Restaurant Manager Candidate: Eliminate Excuses1005377

There are some skill sets that people never learn until after they have landed a restaurant manager’s job and gained experience. These skills separate skilled hospitality job from Candidates trying to break into a management position. This requires a skillset that most Management Candidates don’t consider when career planning. When you walk into a job interview, the Hiring Manager is more interested in your ability to manage the situation than what is written on your resume. Keep this in mind when walking into the job interview. The interviewer wants to know how confidently you manage a meeting, or presentation, without using behaviors or body language and nervous statements – like excuses - that can stall your career or cost you a promotion. One of the biggest indicators of a manager’s ability to take responsibility and control situations is whether they get nervous and start making excuses. This causes a problem for job seekers. Once you start telling an excuse, or trying to explain why it wasn’t your fault, then it is too late.

Message Map The message map is a tool that helps professionals collect their thoughts, and stay on track when communicating. What is the #1 overlying message you want to convey? It is amazing how many people have something to say but cannot express their thoughts. They explain their purpose ‘off the cuff’ and then wonder why no one understood their message. Most mistakes on the hospitality jobs floor are caused when the manager gave instructions, but the context or intent was lost. What they said isn’t what the employee heard. There are a few ways of overcoming this. Learn to summarize your message in a twitter type message that focuses on one important point and no more than 4 sub points. Now that you’ve written down the points you want to say, rewrite them focusing on your audience. Reword them so that your audience wants to hear your message. This isn’t just for dealing with staff. It applies for business meetings and job interviews. Keep these points ‘important’ to your audience. Do Not Be Emotional Once you create the blueprint for directing a conversation you can direct the conversation without being emotionally involved. This is especially important when you need to avoid the natural tendency to defend yourself. Learn to Say No In American culture the person who has the power is the only one who can say no. They are the person in charge. When negotiating or trying to sell your skills you want to psychologically tip the balance in your favor. You can do this when you learn ‘how’ to say no in a way that empowers you without creating negative consequences. How To Apply These Skills in a Job Interview Learn how to negotiate. Learn how to say what you mean, and mean what you say. Avoid being wordy, defending yourself, or becoming emotional. If you can master these things communication skills then you will be able to control a conversation. Once you can do this you can avoid excuses in the job interview, and your new management career.