Chapter 7 - Employee Development

Hiring the Best

Many companies will share with you stories about failed training programs delivered to the work force. They will tell you about the extensive efforts they invested in designing programs and the wonderful speakers they used to deliver the workshops. Then they will complain that nothing really changed as a result of the programs. Soon, you will hear the frustration mount in their voices as they declare emphatically that training just doesn't work with today's employees.

Well, nothing could be further from the truth. Training plays a valuable role in your company, and we will explore this later in the chapter. Be aware, however, that training will have limited value unless you have the right people in place to start with!

You can certainly teach most people technical skills. But what most companies are trying to get their employees to do better - namely, provide superior quality service -- is more a function of attitudes and values than it is of skills.

The likelihood of successfully instilling new attitudes and values in employees is extremely low. You see, attitudes and values are things people bring to the table with them when they start to work for you. That's why it is so critical that you hire the right people the first time!

Step One: Develop a profile for the candidate.

Develop a desired profile for candidates based on the qualities of your most successful employees. This can be an arduous process, but it is essential. After all, if you don't know what you're looking for, how will you know when you've found it?

Start with the basic tangibles like work experience, education and personal interests. Then determine if there is a pattern of personality types that tend to succeed in your stores. A number of personality assessment tools are available to help you with this task.

Step Two: Stop wasting time!

Only interview those candidates that fit your profile. You simply don't have time for any other interviews. You must target your efforts on candidates who are most likely to be successful in your store.

Step Three: Interview at least four candidates.

How many times have you found yourself interviewing just one or two candidates, and then hiring one of them? Not much of a choice, was it?!

Force yourself to interview at least four qualitycandidates for each position. Decisions are bestmade when good comparisons are available.

Step Four: Use assessments.

Eliminating your "opinion" about a candidate is always beneficial, if not always possible. The use of assessments, or "tests", allows you to introduce greater objectivity into the hiring process. At a minimum, assessments will give you greater confidence in your hiring decisions by supporting your "opinion" to hire, or not to hire.

Assessments typically fall into a few categories:

• Personality profiles
• Leadership style indicators
• Skill assessments (e.g. sales skills, math and reading comprehension)
• Aptitude assessments (e.g. customer service, sensitivity)

Step Five: Conduct a second interview.

It is imperative that you conduct at least two interviews with your candidates. Given that most initial interviews last less than 30 minutes, it's virtually impossible to really get to know someone the first time around.

The same person may conduct the second interview. However, it's often a good idea to have another member of your team do it instead. That will give you a second (and possibly different) view of the candidate.

There's another good reason for conducting a second interview -- What does it say to candidates about the importance of the job if they are hired after simply attending a 10 to 15 minute interview? Clearly, it's not the message you want to convey. Make them "work" for the job, and in the process, build the value and importance of the position.

Step Six: Conduct reference checks.

As difficult as they may be to check, references are invaluable. You must conduct Reference Checks!

Speak to former employers, supervisors and, in some cases, employees about your candidates. Learn about their responsibilities (are they the same as they indicated?), work performance (the best indicator of future performance is past performance!) and whether or not their former employers would hire them again (if not, are you sure you want to?).