Where and how do you find good workers?

My best staff found me, as opposed to me finding them. Most of my long-term employees came as referrals from regular customers or neighboring tenants. The biggest hiring challenge was learning to trust my instincts. Early on, if someone seemed “mostly okay,” I would hire them, then inevitably regret it later. After three painful years on this learning curve, I decided to go with my gut, sometimes flying in the face of logic. Not once have I regretted such a decision. Each hire resulted in an employee who was wonderful. Most of what we do is highly customized — on average, it takes three months of training before a new employee can generate serious income. As for retention, it's simple: Remember not to expect anyone to work the kind of hours I do. That kind of insanity is reserved for store owners.

They usually find me. One thing that we've been very fortunate to have is that people not only love shopping here, but we get a lot of applications. People are constantly asking if we have any openings, and if it's someone I think is worth keeping track of, I'll ask them to fill out one of the applications we always keep behind the counter, and attach a resume with past retail experience. Very rarely do I hire somebody that doesn't have retail experience. The other way I've done it is through a local school, Waukesha County Technical College. It has an interior design program with a co-op, and I've had some success with co-op students working for us. I usually only get them for a semester or two, but I did have one co-op turn into a full time employee. If I have to advertise at all, I do it in our local community newspaper because of the name recognition, and I get flooded with resumes.

Basically, I get my best workers through the store. I get them through word of mouth and through customers, people who shop the home decor store frequently and come to my hair salon. I don't very often find them through placing an ad. I've tried advertising, but in the area where I live, I haven't had good results through advertising. It is interesting: Recently a lot of teachers have retired in my community, and now they're looking for work. They're very nice, honest people, and some of them have some savvy. So next time I have an opening, I would give my first shot to these retired teachers. They'd fit well into the business.