Hiring the right people and keeping them engaged is a constant operational challenge for local businesses. In this episode, Holly Giddings shares her extensive experience in volume hospitality recruitment and life coaching. We discuss why you need to take the administrative burden of hiring away from your creative staff, how centralized application systems are failing young local talent, and why investing in training is the only real way to guarantee excellent customer service. We also cover the practical application of professional coaching, unlearning bad leadership habits, and why "no" is a complete sentence in both personal and business negotiations.

Episode Chapters

[00:00:00] The power of saying no to clients

[00:01:00] Launching a business during a pandemic

[00:04:06] Why the recruitment industry gets a bad reputation

[00:06:38] Let your creative staff focus on their actual jobs

[00:09:22] Handling volume recruitment with a fixed-fee model

[00:12:31] The current state of the UK hospitality sector

[00:20:04] How poor management directly impacts customer service

[00:23:26] The flaw in centralized hiring for young applicants

[00:25:47] Transitioning into coaching specifically for men

[00:35:38] Stop people-pleasing and learn to use silence

[00:38:30] The danger of promoting staff without leadership training

Key Takeaways

• Remove admin from creatives: Stop forcing your general managers and head chefs to spend hours reviewing CVs. Let them focus on running your operations and outsource the administrative volume of recruitment.
• Respond to every candidate: Improve your local employer brand by ensuring every single applicant gets a response, even if it is a polite rejection. Ignoring applicants damages your reputation in the community.
• Treat 'no' as a full sentence: When negotiating fees or setting operational boundaries, practice saying no without immediately offering a long explanation or apology to fill the silence.

Guest Links & Resources:

Holly Giddings on LinkedIn https://www.linkedin.com/in/hollygiddings/

Houx (Recruitment) Website https://houx.co.uk/

Houx Knew Website https://houxknew.co.uk

Resources

Unreasonable Hospitality Website https://www.amazon.co.uk/dp/B0BBRBWWZB

Host Links:

Ben Baldwin LinkedIn https://www.linkedin.com/in/benbaldwinchuffed/

Chuffed Productions LinkedIn | https://chuffed.video/

Berko & Beyond Website

Support Local!

Don't forget to like, follow, and share Berko and Beyond wherever you get your podcasts, and hit subscribe if you're watching on www.youtube.com/@BerkoAndBeyond.

If you'd like to be a guest on the show, drop us an email at: [email protected].