HIRING FOR MANAGEMENT

Hiring for Management:

Hiring a Manager for a Fast-food Restaurant

Authored by
Agus S. Dahlan
Israel Biramo
Zaw Z. Tun
University of People
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The traits and behaviors desirable for a leader depend on the type of organization and

work environment. For managing service-based companies like fast food restaurant, one of the

key factors is experience on the sector (Forketers, 2018). However, choosing your next manager

based on tenure alone is not always the smartest move (17 Things to Look for in a New General

Manager, 2016). Passion for the job and courage have to be examined well. Since it enquires

direct contact with the customers, the business is like performing a theatre on the stage. Excellent

organizing and planning skills are basic for performing well. Such behaves are required for

implementing proactive approach to reduce the challenges that might arise during operation.

Another important trait needed for restaurant managers is communication skill.

Communication skill is far beyond talking. For fast paced organizations, leaders who know how

to speak with the employees and customers are necessary. Successful leaders know how to create

and cooperate with in a team, especially for large restaurant with 30 employees. They need

expertise in effective management, conflict resolution, wise delegation and handling stress

(Qualities and Key Skills of a Great Restaurant Manager - WiseStep, 2018). It is indispensable to

be approachable and trustworthy, be active listener, motivate and give credit to employees. They

must train employees for developing new leaders and have a habitual consistency. This helps him

to minimize the high turnover rate which is common in the restaurant business.

Further Management in past faced environment requires multi-tasking and good decision

skills (11 Key Leadership Attributes for Restaurant Managers, 2017). Managers with emotional

intelligence skills and who are attentive for details can work better in such situations. Positive

attitude and confidence will help them to see the challenges in natural way and solve them

smoothly. Though managers have all the traits mentioned, one thing that makes them true leaders
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is their ethical behave. Ethics in management and other activities in the workplace is a

mandatory part of selection process.

We are looking for new manager who fit with fast food restaurant business and its current

situation as described above. Based on references, we have developed criteria of expected

leadership traits and behaviors of new manager such as follow:

 High Ethic and Integrity to be role model and follow able for all employees. Integrity is

the core value and fundamental of leadership. The fast food restaurant really

require manager with high integrity to gain trust from stakeholders and increase

productivity of entire teams (McKinney, 2011). Leader with high integrity, walk the talk, will

become role model from all senior and junior employees.

 Experienced to manage fast food restaurant and to achieve higher business results or

strong willingness to learn about fast food restaurant business.

 Strong written and oral communication skills for managing business admin and personnel

matters and to develop specific operational procedure and job descriptions of each fast food

restaurant positions. The operations within the restaurant are highly standardized, and

employees have very specific job descriptions that require clearer role and responsibilities as

well as the supervision.

 Excellent interpersonal skills (empathy, emotional intelligence, visionary, judgment,

courage and passion (McKinney, 2011)) for diplomatically handling management large

number of young employees (30 persons).

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 Strong planning and organizational skills to select best talents, develop training plan and

to create retention programs. Manager is expected to reduce high degree of turnover among

employees, so retention of best employees will be an important priority for new manager.

Most employees who work in the restaurant are young with low levels of work experience,

so they really need trainings and developments.

 Persistent, “thick skin” (Kaufman, 2014) and high ability to cope under pressure since

fast food restaurant management is challenging and fast pace.

 Good cooperation skills, winning friends and influencing skill (Kaufman, 2014) -

manager has ability to both lead a team that may not warmly welcome new manager from

outside and able to communicate the decisions with employees and their union.

Selecting a right candidate having the traits needed is not an easy process. Since the risk for

employing wrong person is high, effective design for hiring process is necessary. The approach

for selecting the manager can start by preparing Job description (How to develop a recruitment

plan, 2018). The Job description includes qualification of the ideal candidate, skills needed for

the role, and expected work experience. It also must cite the job responsibilities, working hours,

salary and interest of a potential employee. More the type of credentials which can show the

profile of the candidates has to be suggested for devising methods of selection.

After preparing the job description, the recruitment strategy has to be drafted based on the

recruitment budget. The recruitment strategy is a way for getting a talent pool for selecting best

candidates. Internet based recruiting and person to person referral should be the best applied

approach because these resources offer both the best retention and performance outcomes

(Designing an Approach to selecting a Manager, 2017). Though it enquires more budget,

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traditional recruiting methods such as job fair are more direct and give a glimpse of the

candidate’s traits on board (Designing an Approach to selecting a Manager, 2017. After

designing an approach to look for candidates, we can formulate our methods of employee

selection.

Employee selection is the process of putting the right person on the right job. The main

purpose is matching organizational requirements with the skills and qualifications of people. But

employee selection must be differentiated from recruitment, though these are the two

fundamental parts of employee selection. Recruitment is considered to be a positive process of

attracting individuals on a timely basics, in sufficient numbers and with appropriate

qualifications, to apply for jobs with an organization (Mondy, 2008). While Employee selection

is a negative process as the inappropriate candidates are rejected here and choosing the best

candidate with best abilities, skills and knowledge for the required job in an organization. There

are a variety of employee selection methods need to be considered for a particular role. These

include: Application forms and CVs, Online screening and shortlisting, Interviews, Psychometric

testing, Ability and aptitude test, Personality profiling, Presentations, Group exercises,

Assessment centers and References. For the hiring of a manager for a fast-food restaurant, we

would like to use the following employee selection methods and will explain the details about

the reason one by one.

 Application forms and CVs, asking the candidate to complete an application form is

generally done early in the selection process. The information required on an application

form may vary from organization to organization and even by job type within an

organization. The application form should include sections for the applicant’s name, address,

telephone number, education, background, work experience and reference information.

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Among the above information, education, work experience and reference information would

play an important role as we are hiring a manager for a fast-food restaurant.

 Screening interview: before moving further into selection process, many organizations

prefer to do a screening interview of those who appeared to be qualified based on

information available on their application forms and CVs. Most screening interviews are

conducted by telephone. I would ask a few straightforward questions to determine the

candidate’s job qualifications and suitability for the manager position. If the candidate is not

appropriate for the manager position, I can refer him to another open position or the process

ends here. This will save time and expense for both parties.

 Selection Test: There are many methods organizations use to determine if a candidate has

the potential to be successful on the job. Selection tests are used to identify applicant skills

that cannot be determined in an interview process. Applicants are rated on aptitude,

personality, abilities, honesty and motivation. Properly designed selection tests are

standardized, reliable and valid in predicting an applicant’s success on the job. All the above

qualities are essential for a successful manager.

 Interviewing candidates: Selection test will narrow down the most appropriate candidates

suitable for interviewing. I would like to choose 3-5 most suitable candidates for the

interview to find out how he will conduct him on the job. With the complete and accurate job

description for a manager, I would trim the questions for that position.

 Background verification and reference check: after conducting the interview, I need to do

background verification and reference check. According to ADP Screening and Selection
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Services, 40 percent of applicants lie about their work histories and educational backgrounds

and about 20 percent present false credentials and licenses (Babcock, 2003).

To select the right person for this position who meet expected leadership traits for

restaurant manager position, we will conduct face to face interview with the following

questions. During interview, the questions may be enhanced according to the responses of

candidate to dig more detail of their competency and suitability with the job opportunity.

 Please tell us about your education back ground, work experiences and the correlations

between your competency with Fast Food Restaurant Manager key job responsibility

 What are your strong leadership traits that you think fit to this manager position?

 Do you think that you have weaknesses and how will you close the gaps?

 How will you manage fast food restaurant that has majority young and low experiences

employees?

 How will you develop the working environment to develop and retain good employees?

 What do you think about team conflict and how will you manage the potential conflict

both with employees and their union if you are not welcomed by employees and union since

you come from outside of organization?

 What is your salary expectations and other benefits?

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References:

 Lange, P. (2017, January 3). 11 Key Leadership Attributes for Restaurant

Managers Retrieved from https://paullange.com.au/11-key-leadership-
attributes-restaurant-managers/

 17 Things to Look for in a New General Manager. (2016, December 7).

Retrieved from http://www.golbonrfs.com/operators-
toolbox/articles/leadership/17-things-to-look-for-in-a-new-general-manager/

 Anderson, E. (2012, April 16). Choosing a Leader? - 3 Things to Look For.

Retrieved from http://www.forbes.com/sites/erikaandersen/2012/04/16/choosing-a-
leader-3-things-to-look-for/

 Babcock, P. (2003, October). Spotting lies. HR Magazine. Retrieved from

www.shrm.org/hrmagazine/articles/1003/1003babcock.asp

 Designing an Approach to selecting a Manager. (2017, November 10).

Retrieved from https://www.thriveglobal.com/stories/15946-designing-an-
approach-to-selecting-a-manager

 How to be a Leader in a Restaurant - 7 Characteristics You Need to Have |

Forketers. (2018, March 2). Retrieved from
https://www.forketers.com/restaurant-management/leader-restaurant-
characteristics/2658/

 How to develop a recruitment plan | Workable. (2018, October 25). Retrieved

from https://www.resources.workable.com/tutorial/develop-recruitment-plan

 Kaufman, M. (2014, September 5).10 Top Traits of Great Business Leaders.

Forbes. Retrieved
from https://www.forbes.com/sites/michakaufman/2014/09/05/10-traits-of-great-
business-leaders/#7630d3b02dc7

 McKinney, M. (2011, May 13). Leading Blog: A Leadership Blog: 7 Essential

Attributes for Picking Good Leaders. Retrieved
from http://www.leadershipnow.com/leadingblog/2011/05/7_essential_attributes_for
_pic.html

 Mondy, R. W. (2008). Human resource management (10th ed.). Prentice Hall,

NJ: Pearson
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Role of Team Members

Agus Saepul Dahlan – Group Leader

Israel Biramo – Editor

Zaw Zaw Tun – Researcher