I know I’ve been talking about hiring someone in Bangkok, but I will also be getting an employee in Australia soon
Mat’s philosphy about hiring employees
- Experience doesn’t matter much in entry level jobs. I can’t believe the amount of businesses that have unskilled jobs such as working in clothing stores or sandwich bars where experience is mandatory. What drugs are these guys on? If it takes less than two weeks to train someone for a job, don’t require experience. A great person who is willing to learn will be a much more valuable employee than someone who has experience but isn’t that great. Think about it this way - every time you get bad service, it’s from someone who’s experienced. Go get natural hard-workers, and teach them. NB. This is different for managers - as much as possible, promote internally.
- You’re going to hire someone for a permanent position - don’t base everything on a 30 minute interview. You’re going to be investing thousands of dollars in someone. Don’t think that by sitting in a room for thirty minutes and reeling off a bunch of standard questions that you’ll be able to sort the wheat from the chaff. Something I want to try out is to whittle down employees to a final group of 5-7, then take them all out to dinner. A long dinner, with entrees, main meal, dessert - and if I’m feeling brave, alcohol. By the end, you’ll know them very well - which ones can only maintain high energy in short bursts, how they interact with others, their humour, their etiquette, ability to deal with awkward situations…
- Hire someone you’d want to spend time with (Thanks Guy Kawasaki) : There’s three types of people : those you’d cross the street to say hi to, those you’d say hi to if you both happened to make eye contact, and those you’d cross the street to avoid. Hire the first type.
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