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Hiring the Perfect GM A general manager is the heart and soul of a hotel. Here’s how to hire the perfect one for your property. Wednesday, August 06, 2008 Mr. Mark van Hartesvelt

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Just as everything else in our industry has evolved, so has the hiring and training of general managers. Having the right, experienced GM in a hotel – meaning one whose style of management and leading fits the style of your property and its guests and employees – is key to your property being successful.

But you need to do things differently than in the old days, when general managers spent a lot of time in their offices and mainly served to oversee their hotels almost from a distance. Today’s GMs need to be more hands-on, and understand and have relevant experience with the many moving parts and features of a hotel. These parts include F&B, spas and meeting rooms, as well as technology, the Internet, and advertising and marketing. And these parts keep changing – almost on a daily basis. Given all these changes in business, technology and human resources, the industry more than ever needs to be focused on hiring very well-rounded leaders, instead of managers who just paid their dues in housekeeping, front desk and other hotel-related departments.

Here are some suggestions for the most effective methods of GM hiring and training in your hotel:

Have Existing Staff Interview a GM Candidate

I am a big believer that a GM’s style, experience and attitude toward leadership need to be the right fit for your particular property. If you have a great staff who is accustomed to a GM who is a team leader and team player and very open and hands-on, then even the most seasoned veteran who has a closed-door policy would not be the right match for your hotel.

Have your key property-level executive committee members – such as the F&B director, comptroller and sales director – meet with and interview your top GM candidates. While this may seem counter-intuitive at first, it really makes a lot of sense since they’ll be working under the GM’s guidance. If you have a seasoned team in place that you are happy with, you want to bring in a GM who will be a complement and great leader for that team. What better way to do that than to get the direct feedback from these key players? If you have a GM candidate who bristles at such an idea, then maybe that potential hire is just not right for your property.

We have been doing this at Gemstone for three years and it has been very effective in helping us select and, ultimately, retain GMs who have effective leadership styles, the right management experience, and the best attitudes toward employees and guests.  These GMs can build and enhance a team and get everyone on staff to be engaged with each other and with the guests.

Hiring a GM with the same philosophy of management and business that your hotel already has is crucial to selecting the best candidate. For instance, if your property thrives on community involvement and is THE place in town for hosting charity events, it is important your new GM share and embrace this philosophy. Or, if your restaurant is known as THE hot spot in town to wine and dine, you would want a GM who understands and supports the value of this restaurant, versus one who would favor turning it into a more profitable meeting/banquet room. 

Consider Third-Party Testing

Looking at a prospective GM’s background and experience and carefully scrutinizing references are obvious. But with many hotels having such individual personalities these days – especially at smaller, boutique properties – offering some standardized tests that a candidate can take online in less than half an hour is an additional effective method to help you screen for the GM that would make the best fit at your hotel.  Test results should be utilized when performing reference checks and interviews – to probe for areas that are potential concerns, as well as to confirm strengths that you believe are important to a candidate’s success. 

Look For a Diverse Management Style

GMs need to be able to lead across generations. The way they interact and talk to a 24-, 35- or 46-year-old should be vastly different. They need to be able to effectively motivate different ages and demographics of employees. Examine a candidate’s experience to get a sense if that individual has worked with different age groups in prior positions. A good GM needs to be flexible and adaptable enough to lead across all demographic lines. They also need to be able to speak to all ages and demographics of guests.

Advertise In Unlikely Sources

We’ve always seen ads for GMs and other employees in traditional venues. But consider the non-traditional, especially if you have a very unique property. Even think of different publications that your guests would be reading.  Do some brainstorming to come up with different outlets for which to place ads.

For instance, if your property caters to celebrities who want their privacy in a very exclusive setting, how about advertising in a show business publication like the Hollywood Reporter? Think outside the box when it comes to advertising for a GM.

Be Open to Hiring Outside Of the Industry

This is something that is still evolving, and we may see more of it in the next decade. Hiring someone with a certain skill set, style of management, personality and demeanor are equally or can even be more important than experience. You can teach someone the computer system of a hotel, or how to read a P&L, but you may not be able to teach someone how to be a true team leader, how to have confidence without being cocky, and how to genuinely care about employees and guests. A GM with a true sense of hospitality may just be found and recruited from another industry. 

Good luck as you strive to hire the best and brightest GMs at your hotels. Top-notch, seasoned GMs will pay for themselves in the long run, by encouraging their staffs to serve guests in each and every way possible. These happy repeat guests mean more business and greater profits. Go for it and happy hiring!

Hotel industry veteran Mark van Hartesvelt is a principal with Gemstone Hotels & Resorts, LLC, a five-star management company based in Park City, Utah. His guest column appears monthly in Hotel Interactive.