“There is a clear difference between just hiring people and finding true talent. When you hire people, they will work for a living; when you find talent, they will work for a life.”
– Dee Ann Turner Vice President, Corporate Talent Chick-fil-A and author of the best-selling book, “It’s My Pleasure – The Impact of Extraordinary Talent and a Compelling Culture”
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What you do in your tanning salon and how you do it will always be important, but it’s the WHO (aka your employees) that will always be the heart and soul of your beauty business. It will always be the who that brings your tanning salon to life and it’s the who that will make or break you.
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Why? Because the “who” delivers the guest experience, the service and the products that will ultimately determine whether the guest will not only come back to your salon, but whether they will tell their friends and everyone they know to come, as well!
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The decisions we make about the people in our lives will always be the most important decisions we make. Whether we are choosing a mate, a business partner or an employee, the “people” choices we make will directly affect how successful we are in our relationships or business ventures.
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How do you find, mold and retain the right people?
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First, you need to have a super-clear vision of who you’re looking for. Make a list of the basic skills you would like them to have that you know will be a good fit for your salon: Such as, if they are going to be dealing with guests, are they outgoing and easy to talk to? When choosing candidates, evaluate strengths and weaknesses in the areas you know are important and don’t ignore the obvious.
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You’re not in the tanning business. You’re in the people business So, your goal is to fill your business with good people!
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Ask questions that make the applicant respond with info about past performance. In other words, don’t ask “what would you do if” types of questions. Ask them about real situations. How did she handle mad customers at the waitress job she had?
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As manager or owner of a salon, time spent thoroughly checking references is some of the best time you will ever spend. Be a detective! What someone did in the past will most likely determine what they do in the future.
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Talk to whomever you can about the applicant: former bosses, co-workers, teachers, coaches and friends are a good start. Take the time to ask for examples of what the applicant did or didn’t do well in the past.
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Give the candidate a chance to meet your current team. Whether you have three or 30 people, it’s smart to see what kind of chemistry there is. Better to find out in advance if you are hiring a bad egg nobody likes.
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Give them the good, bad and the ugly about the job. If you can talk them out of the job now, that’s better than wasting time and resources training them only to have them quit three months down the road.
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More hiring quick tips & secrets:
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- Did they arrive for the interview on time?
- Were they dressed like they cared about getting the job?
- Did they speak negatively or positively about past employers?
- Were they nice to other people in your salon when they came in to interview?
- Do their interview answers match the application answers?
- What do past employers, teachers, coaches say about their reputation?
- When you search their name, what kind of social media posts do you see?
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Once you have made a careful, informed decision about a candidate, commit to their success whole-heartedly. Give them access to all the training they need to learn. Let them follow and learn directly from other talent in your salon. Give them ongoing training with sales goals and rewards to keep them motivated.
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As you hunt talent, keep this saying in your mind: You’re not in the tanning business. You’re in the people business. So, your goal is to fill your business with good people!
