Do you want a hard-working self-starter with friendly customer service skills working behind your salon’s counter? Then refine your interviewing process with these three effective steps!
Everyone tries to put their best foot forward during a job interview, but not everyone is able to live up to the image they’ve created for themselves once they’re hired. Salon owner Shelly Michelbrink experienced this with a few employees, and she didn’t like the effect it had on customer service and employee morale at BramaSolé Tanning Salon in Prescott, AZ. To solve the problem – and find employees she would be proud to have at her stores – she developed a three-step interviewing process that’s easy to implement and successful at finding professional staff willing to provide solid customer service. Things at BramaSolé, she says, have never been better!
First impressions are important, as evidenced in the initial step of Shelly’s interview process. “I’ve asked my employees to share their first impressions of every applicant by making notes about each of them on the application itself,” she said. “For example, if someone appears as though they’re not concerned about making a good impression, they take note of that. They also let me know how each person treats them when they come in; if they’re rude to my staff when they pick up their application, they will likely be the type of person who’s bad for employee morale and rude to our tanners.” Shelly says that in the past, she’s hired people who were friendly to her during the interview, only to find out later that the new employee had made a poor impression on her staff.
Nothing tests an interviewee’s improvisational skills better than the “handbag test,” which is the second step of Shelly’s interview process. “I ask every interviewee to reach into my purse, pull out the first thing they find and try to sell me that item,” Shelly said. “I pay very close attention to how each applicant performs under a little bit of pressure, knowing that improvisational skills are a part of the job. This is a good way to see how people will react in that situation. I’ve had many interviewees who’ve risen to the occasion and impressed me with their conversational skills – one girl pulled a bottle of Advil out and really had me believing she suffered from migraine headaches, and these pills were the best way to treat them!”
The “working interview” is the last step in Shelly’s interview process, and perhaps the most crucial. “Before we hire anyone, we ask them to come to the salon for an hour and work side-by-side with a member of my staff,” she said. “My employees will train the young lady on cleaning rooms between clients, and I tell them to make note of whether the person is willing to jump in and help after the second tanning room, or if they’re content to just stand there, watching my employees clean the rooms for an hour.” Shelly got this idea from one of her tanners who works as a dental office manager. “She had to complete a day-long working interview before she was hired,” she added.
After a highly-successful career as a nail technician, Shelly Michelbrink opened BramaSolé Tanning Salon five years ago. Today, the business features 11 units with five levels of tanning and sunless tanning. She is currently considering opening another BramaSolé location.
