Three words you can use for the Perfect Hire

Possibly, one of the biggest challenges business owners face is hiring new personnel. It doesn’t matter what industry, we all face the same challenge. What about that employee from the past, who seemed to be the perfect hire, only to become a huge disappointment and leave your business in worse condition before they were hired. Then there are the hires who show up and then it goes downhill from there, all they do is show up. One of the best lessons I learned for hiring personnel was at a time I was serving as a project superintendent for a large medical clinic. It was from the general contractor who hired me, showed me how to find that person who would show up and be willing to do whatever needed to be done. I was perplexed at what he showed me and put what he taught me into action and it worked immediately. I had hired and fired a lot of people and crews from the project for many different reasons and it all came down to my lack of interviewing skills. My deadline for the building completion was bearing down on me and I had to hire people and crews who would understand the pressure we were under to complete the project on time. We were running advertisements in several surrounding towns and received many phone calls asking about the project with promises to show up for an interview, only to be disappointed with the skill I learned from the general contractor. I needed carpenters, plumbers, roofers, painters, and general laborers and the skill I learned from the general contractor made it possible for me to hire the right people and we finished the project ahead of schedule. You are probably asking what the secret was to hire the right people and it was just three words that made all the difference; push that broom. Many of those who came to interview only offered one skill, the only thing they were willing to do, and they believed that was all they should do. The look on their faces as we walked around the project and walked into and area covered with saw dust or sheet rock debris and I called a laborer over with a broom in hand and offered the broom to whom I was interviewing, handing them the broom; show me how you push a broom. I was told many times; that’s not what I do or I’m not going to do that. It was the people who had primary skills who took the broom from my hand and cleaned the area were the people I hired. What they showed me was, they were willing to do anything to get the job done and they were hired with the understanding that if called upon them to do something different, they were willing to be a team player. Push that broom, three little words that speak volumes of someone’s character.

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