Note: The success of a business lay in its employees. The better the people that a company gives a job to the more profitable it will be. So, those of you applying for a Costco job should be sure to show and be the best at your job as you can be. If you don’t give it your all it might end up costing you your job or not getting you the job in the first place.

7 Truths of Retail Hiring

By Chip Averwater

1. A company is known by the people it keeps.

People are not the only components of a retail store-there are also a building, inventory, policies, procedures, organization, marketing, and a thousand more details. But all of these things are determined, directly and indirectly, gradually and immediately, by the store's people.

They are the people's work.

A great store can't be built without great people. Their quality is visible in every aspect of the store's facilities, inventory, and operation. No other element is as important and no other element can make up for the people.

The quality of a store is determined by the quality of the people it employs.

2. It's not 20-30% more; good people produce 200-300% more.

A dedicated employee doesn't just get his work done-he finds ways to do it faster and better. A disinterested employee doesn't just do a little less-he often doesn't get started.

This is true for all employees, but it's most noticeable with sales people because their sales are easily and commonly tracked. The best salespeople often sell 2-3 times the average, and even higher multiples of the low producers.

Even after significantly higher pay, better employees are virtually always more profitable.

3. The most valuable ability in retail is the ability to recognize ability.

Good hires attract customers, create sales, recognize opportunities, make prudent decisions, improve operations, reduce mistakes, provide good example, inspire co-workers, and contribute to a positive culture.

Poor hires are expensive mistakes. They deter sales, repel customers, squander opportunities, increase mistakes, reduce efficiencies, lower standards, and drag down morale.

But identifying a potential hire as good or poor is one of retail's greatest arts and challenges. What will be obvious, sometimes painfully, after several weeks or months of work is barely perceptible from an application, resume', or interview. (It's been said the closest a person comes to perfection is on a resume.)

4. The applicant pool is not a cross section of the population.

The group of people in the job market at any time is not at all a representative sample of the general population. It's skewed to the lowest quality of the workforce and heavily weighted with undesirables and unemployables.

Many candidates have obvious flaws like poor appearance or communication skills. They stay in the pool long term and apply for many jobs.

Some of the rest look good but have underlying flaws (poor work habits, psychological imbalances, drug or alcohol dependencies, criminal histories, etc.). Careful companies don't choose them, so these applicants stay in the pool awhile. They're occasionally hired by companies that don't hire carefully but they're typically back in the pool many times.

Of those without the above flaws, some would be adequate but lack the focus and drive of a good employee. They show up and do the required work, but contribute little of what makes a company outstanding.

A few really good candidates go through the pool but they're usually hired quickly-most often by companies that have great hiring processes. They aren't in the pool long and typically don't come back to it at all.

5. Hire slowly, fire quickly.

We get this backward, don't we? When a job is open, we're eager to get a person hired and get the work going again. We tend to assume applicants have the same values we do, and because we have little experience with the various problems that afflict many of them, we're unsuspecting.

Once we've hired them and invested time and effort in training them, we hesitate to fix our mistakes. We try to salvage employees, even though we've learned it's usually futile.

We'd do better to reverse this tendency-choose our hires slowly and carefully, and replace them immediately when our mistake becomes apparent.

6. The best candidates aren't applicants.

Few outstanding workers are ever without a job. When they change jobs, it's typically because they're lured to better opportunities by astute employers who recognize their abilities.

Even in downsizings, companies rarely let their stars get away-they find them other jobs within the company. And when a business closes, its best people have typically impressed enough customers, competitors, and friends that other opportunities are waiting for them.

Consequently not many outstanding candidates answer employment ads and go through the normal application process. In most cases they have to be sought out and enticed, through common friends and acquaintances, in other jobs, and by soliciting recommendations.

7. When applying is difficult only the desperate apply.

An extensive and inconvenient application process (reply by mail, submit a resume, schedule an appointment, etc.) discourages the most desirable candidates-those who already have jobs but might consider another opportunity. The only candidates willing to navigate a difficult process are those who are without work and must find a job.

Better to make it easy for candidates to inquire and apply. Advertisements can include an attractive job description, specify the pay, and encourage inquiries by phone or email.

Yes, this means more calls to deal with. But the calls are more likely to include the candidates you want. An employee can sort through the callers with a few quick questions, getting more information from the better ones, and encouraging the best to come fill out an application.

Chip Averwater, Hopeless Seeker of Retail Truths, created a community providing information and insight combined with an irresistible enthusiasm for the world's most engrossing, gratifying, challenging, and sometimes rewarding, profession. For more information on retail hiring visit http://retailtruths.com.

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