The Art of Hospitality in Hiring

First appeared May 2022 at https://us11.campaign-archive.com/?u=c872e6968d8a1e66c618afaa6&id=cb5a3564d4

For years, I’ve been enthralled by NYC-restaurateur Danny Meyer and his thoughts on “the art of hospitality”. Hospitality is concerned more with how people feel, not just whether they get fed. People who eat at his restaurants consistently comment on not just the terrific food and wine, but the feeling of being at home that is sometimes even more memorable — the way every interaction seems designed to make patrons feel cared for in a “one size fits one” manner.

To Danny, “service” is completely different from “hospitality”. Service is more about how you do the technical stuff: wait staff don’t screw up your order; food arrives hot; people get their meal at the same time; glasses and silverware are clean. Hospitality is all the other stuff that shapes how patrons feel: how they’re made to feel comfortable, listened to, at home and taken care of. It’s how the restaurant remembers your birthday; or how regulars always get their favorite table; or how the waiter brings a glass of wine or dessert on the house.

And hospitality isn’t just for restaurants. I was thinking about hospitality at a doctor’s visit recently. Sure, I want my doctor to diagnose me correctly and prescribe the right treatment, but so much of the experience of a doctor’s appointment is shaped by other things: whether the receptionist makes eye contact with you, how long you’re kept waiting, whether the doctor explains what’s going on in human speak rather than medical jargon. I think about the way my father, a small-town periodontist, would take the time every evening to call his patients from the day, just to see how they were feeling and if they had any questions they forgot to ask earlier. That’s hospitality, and that’s memorable.

So we’ve been asking ourselves: what does hospitality mean in recruiting? How can we be sure we’re not only delivering great hiring outcomes, but also great hiring experiences to both clients and candidates?

For us, getting “service” right is just the start. Of course we need to find and engage great candidates; we need to do that as quickly as possible; we need to ensure that we help convince the right person to join and get them hired. But we also need to obsess about how we’re making our clients and candidates feel, how you experience Shortlist: do you feel cared for as a human as well as a client? Does it feel frictionless dealing with us? Are we really listening to the context and subtext of what you need? Are we under-promising and over-delivering? Are we responsive to your emails or calls? Are we building a relationship, rather than just executing a transaction?

My proudest moments are when someone comments on how enjoyable it is to interact with Shortlisters: “your team is so switched on!” or “your team is so human and pleasant to deal with!” or “your team always goes the extra mile to anticipate our needs!” We want you to remember how it feels to engage with Shortlist long after the hire has been made.

So how are we doing? Beyond getting the job done, are we delivering a terrific experience? We know we’re not perfect and have a lot to learn, so let us know how we can take it to the next level. We’re all ears.