Whether you love it or hate it, the hit TV show “The Apprentice” demonstrates two good hiring practices you can use right now to improve the quality of the people you hire.
The first is that making the job hard to get makes the best people want it even more. Every applicant should know that you want to hire the very best person available. Don’t disappoint them.
How hard do you make it for people to work for you? Do you do everything you can to ensure that you’re getting the best people? If you made your interviewing process as difficult as Donald Trump does, how much better would the people you hire be?
Saying, as Trump does, “I’m only going to take the best” tells applicants that you take hiring seriously. The ones who are looking for just any job will see right away that their chances of being hired by you are slim to none and naturally deselect themselves.
This is especially important today, when many Americans who have lost a full-time, career-oriented job are seeking hourly jobs as temporary replacements. That strategy may serve them but it doesn’t serve you at all. Hiring people who plan to work for you only temporarily can cost you a bundle!
The second excellent hiring practice used in “The Apprentice” is treating everything applicants do during the hiring process as a test. Don’t just tell applicants what they will need to do on the job, test for whatever the skills and abilities the job requires.
If the job calls for lifting items that weigh 50 pounds, ask applicants to show you they can do it. If you need someone with good counter skills, put the applicant with the employee currently handling the counter and watch how customers respond.
If the job calls for being at work by
Telling applicants that they must fill out the application blank completely tests how well the applicant follows directions. If anything is left blank, your applicant just failed the test for following directions.
Explain your company dress codes to applicants before they come in for their interviews. Those who arrive inappropriately dressed just failed your dress code test. Don’t hire them.
One very important hiring practice “The Apprentice” fails to follow is allowing people who aren’t hired to keep their dignity and self-respect. There’s no excuse for deliberately hurting peoples’ feelings or for causing them to feel undeserved shame.
