By Nick Bilava
When you’re attempting to save money and time, it’s easy to acquire bad hiring habits. Cutting corners won’t suffice when it comes to finding the perfect hire, as there’s no substitute for a genuine employee. Think of your employees as the engine of your storage operation. Just like a car, your business won’t make it far without a reliable engine.
But how do you know if your hiring process is to blame? Take a look at these common hiring problems and see if you recognize them in your own employee searches.
Winging It
Without a specific system of operations, you’re not creating a standard of expectations, which means a lot of extra time spent interviewing and sifting through resumes. Don’t rush the process in an effort to get the position filled as quickly as possible. Instead, have a routine and checklist ready that you can stick to.
If you haven’t already, start by crafting a description of the position, including the skill set and experience necessary to be considered. Get the word out by posting the opening to your social media outlets—you’ll be surprised at the amount of feedback you can receive from the digital world.
It’s also important to set a deadline for applications to keep things moving forward with the end goal in sight. Keep up on sorting them or set a day aside to go through them after the submission date deadline.
Overlooking Red Flags
While the work ethic of a person can’t entirely be based on the strength of their resume or ease of conversation in an interview, there are still many things these hiring staples can shine light on. Pay close attention to the details throughout all stages of the process, and make sure you’re not missing these red flags:
- Typos or obvious grammatical mistakes in a cover letter or resume
- Big gaps in work experience, or little time spent at each company
- Unclear objectives or jobs in completely scattered fields
- Lack of preparation for any phone or in-person interview
- Tardiness for interviews or meeting times
- Inflexibility for interview times
- Hard to reach via phone or email
- Inappropriate attire for the work environment
- Habits of interrupting or using slang
One of these traits, or a combination of them, may reflect carelessness or an absence of goals, which are always undesirable characteristics for potential new hires. Dive into the issues head on with the candidate and ask why they left previous positions. Then, determine if the negatives outweigh the positives.
“When asking questions, I always look for a ‘STAR’ answer,“ says Angie Flaherty, Call Center Operations Manager for Storage.com. “‘ST’ equals situation, ‘A’ equals action, ‘R’ equals result. Anyone can tell you what they would do in a situation. But when interviewing, you want to know what they have actually done in situations. It’s important to get them to recall something specific from their work history and relate it to the question at hand. With some applicants, this is like pulling teeth—that’s a sign, and not a good one.”
Positive traits to watch for include proactivity, confidence with interactions, and ability to mesh well with other employees.
Trying to Train Personality
While a candidate may have all of the positive traits you want, sometimes, it’s just not a fit. If you’re looking for an outgoing manager who will strike up conversation and create positive tenant experiences, stay away from an applicant who’s timid or shy in conversation.
“I think it’s a great to have people who come from a sports background because they tend to come back from defeat quickly and know how to emotionally set problems aside and start over again with the same strive and confidence,” explains Susan Schreter, CEO of Start on Purpose, a research-based resource for entrepreneurs. “It doesn’t mean they have to be a jock…just carry that same competitive drive into the fight for customers and market leadership.”
Schreter also suggests asking plenty of questions about the applicant’s background and ability to overcome change. “You need to surround yourself with people who can adapt,” she says. “Some employees can turn on a dime; others can’t. Find those people especially during the first few years of a business.”
Although challenging yourself to take your hiring process to the next level may take some planning and organization, you’ll get used to the drill in no time—and probably wonder why you hadn’t done it sooner.
Finally, through it all, don’t forget to trust your instincts. “If something just doesn’t feel right about a candidate, it probably isn’t,” says Flaherty.
