I recently had a conversation with a friend who was finding that no matter how many people he interviewed or trialed they were all pretty much the same and for the most part, not the type of people he wanted working for him.
The position he was advertising for was a customer service sales position within a very specific industry.
His employment Ads often read “must have experience selling (insert product here).
I stopped and i thought about this for a moment. What his ad was actually doing was eliminating new and fresh personalities into his business.
My advice to him was not to advertise for someone with experience in his product and industry but to advertise for a person who was interested in sales and customer service. From there I suggested he should select the the bubbliest personality who was keen to learn and grow, someone who would represent his store in the friendliest manner, and the rest he could teach.
I caught up with him not long ago and he was over the moon with the advice i had offered. He managed to find a young happy personality who was getting along famously with anyone who walked into his store.
He no longer had an experienced grump who knew the industry in and out, but had someone keen to learn and grow with his business
We can’t always afford to employ people with no experience at all, but where possible it really can breath some new life into your business.
