Hire above average. (Do you have a top 10 person?)

We do employee evaluations annually.  One thing we do is rate them on a scale of 1 to 10 in many catagories.  We do something similar in the screening process of interviewing for new employees.  I always invite one of our employees to sit in on the screening interviews and then we compare our rating lists.  I do this to get past some of my own blind spots.

In the screening interview I try to look for something in many categories.  Relating to customers; Phone skills; conflict resolution; relating to supervisors and managers; tasks, preformance, and skill sets; humor, ethics, awareness and multi task ability, details.  

And I look for complimentary skills not clones.  I do want some cross over but I also love it when each employee has an area they can shine above the rest in.  And we want someone who somehow, in their own way, stands out.

Think of it this way.  If you have a person who is a 4, 5, or 6 you might be able to move them up a notch or two with training, education, and experience.  So you end up with a 5, 6 or 7... average or slightly improved employee.  However, if you start with a 7 or 8 you will end up with that exceptional employee.  

If they see themselves as "average" most of the time they are.  A few will display good self esteem and not have the skill set.  Those are the trainable ones and they might move up 2 or 3 or 4 notches in a short period of time.  Then there are those who do not want to move up and you have to determine if they can shine where they are at or not.

We know there are those out there who will do the job.  We want those who will be exceptional.  Be noticed.  Be complimented.  Sometimes need drives us to get someone right away.  Then use a temp agency and continue to look for the exceptional person you really want.  Where to look.  Referrals are always good.  And there are a few good head hunter type agencies out there that will save you lots of time and energy in the screening process.  Some CPA firms as well do a lot of this so don't just think of agencies for hiring temp to permanant.  Even though they send you their top 3 or so remember to screen them yourself.

We have this quote on our reception desk:

"To keep customers today, you can't be content to merely satisfy them; you have to give them legendary service and create 'raving fans' - customers who are so excited about the way you treat them that they tell stories about you"

Are your customers, clients telling stories about you?  That is not only your fan base but your sales force!

To go with that quote we put out a different sort of comment card.  It is called "Spot a Gateway Star".  The card is available to Customers, clients, and tenants alike and is used to share some stories about catching people doing something right.  

We like "spot a star" comment cards much better than comment / complaint cards.  That way we got some excellent feed back.  That feedback helps us with rating our employees and with their annual reviews, too.

How do you screen your employees? How do your rate your existing employees?

Share some of your stories with us too!