Hiring From Outside Your Company

Whether you are growing or you need to change some personnel, your biggest hiring decision is whether to promote from within or recruit from outside your company. Let's look at the points that make hiring from the outside a good plan for you.

Hire outside when you don't have the talent inside. Sounds simple. But when you are looking for leadership skills in your company don't get your P's mixed up...personality and performance. Just because employee Alex is always smiling, treats all customers politely and always shows up on time, does not make Alex a candidate for a leadership position. The most common mistakes made in personnel are promoting the most senior person in the department, or the friendliest person. If you need a position filled, and your in-house people leave you feeling unsure, then you should go outside.

If the new supervisor needs to reduce head count, or make major changes, go with an outsider. Even the best inside person will have major problems laying off or reprimanding people they have just worked with. If you are opening a new business line, bring in skilled leadership for management. It is nearly impossible to ask a current worker to start a new business segment and learn to manage people at the same time. For instance, if you are going from a manual to computerized shop management system, go with outside computer experience.

If you are in a family business, and you have two nephews working, it is better to bring in an outsider as the family grief you will encounter by promoting one over the other will be divisive. If you have two positions to fill, use the qualified nephews. Sometimes you have to 'create' a special position if one nephew is great and the other is average.

If you need immediate help with leadership, go outside. An inside person will take time to ramp up as a leader...allow three to six months. An outside pro should learn your systems in be in place within two to three weeks.

You will generally pay an outsider more than you would have to pay an insider. If Bill is making $600 a week, and you offer a promotion and a 10% raise, you'll have a deal. An outsider will have to be induced to leave a job; you'll have to cover benefits differentials and make the job attractive.

Possibly the person will be out-of-work, and you can make a deal, but don't forget, you get what you pay for, in buying horseshoes, or hiring leadership people.
The outsider will cost you more in the short run--running ads, interviewing time and a crash course in your company and systems, but after a month, you should be ahead of the game. If you're not, consider that you didn't select the right candidate.

Most companies have a tradition of promoting from within or hiring outside. This should never be completely set in stone. My experience is that no more than two-thirds of initial supervisor positions should be from one source. And, your senior supervisory positions should be split evenly between outside and in-house hires.

I know a lot of glass companies that don't hire experienced people because they don't want to poach an employee from a competitor or vendor. If someone good approaches you for a job and you would like to hire, put a small ad in the Sunday help-wanted. Tell the applicant to call you on Monday for the position. Yes..this is a like a "stupid pet trick", but if you are uncomfortable, this works. You might even get a few walk-ins that can help you too!

There is no absolutely correct answer whether to promote from within or hire outside. If you have the people and the time to have them ramp up, I feel promoting from inside is the way to go. This approach, with a few outside hires will give make a great company.

Do You Promote From Within or Hire Outside

We've talked about hiring, with an emphasis on everyday personnel. Let's get into hiring managers and highly-skilled staff as every shop needs a mix of good workers and great leaders. There is an old, but very true, statement, that an Army moves on the backs of the Sergeants. A glass shop is the same. This week we will discuss hiring from within, next week hiring on the outside.

Hiring from within or going outside is a chicken-and-egg dilemma. As a general rule, hiring from within trumps bringing in an outsider. A current employee will know your business; you have worked with them and know their personality, and it shows a growth path for all employees. In house people know your paper flow, know which vendors service what product lines, and will know the people they will lead.

At UPS, just about every senior manager, at one-time or another, drove a brown truck. They grew into management posts. But when you have tens of thousands of drivers, a few will stand out and grow. In a glass shop with ten employees, you have to nurture one who can become a supervisor.

When you want to designate someone from your current employees as a leader look at their skills set. Are they a great glazier? Can they run a silicone bead smooth as silk? Can they cut a perfect angle in aluminum--the first time? Three 'yes' answers here gives you...a good worker. The questions to ask for a leader are:

• Are they trustworthy?


• Do they get the job done? Correctly and on-time?


• Do they care about the company and work like it is theirs?


• Do they ask questions and learn from the answers?

Any 'NO' answer should eliminate someone from consideration at this time. Maybe you want to further work with him/her to sharpen their skills, and then consider them at the next hiring opportunity.

My number one question was taught to me by Chuck Kaplanek, the owner of Floral Glass...it was simple...can we give the person the key to front door? While there may be many trustworthy people in your organization, you are looking for leadership qualities along with trust.

Look for the person that takes new hires under their wing and helps them learn the ropes. Do they act as a teacher as well as getting their job done? Do they use supplies carefully? Coming back with ten half-used silicone tubes is not what you want to see.

Does the employee talk with customers respectfully? Do they come back to you, asking a question that a customer asked of them, and go back with the answer? Do they represent your firm positively?

Look at all of these things before you decide if you should hire outside or promote from within.

The downside here is, it is harder for an employee to suddenly be the supervisor of their friends. This is absolutely true and has to be well discussed with the supervisor-to-be, and the work force. If you have multiple crews or job areas in a plant, move the new supervisor to another crew.

The biggest mistake that senior managers make is to assume that just because you have promoted someone to a leadership role, they have all the skills necessary to be a leader. A new supervisor needs education in their new job, just as anyone else would. Look into management training at local colleges or through trade associations. There are many fee-paid, one and two day management courses offered. Goggle "management training" and you will be inundated with offerings.

When you plan the promotion, create a budget for training; and don't skimp on it. You see raw talent in a person, you must invest in that no differently than investing in a machine that needs to be upgraded. Meet with your new manager on a regularly scheduled plan, going over decisions and goal setting.

An important point in hiring from within is replacing the person's previous job. Don't expect a new leader to be just that, and still continue their previous job. It only leads to problems which will disappoint you and the employee. Plan carefully to have the job filled and then announce the promotion. Teach the new supervisor to let the old job go...it will be accomplished by the new employee.

Set a timetable for financial reviews with the new leader. Don't wait a year to reward...have mini-reviews at three and six months, and give small raises to show you're pleased with the job...or don't and explain why your are not pleased. Teach what you want done...don't expect a new supervisor to know until they are taught. You are generally spending a lot less on an in-house promotion than an outside hire. Spend the extra cost-savings as invested time into the career of the new hire.

How Proud Can A Dad Be?

How proud can a dad be? So proud, I want to shout it from the roof tops.

If you want to read a glass blog, come back next week when we will talk more about hiring, but this week I am going to share a story about my son, Philip.

Philip is the kind of kid who respects his parents, but not too outwardly. He doesn't call home, just to kibitz, like his sister. In fact, we may not hear from him for a week or two at a time. If he sees us calling on his cell phone, he usually lets the message do the talking. I did ask his permission to write this, and surprisingly, he said yes.

Philip is a senior at Clark University in Worcester, Mass. He sings in the chorus, but forgets to tell us the dates of the performances, as in " mom, do you really have to come?" He is good at what he wants to do, learning history and literature, participating in theatrical productions, and being involved in extra-curricular activities at school.

I come from a business background, with budgets and goal setting. Phil's life is learning to teach and to work with kids.

In November, Phil told us he was coming home for the winter break, but that he accepted a volunteer job with a climate-change organization, gearing up to work during the New Hampshire primary election. He tells us no more than that, and wont, even under heavy questioning. He knows this is an important cause and he will do whatever the leader asks him to do.

The night before he was leaving he tells us a little bit of what is going to happen. The group has volunteers dress up in costume and attend every rally or speech by a Presidential candidate. In the week before the New Hampshire primary, these events are non-stop. He tells us that a costumed character garners media questions, and that getting media exposure for this global warming/climate group was the goal.

He calls us the next day with this story: He dresses up as Santa Claus for a Hillary Clinton campaign stop, and sure enough, Hillary points to Santa in the crowd, invites him to come to her, and poses for a photo-op with Santa. Santa then gets interviewed, (as promised) and makes a case for his cause. We were excited, but were a little unsure of the facts. The next morning we Googled the event, and holy cow, there was a picture of Hillary Clinton and Santa. Reuters had this picture on their web site. So, I contacted Reuters, and soon five 8x10 glossy color photos were on their way to us...five you see, one for each member of our family, and one to send to Hillary for her to autograph and return to us.

A friend of Phil's told him this: Only in America can a Jewish kid from Long Island grow up to be Santa Clause for the former First Lady, maybe even President of the United States.

It gets better. Two days later, the Wall Street Journal did a front page feature story about getting media attention during the campaign and interviewed Philip. He was quoted in the article. On the front page of the Wall Street Journal.

Wow.

Now think back...I have been in business all my life, ran a medium sized company, and my contact with the Journal was reading it. My son, who doesn't know a P&L statement from a chicken leg is quoted on the front page of the Wall Street Journal.

It proves that being creative and dedicated to a cause does work in America. Way to go, Phil.

Non-Traditional Ways to Attract Employee Aplicants

So, you hang a sign out the front door, put an ad in the local paper, and the same job applicants keep on showing up. Read on, and you'll learn some unique ways to bring job applicants to your glass shop.

Sure hang out the sign, and even spend a few bucks on the newspaper. Unless you are spending big bucks for the larger ads in the newspaper, you will not stand out. So, place a display ad in the home improvement section of the paper, where you normally sell mirrors or store fronts. Your ad will say...normally in this space we advertise to sell products...but we are so busy because of the good work that we do, we are hiring special people to help us...if you are special...come on down... Or something to this effect. You are spending the money for the ad, all you are doing is changing the copy, and yet this will still say to your customers you are a busy shop because you do good work!

If you hang a sign outside your shop, invest $50 bucks, rent a chicken suit, and hire a kid to stand at a local intersection and hand out flyers describing your help wanted needs. You will get noticed, and people will laugh with you. If you hand out flyers in regular clothing, you won't get attention. Instead of handing out flyers, hand out one-page employment applications with this headline: If you need a job, read on. If not, give this flyer to your best friend who is looking for a job.

When the kid is out there with the chicken suit, call the newspaper and the local TV station, tell them there is a guy with a chicken suit, and a photographer will appear, and you get publicity about hiring, which will bring in applicants!

Call your past customers, checking in if they need further work done, if they do...that's a home run. If not, and they were happy with your work, ask them if they would recommend a friend to work with you...since you did such a good job, they will be proud to recommend your firm to someone who is looking for a good job!

Hiring has to be spontaneous to some degree. We are all consumers, going into many types of stores. Any time you say, "I wish my employees were as good as the person who took care of me", go back to that person and tell them what you thought of them, and since they have the right attitude, ask them about their friends, who will usually have the same attitude. Are their friends looking for work? The hardest thing to teach is attitude...we can teach the glass business, teach how to price a piece of mirror...but if you come across someone with a positive smile, offer them a job, and definitely ask about their friends. Be sure to hand out a lot of business cards!

Never be too busy to quickly interview a potential employee. Prepare your own three minute interview. If the person is good, ask them to come back tomorrow when you have more time. What is a three minute interview? Ask them why they like working...if they don't know, or say, they have to pay the bills, say goodbye. You want the person who says they like to build something, or they like working with customers, or the like whatever it is your are hiring for.

The only other question I ask in a short interview is: What job benefit is most important to you? Vacation...show them the door. Smoking break? Again, show them the door. Just about anything else passes this short test.

Call the leaders at each local church, temple or mosque in your neighborhood. A leader there will often know of someone who is down on their luck and looking for a career change.

Unfortunately, I had few good results from state sponsored employment job banks. Nonetheless, list your job and make sure that anyone referred to you is well prescreened by the job bank to meet your job needs.

If you are looking for second shift work, go to every hospital in your area. Hospitals draw a lot of workers who need shift work to match a spouse's work pattern. Day shift workers will be glad to find a reliable place to recommend for spouses second shift work.

One of the best things you can do is ask current employees to recommend someone, and give a bonus of $500 if the recommended person stays for six months. $500 is cheap to hire a good person.

People who presently are working have a hard time coming in, if your ad says apply in person. So, have a walk-in time at the end of the day, or on a Sunday afternoon, when people don't have to lie to leave a current job. Yes, give up a couple of hours on a Sunday afternoon, and you will hire better people--many people won't lie to take time of for an interview, and those are the ones you want. If your ad says to call, make sure you take the calls...don't take numbers and call back. You have just a few minutes to get a feel for them on the phone, and then invite them in for an interview.

Sometimes the applicant wants to know everything up front, on the phone, before talking about themselves...if the job pays enough...or some such...if the conversation is not 50/50, don't offer the interview. If they have to know the salary, present a realistic range, telling them the final figure is based on a discussion at the interview.

If you have an automated attendant type of phone answering, put a number in to hear about current job opportunities. People are curious and will press to hear this. If you don't have any opportunities at this time, be sure to leave a message saying to check back in the future.

One thing that usually burns you is to ask a salesperson in the trade who calls on you, if they know of anybody looking for work. If they do recommend someone, that person is beholden to them, and may influence future work. If they recommend a person who is not presently working, that's OK. But, never use a trade contact to take a person who is presently working for a competitor. Also, it will empower the salesperson to take someone from you, just to even the deck. If an insurance salesperson walks in, it is fine to ask them for a referred employee...just keep away from the glass trade.

Do you have any other tips...go the the US Glass News Forum and write a post...we'll be glad you did!