Yesterday I talked about some of my firm personal rules when hiring. So then how do you attract the RIGHT staff so you’re not wasting your time interviewing all the wrong people. Let’s be honest. Sometimes you know in the first 3-5 minutes if you’re wasting your time on an interview, right? 

Attracting the right people often comes from your hiring processes. 

It’s important to be clear in your job descriptions and have a solid application/resume process to weed out the people who aren’t a good fit first. 

  1. Give them a challenge. As I said yesterday, I don’t often look at applications that don’t have a resume with them. Writing and submitting a resume tells me you’re willing to go the extra mile. If you are that type of person, you might be MY type of person! So that’s step 1. Make sure you’re asking people to go the extra mile when you’re hiring! I once saw an ad for a business that says, “Text 55555 to apply!” My first thought was that they’re going to get people who don’t care enough to hop on a computer. Someone who texts to apply likely made an impulsive decision. So, even in this “nearly impossible to hire” type of market, trust me – it’s a GOOD thing to make it a little bit of work for people to put in an application or resume. 
  2. Accept resumes 24/7. Make sure your website has the information so you can take resumes any time. I leave the job descriptions and “now hiring” on my website 24/7. For example, I have an incredible administrative assistant. She had to go through three interviews at our gym because we were so picky when hiring. I’m so glad she did. She is one of the best hires we’ve ever made. But guess what position is still on my website: Administrative Assistant. I don’t intend to replace Natalie, but I did get a great resume in this morning for that position from someone who I also think would be great for our front desk. In fact, we get resumes from former competitive athletes who are applying to be counselors for our after-school program. I’m always a little baffled why they didn’t apply as a coach. Usually we find out it’s because they didn’t think they’d be qualified! But even if I’m not hiring for a kids camp counselor at the moment, you never know if you might get a great resume from someone who would absolutely consider another position in your gym that you are hiring for. 
  3. As you grow, add staff benefits. I couldn’t afford much in our early years, but I could afford pizza and donuts (yeah…I know it should have been fruit and veggie trays…) So, we’d do what we could. We’d bring in a few $5 pizzas for staff meetings. As our gym grew, I could afford to give them nicer and more staff apparel. Then, in 2016 we offered Planet Fitness memberships for those who wanted to go work out. It was $10/mo. per person. A few years later, we added a Simple IRA with employer match. I was shocked how affordable this was. Then, a year later, we added a tax-deductible tuition assistance. (Details on those things are available to our NG Academy members. If those are things you’d like to offer and want some details, this is just a SMALL portion of what the NG Academy offers. Book a call at nextgenowners.com/book-a-call to find out more.)

Now, we advertise those staff benefits. Twenty-somethings who care about retirement, fitness and tuition assistance are often the same people who can handle school and a job. They are usually the people who are on-time and make great employees. 

Bonus: If your city offers any sort of award they present to businesses for being awesome, find out what it takes to be nominated! We have won our city’s Business of the Year three times, a Star Award in the State of Missouri, Best Dance/Gymnastics Studio five years (no..this one isn’t easy in a small town…in fact I’d say it’s hard to win when there is a very well-run dance studio in our town!), and most importantly, we’ve won Best Place to Work TWICE! You better believe we advertise that when we put out an ad for hiring. We want as many great people applying as possible!