Images Digital Edition March 2019

KB MARKET INTELLIGENCE www.images-magazine.com 38 images MARCH 2019 Be sure to fill out a job listing with accurate information, including the compensation range and any benefits for the role. I’ve spoken to many owners over the years that don’t post the pay range, and I have always felt it was a mistake not to use that as a qualifier. Let’s say you want to post a job and potentially hire someone at about £15 an hour. For someone that makes £12, that’s going to be a raise for them. But what if someone makes £22? If they contact you and you can’t meet their rate, you’ve wasted both their time and yours. That’s why a range makes sense. Use questions to qualify people O ne good tip is to use a few questions or give instructions to qualify people before you interview them. If you want quality employees you need them to have the right experience, attitude, skill set and ability to succeed that fits the bill for that job. Can you list four or five questions that you might ask in the interview if they made it that far? Why not shoot those over to them now before you even meet them? Low-quality candidates won’t or can’t answer the questions. They might not even respond. If they can’t complete a simple question-and-answer session on time, what do you think they will do when you hire them? Use temporary workers first R unning large contract shops, I’ve hired plenty of folks that came into the shop as a temporary worker. In fact, this is just about my preferred method for production people. You can see their work ethic, dependability, attitude, ability to learn, sense of humour and many other characteristics that you might find interesting all on display as they complete tasks for you. If they prove themselves daily you can give them more challenging work. If they don’t quite get it, you can call the agency and request that they don’t come back. Industry recruiters J ust like in other industries, there are recruiters that specialise in finding staff. I’ve hired from them and also have had them help me with my own job search. Either way, they a re there to help matchmake people with jobs. To me, if you are looking for management level or highly skilled people, using a recruiter is your best bet at hiring someone that will have all the experience and skills you need. There’s a price to pay for that speed, which is the recruiter’s fee. But if you are trying to narrow the time you are conducting the search, it’s the best route. Why do quality employees stick around? Ask yourself that q uestion. Most of the time an employee will quit mainly due to their direct supervisor more than anything else. Shops that have long- term employees also have some great leaders on their roster. S o what makes employees stick? ■ F un. This is your shop’s culture ■ E mpowerment ■ Working with like-minded people ■ D ecent pay ■ A sense of belonging ■ R espect ■ B enefits ■ T he feeling that they matter ■ T hey see a career with your company So, what’s it like in your shop? If you are a shop owner complaining about your workforce or that you ‘can’t find good people these days’, but that burger flipper at McDonald’s makes more than a good chunk of your staff… I can tell you why you don’t have great people on your team. If you feel the need to lock the doors so nobody can go outside during the day, you have incredible trust issues and that’s why you can’t keep staff working for you. Just like with customers, the easiest way to grow your company is to keep the employees you have now rather than trying to get new ones. The t echnical business term for this is ‘employee retention’. Your employees might call it something else: ‘treating people right’ or ‘respecting me’ or ‘trust’. There are very few secrets in this industry. How you treat your employees gets around to other shops and other employees in your town. If it’s on the positive side, you’ll have people coming over and filling out applications every day. I’ve seen it. Do yourself a favour. If you want greater success, make your company one that people will be proud to work for; one that when they go home at night they can talk about the awesome things you are doing, and how they are involved in it. Find people who want to matter and make a difference. Always remember the old adage, though: Hire slow, fire fast. Finding great employees is a lot like finding a new customer How you treat your employees gets around to other shops Marshall Atkinson is a leading production and efficiency expert for the decorated apparel industry, and the owner of Atkinson Consulting, LLC. Marshall focuses on operational efficiency, continuous improvement and workflow strategy, business planning, employee motivation, management and sustainability. He is a frequent trade show speaker, article and blog author, and is the host of InkSoft’s The Big Idea podcast. atkinsontshirt.com WEʼRE HIRING