Images Digital Edition March 2019

www.images-magazine.com 36 images MARCH 2019 Howto find quality employees MARKET INTELLIGENCE O ne of the biggest challenges a shop faces currently is the problem of finding quality employees. I personally hear about it from shop owners practically every single day. “Help! My guy just quit and I need a new ____________”. Fill in the blank with the vacant position. As the unemployment rate remains at record lows, it’s ever tougher to find people that are talented, skilled or sometimes even just those that will show up. For shop owners that I’ve been talking to all year, this is one of their biggest unresolved challenges. There just aren’t enough good people to go around. Which brings up a few other points too: you better be taking care of the folks that work for you; and company culture matters more than ever before. To this end, I thought I would address a few ideas on this subject and see if I can help you with the problem of finding quality employees for your business. First, let’s tackle the topic of what makes a quality employee in the first place. This could be different from shop to shop, but for me, there are really four main points that I always look for in a staffer. Dependable There is nothing worse than trying to run a shift when a few key employees haven’t shown up yet. To be considered a quality employee, showing up on time and being ready to work make the top of the list. Dependability is something that s omeone either has or doesn’t have. For your current set of employees, are they dependable? Let’s say your With employment levels currently high in the UK, attracting great workers is getting tougher. Marshall Atkinson offers advice on how to find – and keep – the staff your business needs shift starts at 7am. Do you find almost everyone arriving at work and clocking in before 7am, or are they drifting in s ome time after that? Are they ready to work? Also, are you doing a good job of communicating expectations for being dependable? Are there consequences for being late or missing work? (Get the employee handbook template in my ebook Shop Basic Info Pac k if you need help with this.) What I’ve found is that great people want to work with great people. Shop culture importance W hen the shop culture doesn’t reinforce the standards and norms that should be obvious, people sink into bad habits. That’s why to me, starting with a dependable person is so important. What to look for: ■ I n the interview, did they show up prepared and early? ■ L ength of service with companies for an extended time. At least two years with firms. ■ Volunteering or any service that isn’t a paid position. They show up because they want to be there. ■ P rojects with a deadline. Everything we do in this industry is deadline driven. You need to understand their viewpoint on that. ■ T eamwork. Being part of a team and working together to accomplish something makes you dependable when you have to support others. Find examples of that. Find people that want to learn. They tend to always make the best employees because learning is the key to growth. Passionately curious What’s interesting in this industry is that I see some shops with younger owners (under 35) quickly building their businesses, while shops with older owners a re stagnating. I don’t have any scientific data to back this up, as it’s just my gut feeling/opinion, but I believe it’s because the younger crowd is hungrier for learning. They are willing to try new things. Older shops stick to their guns. “We’ve been doing it this way for years,” they say. When nothing changes, but your marketplace evolves, you might find yourself at the back of the pack trying to catch up. Quest for knowledge For employees, I try to find people that want to learn. In their history is there proof of that? What to look for: ■ I n their life, did they have to learn how to do something to excel? Did they learn how to do it before or after it was required of them? You want the person who learned before. ■ D o they take action and learn new approaches to things? Even if something failed, I want to know about that journey and how that may have impacted something in their life. ■ W hat hobbies do they have? Name the last three books they read. You want someone that is exploring. ■ H ow are they using tech in their lives? Is there a new app that they use to save time? What modern-day gizmo or thing is impacting how they see things or work? ■ A sk them about a new idea that thrills them. Can they talk about that intelligently when you ask questions? WEʼRE HIRING