Wednesday, March 22, 2023 |
Spring 2023With a nationwide technician shortage, many shops are letting their interview process go to the wayside, instead looking for a quick hire. While this might provide an immediate solution, a lazy interview process requires you to hire more employees in the long run. Chris Cotton is here to help you learn how to refine your interview process and make sure you are making long-term hires.
MWACA: What is behavioral interviewing?
Chris Cotton: Behavioral interviewing is asking a question in such a way that it focuses the response and it's not so narrow. So if I'm trying to hire or build culture around drive and ingenuity, for example, ask questions that might help you determine a job seeker's capacity to work hard and smart. When we ask the question, we want to make sure that we ask the question and then stop talking. That way we can hear and make sure we really listen to what they have to say.
We want our questions to elicit the response that you want to make a great decision. The other thing we're talking about is, if we're picking the same sets of questions that we ask every time, then we're just taking notes on how. There's no right or wrong answer, but we're just trying to stimulate thought and action instead of being like, ‘Hey, can you pass a drug screen? Do you have a driver's license? Can you show up on Monday? Great. OK. You're hired.’ You really want to put some thought and some effort into this.
MWACA: What are the biggest mistakes that you typically see a shop make in the interviewing process?
Cotton: One of the things is they talk too much and they don't listen enough — or don't listen well. Typically the note-taking isn't the best in the world or there is no note-taking. They just basically talk to them about their application, but there was no thought. Then two, there's absolutely no process. We don't go from step one to two from three to four.
The other thing is, I'm a former shop owner and I would have people that would come in and be like, ‘Hey, I just moved to the area. I'm a technician. Are you looking for anybody?’ I would say, ‘Nope, I got the greatest technicians in the world, shop's full.’ I wouldn't even get their information or anything. We also need to make sure that we're always hiring and that we look at our employees or that structure as a sports team and think how do I make this team better? If you have somebody that walks through the door that could potentially be the best employee you've ever had, then you have to hire that person, find a place for them and see how it works out.
MWACA: How can a shop owner refine their interview process?
Cotton: Well, one of the things they have to do is look at what's working well in their current process, then keep that and be able to fill out the rest of the pieces with what they don't know.
If you don't have a process at all, then we're going to have to start from scratch.
Shop owners are typically in a hurry to hire and they rush it way too much. They want to make a hire in a week and sometimes it may take might take a month to identify the right person, get them from the applicant stage, to phone interview, to in-person interview to follow up in person, interview to job, offer acceptance and so on.
MWACA: How would you suggest a shop chooses what answer or what questions are going to be most important in their interview process?
Cotton: I think part of that goes into the values and mission statement. They have to think about what they want. They also need to put thought into what their team feeling is and what their team’s about, and what motivates the team. Then ask questions that go along with your mission and values and point in that direction.
MWACA: What are the long-term benefits of refining your interview process?
Cotton: Well, I think in the long term you have to hire fewer employees because you hire the right ones instead of hiring the wrong ones. And if you're harder on hiring then you find a better fit, better culture. That person may be, you know, a 20-year employee instead of a two-year employee.
Chris Cotton has been in the auto repair industry for 30 years and in the customer service industry for over 40 years! He's a former multi-unit shop owner that has dedicated his life to helping other shop owners turn their shops into high-performing businesses and helping them realize their dream, at the same time helping them learn all the things they didn’t know they needed to know!