On this episode of the Hospitality Leaders podcast, I’m joined by Aaron Berger, Executive Director at The Neon Museum.


In the hospitality industry, it can be easy to view employees simply as bodies capable of completing a task. It’s easy to train someone to clean a hotel room or wait on a table. So many organizations approach their hiring practices from the perspective of valuing quantity over quality.


Aaron takes a very different approach. For him, employees are the bedrock that the business’s values, culture, and public perception are built on. He hires people based on the mission he wants his organization to embody. If the skills needed for hospitality are so easily trainable, it makes sense to recruit team members whose personalities and interests are aligned with the company culture, regardless of prior experience.


In this sense, hiring for quality doesn’t mean looking for the most skilled worker but for the candidates who are a natural fit for what the business wants to be. Aaron practices this philosophy perfectly, going out of his way to recruit a staff that is passionate about history, culture, and education.

Aaron Berger
The Neon Museum
The Neon Museum - LinkedIn
Chris Cano
Upshift

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