My wife and I were having dinner last week on the new deck at the Wallingford Tutta Bella along with Joe Fugere, the owner (not name dropping, him being there is integral to the story). It was a beautiful evening and as we shared a dessert and had an espresso, we noticed a young man, Oliver, walking around outside the restaurant.
He eventually went in and then came out to the deck. After a while one of us asked if he needed some help. He didn’t, it turned out he was there looking for a job. He finally met with the manager who must have told him the owner was outside because he came over to Joe to tell him how much he’d like a job at Tutta Bella as he really wants to work in a restaurant.
After he left, we talked about how he did what he did. He didn’t just apply online. He went out of his way to take advantage of the owner being there. And the benefit was Joe gave him some tips and actually went online to write on the application that he (Joe) recommended Oliver. I commented I hope he’s as good an employee as he is being aggressive to get a job.
Six months ago, Tutta Bella and most other businesses were clamoring for employees. Now, the prospective employees have to take action. And it’s not much different for most of our businesses. We have to be aggressive and creative to generate business (or get a job). What worked 6, 12, 18 months ago doesn’t necessarily work now.
We are constantly trying new and different strategies to keep our name in front of referral sources and prospective clients. Like many businesses I see, every potential customer is valuable.
“One of the difficulties of being alive today is that everything is absurd but fewer and fewer things are funny.” (Humorist) Alexandria Petri