California foh/boh management staffing... Friend or pain in the neck?

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Permalink Reply by Terryl Bronson on March 10, 2008 at 5:51pm

I understand your situation. We try not to use independent recruiters in my market. The reason is some independent recruiters are not trying to find the "right" candidate. They are trying to make a buck. For example, I had an opening for a GM. I wanted someone with 2-3 years casual dining experience in a GM role. The candidates they sent were some F&B hotel managers, QSR GMs, and people who were a GM in casual dining in the mid 80s who want to get back in the industry. Getting some strong entry level managers from an independent would be great, but most companies can't afford to pay 3K for a 35k a year manager. I am not familiar with the LA market, but where do you find your candidates that you present to your clients? Great discussion topic Dave.

Permalink Reply by Andy Swingley on March 15, 2008 at 3:21pm

I have to agree with Terryl in this case. Often times, I have to look with a much closer eye at candidates that don't come from our own internal recruiter. This is by no means a direct comment at your business but I get left with a bad taste in my mouth when I later find some external recruiters fishing for candidates off Monster, Career Builders, etc. and then moving them towards me as one of their clients.

Second point is that we already retain an internal recruiter with a salary and bonus and I demand that she produce candidates and it is my sincere hope she works as diligently and successfully as you. I have a hard time paying her and then have her manage an outside source and pay them too.

With the inception of Internet recruiting tools it has made it much easier to find candidates without a recruiting agency.

That is only my world, not sure how the independants find their best but I would have to believe they use the same Internet tools we do.

Just my two cents.....

Permalink Reply by dave danhi on March 16, 2008 at 10:31am

I TOTALLY get what you both are saying and thank you for the input!
I was a chef for over 20 years, last position was corporate chef over 9 successful restaurants doing about $45 million so we had our "challenges" finding the right people. Lord knows i had my frustration with "recruiters" that were more like purveyors of chefs and managers... they didnt care and weren't connected to the candidate OR the employers needs/culture. Throw in the glorification that the food network has added to this business and you end up with a ton of people that arent fit for this industry or feel they are light years ahead of their actual experience.
The only reason I started working for DD Factor (Factor and Associates at the time) was because of the way they did business. The cared and the 2 individuals that worked there both came from the business. I bought the company about 2 years ago and am now very proud to say that a) ALL of my recruiters have been chefs, managers, director of ops and the like and b) we meet all of our candidates face to face as well as our clients. We DON'T "headhunt" as about 60% of our candidates come to us via referral (from clients or past candidates) and with almost 50 years of a solid reputation behind us, we get the respect from both sides of our biz.
There are many employers that view our services as a luxury and just as many that see us as a necessity. I see both sides of the argument for sure but I do subscribe to the thought that when you NEED a qualified GM, Chef etc and you're busy running your business, sometimes the perfect way to "fix" that is to work with someone that has your best interest at hand, not to mention a guarantee that the hired employee will "stay" for a certain amount of time.

thank both of your for your insight and i look forward to more input!
dave