Language over attitude?

Yas Island Rotana's Rinaldo Boscaro.

At a grass roots level, F&B recruitment has traditionally focused on finding people with the right attitude — but in the face of ongoing debates about the region’s service standards, experts have suggested language skills should be more of a focus.

Speaking at a recent Caterer Middle East roundtable, Yas Island Rotana director of F&B Rinaldo Boscaro explained: “We run English courses in the hotel for new staff, but it takes time because they are classroom-style lessons. And some people will pick it up well, while others don’t.

“Certainly there is a commitment on the part of the student, and they love the idea of learning English — but from a professional side, we are not a school: we have a business to run.”

Boscaro added that limited language skills could also make working life difficult for the employee.

“Sometimes a member of staff will deal with a guest, they’ll pronounce something wrong, or not understand the guest’s accent, then the guest gets upset and might complain,” he said. “A new member of staff could easily be quite intimidated by that experience.”

Boscaro suggested the recruitment process should give greater weight to an applicant’s language skills.

“During my time in the industry, I’ve seen people go on recruitment trips and then been given a CV with a comment scribbled at the bottom saying ‘great smile, will be great for this and this’ — nothing about ability, experience or education,” he observed.

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“Then I will inherit that person to train them. If they’ve been hired without even basic English skills, it’s not their fault — but if they cannot communicate with a customer, a great smile’s not going to help matters.”

Fairmont Bab Al Bahr F&B trainer Sandra van Reenen agreed: “Sometimes I don’t think it’s fair to bring someone on to the team who really struggles with the language. I say that from experience at a previous property, where I sat with people who literally could not speak a word of English, and someone else had to fill in their forms.

“Even if someone has the attitude and the skill, if they cannot speak the language it hampers their development in a certain way, and that’s not healthy for them,” she continued.

“I think the answer is to hire specifically who you want for the results you want.”

According to Naji Esta, director of F&B at InterContinental Abu Dhabi, fake resumes are another ongoing challenge.

“We do get a lot of fake CVs; similarly there are cases where someone will get their relative who speaks English to do the phone interview — then when they arrive you find they cannot speak the language,” he admitted.

Fairmont’s Van Reenen said hiring should come down to “more than what can be put on a piece of paper”.

“A CV might look good, but if you’re hiring for F&B, you need to meet them in person to assess their skills,” she said.