Alan Ibbotson

10 Steps to Hiring Retail Rock Stars
April 23, 2007

In the context of my work as a consultant I’ve talked to a number of people in Retail recently who, after having searched high and low for talented sales associates in a tight talent market thought they’d struck gold when they found a candidate with not only the right experience but who genuinely seemed enthusiastic about the job. Their joy soon turned to frustration as these new “Stars” turned out to be less than Shining, and in some cases – began Falling only days or weeks into the job.

How could this happen?

The likelihood is that this is down to one of two things:

1. A poor hiring decision or,
2. A bad new-hire orientation process.

If you’re responsible for hiring, you want to ensure that not only do you always hire the best person for the job, but that you hold onto this fresh, enthusiastic talent by setting them up for success in the first place. A poor orientation process can leave even the most talented new hire feeling left out, frustrated, flustered or unnecessarily useless!

Here are 10 simple, inexpensive steps to hiring and retaining great people:

To hire well :

1. Offer referral incentives.
   Motivate your existing employees with spot bonuses, or perks for referring qualified people. Be creative ; design the incentives to meet the likes and needs of your people. If your employee base and natural turnover is high enough, you could start your own “referral points” program that enables employees to build points over time. This will help you control costs too.
2. Learn from your mistakes.
   Look back over the bad hires of the past. Are there common themes in the reasons these folks didn’t work out? Avoid making the same mistakes.
3. Examine your interview and selection process – are you relying on only your own opinion or do you pull others into the interview process? Are you asking the right questions and probing for enough examples? Are you testing their sales abilities with role play? Are you doing thorough reference checks? Are background and credit checks a good idea? We will look at this subject in more detail in our next blog.
4. Always be hiring.
   We’ve all heard the ABC: Always Be Closing, but as leaders of businesses, in a tight talent market we should Always Be Hiring. Be alert to great service you receive in restaurants, other stores, gas stations, deli’s, coffee shops, doctors offices – your next great hire can come from anywhere. Carry business cards everywhere you go and give them out to people who impress you. Proactive interviewing also hones your interviewing skills, thereby improving your overall chances of hiring well in future.

And to retain talent:

1. Institute a 90 day probationary period.
   If an employee is wrong for a job, the cracks will appear very quickly. A 90 day probationary period gives the new employee chance to prove themselves and you the opportunity to manage them out should they not come up to scratch.
2. Put standards in place.
   Have a handbook or even a one-sheet that explains hours of work, standards of customer service, dress, timekeeping and the policy for booking time off. To play by the rules, people need to know them.
3. Set goals.
   Set specific performance expectations for all new employees by giving them goals. When setting goals, remember to use the SMART model – goals should be Specific, Measurable, Achievable, Relevant and Timed.
4. Give a good orientation program.
   Alert existing staff to your new employee’s hire date and have them make him/her feel welcome. Give your new employee a buddy to shadow so they can learn the ropes quickly, and make allowances for the time the buddy will need to spend on training.
5. Be a good manager.
   Or at the very least, don’t be a jerk. It’s an old adage that people don’t leave companies -they leave managers. You have a reputation as a manager whether you realize it or not, so make sure it’s a good one.
6. Role model what you want to see.
   Today’s employees dislike managers whose audio and video don’t match, so be on time, play by the rules you’ve set for everyone else and then take it up a notch by teaching them what you know.

If you do all of these things you will undoubtedly develop a reputation as a good employer, and as a result, in time, you’ll probably find that those Retail Rock Stars come knocking on your door first.

Posted by Alan Ibbotson on April 23, 2007 | Comments (0)