How to hire staff (HINT: Hire slow, fire FAST!)
When hiring staff, most salon owners do so ONLY when they are
desperate…!
Someone just quit, gave a week’s notice, theft, had to fire someone on the spot, someone didn’t turn up, we have all heard the reasons many times.
Too many salon owners Hire fast, but Fire slow..
it needs to be the opposite!
Hire SLOW, fire fast!
I’ve been there often and man, did I learn the hard way how hiring in desperation costs far more than not having that one staff member there.
Desperately, we sit at the computer, on our phones, we get the ad out there everywhere we can possibly think of.
“Staff required, Immediate start’, regularly checking to see if any magical email inquiry delivers us the miracle staff member we so urgently need.
The whole process that lead to putting out this urgent ad is mentally draining and exhausting.
We get applicants, we make interview times, a couple don’t show, some dash our hopes as on paper they seemed great, a couple show up and freak us out (how do I get out of this interview stat!).
Finally we have someone – ‘she will do’.
By this stage we are so frazzled, drained, worked extra hours, long nights and bloody over it all.
So, we go through our checklist :
Can you do X treatment? tick
Oh and that’s wonderful timing… tick
Can you do this? tick
Can you do that? tick
Can you start tomorrow? tick
No, you can’t have Christmas off. tick
Great, fabulous, awesome, wear this, see you at 830am tomorrow.
Ummm.. phew! Thank god I found her.
But herein lies a massive problem so many of us are guilty of.
PROBLEM: We do not plan out our hiring process.
It can be confusing to some, wondering how you would plan it out when you don’t know when you will next need to hire.
If you hire staff you must know these 3 things.
1) How to attract interest: try to make it friendly, if not fun, no stiff upper lip. They want to know they can enjoy their new workplace. Even have some fun. (They do not need to know how stressed or desperate you are. They too are looking for their perfect work place, just as you are looking for the perfect new team member.
2) Meet them more than once before hiring!
When they do apply, I ask a few casual questions in email, to get interacting with them, see if I can get a feel for them.
Then I get them in for the first visit to chat.
Then the ones I short list, I get them in a second time to ask them to do X treatment on a model, from start to finish including how they recommend aftercare / home care.
Then I get them in a third time.
By this 3rd visit, you more than likely get to see the REAL them.
You will never see that person who interviewed the first day again!
After all, we are all on our best behaviour for that very first meeting, when they are more familiar with you and the salon, their true self will start to poke though.
Do you still like what you see?
3) Full training must be given!
It is SO important to ensure full training before they are put into client work. NO MATTER HOW DESPERATE YOU ARE.
At the very least a full day training them up, if not a few days. (Even if they can shadow a trusted staff member to learn the ropes and you cover the important steps)
Going through your salon policy & procedures manual, going through hands on treatment training with models and HOW to keep it consistent each and every treatment visit, every day.
(Don’t have a written Policies & Procedures manual? Go HERE and have the work done for you!)
Most salon owners hire so desperately and quickly, they do not train specifically
“HOW we do it HERE”
how we answer the phone
how we explain treatment A, B, C
how we up-sell
how we retail
these are OUR RULES here
… and then they wonder WHY they lose control of their staff, their business.
TIP: I used to randomly advertise for staff – especially if my staff were getting complacent and lazy – this would make current staff curious if someone was getting fired soon, so they would step up & stop being lazy.
IF I found someone worth hiring, but no one was leaving, I would do my best to actually create a job for them!
I would market my backside off to create work for them.
Be sure you learn how to HIRE and don’t just wait till you are desperate!
Did you know you can have 1 on 1 coaching to help you through your stressful times?
Just $295 and you can have 2 coaching sessions and 2 scripts for you to use in your salon. Call me on 08 9443 9327
