Photo Credit: tedmurphy
Hiring is essential to the success of any business and valet companies are certainly no exception. If you have good employees and managers, it’s much easier to run your company effectively. Bad employees on the other hand require extra attention and energy that you could be devoting to other areas of your life or business. We’ve done business with hundreds of valet companies over the years and it’s been our observation that those who do the best job hiring tend to have the most success.
That’s why we decided to put together some tips on creating a valet parking attendant job description that goes along with what we’ve observed as general best practices. If you’re just getting started hiring or looking at revamping you’re hiring process. This will be a good place to start. We also recommend you talk with other valet companies and look around at job boards to see what other companies are using for their valet parking attendant job description.
Cover Your Basics
Before we get into valet parking attendant specifics, make sure you cover your bases for any position. Doing a criminal record check and requiring a high school degree or GED equivalent is where you need to start. You also need to make sure all your employees are 18 years old or older since they’ll be handling heavy equipment.
Driving Abilities
The next thing to check is driving abilities. Since this is an essential aspect of a valet parking attendant’s job, you should filter out anyone that doesn’t fully meet your expectations. Do a check for a valid driver’s license in good standing and make sure they have experience driving cars with manual transmissions. You should also check their driving record to make sure they don’t have a history of DUI’s, reckless driving or anything else that could be a red flag.
Customer Service
After their driving abilities, the most important things for you to emphasize in your valet parking attendant job description is the importance of customer service. In most cases, the valet is the first and the last customer facing part of an organization that a customer will have contact with so it’s essential that the valet provide excellent customer service and make a positive first impression and a lasting final impression.
This includes opening and closing doors for customers, assisting customers with carrying their belongings to and from their cars, and providing directions or other helpful information about the local area.
Valet Attendants are also sometimes called on to deal with basic vehicle maintenance issues such as changing tires and oil, checking tire pressure, and replacing flats.
Physical Condition
Your valet parking attendant job description should also make it clear that adequate physical conditioning is an important aspect of the job. That means being able to stand for extended periods of time, lift objects up to 50 pounds, and run on occasion. A vision check is also important since the valet will be handling vehicles.
Another important detail we’ve noticed that makes a difference is telling potential employees on the front end that they’ll be required to wear a uniform and follow appropriate grooming standards so they fully understand the policies of your company.
Salary
Salaries vary based on experience, location, and other factors. Typically we see $8-$12/hour as a base salary plus tips. With tips included, this usually ends up in the $14-$16 range for most employees. This will vary significantly though based on experience and venue among other factors.
Job Responsibilities
Though job responsibilities vary based on company and venue, here’s a list to get your started putting together you valet parking attendant job description.
- Park and retrieve cars
- Greet customers
- Collect fees
- Manage the valet podium
- Organize vehicles
- Manage parking area (barricades, directing traffic, etc.)
- Protect cars
- Basic car servicing (change oil, tire if needed, jump a car)
- Wear a uniform
- Groom appropriately
- Hand out Claim Tickets
- Manage Keys
- Do basic math without use of a calculator