Testing 123 - The 7-Power Contractor

Testing 123

Before my brothers and I became enlightened [aka we got our teeth kicked in so many times we eventually woke up], we used to hire people using the “Mirror Test.”

That was my brother, Marty’s, name for this intricate hiring process. Simply put, we waited till someone quit or we got disgusted enough to finally suck it up and fire them that it left us desperate. Hence, we’d hire pretty much anyone who walked through the door…breathed in the mirror….and could fog it!

Fortunately, we dedicated ourselves to getting out in front of the Staffing Parade instead of continually getting run over by it. Let me tell you, constantly getting run over really hurts.

That’s why we became proactive vs. reactive when it came recruiting, hiring, orienting, training and retaining employees. We actually adopted the attitude that we’re always in the recruiting, hiring, orienting, training and retaining of employees business.

Okay, I know some of you are thinking you have dedicated staff that would lie down in the middle of the road for you. And if so you’re truly blessed. But for the rest of us [and that probably means you if your honest with yourself], staffing is a never-ending process. That’s because you’re staff is always getting on and getting off the train which is a metaphor for your company and a train doesn’t stand still.

What? Right staffing is a moving target because:

  • People quit
  • People get fired
  • People get promoted
  • People get hurt
  • People get sick
  • People move
  • People die

You might be thinking, “I don’t need any more staff. I need more calls to make money.” To that, I say, “Great staff always makes you money. They find ways to help you maximize every opportunity to make money.”

The thing that a lot of folks miss is that just because you are always recruiting doesn’t mean you have to hire anyone.  But suppose a great candidate came in you mean to tell me there aren’t a couple of knuckleheads you’ve been dying to get rid of but lack the guts to let them go because you thought you didn’t have anyone to replace them.

Once you’ve accepted you need to always be recruiting willing people to join your team the next step is to follow a solid and repeatable hiring process. One key step is creating the testing you’re going to put each and every one of them through.

My company didn’t have any testing of any kind years ago when the “Mirror Test” was still in vogue. But that changed to when we decided to get proactive about staffing. It can from being sick to our stomachs with what we found out the new help couldn’t do when they got in the field or to their desks but it was too late.

With our heads up vs. being elsewhere, we created a simple set of tests for each position at our company. And we gave a special focus to testing for techs on the trades we did. In our case, oil heating, gas heating, cooling and plumbing. The written test for each was not designed to be a doctorate final but rather a way to see what they did and didn’t know when it came to the trades we did. It was mostly multiple choice that we had our own “weakest” techs take just to see how they’d do before we ever asked a new recruit to do it. We also made it a timed test.

Why?

The reason is many people struggle with reading today and they really struggle when they’re put under pressure. The other reason we made all our testing time is if they were going to fall apart because we put a deadline on it we knew they were likely to have an even bigger meltdown when they got in front or our understanding and warm clients from New York who could be a little demanding at times.

The written test was something we pulled right out of our own manual and anyone who paid attention in trade school or actually worked in the field could have passed it.

This one step elevated our recruiting and hiring process and the staff got better. But, we did much more when it came to testing and I’ll have more to share about the secrets and the science of recruiting, hiring, orienting, training and retaining so stay tuned.

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