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Interviewing Strategies for Hotel Staff

Lisa Cruz, the HR manager of Hotel Paris, must design a new employee interview system to support the hotel's competitive strategy of providing superior guest service. The current interview practices of hotel managers vary widely in quality and structure. Lisa receives approval to create standardized interview packages for key roles. She and her team develop behavioral and situational questions for positions like front desk clerk and assistant manager focused on how candidates have handled challenges. Their goal is to identify competencies and behaviors that will improve guest satisfaction and achieve strategic goals.

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273 views4 pages

Interviewing Strategies for Hotel Staff

Lisa Cruz, the HR manager of Hotel Paris, must design a new employee interview system to support the hotel's competitive strategy of providing superior guest service. The current interview practices of hotel managers vary widely in quality and structure. Lisa receives approval to create standardized interview packages for key roles. She and her team develop behavioral and situational questions for positions like front desk clerk and assistant manager focused on how candidates have handled challenges. Their goal is to identify competencies and behaviors that will improve guest satisfaction and achieve strategic goals.

Uploaded by

kal
Copyright
© All Rights Reserved
We take content rights seriously. If you suspect this is your content, claim it here.
Available Formats
Download as DOCX, PDF, TXT or read online on Scribd

HOTEL PARIS CASE

The New Interviewing Program The Hotel Paris s competitive strategy


is To use superior guest service to differentiate the Hotel Paris
properties, and to thereby increase the length of stay and return rate of
guests, and thus boost revenues and profitability. HR manager Lisa Cruz
must now formulate functional policies and activities that support this
competitive strategy by eliciting the required employee behaviors and
competencies. One thing that concerned Lisa Cruz was the fact that the
Hotel Paris s hotel managers varied widely in their interviewing and
hiring skills. Some were quite effective; most were not. Furthermore, the
company did not have a forma
employment interview training program, nor, for that matter, did it have
standardized interview packages that hotel managers around the world
could use. As an experienced HR professional, Lisa knew that the
company s new testing program would go only so far. She knew that, at
best, employment tests explained perhaps 30% of employee
performance. It was essential that she and her team design a package of
interviews that her hotel managers could use to assess on an interactive
and personal basis candidates for various positions. It was only in that
way that the hotel could hire the sorts of employees whose competencies
and behaviors would translate into the kind
of outcomes such as improved guest services that the hotel required to
achieve its strategic goals. Lisa receives budgetary approval to design a
new employee interview system. She and her team start by reviewing the
job descriptions and job specifications for the positions of frontdesk
clerk, assistant manager, security guard, valet/door person, and
housekeeper. Focusing on developing structured interviews for each
position, the team sets about devising interview questions. For example,
for the front-desk clerk and assistant manager, they formulate several
behavioral questions, including, Tell me about a time when you had to
deal with an irate person, and what you did. And, Tell me about a time
when you had to deal with several conflicting demands at once, such as
having to study for several final exams while at the same tim
7 INTERVIEWING CANDIDATES 233 of outcomes such as improved
guest services that the hotel required to achieve its strategic goals. Lisa
receives budgetary approval to design a new employee interview system.
She and her team start by reviewing the job descriptions and job
specifications for the positions of frontdesk clerk, assistant manager,
security guard, valet/door person, and housekeeper. Focusing on
developing structured interviews for each position, the team sets about
devising interview questions. For example, for the front-desk clerk and
assistant manager, they formulate several behavioral questions,
including, tell me about a time when you had to deal with an irate
person, and what you did. And, Tell me about a time when you had to
deal with several conflicting demands at once, such as having to study
for several final exams while at the same time having to work. How did
you handle the situation? They also developed a number of situational
questions, including, suppose you have a very pushy incoming guest
who insists on being checked in at once, while at the same time you’re
trying to process the checkout for another guest who must be at the
airport in 10 minutes. How would you handle the situation?
Questions
1. For the job of security guard or valet, develop five situational, five
behavioral, and five job knowledge questions, with descriptive
good/average/poor answers.

Situational Question
1) How do you manage a particularly daunting problem like a theft
or an act of vandalism?
I am trained to remain calm at all times and to get to the root of the matter. If I get the
opportunity to catch the culprit, I deal with him or her as the law dictates.
2) How do you handle if the boss is wrong?
I made sure to speak to him in private
3) How would you react if a colleague was not contributing towards
the job?
4) Where do you feel you are least experienced professionally and
personally in relation to this post?
5) Give me an example of a time when you have worked in a stressful
environment and how you coped.

Behavioral Question
1) How do you manage working the night shift?
2) Tell me about a time when you were faced with problems or
stresses at work that tested your coping skills. What did you do?
3) What have you learned from mistakes you’ve made on the job?
4) Tell me about a time when you had to adapt to a difficult situation.
What did you do?
5) Tell me about a conflict with a co-worker and how you resolve it?

Job Knowledge Questions


1) What is the meaning of Information Security Incidents?
2) What do you mean by policy and security?
3) What are key tasks for Security guard?
4) In what specific areas do you need to expand your knowledge to
become more proficient at this job?
5) Describe a recent occasion when you used your knowledge of the
internal structure, within your company, to answer complex questions
about the organization?

2. Combine your questions into a complete interview that you would


give to someone who must interview candidates for these jobs.

1) Tell me about yourself.


2) What is your greatest strength?
3) How do you manage a particularly daunting problem like a theft or
an act of vandalism?
4) How would you react if a colleague was not contributing towards
the job?
5) What do you mean by policy and security?
6) How do you manage working the night shift?
7) What are key tasks for Security guard?
8) What have you learned from mistakes you’ve made on the job?
9) How do you handle stress and pressure?
10) Why should we hire you?
BRIGHT SPARK
Complete Question

Common questions

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When developing interview questions for stress-inducing positions like those at Hotel Paris, it is crucial to include scenarios that test candidates' stress management and problem-solving abilities, such as handling multiple conflicting demands or irate guests. Behavioral questions asking about past stress-related experiences can reveal a candidate's resilience and coping strategies, which are critical for maintaining high service standards under pressure .

Lisa Cruz faced the challenge of variance in interviewing skills among hotel managers and the absence of a standardized interview system. She planned to address this by creating a formal interview training program and developing structured interview questions tailored for specific positions, ensuring consistency in assessing candidates across all properties .

Situational interview questions can be more predictive of a candidate's future job performance at Hotel Paris by presenting candidates with job-specific scenarios that they may encounter. Their responses can reveal how they would handle similar situations, providing insight into their problem-solving skills, decision-making abilities, and behavior under pressure, which are critical for maintaining high guest service standards .

Implementing both behavioral and situational interview questions is important for Hotel Paris as it helps in assessing not only past experiences and competencies of candidates (behavioral) but also their potential to handle hypothetical scenarios relevant to the job (situational). This dual approach provides a comprehensive evaluation of a candidate's suitability for roles that are essential in providing superior guest service .

Training hotel managers in interview techniques is crucial to ensure consistency across Hotel Paris properties. It helps managers conduct effective, standardized assessments of candidates' abilities to provide superior guest service, align hiring practices with strategic goals, and reduce variability in hiring outcomes, leading to improved service quality and enhanced guest satisfaction .

The new interviewing program at Hotel Paris aligns with its competitive strategy by focusing on eliciting the necessary employee behaviors and competencies that are essential for superior guest service. This involves designing structured interview packages that assess candidates on an interactive and personal basis to ensure they possess the capabilities to improve guest services, thus contributing to increased guest stay duration and return rates, ultimately boosting revenues and profitability .

Job knowledge assessment plays a crucial role in evaluating a security guard's understanding of essential concepts like information security incidents, policy and security implications, and specific tasks related to their role. This assessment ensures the candidate possesses the technical knowledge required to effectively perform security duties .

Using poorly structured interviews can significantly impact service quality at Hotel Paris by leading to inconsistent hiring decisions and unqualified hires. Without standardized and well-formulated questions, managers may fail to accurately assess key competencies and behaviors, resulting in employees who do not uphold the hotel's service standards, potentially decreasing customer satisfaction and loyalty, and ultimately affecting profitability .

A structured interview system contributes to achieving strategic HR goals at Hotel Paris by ensuring uniformity and fairness in the hiring process, improving the quality of hires by effectively assessing candidates' abilities, and aligning employee competencies with the hotel's strategy of superior guest service. It supports the hiring of employees who can enhance service quality, thereby increasing guest satisfaction and business profitability .

Behavioral interview questions assess a candidate's ability to fit in with Hotel Paris's service-oriented culture by examining past experiences that demonstrate qualities such as effective communication, problem-solving, teamwork, and customer-centric behavior, which are essential for aligning with the hotel's commitment to superior guest service .

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