Who is doing our hiring?

One of my first jobs in management was during my college years, when I worked for a brand-new restaurant in town. We started off hiring personnel that had responsibility, experience, and personality. As we neared opening, the owner began to get nervous that we did not have enough staff and instructed us to “get more bodies”. We complied and hired just that - warm bodies.

The result? As you can guess, we spent the first month that the restaurant was open, figuratively putting out one fire after the next. I read a verse today in Proverbs that gave great insight into the enormous responsibility in hiring others.

Pro 26:10 Like an archer who wounds everyone is one who hires a passing fool or drunkard.

That is a truly powerful verse. God has given us much by placing us in a managment or ownership position. Because of this, much more of us is required. By not taking great care in who we hire, we become the problem; not the bad hire. We are the one who hurt the employees and customers that end up having to endure the damages of a bad hire. When an irate customer is confronting us about poor treatment by one of our employees, can we diffuse the situation by putting the behavior off on the employee? Surely not - what would one expect from a fool or a drunkard?

Since we end up taking responsibility anyway, let us take responsibility at the beginning and avoid the conflict altogether. To do so, we can follow some of the following practical steps for hiring quality employees.

• Determine what we consider to be necessary values that employees must have, and ensure that hiring personnel are looking for these same values
• Slow down! If we are in that big of a rush to fill a position and grow, then we are out of God’s plan and timing for our business. When we operate within the power of the Holy Spirit, there is no stress, only peace.

  Truett Cathy of Chick-fil-A gives great examples in his biography of how their company passed up “great” opportunities to quickly expand. Instead, they chose to take the slower, more deliberate route. Given how many Chick-fil-As I see in America, and the success that they enjoy, I trust Truett to let God have control of our plans.

• Stay connected with our current employees, no matter how far removed we are from the details of daily operations. Have an open-door policy with employees. Set up a (real or virtual) suggestion box, and have weekly or monthly meetings with employees where they can share their questions and concerns
• Pray for the Lord’s guidance and leadership in this area
• Pray directly for guidance regarding specific hires. If your company is too large for that, pray for those doing the hiring.
• Get people of similar values involved the hiring process. People with leadership experience know future leaders. Those are who we should be hiring.

If we followed Proverbs 26:10 back in my restaurant days, we would not have hired much of the staff. They did not have the serving attitude that it requires to provide great customer service or be a good team member.

Want to know the irony of this story? If the owner heard and followed this verse, he would not have hired me or any of the other managers, either. We were all drunkards.

“So, what happened to the restaraunt,” you ask? It opened its doors and gave the town a horrible first impression. Through a myriad of issues directly tied to poor management, it finally closed its doors 1 1/2 years later. The owner’s family lost nearly their entire savings and moved to another state.

Not all stories end happily, but ours can if we stay in the will of our Lord Jesus Christ. Let’s all make a greater effort to be good stewards of the blessings that God has so richly bestowed on us as business leaders.

Please share any other ideas you may have for hiring quality employees. Thanks, and have a blessed day.

Categories: Wisdom
Tags: