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By Carly L. Price

From the executive offices to the box office, your staff is the public face of your facility. Every employee at every level has the power to alter your company’s image. To make a positive impression and ensure an enjoyable experience for your patrons, it’s crucial to have the right person in every position.

Hiring the right person is essentially a three-part process that consists of recruiting, interviewing and screening. With proper attention to each phase, you can maintain an environment in which your guests feel well served, comfortable and safe.

From executives to stage hands—such as David Haworth, lead stage hand at Sacramento Convention Center — every employee acts as the face of your facility, making it critical that you hire the right person in every position. Photo courtesy of Tina McCarty.

Looking for Labor in All the Right Places
Like in any business, you should seek out workers who are responsible and have a good work ethic. However, there are a few recruiting challenges specific to this industry. In many cases, irregular scheduling and long, late hours make it difficult to attract experienced candidates.

The scheduling quirks that come with event-driven work combined with the disproportionate need for part-timers — which is a majority of the workforce at most facilities — can also lead to high turnover. As a result, it’s often necessary to conduct mass hirings annually or seasonally.

The right avenue. Job fairs can be a useful approach for hiring en masse, and many companies find them particularly effective for recruiting part-timers. Some facilities set up tables or booths at job fairs or conduct their own job fairs.

“We do a job fair once a year later in the summer and bring in candidates for part-time event staff positions,” says Claire Alt, human resources manager for Qwest Center Omaha. “We interview them all. We had one last week with about 350 candidates going through.”

Other excellent avenues for recruiting part-time workers include local colleges or student hangouts and venues where retired people congregate. Both of these populations tend to have the flexibility to work the erratic schedules common in this industry, and they tend to need the extra income. Teachers also often seek out part-time work in evenings or during the summer when school is out.

“We hire a significant number of senior citizens,” says Jeri Tillman, senior human resources generalist for American Airlines Center in Dallas. “We were acknowledged and presented an award in 2003 by the city of Dallas for employing a large number of senior citizens a few years ago. I work directly with Friends of Senior Affairs, and they post our jobs and have applicants contact me directly.”

Spreading the word. Whether it’s a part-time or full-time position, it’s important to think of your audience when choosing where to post a job. “With the full-timers, certainly the recruitment effort can be completely different because most of the time you are looking for very specific experience,” Alt says. “So we might be looking at advertising or posting our position with professional organizations, with industry groups like IAAM. Certainly we post locally as well. You have to be strategic and creative with your recruiting strategies.”

Screen applicants effectively by asking open-ended, behavioral questions that elicit more than a yes or no response. Photo from SBC Park in San Francisco.

Most companies post job openings internally, and some take it a few steps further by generating their own pool of ideal job candidates. Philadelphia-based Comcast-Spectacor — a sports and entertainment firm that owns two large sports facilities in addition to several sports teams, a sports programming network, and several other related entities — has an internal performance management program that grooms managers and helps develop them for promotions within the company. Comcast-Spectacor also has an internship program that produces qualified candidates for many of its entry-level positions.

“To date, the company has hosted nearly 1,800 interns, and nearly 20 percent are now serving as full-time employees,” says John Mansor, employment administrator, human resources. “We offer internships in a variety of departments, such as human resources, accounting and finance, public relations, marketing, sales, facility management and operations, just to name a few.”

Interviewing Insights
Once you’ve found a pool of workers who look good on paper, the next step is narrowing it down to those individuals with good work ethic and leadership abilities.

In this industry, that usually means looking for a candidate who is a “people person” or who has a solid customer service background. Many hiring managers give special consideration to people who have worked in hospitality, food service, sales or other jobs with a lot of direct customer interaction.

It’s also important to weed out people more interested in the perks than the work. The college kid who rambles on during an interview about getting paid to watch his favorite team raises an obvious red flag, but some candidates with ulterior motives are less overt. These folks may be deterred if company policies governing such behavior are set forth in the interview phase.

“We let [candidates] know there’s a possibility they may not see the event because we need staff on escalators, elevators, stairwells, outside the suites, so everyone working isn’t going to be able to view the event,” Tillman says.

Crafting questions. The best way to find out if an applicant is applying for the right reasons is to ask. “The biggest payoff is to spend the time to really craft your questions well,” says Tina McCarty, administrative officer for the Sacramento Convention Center Complex. She believes the interviewer should always take the time to ask open-ended, behavioral questions.

San Diego Padres guest services representative Leomia Wilson (right) creates major league memories for guests entering PETCO Park.

Asking effective questions is important even when you’re in mass hiring mode. “Certainly the interviews have to be short when you’re interviewing 350 candidates, but we try to use all behavioral questions,” Alt says. “If you can draw them out and talk about their experiences and some ‘what-if’ questions, you get a much better read on how they’re going to function.”

Questions that require more than a yes or no response will often elicit unexpected information about candidates, or give some insight into their personality or attitude toward work. In some cases, behavioral questions may reveal that the candidate is best suited for a different job than the one they applied for originally.

A panel of interviewers. Another strategy for conducting a thorough evaluation is to have a panel of employees interview the candidate. McCarty is a firm believer in the approach, but she says it has to be handled carefully because it can be intimidating for the applicant.

“It’s typically a panel of three or four people,” McCarty says. “I’ve had panels as big as five, but usually I don’t do that unless it’s high-level management. I recognize that even a three-person panel is intimidating for candidates, but they’ve got to be game on when they’re out in the building, whether they’re setting up tables or cleaning the carpet.”

In the case of technical positions, it may help to have someone involved in the interview who knows the job in great detail and can test the applicant’s knowledge. The main benefit of a panel approach is that each person on the panel will make different observations, and often a better employee selection is made as a result.

Screening Strategies
Every employer should take steps to screen applicants before hiring. Screening practices can include verification of identity, checking references, verifying previous employment and education, criminal background checks, psychological testing, drug testing and other procedures or tools designed to help ensure that the candidate doesn’t pose a security risk and that he is the right fit for the job.

I.D. Identity verification is standard and should always be done in accordance with federal laws, which require that all employees present two forms of identification and complete and sign an I-9, or Employment Eligibility Form.

References. Checking references is also an important step—one that too often is overlooked. “It’s critical to do thorough reference checks on all candidates to verify the information they have provided on a resumé or employment application,” Mansor says.

Although they can provide valuable insight, reference checks alone are not enough. Since the individuals provided as references were chosen by the applicant, they are likely to give favorable reviews, and some former employers are reluctant to say anything negative for fear of legal retaliation.

Education. Verifying education is also important, particularly for positions that require a specialized skill set. A simple approach is to ask the candidate to provide a copy of a diploma, transcript, or certificate to prove that their claim of education or training is legitimate. Even better, take it a step further and call the school or agency that issued the document for verification.

Depending on the position’s required skill set, you may want to verify an applicant’s education by requesting a copy of a diploma or transcript. Photo from SBC Park in San Francisco.

Testing. This can also provide an opportunity for a candidate to prove his or her knowledge of a particular subject or ability to perform certain tasks. Psychological testing is also a popular method used to learn more about a person.

“With the full-time staff, we actually do a personality profile as part of the hiring process,” Alt says. “That helps us determine what their personality is, their behaviors, and how they will be able to adapt to our organization or environment or culture. It also helps the managers. It’s a tool for them. It helps them know how to best motivate and train this person to be successful in the position.”

Background. Checking the criminal background of candidates is another crucial part of creating a safe workplace and making guests feel comfortable. “It’s important that we provide a safe environment for our guests and for our employees,” Tillman says. “As soon as we receive the application, our next step is to complete a background check. It’s a part of our screening process up front. Our staff has a great deal of interaction with our guests and we want to know that they have clear criminal backgrounds.”

Mansor agrees that background checks are a must. “We do them to provide a safe, secure environment for employees, patrons and guests, and also to protect the assets of Comcast- Spectacor and its patrons. Credit checks are done for all department heads or positions involving the handling of cash or credit cards. All employees get a criminal background check.”

“Other excellent avenues for recruiting part-time workers include local colleges or student hangouts and venues where retired people congregate.”

Some facilities conduct personality tests to help ensure that they hire employees who will fit well with their organization’s culture. Photo from SBC Park in San Francisco.

Drug testing. Many companies add drug testing to the list of screening steps. The more hoops there are to go through during screening, the more discouraged less serious candidates will be. Keep in mind that certain levels of screening may require consent from the applicant, and always check to make sure your screening practices don’t violate any state or federal laws.

Not every facility has the resources to take all of these measures, but choosing not to conduct thorough screening can pose serious risks. In an age of terrorist threats, the general public has a heightened awareness of safety in public venues.

Making your facility as safe as possible is not enough — you also need to provide reassurance to your guests so they feel reasonably safe and secure and can relax and have a good time while attending an event. That, along with great service from your carefully chosen staff, will keep them coming back for more.

Carly L. Price is a Dallas-based journalist who has written for national trade and consumer publications, including Cooking Light and Southern Living.

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