The greatest asset of any company is the having the right people and the greatest liability of any company is having the wrong people. Jim Collins talks about this in detail in his bestselling book “Good to Great.” He refers to this as “Having the right people on the bus and then putting them in the right seat.” There is no greater investment that a company can make than investing in a systematized, multi-step interview process to hire great people, then investing in great training and evaluation systems, and finally investing in reward systems. Great customer service begins with your employees and how well a company takes care of them.
I have touched on a few hiring tips in previous blogs, however they don’t begin to tell the entire story of the depth your hiring process should have. I have been asked many times to go into more detail about our process. Over the next six weeks I will break down our 12-week hiring process centered on the GHF Core Values, discuss the Multi-Step interview process and the importance of creating a “Hiring Team.”
Over the last 15 years, Gainesville Health & Fitness has invested a great amount of time, money and energy systematizing a process that works. We typically receive around 2,000 applications a year and hire between 50 to 100 new people every year. Being in a college town, our process is designed around the fact that we have over 500 employees, a majority of which are part-time students. While I would say our turnover rate is good, we still have quite a few employees who change shifts, graduate or leave town. Therefore, our process is designed to hire three times a year, centered on the college semester schedule. That way we begin each semester with a full staffing with set shifts based on their class schedules. I understand all businesses are unique and have different needs and resources. Most of the systems we have will not correlate with your business. However, many of these systems can be adjusted to meet the needs of your organization.
Summary of the GHF process
- Creating a Hiring Team and interview process centered on the GHF Core Values
- The role of the Hiring Coordinator
- The 12-week system and schedule
- Creating, recruiting, and screening the application
- The Group Interview
- The One on One Interview
- The Workout Interview
- The Selection Process
Creating a Hiring Team
Having multiple interviewers perform interviews in multiple settings will help you gather much more information to help you hire the very best. Here are five easy steps to begin putting together your team.
Step 1- Select a group of managers, supervisors, leaders and decision-makers within the company.
Step 2- Train them in the basic interviewing skills and techniques.
Step 3- Teach them the legal side of hiring (the “can ask” vs. “can’t ask”).
Step 4- Now, teach them how to listen empathetically.
Step 5- Most importantly, have fun, we are creating the future of this company!
Shawn Stewart is the Operations Manager at Gainesville Health and Fitness Center. Contact him at shawns@ghfc.com
