Dr. Sébastien Fernandez
Are You Trapped by the Similarity Effect in Your Hiring Decisions?
Louanne Affolter | May 24, 2024
By Louanne Affolter, Dr. Sébastien Have you ever preferred a candidate because of their similarity to you on various criteria? Did you grow up in the same village? Did they come from the same foreign country as you? Perhaps they also liked running or had four kids just like you? If you preferred and selected this candidate, then you were influenced by a bias called the similarity effect. This effect has shown that the more similar two individuals are, the greater the attraction between them. Wondering whether recruiters might be attracted to candidates with similar personality traits, we recently conducted a study to investigate this ques...
Applying the Science of Training to the Hospitality Industry
Dr Sébastien Fernandez | July 29, 2021
By Dr. Sébastien Fernandez Effective training in hospitality skills needs a clear structure: demonstration, practice, feedback, implementation and a solid follow up plan. Personality traits are not enough “Hire for attitude, train for skills” is a famous motto in the hospitality industry. It means hotels should select employees who have certain personality traits, even if they do not know yet the specific skills needed on the job. Training will be delivered later to help employees acquire the relevant skills. I am afraid that it is more a motto than a reality in the hospitality industry. The problem with training is ...
HR Analytics: How to Make Better Hiring Decisions
Dr. Sébastien Fernandez | June 29, 2021
By Dr. Sébastien Fernandez Are we just "numbers"? No! But behind this provocative question where most people would agree on the answer, there are many others whose response will not please everyone. These are the three questions on HR analytics that I think are important: Are we more complex than numbers? (Yes, of course), Should we use numbers to evaluate people? (Yes, I strongly recommend it), Are we treated like numbers? (Yes, sometimes). I decided to write this article for one main reason. Many people do not understand what HR/People Analytics is, or how complex it is to select the right person for a position. A few ye...
How Human Touch in Service Encounters Makes a Winning Customer Experience Strategy
Dr Sébastien Fernandez | June 2, 2021
By Dr. Sébastien Fernandez This article focuses on the power of touch in service encounters. It is a timely topic as physical distances in restaurants have never been so important. In many countries, restaurants are closed. In other countries, tables in restaurants are kept separate at a significant distance, and service providers and customers wear masks. Social distancing is nowadays required. Touch is no longer a sign of care and affection but may constitute a fatal weapon. Even before the pandemic, many people unfavorably perceived touch, considering tactile contact among service providers and guests as inappropriate or even rude. Whe...
Hospitality Recruitment: Why a Methodical System Wins Over Gut Instinct
Dr. Sébastien Fernandez | May 17, 2021
By Dr. Sébastien Fernandez A counter-intuitive yet highly practical approach to what really matters when hiring. Using a consistently methodical system throughout the hospitality recruitment process could win out in the long run over simply following gut instinct about a future employee. Poor use of intuition when hiring Some illusions persist over time. One of them is to believe you can determine who should work for you based on a 1-hour conversation. If so many people could accurately judge others, we would not observe voluntary or involuntary turnover to be that high in some companies. We would probably also not see so many intima...
