Hire Hosts

Hire Hosts

Hiring a host often isn’t as simple as finding someone with experience. The host is the first interaction your guest will have with your business, and it’s key to hire a host that reflects the quality and values of your business. After all, just because someone was the host at a hotel for a number of years, doesn’t mean that person will be quite right to be the host of a restaurant. There are different skill sets to be aware of, and it all comes down to a good personality fit.

How to hire hosts more efficiently

Since that personality fit is of the utmost importance when finding a host, find a way to filter through as many personalities as possible in a short amount of time. These days, with self-taped videos becoming more common, you can ask applicants to upload short 30-second videos

 either just introducing themselves or answering a question you’ve posed. Watching these uploads can tell you quickly who you will want to interview further, and who might not have the right personality for your business.

Ask them to tell a story

Once a host candidate has made it to the interview stage, either via video conference or in person, a great way to gauge both their personality and their ability to think on their feet is to ask them to tell you a story. This will show how personable they can be, and if they can make you laugh, all the better. Since hosts will have to interact with customers every moment of their day, a successful host is one that can easily shoot the breeze with another person.

Salaries of hosts

Hosts make around $8-10 an hour on average, though higher-end establishments can pay more. You may also allow them to share in the tips that your servers and kitchen get, but that’s uncommon. To stay competitive, try to offer an hourly rate that’s higher than the local average. Good hosts are hard to find, and retain, so keeping them happy and motivated will prevent you from having to hire them more often than you need.