Tom’s Franchise Information Blog

Congratulations on your new franchise business doing so well. It’s a nice feeling to watch your business grow as its sales volume steadily increased. What isn’t a nice feeling is those long 12-hour days you’ve been putting in to make sure the franchise succeeds. When your business reaches the point when you and your current employees can’t handle the current work load, you better try to find some help.

There comes a time for every business that your staff can’t keep up with the increasing volume of work. This is when you need to hire a new employee or risk the business suffering from staff burnout. However, the last thing you want to do is hire the first person off the street. It’s an important decision and the process of hiring an employee should be taken seriously. Here are some of the steps to follow when looking for a new employee:

• Look for qualified candidates – There are plenty of places where you can run an advertisement for your open position but that doesn’t guarantee all the responses will be qualified. As you gather resumes, look them over quickly and form a pile of ones that look qualified enough for an interview. If you’re looking for someone to fill a management role, be more selective in who you choose for an interview. You may need to run your ad for a longer period of time.
• Screen thoroughly – You don’t want to hire anybody that isn’t qualified enough for the job so there is no point in hanging on to their resumes. Get rid of any that don’t meet the minimum job qualifications. Prioritize the remainder of resumes based on most qualified to least. Throw away responses that are unclear, unfinished or unacceptable in terms of grammatical errors or neatness. The standard number of applicants to interview is usually five to ten. Pick them and set up an interview.
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• Follow up – As you are making your phone calls looking to set up an interview, you’ll find that many of the applicants remove themselves from consideration for various reasons. They range from no longer searching, salary mismatch, to family problems. As you are setting the date for these personal interviews, be aware that some franchises have a policy regarding who can meet with candidates. It is safe to have at least two or people in the interview with you and the candidate.
• Set the scene – Set a place for the interview to be conducted that will have no interruptions. A designated office for interviews works best but you can also use a conference room too. Make sure it has writing surface since it will be necessary for both people to take notes. Never interview some from behind a desk. This creates an unequal impression as well as an uncomfortable atmosphere.
• Dress professionally – Show the people you are interview the same amount of respect that they are showing you and dress professionally. The rule of thumb is to dress like you prefer the candidates to dress. Not only does it show respect but it also gives the candidate a good impression of your company. I also found that it makes them feel more comfortable which leads to a more productive interview.

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