As of the end of August, over 20 groups from Mexican universities, schools and businesses had completed the training. There is great interest for the program: “Unemployment is very high right now in Mexico,” notes Kimberley McFarland, Viva Recruitment International’s Director of Recruitment. “Job seekers realize that SuperHost provides valuable customer service skills and will improve their working position in the global job market.”
SuperHost was first introduced 25 years ago to prepare BC’s tourism industry to host the world at EXPO 86. Since then nearly one million people around the world have completed SuperHost workshops; and the program has recently officially been rebranded as WorldHost® Training Services to better reflect its enhanced products and international appeal.
For more information on the SuperHost (WorldHost) workshops in Mexico or available applicants contact info@veconviva.com.

Prior to arriving, we were asked to prepare the answers to several questions including describing culture shock experiences while interviewing candidates. Many of my extremely qualified focus group colleagues discussed the challenges that they had in the Canadian interview. 

After interviewing Mexican candidates for several years in the Hospitality industry, I have been able to collect lots of material. My advise to candidates is to take “foreign” out of the interview. A candidate in a new culture will face a steep learning curve.  As with learning anything new, one begins with observation.  Observe the professional atmosphere of your new culture:

• Use clothing that is typical. Pay special attention to colour, texture and length of clothes and jewelry
• Keep your hand movements and gestures to a minimum.  Never assume that the gestures in your culture are universal.
• Pay attention to the way people express themselves: Are they direct and concise?  Are they indirect and familiar?
• Identify the norms of personal space

If you can subdue your cultural identity while you are being interviewed, you will have a better chance of being heard. Once you have a job and get to know your colleagues, they will be interested in knowing what makes you special. 

Kimberley McFarland

kmcfarland@vivarecruitment.com

The Directors of Viva Recruitment will host this recruitment fair to be able to recruit top talent from a wide variety of applicants.  We are looking for those individuals with experience in Hospitality, Culinary, Foodservice and Child Care.  We are looking for individuals with a good level of written and spoken English and who are eager to participate in this life/ work experience.

Please bring your resume and your personality.  Interviews will be held on the day of the fair, so please be prepared to put your best foot forward. 

Details:
Where: UDLA Puebla, Mexico (exact location TBA)
When:  Tuesday, February 18th, 2009  10:00 am
What:   Recruitment Fair with a brief presentation to Interested Students

We will have the directors from Viva Recruitment Canada there to interview you for positions in the following industries;

• Hospitality (Hotel, Convention Centre or related experience preferred)
• Foodservice (Restaurant, Fast Food, Server experience preferred)
• Culinary (Cooks, Line Cooks and Chefs experience or training preferred)
• Child Care (previous Nanny experience or early childhood education preferred)

Economically it is less expensive to hire a foreign worker from Mexico. Flights from Mexico City generally range from $500- 800 dollars, whereas the cheapest flight from Asia (Hong Kong departure) and the Philippines typically is $1300 -$1500.

Temporary Work Permit application processing times according to Citizenship and Immigration Canada (CIC) is remarkably different as well. Below is an example of Canada’s most common locations for sourcing and hiring TFW and their associated processing times for temporary work permits.

Hiring from Mexico is much more expeditious resulting in a speedy solution to employers labour shortage problem.

As Mexico is a North American country the adaptation to Canadian culture is easier for the Mexican worker. Many Mexican’s have traveled to either the US or Canada in their lifetime. They also have a greater understanding of North American pop culture due to their exposure to music, television and movies. Many Mexicans have studied in bilingual schools in Mexico and a great number have family living in either US or Canada.

Mexican’s are more often accustomed to a similar set of employment values, beliefs and perspectives as Canadian and US born people. As quoted by go2hr article on “Watch for Cultural Biases in Assessing Employees” written by (Canadian HR Reporter, June 19, 2006, excerpt by permission of Carswell, Toronto, Ontario) that “Typical group and individual behaviours in countries such as Canada and the United States are not commonly seen or understood by people from other cultures.” This is not the case for Mexican’s, who are more acclimatized to these beliefs systems due to closer proximity and exposure to the cultures.

Mexicans are well known for their hospitable and friendly personalities. Mexican employees remind people of past pleasant travel experiences. As quoted by employers who have chosen to hire Mexican workers.

“The majority of Mexican workers are generally young, able bodied, reliable, trainable, motivated and productive.”
- Employers participating in SAWP

We are all interested in fitting the most qualified and skilled person into jobs that demand them. For this reason, it is ideal to look for the person that makes the most sense when hiring. In the end, the Mexican temporary foreign worker makes an ideal choice for Canadian businesses. They are adaptable, pleasant and energetic. The processing time for their temporary work permit is considerably faster than many other visa offices. Finally, they incur a more economical travel expense for the employer. An employee that will arrive quickly, adapt quickly and cost less is a competitive advantage.

1) There is a strong correlation between benefits satisfaction and job satisfaction.

            Benefits are an excellent way to attract good employees.  Make sure to fully explain the benefits that your employees are receiving.   Too often employees who are hired are given all the details about the job / company and benefits at once that they can miss the true relevance of what they are going to receive by being an employee of your company. 

2)  A realistic approach to Work / Life balance

            Many employees regardless of age believe in the value of work-life balance.  With a growing popularity of emails and blackberry’s at any hour the concept of work / life balance sounds more like a buzz word then a reality.  Some companies have banded the use of blackberry’s while others have policies around their use.  Decide where your company stands on this topic and know that it is impossible for even your best producing staff members to be contributing 24 hours a day.  Implementing policies for the use of these devices will result in positive feedback from your staff. 

            Honor holidays, weekends and employees personal vacations.  How often have you gone away only to have been made to feel guilty for doing so?  Employers that encourage personal time will enhance the well-rounded nature of your work force.

3)  Encourage Executive Involvement

            Even large companies can do this well.  Simple things such as walking down the hall, participating in a conversation in the cafeteria or dropping in to say hello on a group is a great way of being present and involved with your staff.  Having an executive presence can answer the biggest questions that unsatisfied employees ask themselves; Why do I matter?

4) Workplace culture

            Celebrate diversity by bringing in foods from the culture of different groups of employees.  Have them show and talk about themselves.  Assign monthly lunch time party’s where employees can come together on a common ground.   

            There are countless examples of fun, inexpensive ways of creating culture in the work place.  It can be as simple as a 10:30am cheer to “treat” Friday’s.  Think outside of the box and good things will happen. 

5)  Enhance Employee Education

            Offering to cover some of the tuition costs for an employee to obtain greater education will benefit not only the employee but also the employer and can be used as a talent management strategy.  Studies show that employees (especially younger generations) will not stay unless they are being challenged.  Employees that challenge themselves by attending evening courses could produce better results.  Providing new experiences and ways of solving problems with also benefit the employer in obtaining more engaged employees. 

6) Going Green may be more meaningful to some employees than a catch phrase

            Encourage your employees to think and act on ways to improve the environmental impact of their corporation.  Many people feel very strongly about this concept therefore tap into those employees that are mindful of the corporate impact and support their initiatives.  These types of employees can be extremely loyal and fostering this type of work environment can produce a feeling of pride in their employer. 

7) Reverse Mentoring for younger employees

            This is such an interesting concept and can be so beneficial to both sides of the mentor relationship.  Generational differences are transforming the work place and significantly impacting retention of new employees.  Reverse mentoring is a type of workplace mentorship where the mentor is younger than his or her mentee and with substantially less seniority in an organization.  The environment is conducive to knowledge sharing. 

Use Social Networking tools to your advantage

            Develop a facebook page where you have a few employees write successful and inspirational stories about the company.  This can be an area where you load company pictures and organize social events. 

            Have business units blog on what they work on and what the challenges of their positions can be.  Offer an “Ask the manager section,” watch the interest in company involvement increase. 

9)  Do not rush “new hire” training

            Allow new hires to spend time acquiring knowledge about the company and job shadowing with their colleagues in similar positions.  Training is directly related to employee retention.

10)  Trust

            Employees that can be trusted should be trusted.  Long gone are the days where micromanagement styles ruled.  Asking for accountability is a great way to demonstrate employer trust without overseeing every task within a project.  Many employees want to be trusted to make discussions that relate to their job, re-enforce the feeling that if ever an employee is concerned that they can come to you.  Try asking employees what they have done to accomplish their goals and watch how quickly projects will be taken care of. 

Viva Recruitment approached Tourism BC regarding running Superhost® workshops internationally after recognizing that there were no customer service training programs of a similar caliber in Mexico.

The event will be co-hosted by Tourism Minister Mr. Juan José Avalos Breton and Dr. Robyn Lynn Johnson the Dean of Business Adminstration of the prestigious Universidad de las Americas.
Tourism Mexico will be present at the program launch, along with members of several Mexican hospitality schools and government officials.
Tourism Mexico is excited to participate in the Superhost® program since it will enhance the exceptional reputation that Mexico has as a world tourism designation. All parties are confident that the program will be a success, producing the most prepared front-line employees from both local and international perspectives.

Superhost® Fundamentals program details:
Exists as an effective training tool for anyone who is dedicated to providing exceptional customer service.
Consists of a one-day workshop that teaches employees the skills and techniques that comprise the basics of service professionalism.
Delivered by certified Superhost® trainers, the workshop can be customized to address specific customer service training needs for any business or employer.
 
The objectives of the workshop:

To provide participants with an understanding of the importance of excellent customer service skills;

To help participants make their communication with customers more effective and efficient;

To help participants demonstrate their attentiveness to customer needs;

To provide participants with an understanding of the social and economic contribution that a healthy tourism industry makes to their home communities and to the province as a whole;

To teach the five key Superhost® Fundamental commitments to help the tourism workforce “go that extra mile”.

The commitments form the acronym G.R.E.E.T:

Give fully
Respect everyone
Empathize with others
Excel at your job

The Viva Team