For
most of us, hiring people isn’t something that’s one of our favorite things to
do. It takes a lot of time and much is at stake. We may have to kiss a lot of
frogs until we find our prince or princess. Who we hire has a direct impact
on our team and the overall business. Clearly, it isn’t a task to be taken
lightly.
Through the years
I have made some great hires. I’ve hired some real stinkers, too. Not that they
weren’t nice people, but they were a wrong fit for the job or organization. Here
are a few lessons I’ve learned along the way.
Hire a person,
not a resume.
I can look back and see that I hired many of the people who turned out to be
frogs because I was infatuated with where they used to work. I see now that I
was hoping to gain and learn from what those retailers were doing well, without
stopping to fully understand whether or not the person had the skills to do
that. If an applicant comes to you from a company you like and respect then by
all means move them to the top of the pile, but hire them on their own merit.
Don’t make an
offer until you’ve found a candidate you are so excited about you can barely
contain yourself. Okay, that might be a tad extreme -- but not much. Singer John
Prine has a lyric that goes “much to my surprise when I opened my eyes I was a
victim of the great compromise.” I think he was singing about some of my hires.
This was especially true when I was hiring part-timers at the store level. A few
times, instead of looking harder I just chose the best of the bunch I had. Only
hire great people you’re really excited about.
Include active
role playing in a real-world situation as part of the interview process.
Take the candidate out onto the floor and role-play sales associate and
customer. Don’t just reach across your desk to hand them one of your products
and say “sell it to me.” When I was at Bose I was interviewing a candidate and I
just wasn’t connecting with him. I wasn’t going to bother to do the role play
but decided at the last minute that I’d try it. When I got him out on the floor
and we started the role play, it was as if he went from Clark
Kent to Superman. The guy was unbelievable. I realized that sitting in an office
talking about himself wasn’t his strong point, and for most of us it isn’t, but
engaging and selling customers is what he did extremely well. I also remember
the time I was interviewing a young woman for a cashier’s position. We were
talking out on the floor and I was called away for a moment. When I came back
she was cleaning the store! Needless to say, I hired both of these people. Get
out of the office and get your candidates into their world.
When hiring
managers it is even more important to hire someone you’re excited about. One of the
best rules of thumb is to ask yourself if you would want to work for the person.
Obviously,
understanding what type of manager a person is (or will be) is difficult to do
in what is rarely more than a few hours worth of interviewing. My favorite way
to learn as much as I can about a candidate’s style is to ask them, “Tell me who
your favorite manager of all time was and why?” Their answer will tell you the
type of manager they aspire to be. You’ll learn if they’re controlling and a
gatekeeper or someone who loves to empower their people. I always follow that
question up by asking them to tell me three things this person taught them and
how they’ve put them into practice. I’m hoping to hear more examples of how this
person will manage. More than once I’ve heard a big disconnect between what they
said about the person and how they put it into practice.
Don’t be afraid
to hire someone who is better or more experienced than you.
When I finally did that, I discovered someone who was able to help me grow as an
individual and I was able to help them develop as well. Someone once said “"When
you hire people that are smarter than you are, you prove you are smarter than
they are."
One of our
clients is incredibly patient and disciplined in his hiring. The result is that
with every hire they’ve made their team has gotten better as well as they have
improved upon the experience they deliver to their customers. What a great
reward for that patience and discipline.
- Doug
About the author:
Doug Fleener is founder of the Dynamic Experiences Group. He is a veteran
retailer with more than 25 years of hands-on retail experience with world-class
retailers including Bose Corporation and The Sharper Image. He has also owned
and operated his own specialty stores. His new book, The Profitable Retailer:
56 surprisingly simple and effective lessons to boost your sales and profits
published by Acanthus Publishing.
Doug is now president and
managing partner of Dynamic Experiences Group LLC, a Lexington based retail
consulting firm dedicated to helping retailers create unique customer
experiences that results in higher sales and profits. Learn more at
www.dynamicexperiencesgroup.com or call Doug at 866-535-6331.
Fleener also shares his
knowledge of experience based retailing in a series of custom key notes and
workshops designed for stores, businesses, corporations, non-profits, and trade
associations of all sizes. His casual style and quick wit make him not just a
crowd pleaser but also an incredible motivator, encouraging people to take
action and deliver extraordinary experiences to customers and employees alike.
Learn more at
www.dougfleener.com.
