Nic Monteforte shares her top tips to help you identify the right fitness people for your vacancy – every time!
After years of recruiting are you still scratching your head wondering what it is that makes a great team member for your gym?
Have you done heaps of interviews where you found yourself thinking, “Wow this is the person for my club!” and then only a week later they don’t quite live up to the interview? Do you often get frustrated with what appears on a resume versus what you get when you meet in person?
If you answered ‘yes’ to any of the above, then you are not alone.
After 15+ years of recruiting for every role there is in the fitness industry, I too have felt your pain and frustration; however, I’ve learned some basic rules that I now stick by which successfully identify the best employees for the job – and guess what? They aren’t traditional tips either!
TIP ONE: Resumes tell lies.
A story I like to tell often when it comes to the first person I ever recruited. His resume had him as a part time shelf packer for KMART and an artist. At the time, I was in a start up club and we were looking at a big team, so I interviewed almost every resume I got. Before the interview started I had already made my mind up that this candidate probably would not suit, but I gave him a chance anyway. As it stood, he did fit; in fact he ended up being one of the most successful employees I have ever recruited. So why is more the point here? His resume didn’t tell me how passionate he was about the industry. It didn’t tell me that he was able to strike up an empathetic conversation with almost any person he met. It didn’t tell me that he was the master of entertainment and laughter and it didn’t tell me that he needed to prove his worth in the world. Had I have thrown out his resume based on what was on it, I would not have made my first club anywhere near as successful; in fact, he may have sold more than half of the presales membership base! So don’t throw away the resumes. Sometimes the worst ones are the best candidates. Give them all a call!
TIP TWO: Do they have something to prove to themselves and the world?
The greatest thing about our industry is the fact that you don’t need to have a PhD to be a huge success. It gives everyone an opportunity to succeed because the industry is built on emotion. When interviewing one of the most important questions I always ask is about their life’s journey. Questions like, “tell me a little about your school experience”, or “What sports did you play?” or “What your proudest moment has been so far?”
These types of questions allow the person to give you a little insight into whether they want to stand out from the crowd and prove their worth. The most successful team members I have employed, have always felt like school didn’t do them justice and they needed to prove to the world that just because they failed in maths, doesn’t mean they will fail in life and business.
TIP THREE: Can they make you laugh or smile in the interview without even trying?
Our industry is built on emotion, passion and how people feel. If your candidate is sitting in front of you and you find yourself smiling or laughing then you are off to a good start. Imagine how your members will feel if you had a club full of staff that all had this effect on them. We all seem to forget that most new members come to the gym because they don’t like how they feel about themselves. It’s our job to make sure they walk out feeling the opposite, so to find an employee who has the natural ability to make someone smile from a genuine care then 75 per cent of their job has been achieved.
TIP FOUR: When all else fails trust your gut.
Your first feeling is usually always the right feeling, so when in doubt go back to that first feeling you got when you sat in front of them. Did you get a feeling of warmth and ease, or did you get a feeling of ego? There are many great ‘sellers’ in our industry. They can change the world. But when interviewing, we often lose sight of our gut instinct when they start to sell themselves. Instead, we start to think about results and outcomes versus are they the right fit for the business. I have made this mistake numerous times in my career and, inevitably, every time my gut instinct has always proved me right. Yes sometimes we need to give people a chance, and that is all part of being an employer. But just make sure you have a probation period and they are very aware of this when they start, so when/if your gut instinct is oved right, it is an easy process for you both to part ways.
Finally, in every interview, I always have one question that links to each letter of the CHARISMA acronym:
Concern: Show care
Help: Reach out
Action: Make things happen
Results: Produce
Influence: Lead
Sensitivity: Feel / respond
Motivation: Give hope
Affirmation: Build up.
This allows me to get a real sense of whether the candidate has the emotional intelligence needed to be a huge success in what is now one of the most important industries on the planet.
For more recruitment tips or to locate the right job candidate for your vacancy click here.