The Handshake Test

From a May 26, 2016 SmartBrief column by Arte Nathan, the longtime CHRO at the Golden Nugget and its successors Mirage Resorts and Wynn Resorts. Nathan paired the “smile and attitude” philosophy with a specific screening practice he ran across more than 100,000 hires at the Mirage, Bellagio, and Wynn Las Vegas openings: an interviewer the candidate didn’t know would walk up, smile, and introduce themselves, and Nathan watched whether the candidate returned the greeting in kind. He called it the “handshake” test.

The trait Nathan wanted to spot is hard to perform on cue, “not unlike a blush.” A candidate can rehearse interview answers; reacting warmly to a stranger walking up unexpectedly is closer to a reflex, and the hospitality job is mostly that kind of reflex, brief unscripted exchanges with guests the employee has never met. If the natural setting isn’t already there during the visit, no training program will install it.

Across the 20-plus years that the test was in use, including mass openings where 10,000 employees started together, Nathan reported less than 5% turnover in the first 90 days and 12% annualized. The handshake test was Nathan’s answer for hospitality. The wider claim is the part worth taking past it: for any role, some of what the job needs can’t be taught at all, and the first hiring question is which traits a role even leaves room to train.