Hiring is Not a Process; It's an Attitude

by Joey St. John

Any business owner will tell you that perhaps the greatest challenge they face is finding and keeping good employees. In the franchise world this is magnified by the fact that, at least during start up, you are every department including human resources. Yet, franchise owners come from all walks of life and are rarely lucky enough to have had some time in the trenches learning the realities of employee selection and retention. When it is suddenly thrust upon them, the learning curve is not very forgiving.

JumpBunch owners teach sports and fitness classes to children ages 2-12, primarily at locations such as daycares, schools, and other sites where children typically gather. In this environment you not only have to have someone appropriate to work with children, but also to effectively interact with parents, teachers, and directors. We find that most people approach hiring as a process that begins when the need appears. However, from the first day of training we try to move new owners away from this default philosophy. In reality, beginning the hiring “process” when the need is eminent means you are already in a position where you are willing to compromise. By debunking the myth that you can perfectly time a hire, you are therefore forced to choose to either to be ahead of your need or behind it. We feel that planting that seed early makes a big difference, and therefore is more likely to become an attitude.

An attitude is something you carry with you every day, and is not turned off by the deceptive hum of things rolling right along. If our owners are assuming they will grow they are also assuming they will hire, and it is our job to make sure those dots are connected from the beginning. It sounds easy to buy into as a premise, but it becomes more challenging as a practice. The bottom line is that to truly be prepared for your hiring needs, you must address them before they manifest. That means building in specific practices as part of your weekly routine that puts you in front of potential employees. By eliminating the start/stop process you place yourself in position to see the great people you come across every day, and by actively seeking great people you stand a far less chance at settling for mediocre ones. The worst thing that can happen by interviewing even when you don’t have a need is that you find someone that can make you or your business better. We want our JumpBunch owners to have that kind of problem. So the next time someone asks if you are hiring, the correct answer is “absolutely!”

Joey St. John
VP of Operations
JumpBunch

Learn more about JumpBunch at franchisebusinessreview.com.

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