menu. Again, one wonders what would have happened if they had listened, then taken their original idea, a quick assembly line process, reliability and low prices, and applied it to a relatively new but rapidly growing trend in food sensibilities that has staying power. Not a Bandaid here and there but a concept for the time.

How do you listen in the restaurant business? We’re going to assume you’re already underway based on a concept with strong fundamentals, something that has lasting power. Here are 5 things you can do to stay at the top of your game, and they all have to do with listening:

  1. Be friendly. Most people love talking with owners! Talk to your customers. Ask them what they like about your restaurant or what else they’d like to see. Let this be an ongoing conversation. Make it easy for them to talk with you. Be visible and accessible. Make a contact form and contact information easy to find on your website and in your social media pages. Listen to what people tell you, record it, file it, and see if you can detect patterns over time.
  2. Set up a Twitter account and follow industry influencers, foodies and other restaurants. Scroll through the news feed for 10-15 minutes daily to see what people are talking about. Listen to them. Check trending topics. Print and keep a file of dated articles or posts that attract your attention. Over time you might spot an intensifying focus on certain ideas or issues.
  3. Money talks. Listen. Choose your cash register carefully. Make certain that your system of recording sales allows you to note exactly what is selling. Set up spread sheets or some other visual that allows you to spot trends. If something isn’t selling, take it off the menu for the time being but not out of your records. Over time, you can see developing patterns you can enhance or diminish on your menu.
  4. Experiment and offer incentives for feedback. If the feedback comes, engage in active listening. This means along with the incentives for people to tell you what they think, when you do hear from them, indicate somehow that you heard. Send a thank you note or email. Host a customer appreciation party where customers can talk with others and with you about what they love or would like to see. Keep a vote tally on your website or social media pages so participants can see how their comments fit with others. Announce changes that respond to customers’ comments.
  5. Good listening isn’t completely passive. If your customers like what you offer, they want you to succeed and continue providing them foods they enjoy. If business declines, don’t wait until it’s insupportable before you let them know what’s happening. Speak with them simply and directly, and tell them what you need to keep serving them. Ask for their feedback and ideas. Take their information, and review it next to your enhanced item-by-item sales records, real-time conversations and social media feedback. You’re told them what you need; now listen to what you can do to make it easy for them to provide it.

Of course new technologies make all of this easier. Encourage conversation through a weekly email newsletter that lists any specials, soups of the day or special events. Once you’re building an email and phone number list, experiment with text messages. Conduct votes and surveys online, and keep the results so you can view them along with other data.

Use every opportunity you can to gather information from customers in fun and pleasant ways. Make your cash register sing for you. Keep up with trends in wider geographic areas via Twitter. And remember: just listen.

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How To Deal With Coworker Conflict

How To Deal With Coworker Conflict

by | Mar 3, 2017 | Career

Coworkers are like family: you don’t (usually) get to choose them. Instead, coworkers are typically, and dare we say hopefully, hired because of their resume and not because of their easy-going personality. What this inevitably means is that a good portion of your professional life is going to be spent sharing a space with individuals you’d rather never see at all. Not only is that bad news for you, it’s bad for business because coworker problems inhibit productivity and customer service.

When CPP Inc., publishers of the Myers-Briggs Assessment and the Thomas-Kilmann Conflict Mode Instrument, commissioned a study on workplace conflict they found that U.S. employees spend an average of 2.8 hours dealing with conflict on a weekly basis. That’s the equivalent of 385 million working days! Thus, no matter how laid back you are, it’s only a matter of time before you have to deal with some coworker friction.

Here are the three major ways coworkers clash, and what you can do to solve it.

1.) You have the same goal, but a different perspective on how best to make it happen.

Maybe you went to two different culinary schools that stressed two different techniques to do the same job. Maybe your coworker is a tank, and they can’t handle any job or conversation if it isn’t done in the most efficient manner possible. Or maybe you’re the tank, and your coworker gets so caught up in the details the food starts turning cold.

Despite the fact that there is conflict, it’s because both of you care a lot.

If you’re in this situation, where all parties ultimately are hoping for the success of the meal service but are struggling to make it happen due to differences in style or opinion, take heart. Despite the fact that there is conflict, it’s because both of you care a lot.

In this situation you need to:

A.) Value the strengths your coworkers bring to the table, and act like it. If Bill’s plating is the best in the city, tell him. Tell him you appreciate his eye for detail, and his commitment to excellence.

B.) Compromise, because that’s what adults do. If you’re able to recognize that your coworkers are gifted individuals you will promote unity, you will learn from them, and you will see the strength in multiple talent sets. Work through a practical and doable compromise that will allow Bill to plate, without ruining the quality of the food.

C.) Communicate, communicate, communicate. It’s likely that if you talk to Bill with respect and appreciation, he’ll do the same. It’s likely he’s a reasonable professional who recognizes that his plating skills will be in vain if the food isn’t served promptly. So talk to him about the aforementioned compromise like you’re talking to the plating prodigy he is.

2.) You don’t have the same goal at all.

Maybe Bill isn’t actually concerned with having a stellar meal service, maybe all he cares about is his plating and making sure he gets credit for said plating. Or perhaps you’re dealing with an individual who doesn’t have thick skin and refuses to let things go even at the cost of the kitchen running smoothly. If this is the situation you find yourself in it’s going to take a bit more gumption.

Here’s what you need to do:

A.) Give them a chance. The reality is that sometimes people don’t actually realize how they’re influencing everyone else. It can seem impossible, but it’s true. So at a time when you are calm and collected, with as much kindness and gentleness as you can muster, explain the situation from your perspective. Maybe, they didn’t realize. Maybe, you’ll learn about some hard things in their personal life, and they’ll be willing to talk through some solutions. But maybe not.

B.) In that case, it’s time to bring management into the situation. Rory Rowland, an expert on the subject says the most important thing to do in workplace conflict is to, “recognize that ripping the bandage off is painful, but after it’s done everything is all better.”

In his own company, he employed that method by bringing both individuals together to act as a third-party. “One of the techniques I used was you couldn’t restate your own position until you stated the other person’s position to their approval. When you’re angry and hurt, the last thing you want to do is restate the other person’s perspective.”

“One of the techniques I used was you couldn’t restate your own position until you stated the other person’s position to their approval. When you’re angry and hurt, the last thing you want to do is restate the other person’s perspective.”

But what he found was that often when people make themselves see the situation from the other side it creates an understanding between individuals. And while understanding doesn’t always lead to total acceptance, it does often lead to politeness and respect. So ask management to act as a third-party, and make it clear that your hope is that everyone involved will thrive.

3.) Sometimes, they’re just a jerk.

Unfortunately, the workplace is full of people who only ever have their best interest at heart. Perhaps you have a coworker who isn’t satisfied with succeeding, unless everyone else around them fails. Or perhaps you’re sharing a shift with an individual whose main priority is doing as little as possible, while still getting paid. In that situation follow the steps for type 2 and then:

A.) Let go. We know–let what?! How do you let go when what you’re really hoping to do is give them a piece of your mind? You do it by realizing you have very little control over what other people do. If you have taken the steps to neutralize the situation and you have made management aware, then do not let them ruin your chances of success or happiness. Take control of what you can, namely your attitude and performance, and reap the rewards of doing so.

Every conflict is an opportunity; it’s a chance to refine your problem-solving skills.

The good news is that every conflict is an opportunity; it’s a chance to refine your problem-solving skills. It’s a chance to prove to your superiors that you have what it takes to be in charge. And it’s ultimately a chance for you to impact the people around you in a positive way.

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