Recently in Hospitality Category

How do people know whether or not they should frequent your business? Do you have a good website? Do you advertise?

From an HR perspective, some people need to hear you in action or see you live in order to get a better feel for whether or not they will want to work with you or for you.

Tune in to an episode of Capital District Business Profiles, which debuts this coming Monday at 7:30pm (and in February will also air Wednesday mornings at 10am) to check out some of the local businesses that may be offering opportunities for doing business or potential job opportunities in the future.

On Capital District Business Profiles, we will be interviewing local business owners to find out more about their business and how they go about doing what they do.

I have professionally fallen in love with a few businesses and businesspeople in my time. I'm not talking about the romantic, touchy feely, lovey dovey kind of love, but more of an overarching admiration and respect for the totality of another business person or business.

You know the person or business I am talking about; the business or person representing a business who loves what they do, cares about their clients or customers and is extremely passionate in their belief in their products and their belief in you.

Have you professionally fallen in love with anyone?

Here are signs that you are professionally in love

1. You wouldn't think about buying or working with anyone else.
2. You go out of your way to talk to others about how great they are.
3. You actually believe your life has been changed because of your experience.

Sounds a lot like romantic love, doesn't it?

Get people to fall professionally in love with you and your business, and you will never be short of customers, business, or momentum.

We have already awarded two 12 week online interactive business classes to two Capital Region residents seeking to take the next step in their career, whether it be start a business, find a new job or career, or learn something new to help them in their existing situation.

We are delighted to be offering these free courses for 12 lucky recipients this holiday season in the spirit of workforce development, business startup incubation, and career training for those who have been let go or downsized.

To enter for a spot in the 12 Classes of Christmas contest, send an email to info@saratogacollege.com with your request for a free course, why you want to take the course, and what you hope to learn as a result of it. The courses included Modern Marketing Methods, Exceptional Human Resources and Entrepreneurship, among others.

The first 12 submissions will very likely also be the 12 recipients (the first two were inspiring people so we selected them right away), so get in your email request today!

A family owned business has a policy of not speaking about the competition. Many companies I have worked with have a policy of respecting partners and competition. When it comes to doing business, I prefer doing business with those who speak fondly of their competition or say nothing at all.

A big turnoff in business is when you hear someone or some company badmouthing their competition. To me, whether it is a potential business partner, client, or vendor, the minute I hear something said about how poorly someone else does something, I turn off my listening head and decide that its time to consider someone else for the work.

Do you have a policy in place about your competition and how you speak about them? If not, it is probably time to put one in place.

In addition to my offer of free resume critiques online through September 17th (email your resume to robert@saratogacollege.com
), I will be at the following Job Fairs at the times below offering resume critiques and career advice.

Saratoga Job Fair
Saratoga City Center
Wednesday October 5th from 10am-12pm and 2pm-4pm

Times Union Job Fair
Albany Marriott
Monday October 10th from 2pm-5pm

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Another great service I'd like to share with you is Google Appointments. Google Appointments allows you to block out time for people to schedule time with you. You can specify the blocks of time, how long the appointments can be, and what for.

If you'd like to book an appointment with me, you can visit Robert Braathe of Braathe Enterprises Google Calendar to schedule a time to speak with me via Phone/Skype/GoToMeeting

Once you are established and well into your HR career, your next thoughts most likely center on advancement. Human Resources is continuously evolving to meet the business needs, requirements, and laws that are ever changing. If you want to move to the next level in your field, you must work hard and prove yourself. This means taking on extra projects, not being afraid to voice new ideas , becoming a Subject Matter Expert, and going back to school for additional training, certifications and/or an advanced degree.

1. Taking on more projects - When new projects arise, that usually means extra work and most people avoid more work like the plague. If you want to advance your career, you must be the person who steps up to the plate. Why? Well, for numerous reasons. When promotion time comes, you will be at the forefront of the minds of management for your willingness to roll up your sleeves and help the company in their time of need. Secondly, you are showing eagerness and a willingness to both learn and try new things and that is also a positive with management. Thirdly, with each new project that you complete, you are proving just how knowledgeable you are and how much your help can improve the HR process.

2. Voice New Ideas - Everyone has an opinion, but most are too afraid to voice them. If you have an idea or suggestion that you feel will help the HR process, then voice it. This shows initiative and drive, and it can also make a great addition to your resume if your idea succeeds.

3. Become a SME (Subject Matter Expert) - Read HR blogs, start an HR blog, answer questions on LinkedIn, build your profile on social media sites, and get recommendations on those sites. In other words, spread the word that you are an HR professional and a true subject matter expert in the field. Not only will your employers take notice, so will other in your industry and that can only help you in the future.

4. Advance your education - Many Senior level positions requires certain certifications, training, and degrees. By taking educational classes focused on HR, you stay ahead of the pack by learning of the new laws, regulations, and business process hitting your industry. Do you think you don't have time? Online education is becoming increasingly popular and is now widely accepted by big organizations. Here is one HR class being offered online that is merely 8 weeks and is centered around your schedule. You already have the education and with training classes, you also have the education, which makes you the ideal candidate for promotion.

With these four steps, you will be on your way to advancing your HR career. Have you recently moved up the ranks in HR? How did you do it?

I took my nephew to Red Robin on his vacation to visit me here in the Capital Region. I always enjoy the atmosphere there and people seem generally interested and excited to be working there.

Here are Red Robin's Core Values

Honor. - Unbridled caring for the Team, Guest and Company.

Integrity. - Doing the right thing!

Continually Seeking Knowledge. - Seek first to understand, then to be understood.

Having Fun. - Make the ordinary extraordinary and the mundane fun.

--- Simple, easy to understand, and easy to execute, these core values are integral to any organization. I find that many organizations strive to have too broad of a value system that is hard to understand and difficult to implement. If you can get honor, integrity, knowledge seeking and fun right, you can be as successful as Red Robin as well! In addition, the other values you wish to instill will naturally fall into place by having an honest team who walks their talk, has a great time doing what they do, and continually seeks feedback from both external and internal customers.

My nephew, like most children, has the unique ability to say what is on his mind without a filter. We were at his first concert a couple years ago when after a long, drawn out opening act that played without stopping for 20 minutes, he shouted out "You stink!" at the top of his lungs; the whole section agreed!

The reason they "stunk" to me (and him) was that the band didn't introduce themselves, didn't tell us what they were playing, and didn't engage the audience.

HR Recommendations for live performers (from experiencing some of the best)

1. Engage your audience (we are paying to be there, acknowledge we are there!)
2. Tell us what you are playing (we may buy it if we know what album its on or what the name of the song is.)
3. Take breaks between songs to give us a chance to applaud (or yell out You Stink!)

We've been contacted by many students of late who have already completed a degree from a traditional college who are seeking additional education but not necessarily another degree. Whether it be for lack of experience or the lack of credentials, these students have been seeking out alternatives to the traditional route of earning college degrees or credentials.

A recent case involved a student who already seeking post MBA courses who had a masters in another field but wanted to gain some marketing experience to help grow their consulting practice. We put them into our Modern Marketing Methods online business training course to help them promote their business

Another student approached us after working several years in the hospitality industry, and was seeking some practice in the field of Project Management. This student enrolled in our Intro to Project Management course and has put together a very solid Project Management Plan for their business.

For more of the offerings at Braathe Enterprises, visit our online business training and development website

At one of the restaurants I managed, we had issues with high amounts of food waste. Every night, we seemed to throw out quite a bit of food at the end of the shift, and also during the day when production was too high.

To combat the food waste on the night shift, I'd offer the staff the option to replace our brief meeting at the end of the night with a "brief eating" if all that was left over was enough food to feed the staff. In addition, we had to track spoilage all day during the day shift, and if we met the spoilage limit goals for the day, the people who worked during the day shift were rewarded with food on their next shift.

Within a couple days of instituting this policy, it worked! We threw away far less food, and the staff knew to balance wait times with production to ensure quality without waste.