It is estimated by the year 2005 that restaurant expansion will generate 3 million new jobs in an industry that already has 9 million jobs which are difficult to fill. The pool of people targeted to fill these jobs is also being drained by demographic changes and increased competition from other employment sectors. Not only will there be a lack of people to choose from but it will also be difficult to pick and maintain people. Hiring and keeping people is and will be critical.

Recruiting talented people will get tougher as small companies such as restaurants scramble for workers. Additionally, wages and benefits will continue to rise. More bad news - approximately 20 percent of new hires do not work out and either leave the company or are fired within 90 days, according to Paul Falcone, author of 96 Great Interview Questions to Ask Before You Hire (Amacom, $17.95).

There is good news - if you ask revealing questions during interviews, you will reduce the risk of making a bad hire. Besides the traditional questions such as prior jobs and achievements, you must get an idea from the candidate what they value about their current job and what they would be looking for in a position with your restaurant. You might want to ask some "stress" questions to observe how a candidate would react under pressure.

Here are samples of questions to set you in the right direction:

1. What value could you bring to the restaurant? This could indicate a person's confidence level and find out about his/her creativity.
    
2. What was your greatest accomplishment at your last job? The answer to this question will tell you what is important to the candidate in terms of his/her goals.
    
3. Why are you leaving your current position? If you can determine why the candidate changed jobs in the past, you'll get a good idea of what motivates the him/her - more money, more responsibility or greater job security.
    
4. Give me three adjectives that describe yourself - This will give a feel for the candidate's personality.
    
5. If you remained with your current employer, what would your next promotion be? This information could be used to formulate your offer. Also, you can tailor a job description to match a candidate's goals and sell this position to your prospective candidate.
    
6. On what issue do you disagree with your current boss most often? This questions gives you an indication of how the candidate handles authority.
    
7. What was your most satisfying evaluation and why? What about your most disappointing review? This will give you an idea of the candidates honesty and the type of skills he or she values.
    
8. How would your supervisor rate your ability to cope with last-minute changes? This will tell you how the candidate deals with stress and if he/she is a team player. Often in small business such as restaurants people wear many hats and you want a new hire to want to and be able to do that.

There are also industrial psychology tests that are computer-based that might prove a wise investment. A candidate simply fills out a questionnaire and the answers are input into a computer program. This program produces a psychographical overview of the person in the form of a brief written report which can serve - another tool in the overall candidate evaluation process.

Most importantly, be sure of questions to not ask. Stay away from questions regarding religion, race and sex which carry legal ramifications. Also, don't verbalize anything which would show bias against parents.

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Source: Society for Human Resource Management.

Restaurant Advisory Services provides full-service consulting services to the restaurant and hospitality industries. In existence for more than six years, the firm offers a full menu of advisory services focusing on every aspect of the life cycle of restaurants and other hospitality organizations, from pre-opening and conceptual planning, to day-to-day operations, to design and brokerage.