Are you sabotaging your staff recruiting process? Make your hiring bulletproof with these insights.
1
Don’t: Ask them where they see themselves in 3 to 5 years.
Do: Ask them what they are passionate about right now, and what they’re excited to learn about next
Career paths move quickly and understanding that hiring and onboarding are a big investment, few of us truly know where our industry paths will lead to. Instead of boring fit pros with a traditionally corporate question, connect with them by getting a better idea of their “why” so that you can quickly assess if it relates to the purpose of your business and the culture of your team.
2
Don’t: Spend weeks in the selection process and have them come in for multiple interviews.
Do: Assess hard skills, soft skills, and right fit at the first face to face meeting.
Most new fitness professionals looking for work want to find it quickly, and they aren’t looking for a lifetime commitment. Even a week between the interview and your offer could mean you’ve lost the right candidate. Sleep on it if you must but make an offer within 48 hours of the interviews. Go with your gut and trust that you can identify great candidates quickly thanks to “on the job” interviews and behavioral interviews that give excellent clues as to how they will handle working for you.
3
Don’t: Have them sign an exclusivity contract.
Do: Trust that staff are interested in multiple professional opportunities and a few side-hustles.
Careers are now more multifaceted that ever. Very few fitness professionals only have 1 work commitment; on top of training or teaching for you they write blogs, do online transformation, are engaged in multi-level marketing sales, coach and mentor others, etc. Exclusivity contracts indicate a lack of trust and start the relationship negatively. Instead, find out what else they have going on or better yet see if there are ways of collaborating vs seeing it as competitive to the success of your business.
4
Don’t: Paint a perfectly pretty picture of what it means to work for your business vs how bad your competitors run theirs.
Do: Speak respectfully of everyone dedicated to helping others get healthy and remain honest about your expectations.
No matter how wonderful and different you think you are, there will be some challenging aspects related to working for you. Being honest about those will clarify expectations and make performance goals much easier to attain. It will also create an environment where imperfections are respected and improvements are welcome, removing the temptation for blame and creating desire for growth.
5
Don’t: Hire them and let them fend for themselves because if you selected them, they must be awesome.
Do: Provide learning, mentorship, and safety to try in order to ensure growth.
The old leadership adage of “get out of their way” is misleading. A great leader understands what type of learning their staff desires, ensures mentorship, and then creates a safe environment for them to try and potentially fall along the way to growth. Along the way we provide candid feedback and positive solutions to keep them engaged and successful.
Nathalie Lacombe, M. Sc. Leadership coach, speaker, strategic partner.
Joyfully taking your leadership and business to the next level! Contact Natalie at nathalie@nathalielacombe.com
