Hi, my name is Matthew, and I work in the service industry. I have worked at all levels of the front of house in a restaurant: bus-boy, server and managerial, and know what it is to see someone who is mind-blowingly amazing on paper be……less than optimal (to put it politely) in practice. I’ve worked in delis and seen people who have claimed to be well-versed in using the equipment make rather unintelligent decisions with it.
Now, as someone who has worked in all these levels of the industry, I can tell you that a persistent problem that most employers face, regardless of the establishment they’re hiring for, is hiring talented and dependable staff. As a wise mentor once told me: “The technical part of being a waiter is pretty easy to pick up. The people skills are what make a waiter shine.” What this means, and what it all comes down to when hiring for a restaurant is simple: are the people we are hiring in the right mind-frame to help us carry across the atmosphere of our restaurant properly? With this golden question consuming every employer’s thoughts as hiring season comes about, Owiwi could provide a great bit of breathing room and relief for these poor, beleaguered souls.
Simply put: Owiwi’s capability to allow a future employer to go past the CV and get a glimpse at the actual person (their inter-personal skills, their multi-tasking ability, and how well they can deal with pressure as just a couple of things) behind it is beyond invaluable. Especially for service industries with a higher employee turnover rate, with predominantly younger employees (think 35 and under). Given that we are a gaming generation (when else in the history of the internet would e-games be considered a sport with the public exposure it sees today?), a piece of technology that utilizes a game to entertain the person taking the test, all while giving the tester priceless information is a potential game-changer (pun intended).
Utilising Owiwi for your hiring purposes would go way beyond just getting a good hire. It’s an economically sound investment. Training costs are a fair portion of expenses for service industries, and a high turn-over rate in employees means constantly funding training for new people who might not fair better than the last bunch. Days, if not weeks of training a new hire to know how your restaurant works intimately, only to see that they made a great first impression, but couldn’t actually pull it off? All of which can be avoided with a video game.
We truly live in an age of wonder and marvel. Furthermore, from a money stand-point, great servers are always going to make more than “acceptable” servers for the restaurant, and by virtue of employment, themselves. With a personality that would seem tailor-made for the restaurant, servers with the people-skills necessary will be able to up-sell items on the menu and promote the specials in a way that would be more attractive and approachable than someone who were simply “reading off a list”. The icing on the cake of a great hire is repeat customers who come back for the server.
To put a bow on this little spiel of mine, I’d like to say that for all service industries where you deal with the customer (bar, restaurant, pub, diner, breakfast joint, fast food spot, or small, family-run shack), the story of the high-turnover rate and unfortunate hire is an all-too real and all-too painful event. This is exactly why Owiwi isn’t just useful for the industry: it’s a necessity.
Do you have a small business and can relate to the difficulties of hiring the right person described in this article? If so, we would love to hear from you! You can reach out to us at info@owiwi.co.uk and we will follow up with a free consultation on how we can help your business “Level Up” its recruitment process!
