Among all the great advice that is available to help your service tip the scale from good to great, or better yet, from mediocre to great, there is one critical action you need to take – hire right.

Your business probably has a variety of roles that are performed in order for it to operate at a successful level.  Smaller businesses commonly have individuals that perform multiple roles as part of their jobs.  A server at a restaurant may take orders and bring the food to the table, and may even be responsible to bus the tables they serve.  Others may segregate each of these roles.

Typically we place a high value on experience.  You don’t want your business run by a bunch of amateurs right?  We agree.  BUT, given the right experience we strongly recommend that at least a third to half of your interview with a candidate should address two characteristics:

• Personality
• Culture Fit

Personality

The personality of your staff needs to be upbeat and focused on the job and the customer.  They have to have an inner drive.  You can hire someone that has great experience on their resume, but they really only work for their paycheck.  That’s not necessarily a bad thing, because if they do their job well, you at least have someone who meets the requirements of the job.

But to really excel in providing service to your customers you’ll want to find that person who will readily and unhesitatingly go above and beyond their job description to ensure your business is the best.  You want someone who really cares about doing a great job.  You can’t demand this of someone.  They have this quality as part of their personality, or they don’t.

Culture fit

If your culture is to present a professional appearance, or a laid back appearance, make sure your hire fits in with the rest of the staff.  You’re trying to effectively build a team that will work together to make your business successful.  The best way to do that is to put together a group of individuals that will work together smoothly and who enjoy working with each other.

You’ll make mistakes

The hardest thing to do is to recognize and admit that you’ve made a mistake with a hire.  It is best if you address a failed hire sooner rather than later.  Here are a few tips to help ensure you know you’ve made a mistake in your hire:

• Be sure to provide whatever training is necessary, and get a feel for the new hire as the training progresses.
• Have a 30 day review, and check in with the new hire often during the initial period.
• Listen for clues from co-workers.  If you’ve got a good working team, they will likely let you know if they think the new hire is a problem.  Watch the team’s body language as they work with the new hire as well. Often the body language will speak louder than words.
• If you’re having a problem within the first 30 days, don’t wait to address the issues.  It’s not fair to the new hire, the team, or yourself.  Try to correct the problems with private and direct conversation.

If within the first 30 days you are not sure if you’ve got the right hire, you either haven’t done the above steps adequately, or you probably are not admitting your mistake.