by Beth | May 26, 2021 | Employee Hiring
I hate to shop. I do mean that I HATE to shop! I hate everything about it: the time, the energy, having to try it on, having to take it back if it doesn’t fit. There is NOTHING that I like about shopping.
This past week I traveled to see one of my favorite clients out of state. She greeted me enthusiastically and said “You look so cute! Where do you get your clothes?!”
Funny story.
Last fall, Katy, my daughter, called me from a store and said “I found a really cute sweater that I think you might like. I am going to buy it and bring it home for you to try on. If you don’t like it, I will bring it back and return it.” I DID like it! A lot! So, I kept it. Then, Katy went back to that store and bought me some more clothes. I tried them on and kept most of them also. I had a new wardrobe, and I never had to shop.
BLISS!
My client turned to me after I told her this story and said, “Everybody needs a Katy.”
She is so right.
Katy has already gone shopping for me for summer clothes because she was worried that I “wouldn’t have anything to wear”.
Katy saw a project that needed to be done. She told me what she was going to do to solve the problem, and then she went out and did just that… solved the problem. We joke now that she is my personal shopper, and several of my friends have jokingly stated that they need her to shop for them too.
Can you imagine having an employee that sees a problem, then tells you how they are going to solve it for you?
When my client told me “Everybody needs a Katy,” she wasn’t joking!
And I do look really cute in my new clothes.
Win/Win.
POWER THOUGHT: A really great employee takes a project and runs with it. “Shop” for candidates like that.
by Beth | May 12, 2021 | Uncategorized
A few months ago, I started looking for a new home. The timing couldn’t have been worse. The real estate market in Colorado has been stupid lately, and I am not usually known for my patience.
Anyway, I encountered this house that had pink walls and a 3D mermaid sticking out of the wall (see photo). The place was dirty, not staged well, had a ½ eaten box of pop tarts in the basement closet, and a life-sized portrait of Mother Teresa with a kneeling rug where the dining room table should be. The office had blood red walls, and the floor-to-ceiling fireplace had been totally blocked by over-grown vines.
I turned to my realtor and said emphatically “Oh HELL no.”
My realtor, Heather Slump, disagreed with me. She said “It’s just paint and carpet, Beth. Easily fixable. Plus, the layout is perfect for you, and this place is very well-built.” She was right. She started talking to me about possibilities, and she created a picture of what this place could be, minus the mermaid. I got really excited!
Long story short, I moved in 2 weeks ago. I bought the place under asking price, and I was the only offer. This is the single best place I have EVER lived!
You can have the same experience with employees. You are never going to find great people if all you do is focus on the resume. If all you ever do is look at experience, degrees and University names, you can miss the magical merfolk that come along your desk. Make waves with your hiring process! Look outside the box!
Imagine the possibilities! You will be so glad you did!
And for the Mermaid house? Things are going along swimmingly.
You are invited to visit!
Power thought: You can have any employee that you want. Focus on the magic of your hiring process. Your mermaid/merman is right around the jetty.
by Beth | Apr 28, 2021 | Employee Retention, Lifestyle
Last week, I Interviewed a woman for a Senior level position, and immediately her child began to scream. Obviously flustered, the woman apologized profusely and said something to me that I will never forget:
She said, “You know, I don’t know how people do this. I can’t even ask my neighbor to come watch my child for 15 minutes while I have an interview. As matter of fact, I can’t even ask my own mother to come over to spend time with her grandchild!”
Then I asked her how she managed her childcare versus working at her current position, and she said, “Luckily, I have a very flexible boss who lets me work the hours that I need to in order to get the job done. I work from 8 PM to 2 AM and then when my child takes a nap.”
Wow.
Even as a parent, I don’t think the full impact of how hard it is to have small children and a job in the middle of a pandemic with absolutely ZERO childcare help until I spoke to this candidate. 4.3 million parents may have to leave the workforce due to the pandemic, according to this article:
If you have great employees who are parents, I strongly encourage you to reach out to them often. Ask them how things are going, then ask them how you can help. We know that employees who feel seen, heard and valued, stay at jobs longer, and my hunch is these people need to feel this now more than ever.
The bottom line:
turnover hurts the bottom line. If your employee is a good one, reaching out is the best way to keep them afloat. You need them as your employee, they need you as their employer, and it is also the right thing to do as a human being.
by Beth | Apr 14, 2021 | Adventures in Interviewing, Employee Hiring
Yesterday, I was interviewing with one of my favorite clients, and we were talking about general hiring practices. I said to him “When you talk to a client, you want to always say “yes”. You want to solve their problems, because that is how you get to do the work that you love. Also, that is how you make money, which gives you the opportunity to grow. “
My brilliant client turned to me and said “Exactly. When talking to clients, your default should be yes. But when you are hiring your default should be no.”
He is totally right.
Hiring is about rejection. Think about it. You receive 300 resumes for a job, and you will reject AT LEAST 299 of them, if not all 300. Then, you receive another 300, and the process starts again.
The reason that hiring is so hard for business leaders is because their default is set to yes. When a client comes to you for help, you WANT to say yes. It’s fun!
As hard as that can be for some people, the reality is, you just can’t do that in hiring.
Power thought:
Make a conscious effort when hiring to switch your default from yes to no.
by Beth | Mar 31, 2021 | Uncategorized
This past week, my daughter Katy, applied for a job as a Personal Care Aide. She would be going to a client’s home who has some sort of disability. As a future nurse, Katy wanted to get some practical real- world experience before she started her clinicals in the fall of 2021. Really smart on her part.
She applied online to a company with her resume and targeted cover letter. The woman emailed Katy within hours and asked her for a phone interview the following day. Here is how the conversation went:
Interviewer: Do you have a reliable car?
Katy: yes
Interviewer: Do you want part-time?
Katy: yes
Interviewer: Does this hourly rate work for you?
Katy: yes
Interviewer: Then you have the job! I will send you some paperwork to fill out, and we will call you for orientation after your background check comes back. Do you have any questions?
Katy called me to report after it was over, and she said, “You are probably appalled.” Uh, yes. Yes, I am.
What kind of an interview is THAT? And for taking care of someone with a disability in their HOME???
I am horrified.
When you hire out of desperation, you make mistakes 2/3 of the time. This company got lucky with Katy. She is smart, kind, and responsible. She will make a GREAT aide to her clients. And because the company gets lucky, they won’t dig deep to figure out a way to really interview people effectively. And thus, the cycle continues.
If you are looking for front line, hourly workers, I have a shorter interview process that is highly effective, and it can turn the tide from desperate to visionary in a very short period of time. Think about it and reach out if you want to discuss. Your future company will thank you for it.
Power thought: A “non-interview” is the road to big mistakes in hiring.
