As many of us know, hiring for retail comes with a number of challenges—from finding enough candidates to landing the right ones and getting them to stay.
We spoke to Tracey Mathers, who has over 35 years of experience in the retail industry, for her insights on how to hire retail team members with quality and longevity in mind—and how to get it right the first time.
From your extensive experience in the retail industry, what are some non-negotiable steps for recruitment teams when hiring for retail?
There were several non-negotiable steps we had—after all, our potential recruits would be joining an already strong team, so I needed to make sure they were going to fit in perfectly and not cause disruption. Some thoughts and examples of essential recruitment steps are:
Do your preparation
- Profiling is a great tool to really understand where people are in their natural flow. I am a brand partner with a company called Contribution Compass and, when profiling, we often pick up that the potential recruit is not strong in the area of expertise we are looking for. This does not mean they will not work in that position, but it gets you knowing ahead what you need to be asking and looking for in the interview. This can save a lot of time and—in some instances—a lot of heartache.
- Really think about the position you are hiring for. What values do you need? What is the true talent they need to have? What sort of personality will work? Once you understand the true needs of the position, design a range of questions around getting that information from them. Preparation is essential and the more thought you put into your questions for the outcomes you want, the greater the interview will be. Remember: we want them to talk, and we listen.
Take your time during the interview
- It is really important to relax the candidate for a few minutes before you begin. This is just general small talk just to get conversation flowing but keep it light and fun, to hopefully relax them. I would always add something like, I am really looking forward to chatting today and getting to know you more. We want them as relaxed as possible to really get them to let their guard down.
- Many people go by the popular saying, first impressions count. Try not to do this; instead, stay open-minded. Some of the best people I ever hired came in looking like a train wreck, but they were so perfect for the position that all I had to do was help them know how to show up; this is much easier than teaching someone great sales or people skills.
- Don’t rush an interview and don’t get excited after five minutes because you loved their last answer, focus on all answers. This is about connection and taking the time to really evaluate and chat; after all, we are looking for close to perfect for this position. Give yourself plenty of time. I work with retail clients every day and the first thing I do when I discover the turnover in staff they have been experiencing is ask if I may sit in on their next interviews. One of the many things I have learnt from doing that is how important the questions you ask are. It’s important to take your time and ask as many questions as you like; after all, employing a new team member is expensive and time consuming, so we need to take the time to get it as right as we can.
Look for specificity
- Keeping in mind that people often will tell you what they think you want to hear, ask for examples on what they are telling you they are great at. If they share that they are great at handing complaints, ask for an example of where they handled a complaint well, and what the outcome was. Watch them carefully; look at the body language and at their level of communication. Are they looking you in the eyes as they are talking to you? There are so many signs that tell you if they are really connected to themselves and their talents, and if they are telling you the truth or just what they think you need to hear.
- When you are finished interviewing and you ask the question, “Do you have any questions?”, listen to what they ask. Are they great questions about helping them discover more about the organisation or the role? Or are they selfish questions, making it all about what is in it for them? This will give you a good indication of the outcomes they want or expect.
What happens when these non-negotiable steps are missed?
If you make a bad hire, sometimes you can get lucky and might be able to train and manage the person into the role, but often it will cause disruption; it can take people away from where their focus should be and cost the business a lot of money. It can get really bad, which is what I have seen in cases before where key staff leave, as they just can’t handle what is happening and that management is not doing anything to fix it.
What are some common gaps you see in recruitment and business processes that allow for the wrong people to get hired?
The biggest one is what I call desperate hiring, which is when your gut is telling you it is wrong but your
head is saying, I need to get this hire finalised, so they will do. It is so important not to cut corners, so you should have a procedure in place when hiring. Clarify for yourself and your hiring team what the position is, and really understand it. Some questions you can ask yourself to get connected to the role you are trying to fill are:
- What are some attributes a possible candidate could have that would work well for
the position? - Do a profile on candidates to understand them more before the hiring process starts.
- Is there another team member whose opinion I value, and can I ask them to sit in and
just listen? - What questions will I be asking?
- What values and strengths am I looking for?
After the interview is over, give yourself time to reflect on the candidate. Did they cover the points you identified as essential? Is there anything that does not feel right? Is there anything you missed asking that you need to ask in the next interview, if there is one?
When you take the time during recruitment to truly understand what you are looking for and the cost of ‘making do’, you will avoid hiring the wrong people.
For businesses that hire reactively, what are some things you’d recommend they do to hire proactively and land key talent?
- Take it slowly, make sure your advertising is really clear and precise.
- Consider a referral program that encourages your team to find high quality candidates through their own network.
- Many companies have implemented work experience platforms that work well as proactive hiring methods. While this is time consuming, it is an effective way to talent pool as you get to choose the talent that shines from it and offer them positions within your business.
- Have guidelines for your hiring process and stick to them.
What are your recommendations for businesses to nurture staff and work towards higher retention rates?
There are so many ways we can work towards creating loyalty and long-term employment retention. Here are a few of my thoughts:
Actively recognise and communicate with people
- People today want to feel like they belong. They want praise, congratulations, feedback and recognition for jobs well done. Money is important, but so is being valued.
- Make sure communication is open and honest. Encourage your team to have candid conversations; listen to these to make sure you have them doing work they love and are good at, have team meetings often so the connection with the team stays strong and feedback or reviews are essential to get motivation and interest going.
Prioritise good leadership habits
- Direction and great leadership are important. People feel more valued when they are communicated with well on expectations and deliverables. When everyone knows what is expected and what they need to be doing, there is a greater sense of belonging.
- Lead by example. Don’t expect a certain behaviour if you are not showing your team that it is what you live by—do what I say, not what I do does not cut it. If people respect you and enjoy interacting with you, they are more likely to hang around longer.
- Be aware of what is happening around you as an owner/leader. Take notice of whether people are being excluded, bullied, or others are taking recognition for work they didn’t do. If you fix the issue then respect will grow for you, and your team will be loyal and want to stay.
Address issues with tact and timeliness
- One non-negotiable I stuck to whenever giving feedback or reviews was that if there was a problem, I always started with a congratulations on something great, then opened the conversation on the problem. From there, I worked with them to find the solution together right then and there, and always finished on a thank you for what they do well. With this method, the problem gets solved and the team member walks away feeling that they know they have improvements to make but that you are also happy in so many other areas.
- Never address an issue with an individual in front of other team members. This will not only make them feel like you don’t value them, but it will also embarrass them and generally they will become disengaged immediately.
How can businesses learn from you?
If you get your team right and leadership is great, there is a much greater chance that you will have a happy team who will continue working with you for as long as you want them.
I have had 35 years’ experience in creating brilliant leaders and teams. It is tiring having to keep training new people, so investing in how we can improve our own skills in leadership and recruitment should be a priority.
I would love to help you build a super successful team, feel really connected with them and know how to manage all situations that arise. What we put off today can become a greater issue tomorrow, so handling things as they arise is essential. I work with both leaders and teams on connection, building greater relationships within teams and confidence building—but it does start with the initial choice on who do we bring in to work with us.
I would love to connect and chat with how I can help you connect more with your own talents to get your recruitment and management processes just right.
Tracey is a well-respected keynote speaker who gives inspirational talks covering topics such as leadership, sales, connection, confidence, and how to survive in business today.
With 35 years’ experience in both the retail and the corporate world, Tracey has a wealth of knowledge in all different aspects that she passes on now through her work as a professional advisor, speaker and mentor, having sold her retail stores in July 2016.