Employee Schedule Software, Online Employee Schedule Maker | SkedX

Your store looks great.  The economy is starting to improve.  Quality inventory targets your brand niche.  What is there to worry about?  Take a look at your staff.  Are they making you money or costing you your profit margins?

• Are they reliable?
• Are they productive?
• Are they profitable?
• Do they engage your customers?
• Are they committed to being better every day?
• Are they happy?

If you answered “No!” to any of these questions about your staff, it could be the reason customers are not saying “Yes!” to shopping at your store.

1. HOW HIRING MISTAKES HAPPEN

Store managers have broad shoulders and bear the burden of responsibility for diverse challenges.  It’s easy to see how easily and unintentionally the wrong person can get placed in the wrong position at the wrong time.  Have you ever given one of these answers to a personnel issue that went bad?

• Lack of good choices to choose from.
• Did not see the character flaws until after hiring
• Yielded to the temptation to fill the position as quickly as possible
• Let personal bias overshadow staffing requirements

2.  BAD HIRING COSTS GOOD MONEY

The bottom line to not having the best staff working for you is that a lot of good money goes down the drain.  It starts with payroll costs that balloon to cover low productivity and high turnover.  You spend too much time – some studies say as much as 63% --on staff related problems.  More than half of every day is focused on a negative.  This dollar drain definitely impacts your effectiveness in improving sales and revenue. Do the math.  What is poor hiring costing you?

3. SET UP A PERFECT CANDIDATE GPS

• You`ve got to know exactly who you`re looking for.  Set clear definitions for:
  • Specific Skills
  • Personality
  • Experience
  • Knowledge
• Review your current staff. What traits complement those of your current best staff members?

4. PRE-SCREENING BEFORE YOU PLACE A HELP WANTED AD

Pre-screen all candidates. The goal is to separate the ideal candidate for the job from the masses. Don’t bring in anyone to interview who doesn’t meet your well-defined minimum requirements for:

• Education
• Experience
• Skills

Know Personal Characteristics Work Successfully in Your Particular Environment

• Team Player or Independent self starter
• Extrovert or Introvert
• Already well-trained
• Eager student or quick study

5. TAKE YOUR TIME

If you've just lost a highly skilled and experienced employee, you may feel you can`t afford to wait two, three or four weeks for that ideal applicant.  Unless you have a formal training program and the time, money, and employees to wait for an inexperienced hiree to come up to speed, it's better to hold out as long as possible for a qualified individual. Remember that you ultimately are responsible for your hiring decision. That`s it for the first 4 steps in finding the perfect fit between your retail store and your prospective employee.  In Hiring the Perfect Retail Employee Part 2 we will look at “All the Right Pieces!”