Personnel Best

Isn’t January a funny time of year? Most people come back from the Christmas holidays in a different state of mind than when they left in December. Armed with newfound spirit, everyone seems charged up and ready to set the world on fire.

I call it “January-itis.” It never lasts very long and usually ends once the post-Christmas Visa bill arrives. You know things are really back to normal when the luncheon salads with the ultra-low-calorie dressing get replaced by the Big Macs.

Typically, January is also the time for annual employee performance and salary reviews. It might be the only time you actually sit down on a formal basis with your staff and review their performance, which is amazing to me. The quality of service our people deliver is the only competitive advantage any of us has. The last time I checked, we all own trucks, terminals, telephones, and office furniture, but I have never seen any of this equipment give good customer service. Yet many of us will spend more time spec’ing a truck than we will a potential new hire. It’s no wonder this industry has problems with turnover.

If you have an empty desk to fill, consider these ideas before you make your next formal job offer.

Scout your existing staff. Promoting from within is great for morale and sends a message to your entire staff that those who do a good job will be rewarded. However, you’ll have two new people in two new jobs (the person you promoted and the person you hire to replace him).

Prospect for people. To hire the best you have to find the best. Ask your customers about who they like to deal with in the industry. You’ll be surprised how often the same names come up. Use the Internet and check the sites of your key competitors, especially the ones that give you the most grief. Most have the names and pictures of their key employees. Contact them. It will be time well spent. At worst, you’ll get some great info on the competition.

If you must use a newspaper… Newspaper want-ads generate lots of undesirables. To weed them out, give instructions in your ad. If a prospect fails to follow your directions-exactly-he’s not a prospect. My favorite is to ask for a reference number on the outside of the envelope when they mail in their resume (I use my mother’s phone number). When a letter arrives with a wrong number or not one at all, I fire it straight into the wastebasket. I eliminate about half the resumes.

Focus on job history. The most critical element of any resume is the job history. People will do in the future what they have done in the past: usually, five jobs in 10 years will mean six jobs in 12 years. Be wary of the person who has gaps between jobs, keeps switching industries, or has never been promoted. Also, spelling mistakes, bad grammar, and other detail-oriented problems are red flags.

Follow a script. Write down the questions you want to ask. Preparation will result in a more productive interview, and one that’s more fair: you’ll ensure that each candidate is asked the same questions. After the interview, you will be surprised when you start comparing the answers that each candidate gave.

What did they ask you? If someone hasn’t done any research or even bothered to check out your web site or promotional material, do you really want him working for you? With the amount of information available today, each candidate should come armed with lots of questions about your company. (They should be good questions-if a candidate’s first concern is how much vacation he gets, you should throw him out of your office.)

Check your references, not theirs. Don’t waste your time calling the references your prospective hire gives you. I don’t think anyone is stupid enough to give you the name of someone who will say a bad word about them. Ask for the names of ex-bosses or mutual friends you have in the industry. Be careful not to call someone who might break their confidence with their existing employer. It’s a surefire way of losing a good candidate.

Once you hire someone, watch their performance closely during the first 90 days. If you don’t like what you see, admit your mistake, get rid of the employee while you can, and start your search again. It will make next year’s performance reviews a lot more enjoyable-and might even extend your case of January-itis.