Careers in managed pubs: Testing times

Personality is still hugely important but pubcos take a more scientific approach to recruitment nowadays.

Recruiting people to work in pubs has been largely a matter of instinct. Entrepreneur Hugh Corbett, founder of the Slug & Lettuce chain, once said that he knew as soon as he saw somebody whether they were right for his business.

You can see how this works. Good pubs are all about human interaction and barstaff who can make an instant and natural connection with customers - by way of a smile, a few words and the countless body signals we give out all the time - are a valuable commodity.

While that's as true as ever, pub companies are getting a little more scientific when it comes to recruiting people for managerial roles. Anyone going for a job as pub manager can expect a structured interview and, increasingly, a psychometric test.

Greene King Pub Company, which, as the country's third largest managed house operator expects to take on up to 200 new managers a year, is the latest to incorporate psychometrics into its recruitment methods.

"We want to get more scientific about choosing who we hire," explains James Prideaux, the brewer's resourcing controller - that means he's in charge of recruitment. "We already know the key competencies we require in a pub manager, qualities like leadership skills and retail focus, but we thought that psychometric tools could help us hone it down more and better fit people to the particular style of pub."

Psychometric tests​

Recruitment agency Berkeley Scott recommended an American web-based system called Predictive Index (PI), which in its pencil and paper form has actually been around since 1926.

While some psychometric tests grill candidates with scores, sometimes hundreds, of questions about their response to hypothetical situations in order to define their personality, PI is based on a relatively straightforward checklist of 80 adjectives such as "helpful", "persuasive" and "nonchalant".

The candidate simply ticks as many, or as few, as apply to them. Firstly they are asked to tick the words "you feel describe the way you are expected to act by others" and then, using the same list, the words "you yourself believe really describe you".

The advantage of this approach is that it's fast. James reckons it takes just three to five minutes to complete, either online or on paper. Its subtlety lies in enabling the recruiter to compare somebody's "natural" state with how they behave in their current work situation - "the way you are expected to act by others". Theoretically the more the two converge the happier and more effective the person is in their job.

Meanwhile the employer draws up performance requirement options (PRO) for the post which details qualities required of a successful candidate, such as "assuring compliance with laws", "meeting new people frequently" and "stimulating enthusiasm in others".

The results - for the candidate's perception of themselves in and out of work and for the PRO of the job - can then be translated into graphic pattern to more easily match the person to the role.

The PI system also automatically produces a written report on the candidate within a few minutes, so it can be done at the interview itself.

The Hungry Horse pattern​

Greene King is currently trialling the scheme in its Hungry Horse food-led pubs. It has created a "Hungry Horse pattern" that describes the qualities required of a manager across the chain.

In broad terms they have to be entrepreneurial, outgoing and able to cope with a strict routine, but the PRO can go into much more detail than that and sharply distinguish between the ideal manager for a Hungry Horse and for other retail brands.

Area managers have also put their best performing pub managers through the test to draw a picture of a successful Hungry Horse manager.

"We have had some interesting results," says James. "There is a strong correlation between existing good managers and the PRO which suggests PI works. I even did it for myself and my job - and it was uncannily accurate."

PI will now be used to recruit Hungry Horse managers, but only as part of a process that will still include telephone screening and a face-to-face interview.

"It's not a replacement for traditional methods," says James. "But it confirms what we get from an interview. I'm confident it will work in Hungry Horse and in a few months we shall be in a position to roll it out in the rest of the Greene King managed estate. We could even take it further by testing people already in jobs to see how their career might best develop or to tell whether morale is high or low."

The first aim of psychometric testing, however, has to be to help the pub industry tackle one of its most enduring challenges - to reduce staff turnover.

By making the right decision at the interview stage and putting the right person in the right job a pubco can give itself the best chance of keeping those people for longer.

Greene King's turnover is currently running at about 30 per cent and James hopes that with the help of PI he can get that down to 25 per cent by this time next year.

Case study: Chris Dessillas​

If there's one skill that stands you better than any other entering the pub industry it's customer service.

With 16 years' experience with British Airways behind him, including time as a cabin crew manager and customer service trainer, Chris Dessillas was already flying when he joined Fuller's last year.

In just five months he was appointed manager of the Telegraph in London's Moorgate and less than a year later he has lifted the pub's sales by 22 per cent.

"I was confident I could become a manager quickly but Fuller's showed it was willing to take a chance with me," he says. "It helped that I had a degree in economics and had acquired the management skills with BA.

"The pub life suits me. I've never had a nine-to-five job and with this I get the chance to see how I can make a business grow. I have regular customers I can build a rapport with and a team of staff I see every day.

"Sometimes I have to pinch myself to believe I've got to where I have!"