(Hiring) Tales From The Dark Side

My husband hates to spend money. Which is okay because I’m a little less frugal. The one thing he enjoys though is a biweekly massage. Every other Friday he goes to a massage therapist and comes home relaxed and happy. He recently called to book his next appointment and had some trouble getting through to the office. When he did reach them, his provider apologized profusely saying that he had been having a very hard time finding and keeping a receptionist to manage his business so he had taken on these duties himself.

My incredibly understanding husband wasn’t upset with this delay (I probably would have been mildly annoyed). What I was really thinking as he relayed this story to me was thank goodness I’m not alone! Another small business is having the same challenges finding help that I am. In my last article, I wrote about all of the new practices I’ve started doing post pandemic to attract and keep good people. That doesn’t mean it hasn’t been a challenge.

Those of you who know me, know I’m a tell it like it is kind of person. I’m generally a positive person but I’m always straightforward about the good, the bad and the ugly of being an entrepreneur. I’m an expert at finding solutions to your problems because I’ve experienced the same problems in my own business.

As small business owners, we sometimes feel that we’re alone in the boat rowing our hearts out and getting nowhere. We look at other businesses and, at least on the outside, they appear to have things buttoned up. Things are humming along smoothly, they’ve got employees, and they are functioning. You can’t help but wonder, what’s wrong with me and my business? Why am I having these problems?

The truth is you’re not alone. I have an established pet care business with all the right processes and procedures and a great team. It looks like a well-oiled machine and it is but getting there and keeping it that way post pandemic has been a challenge. I’d like to share with you what I’m seeing and dealing with regarding sourcing, hiring and training.

#1 Candidates don’t show up to interviews with no warning.

I’ve been seeing about a 50% NCNS rate. This is my terminology for No Call, No Show. These candidates get an immediate DNH (Do Not Hire) rating added to my database.

#2 Candidates want to reschedule at the last minute.

This generally happens when I send the candidate a text to confirm our interview the morning of or shortly before the interview time. This tells me that they either a) forgot about the interview or b) weren’t planning on showing up.

#3 Candidates ghost you at any point in the process.

Most often this is early in the process, maybe after the first couple of communications but it can happen later as well. Just last month I got all the way through the process and made an offer to a woman I thought was a great candidate. We set up her first day of field training on a Tuesday. Monday night she was communicating back and forth with her trainer to finalize the plans. Tuesday came and she was MIA (Missing in Action). No notice, nothing, she just never showed up. I left several messages and phone calls to her to ascertain whether she was laying in a ditch somewhere. She never responded so I gave up. I never heard back from her.

#4 Candidates just don’t respond.

I use a variety of methods to communicate with candidate once they initially apply for the job, text, phone, email. Presumably, they were interested in the job or they wouldn’t have applied so why don’t they at least respond. The other possibility here is that some states require someone on unemployment to be actively applying for jobs. It’s possible they’re just clicking apply to have proof to be able to continue to get unemployment benefits.

After you’ve been in business a while and experienced these kinds of people it’s easy to get a pretty jaded view of human nature. There are days when I want to give the collective humankind the finger and go hide in a cave somewhere (I did tell you I’d give you the unvarnished truth). But there are other days, more days that I realize the people on my team are amazing, committed individuals and I’m grateful for them. My point here is, we all experience this. You are not alone and help is available, even if it’s just someone telling you that you’re doing a good job. And if you feel like hiding in a cave for a bit, that’s okay too.

Another great article you might enjoy

The Best Employee Referral Program

About Eliza

Eliza is the owner of two successful pet related businesses; Preferred Pet Partners, a pet sitting and dog walking company, and The Pet Business Coach, offering coaching and resources to aspiring or current pet related business entrepreneurs. She maintains two awesome blogs. One for pet parents https://preferredpetpartners.com/blog/ and one for pet business owners https://thepetbusinesscoach.dog/blog-page/.  Eliza also supports various animal rescue and shelter organizations. Eliza and her husband have a growing pet family. Visit her websites: www.preferredpetpartners.com or www.thepetbusinesscoach.dog