While it may appear that the title of this week’s FranNet blog makes a lot of assumptions about your future, we say it never hurts to be prepared. When you take the entrepreneurial plunge, you will become your own boss. And depending on the type of franchise you buy, you may be responsible for a group of employees. Have you given much thought to the type of people you’ll want to hire? If not, here are some tips from FranNet on hiring exceptional staff members.

Two-Step Process

If you’ve been in the labor market at any point in the past few years, you should be familiar with the phone screen. It’s a way for employers to get a potential hire on the phone and see where the conversation leads. Typically, the hard-hitting questions are left for the in-person interview. The phone screen is a way for you to get a sense of a certain employee’s fit for your organization. Is the candidate engaging, gregarious and conversational? If so, you can imagine that this is how they will interact with your future customers. How are their communicative skills? Do they use proper English, show good sense and sound intelligent?

After the phone screen comes the in-person interview. You’ll want to have a prepared interview process consisting of the questions you intend to ask. Instead of staying with tried and true interview staples such as, “what are your strengths and weaknesses?” try to mold the line of questioning to fit the franchise opportunity you now head. It’s OK to get specific. Take careful notes about a candidates’ punctuality, dress, attitude, and demeanor. These factors, possibly more than any others, may determine how your franchise is received by customers in your community. You want quality representation.

References and Background Checks

Conducting checks on a candidates’ background and references is now more important than ever. In the age of social media, a glaring omission that later becomes obvious can negatively impact your brand. We won’t provide specific examples but sufficed to say, you can probably conjure up the scenario we’re implying. It only takes a little bit of extra time to contact a previous employer, friend or teacher for a reference that can give you peace of mind about who is truly working behind your counter.

Document Everything!

From start to finish in your hiring process, keep a carefully constructed file of prospective employees. Having all your candidate paperwork in order can protect you from litigation later. It also helps to build a database of candidates which will serve as a benchmark for future employees. When making a hiring offer to a candidate, be sure you put it in writing, spelling out all the negotiable points of their employment with your franchise. That way, there’s always a clear understanding of job responsibilities and jointly managed expectations. Make sure your candidate always has a copy of his or her job description with which to refer in the future.

We know that it may seem like a stretch to imagine leading a qualified staff at a franchise of your own, but if you haven’t already daydreamed about it, we can encourage your imagination. All it takes is a no-cost, no-obligation visit with a FranNet representative who both lives and works in your area.

Make an appointment with us to discuss a future franchise ownership scenario and we’ll help you become the kind of boss you wish you had right now.

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Let’s chat! There’s a local FranNet consultant right in your market who knows that market inside and out – knows the personality of the market – knows the competitive landscape. FranNet has a great track record of assisting individuals on their path to entrepreneurship, and one of our franchise experts would love to provide you with guidance free of charge. Sound like something you might be interested in? Get started here and find your local consultant right now!