WNiF Magazine - Autumn 2014 Edition | Page 26

Recruiting The RIGHT N ic Monteforte shares her top tips to help you identify the right fitness people for your vacancy – every time! After years of recruiting are you still scratching your head wondering what it is that makes a great team member for your gym? Have you done heaps of interviews where you found yourself thinking, “Wow this is the person for my club!” and then only a week later they don’t quite live up to the interview? Do you often get frustrated with what appears on a resume versus what you get when you meet in person? 26 If you answered ‘yes’ to any of the above, then you are not alone. After 15+ years of recruiting for every role there is in the fitness industry, I too have felt your pain and frustration; however, I’ve learned some basic rules that I now stick by which successfully identify the best employees for the job – and guess what? They aren’t traditional tips either! TIP ONE: Resumes tell lies. A story I like to tell often when it comes to the first person I ever recruited. His resume had him as a part time shelf packer for KMART and an artist. At the time, I was in a start up club and we were looking at a big team, so I interviewed almost every resume I got. Before the interview started I had already made my mind up that this candidate probably would not suit, but I gave him a chance anyway. As it stood, he did fit; in fact he ended up being one of the most successful employees I have ever recruited. So why is more the point here? His resume didn’t tell me how passionate he was about the industry. It didn’t tell me that he was able to strike up an empathetic conversation with almost any person he met. It didn’t tell me that he was the master of entertainment and laughter and it didn’t tell me that he needed to prove his worth in the world. Had I have thrown out his resume based on what was on it, I would not have made my first club anywhere near as successful; in fact, he may have sold more than half of the presales membership base! So don’t throw away the resumes. Sometimes the worst ones are the best candidates. Give them all a call! WHAT’S NEW IN FITNESS - AUTUMN 2014 F