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Professional Dress in the Workplace
Highlighting the Deliverable and Quantifiable Results: A Piece of Career Advice from a White Lodging Manager
Today, Jason Bretz, the General Manager of Hilton Garden Inn Saratoga Spring (White Lodging), spoke in my Hospitality Human Resource Management class and conducted some job interviews on campus. He received his bachelor’s degree in Marketing, but he started his career in the lodging industry upon graduation. I was glad to hear his career advice in class today.
According to Jason, relevant work experience is definitely important, but he is also looking for candidates who can deliver quantifiable results. For example, if a student tells him that s/he worked at the Front Desk, Housekeeping, or any position in a hotel, he knows what kind of work the position is involved. As a result, a resume that simply lists a person’s job responsibilities does not help this candidate stand out from the crowd. It becomes critical that a job candidate can describe how much impact s/he has made at work. More specifically, it will be helpful to see a statement like “increased sales/revenue by 10%,” “reduced costs by 20%,” “increased GSS (Guest Satisfaction Surveys) Score from 90 percentile to 95 percentile,” and etc. Employees may not have the access to the statistics, but they may can their managers before putting the information on their resumes.
When you are writing the cover letter and resume, do you pay attention to the deliverable and quantifiable results? If you were in class today, what are your takeaways?
Relevant discussion:
Career Advice Suggested by a Restaurant Recruiter
Thoughts and Advices from Three Hospitality Professionals (Jason Bretz’ previous campus visit in the spring).
References:
The picture shows a White Lodging property — the J.W. Marriott Hotel in Indianapolis, which was downloaded from the hotel’s web page.
Will You Turn down a Job Offer because of the Company’s Strict Social Media Policy?
It is no doubt that more employers are using socialmedia in recruiting and screening job candidates. As a job candidate, however, will you turn down an offer if the company does not allow you to use social media at work?
This CNN News video reports some very interesting statistics. According to a survey of 300 job recruiters:
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91% employers use social media in screening job candidates; 9% do not.
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When screening job candidates on social media, 76% use Facebook, 53% use Twitter, and 48% use LinkedIn.
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69% had rejected a candidate based on the “negative information” they found online about the candidate; 26% never rejected anyone; 5% do not use social media in screening at all.
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The top “negative information” includes lying about a candidate’s qualifications and the inappropriate contents posted on social media sites.
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68% had hired someone because of the “positive information” they found about the candidate on social media sites.
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“Positive information” is helpful in portraying a candidate’s positive personality, true qualifications/credentials, and creativities.
Another interesting study by Cisco with 3,000 participants who are between 18 and 30 years old reveals that: (a) 2/3 of job candidates will ask about employers’ social media policy in job interviews and (b) 56% will actually turn down a job offer if the company bans social media.
These studies support my advocates of managing people’s persona on social media as well as the needs for companies to develop a goodsocial media policy.
So, how important does social media mean to you during the time when you are looking for a job and later when you are making a decision among multiple offers?
For more discussions of using social media in job search, please check out the following discussion:
More Employers Are Using Social Media in Screening Job Candidates
Privacy vs. Efficacy: Which One Would You Choose? (Using Facebook in Job Search)
One Has No Choice But to Manage His/Her Online Image
Background Check on Social Media: Now Is a Serious Business
Using Facebook for Background Check
Personal Brand and Social Media
