We asked our lead instructor Sid this question and here was his response:
When we're hiring an employee again, you know there's companies or sources we can go to that we're looking for. Ideally, I hate to admit this, ideally what I prefer to do is steal a good employee from another company and offer more money. One that, a deserves it, that knows what they're doing and is not being treated well or, but I don't hire a grumbler either. Okay?
I don't want to find someone that's grumbling about who they're working for. That is none of on my business to know what their problem is. So I don't want to hire a grumbler because they'll just continue on with me. So if they come and they're looking for a job, okay? I have probably, I don't know of anybody else that does this, I don't know where I picked it up from. I did pick it up from another contractor. When they sit down…
the very first thing I ask them is,
"Tell me all you know about my company"
It generally throws them right off guard. Okay? If they want to come and work for me, and they were serious about it, you would think that they would have gone online and found out something about what we do, where we're located, our past history, and anything else that we have on our website. Most companies have a website that says that.
They should be able to tell me…
How many years we've been existing, what we do, what we're good at. Okay? And I'll be very blunt with it if they don't give me the right answer, or they can't answer that, the interview's over. I'm not going to waste any more time.
But if they get over that first hurdle and they tell me about my company, okay? Then I'll ask them another question and I'll ask, "How long did you work for your previous employer?"
They'll tell me. Then my next question is going to be, "How much better off is that company now than it was when you got first hired? What major change in that company did you provide for them that made it a better company?"
There should be something that they'll say, how they made an improvement on that company. One of the things that I'll be looking for, again during that conversation is not I, but we, if I hear that word we again, I know that they're a team player, that we did this, or together we accomplished that. Okay? And that's what I'm looking for.
I'll ask them for references outside of your workplace.
I will also ask them if they don't mind sharing me what they like to do for out of their work time. What hobbies, what do they get involved with? Okay?
What I'm looking for personally is that they're active, that they're not a sitting home watching TV. Okay? What I'm looking for is some sort of activity that demonstrates that they care about other people. Okay? It might be work, be a little league coach, teaching classes, or doing something. Okay? They're involved in some civic organization doing something. That again shows me they have a team spirit and they're willing to extend themselves if need be.
I'll also ask them if they'd be able to take a drug test. Okay? Yes or no because I'm going to require it, so would you be able to take a drug test. That will have a line of bearing on any further conversations that we have. Okay? And I'll tell them that we have random drug testing during the course of employment and if they fail it then they'll be out of a job. There is no verbal warning. We're letting them know right up front that if they can't pass it that they will no longer have a job.
So we're letting them know upfront what we expect.
And then I ask them one more time, "Knowing our company the way you do, what are you bringing to my company? What are you bringing? Why should I hire you and not the other person?" And that one has got to take some serious explanation on their part. I don't want you here to collect the check. I want to give you a check for what you bring in and prove to our company. Tell me what you're going to bring to us. And if they have a good reason,
the last point is I say,
"Okay, I'll give you an opportunity. I'll hire you as probationary for the first 30 days. If it doesn't work out, I'll ask you to leave. No hard feelings. After 30 days, we'll make you a full-time employee." Okay? And that's how we handle employees.
