Changing My Focus

I really like to write.  It is hard to put the newsletter together, but writing is fun.  With the newsletter, I struggled with the formatting and the pictures and the text boxes and the font sizes…So many of you tell me you loved the newsletter, but alas, I have decided to take the pressure off myself and just write here instead.

I have been interviewing a lot of people for Denica’s lately.  We have been super busy and needing more staff, an Ideal Problem.  In the past, I would dread the whole hiring process, the thought of placing the ad and the resulting overflowing inbox would stress me out to such a degree that I would delay it until we were truly desperate.  Now being desperate is not a good place to be in anyone’s book, but especially when you are faced with making hiring decisions, when you are choosing the people that are going to represent you in your business.  So much is on the line when we have worked so diligently to build the business, to make service a priority.  One bad day or grouchy attitude can throw all of our hard work down the drain.

So… instead of looking at hiring as one more thing on my long list of things I HAVE to do, I changed my focus.  I decided to approach this whole interviewing thing differently this time.  Guess what?  I am having fun now, and plus, I am making 1000% better hiring decisions!

Instead of setting up face to face interviews from the get go, I have been conducting a phone interview first.  Now maybe this is basic Business 101, but hey, I never took that course!  I have been learning as I go, never really having worked for any large companies in my life, let alone one that wasn’t owned by a family member!

The advantages I have determined are:

• I’m not wasting the prospect’s time by making them get ready and drive in for an appointment if they are not a good fit
• There is less stress, nerves, anxiety during the interview because we are on the phone!
• People have a tendency to be more open and disclose more insight into their personalities when they are on the phone.
• I am less nervous!

I would often get butterflies in my stomach before the interviews, I am still shy I think under all this bravado, and get nervous when meeting new people.   Now by breaking the ice over the phone, I am more comfortable interviewing since we’ve already “met” over the phone. Win-Win!