Well, it’s a challenging era for restaurants. As Nation\u2019s Restaurant News<\/em> reports, the Bureau of Labor Statistics\u2019 November 2021 report shows \u201cpeople are quitting foodservice in droves,” with “quit rates for the accommodation and foodservice industry [growing] from 4.8% to 6.9% over the past year, a larger jump than any other sector listed.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n Makes sense. Restaurant and service jobs are notoriously punishing, and having to tend to pandemic-enraged customers\u2014all while potentially risking one\u2019s health\u2014doesn\u2019t sound too thrilling. <\/p>\n\n\n\n These employees are quitting and going\u2026 somewhere<\/a>. Doubtlessly some disgruntled waiters, bartenders, and baristas will simply find new (hopefully better) gigs in the industry.<\/p>\n\n\n\n But this also means that there’s a growing pool of charismatic, talented individuals who might thrive in an entirely new career\u2014if they\u2019re given the chance. <\/p>\n\n\n\n There is no better project manager than a former restaurant manager…. Smart people are struggling to get jobs in a world that wants us to believe that there aren’t employable candidates left. You’re wearing sunglasses inside and complaining that you can’t see.<\/p>Lauren Howard, via Linkedin<\/a>.<\/cite><\/blockquote>\n\n\n\n Different hiring managers approach a candidate\u2019s resume and qualifications in different ways. Maybe a lot of weight is placed on personal references. Or recent job experience. Or particular skills.<\/p>\n\n\n\n If it\u2019s an entry-level job, perhaps the focus is on where the candidate went to school, and that institution\u2019s reputation.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Don\u2019t get me wrong: College is great. For many people, it\u2019s actually an opportunity to learn and evolve, rather than simply a four-year binge-drinking odyssey. I went to a state school, Rutgers University, and I feel lucky to have the growth experience I did.<\/p>\n\n\n\n But I also spent many concurrent (and post-collegiate) years working at Red Lobster, a nationwide seafood chain best known for its \u201cUltimate Feast.\u201d <\/p>\n\n\n\n And it was there that I got a very different sort of education\u2014all about how to multitask, manage stress, meet deadlines, process new information, deal with rejection, master new technologies, and engage empathetically and calmly with total strangers.<\/p>\n\n\n\n When I\u2019ve applied for a corporate job over the past decade, I’ve never included my time at Red Lobster on my resume. <\/p>\n\n\n\n But that experience shaped the person I\u2019ve become\u2014arguably more so than the college years I spent reading great novels and memorizing (then forgetting) key moments in American history. <\/p>\n\n\n\n After college, but prior to joining Lemonade, I spent ten years as an arts journalist. Who\u2019s to say that the qualities that role required\u2014an ability to talk to people, juggle assignments, hustle for gigs, and look at things closely from multiple perspectives\u2014weren\u2019t nurtured by Red Lobster as much as they were by Rutgers?<\/p>\n\n\n\n The obvious service-industry-to-tech pipeline might make you think of your company’s Customer Experience team. And indeed, that’s an area where the customer-centric skills a waiter or barista brings with them might be especially applicable. <\/p>\n\n\n\n After all, waiters and baristas help customers through their journey, including navigating any pain points. CX professionals do much the same, even if the product in question is homeowners insurance.<\/p>\n\n\n\n But it doesn\u2019t take much imagination to see how the qualities that make an astounding team member in the service sector would translate into many other roles, including those well outside of CX. (Others have noted, rightly, that the retail industry offers a similar \u201cboot camp\u201d for professional growth<\/a>, and that bartending is a great training ground for sales pros<\/a>.)<\/p>\n\n\n\n \u201cLife,\u201d CX Director Rachel Newman adds, \u201ccreates great people. There\u2019s a lot to be said for lived experience.\u201d As she notes, Lemonade CX employees have made lateral moves into other departments, including Growth, Marketing, Creative, Content, and Underwriting.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Let\u2019s take a closer look at some of the ways in which a background in the service industry can translate into success in many<\/em> aspects of tech. <\/p>\n\n\n\n If you\u2019ve written a job posting in the past 5 years, it has doubtlessly included a mention of \u201chigh EQ\u201d or \u201cemotional intelligence.\u201d Overused to the point of cliche, it\u2019s the kind of squishy thing\u2014like \u201cstellar communication skills\u201d and \u201cability to multitask\u201d\u2014that nearly all job-seekers will claim to possess.<\/p>\n\n\n\n While the typical college experience might boost EQ, there\u2019s plenty of reason to think that a job as a waiter or barista is even more of a proving ground for emotional intelligence. Simply put, a restaurant or coffee shop is a pressure cooker of conflicting personalities, demands, deadlines, and desires. <\/p>\n\n\n\n Natalie Gerke is Lemonade\u2019s Senior Manager of Media Relations, and she has a B.A. with a focus in public relations. But long before that she worked in service: a sports bar in Gainesville, Florida; courtside server for the Orlando Magic; a high-end steakhouse in Los Angeles. <\/p>\n\n\n\n She cites three key skills that every restaurant veteran learns:<\/p>\n\n\n\n \u201cThe beauty of these skills is that they can be applied to just about any<\/em> job, regardless of the level,\u201d Gerke says. <\/p>\n\n\n\n \u201cExecutive VP, CX coordinator, social media manager, it applies to everyone. The one consistency I\u2019ve seen across the roles and clients I\u2019ve worked with in the PR space is what I learned early on in restaurants. Every day will be different (time management). Every executive and client will have their own personality (customer relations). And every task will be important in some way (prioritization).\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n Jed Baker is Lemonade\u2019s UX and Product Writing Lead. That means he spends his day ensuring that our brand voice (and that of our helpful bots, Maya and Jim) is cohesive and delightful. <\/p>\n\n\n\n He also, incidentally, has a B.A. in theater and an M.A. in folklore. But along the way, he put in many hours in the service industry\u2014as a waiter in Stowe, Vermont, a barista at Java Joe\u2019s and Starbucks, and a bartender in Newfoundland.<\/p>\n\n\n\n You might assume that Baker\u2019s service industry background has had zero impact on how he crafts microcopy, but you\u2019d be wrong.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Bartending and waitering gave Baker \u201ca deeper understanding of empathy and teamwork, a respect for the concept of service, [experience] problem-solving, and a deeper capacity for listening,\u201d he says. <\/p><\/blockquote>\n\n\n\n \u201cWhen waiting tables or making espresso drinks or mixing cocktails,\u201d Baker adds, \u201cyou\u2019re on one side of a transaction that involves a transfer of information and trust.<\/p>\n\n\n\n \u201cEvery service industry job I\u2019ve ever had drove home the dynamics of a two-sided interaction, where one side has something the other side wants. That interaction is the best it can be when both sides are listening and understanding and respecting each other. It\u2019s true in the service industry, and it\u2019s true in UX writing. To do a good job, you need to be able to put yourself in the shoes of the people on the other side.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n Less remarked upon when discussing the education a service industry job provides, perhaps, is how refreshingly diverse a restaurant or cafe\u2019s staff tends to be. (Granted, it’s certainly not all sunshine and puppies, and there are sometimes unfortunate disparities between front- and back-of-house staffs.)<\/p>\n\n\n\n There\u2019s no \u201ctypical\u201d service industry employee, and that\u2019s part of what makes working at a restaurant or cafe so refreshing and unexpected. <\/p>\n\n\n\n During any given shift, your co-workers might include a PhD who\u2019s tending bar while chipping away at their dissertation; a single mom picking up occasional nights; a struggling musician with a GED; and a South American immigrant who\u2019s patient enough to suffer through everyone else\u2019s lame attempts at Spanish. <\/p>\n\n\n\n Whereas it might be an unconscious inclination to cling to \u201cpeople like yourself\u201d at college, or within a less diverse corporate setting, trying to do so within the service industry would be laughable. <\/p>\n\n\n\n So let\u2019s recap: <\/p>\n\n\n\n Sounds like qualities that would benefit any organization, especially one struggling to break free of its own echo chambers. <\/p>\n\n\n\n Many of the Lemonade team members we chatted with above didn’t come to the tech sphere directly<\/em> from the service industry. But it’s clear that their experience as waiters, baristas, or bartenders\u2014even if it’s a decade old, and not cited on their resume\u2014imparted vital skills that they continue to leverage in their roles.<\/p>\n\n\n\n “The skills I learned in the service industry have stayed with me. I have a weird amount of patience for very specific problems. I can carry tons of info in my head without going crazy. Noise doesn’t bother me, and stressful situations don’t really stress me out.”<\/p>Adina Eckstein, Lemonade’s COO (and former coffee shop, sushi restaurant, and steakhouse employee)<\/cite><\/blockquote>\n\n\n\n We’re not suggesting that you lurk outside your favorite restaurant, recruiting disgruntled waiters as they clock out for the night. <\/p>\n\n\n\n But it could<\/em> make sense to introduce a conversation about prior service industry experience into your interview toolbox. Why not ask a prospective publicist, copywriter, or art director if they’ve ever waited tables\u2014and, if so, how that experience molded the way they think about creativity, collaboration, and thriving under pressure? <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" Tech companies struggling to hire great talent should reconsider what qualifies as qualifications.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":54,"featured_media":21247,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[14,12],"tags":[],"puppies_section":[],"class_list":{"0":"post-21227","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-lemonade101","8":"category-transparency","9":"post-hentry"},"acf":[],"yoast_head":"\n![\"\"](\"https:\/\/www.lemonade.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/03\/Latte.jpg\")
Open your mind as to what qualifies as \u201cqualifications\u201d<\/strong><\/h3>\n\n\n\n
![\"\"](\"https:\/\/www.lemonade.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/03\/RedLobster.jpg\")
Every<\/em><\/strong> brand has customers, whether you\u2019re serving pizza or life insurance<\/strong><\/h3>\n\n\n\n
Low EQ need not apply<\/strong><\/h3>\n\n\n\n
Can mixing cocktails sharpen PR skills<\/strong>?<\/h3>\n\n\n\n
Would you like a side of UX with that?<\/strong><\/h3>\n\n\n\n
Real diversity and inclusivity<\/strong><\/h3>\n\n\n\n
Valuable experience\u2014even if it’s far in the past<\/strong><\/h3>\n\n\n\n