The restaurant trade is fairly labor-intensive, and is traditionally a high-turnover industry, with many temporary and part-time workers. Although it may be a low-paid and basic job for some of your staff, your restaurant may well be your life's work. What are the characteristics you need to look for when hiring restaurant workers to ensure you get good workers?

The two things people are most likely to remember after a visit to your restaurant are the food and the serving staff. Get either of these wrong and you may well leave a bad impression. As we all know, first impressions last, and good recommendations are vital for most restaurants.

To ensure your staff gives the right first impression, they need to present a clean and smart appearance, ideally with at least a partial uniform (i.e. logo'ed shirt/blouse/t-shirt). A uniform also helps to define and reinforce the identity of your restaurant and its staff.

Your servers should also be reasonably well-spoken and polite, with a friendly manner when dealing with customers and an efficient and team-oriented attitude to their co-workers. One of the biggest tests of serving staff is when dealing with difficult or rude customers – good servers will be able to remain calm, polite and objective, without seeming insolent or dismissive. One thing that restaurant managers can do to help their experienced staff deal with situations like this is to allow them a certain amount of latitude with regards to discounts.

Often, a problem can be smoothed over with a free drink or dessert, and if serving staff are able to manage these issues themselves it gives them added confidence and avoids the escalation of having to fetch the manager to the table. Good customer service adds a lot to any business' reputation, and serving staff with strong customer service skills are worth cultivating.

Waiting staff also need to be in good physical health and have a degree of practicality about them – they will spend many hours each day on their feet, carrying large trays of food and drink through a crowded and busy environment.

Other skills that can come in useful for restaurant workers are a second language – typically Spanish in the United States - and the ability to take on other roles within the restaurant – for example bar-tending skills or short-order experience.

While some applicants for restaurant jobs may not have all the technical skills needed for the role, many of these can be easily learned. Not so easy to teach or learn is the right manner with customers and colleagues – good people skills are vital for serving staff, and so your hiring policy should always give preference to applicants who can demonstrate the strength of their people skills.