Sal Capizzi, Marketing Director at Book4Time and a former Director of Spa and Wellness at NEXUS Luxury Collection, shares his expert insight into your reader questions. Here he talks about how to hire the best spa employees.
Send your queries about managing staff, operations, and anything else you want to know (challenge him!) to scapizzi@spaexecutive.com
Q. “Dear Sal, Can you share some best practices around hiring quality over quantity? I need to build my team but I’m afraid if I go on a hiring spree I will get some bad eggs in the mix and the company I work for prides itself on employee retention.”
A. Hey! I get it you’re probably faced with a staffing shortage while still having a monthly goal to hit, am I right? If so, I get it.
You should probably first optimize your schedule to make sure your current team players are filling up any available prime time slots when your spa is the busiest such as evenings and weekends. But that wasn’t your question. Have a team meeting with your current set of staff and ask them if they know anyone dependable and reliable looking for a job. This is the spa industry. We all know each other in some capacity. Don’t forget, your therapists probably went to school with at least 20 other future therapists. Trust your team and follow up on any potential leads they give you. I start out with this because a team member isn’t going to risk putting their name on the line for an unreliable candidate.
My next approach would be to reach out to your recruiter and make sure they know your needs and come up with a game plan to have X amount of interviews in X amount of days. Get creative and maybe work with your GM to offer a hiring incentive for the spa if budget allows. Make sure your recruiter does not put the spa on the backburner as you are an important ancillary revenue driving department.
My third approach would be to hit the job boards like the one that the International Spa Association (ISPA) provides in their online career center. They have candidates at all levels in the industry looking for work and you could post your openings there as well. This industry is all about networking after you post your openings for the team members you’re looking for. Maybe you ask a sister property if they have any staff members available looking for extra shifts on certain days of the week, maybe you partner with a local trade school and interview recent or upcoming graduates and advance whoever performs a great practical session. There are a ton of good ways for yourself to make connections and grow your team with the resources you already have!
I hope this helps and you and your team knock it out of the park in the upcoming months!
Sal
Spa Executive is published by Book4Time, the leader in guest management, revenue and mobile solutions for the most exclusive spas, hotels, and resorts around the globe. Learn more at book4time.com.
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