Lauren6568

I started working at my salon in March and now I'm already the manager. I hired a new girl about 3 weeks ago, but I knew her and didn't really go through the whole interview process. But I am about to hire a new girl, but what questions are really good ones to ask/talk about?

tuscanysun

Waht part of TX are you located? What did they ask you when you interviewed? I would talk it over with the owner. There are certain questions by law you can not ask and you really need to be up on the laws. I had to go through the same thing. I get advice from my husband because he interviews all the time. He likes to get the feel for people by starting the conversation and he told me 9 times out of 10 if you pause a minute or so they will start talking and you will get a feel about what kind of a person they are. You can always ask like what did they like the most about their last job and let them tell you. Then ask them what they liked the least and they will tell you. If they didn't get along with someone they usually throw that in. Tell them what the job duties consist of and see if that is something they are interested in. If it requires weekend work ask them if that would be a problem. I always mention the fact that tanning is not a requirment to work here, but it is available and a perk and does help with sales. I'm sure I am not asking the right questions, but as you go forward and hire more and more you will get a feel for it. Hope this helps you a little. There are a lot more experienced salon owners who can give you great pointers. Good Luck!!!

Lauren6568

Our salon is in Flower Mound..About 25minutes north of Dallas...Well your answers really helped..I have 2 girls coming in Friday and I want to be prepared and ask the right questions. I don't even remember what questions my owner asked me when he was interviewing me?!?!? But thanks for your help!

tuscanysun

I have always liked the of that town for some reason!! Your only a couple of hours from me. Oh yea!, one of the little high school girls I hired had put on her application that she was let go from her other job and it was at an ice cream place. So I told her that I noticed she had put down on her application that she was let go from her other job and could she tell me what happened. She told me that they had a new owner take over and she felt like they were just trying to get rid of her, but she gave her friend a free ice cream and they fired her. I'm sure there was more to it than that or maybe not. I did hire her only because she was so persistant and kept coming by before I opened like 3 or 4 times. Although, she is shy, she does try to sell and she does more when I'm not there. I did tell her that we don't give away free stuff only to try a tan and other promotions, but friends don't tan free. I haven't had a problem out of her yet and it's been four months.

Extreme John

I ask a few different questions, always have, even when I interviewed for Hom Depot back in the day:

1) Name 3 Reasons why you want to work here? (Youll here some answers that are big RED LIGHTS)
2) Name 3 Reasons why I should Hire you?
3) Name 3 Things you are strong or good at? (Can be anything but it gives you an idea of their background or maybe some hobbies, etc.)
4) Name 3 Areas you would like to improve in? (Can be work or non work related, just name 3) this will also blow a whistle on some people.
5) Have you ever stolen anything before? (How you approach this question will bring out the honesty in people, im Reed Certified so I can generally dig deep on that one).
6) I always go over their hours of availablity because they generally change from when they filled out their application, and it stops any issues after hiring and keeps you in control
7) Always have them tell you something about themselves (dont be eager to speak when they are answering this, the discomfort of silence may expose some truths you want to know).

Hope that helps.

sbtan

You need to ask if they are willing to do what you need them to do, we tell our employees the main parts of the job are sales and cleaning. They need to know they are to be cleaning the salon, top to bottom, when they have the opertunity, not to sit there and play on the computer when it is slow.

river_brat

If you interview properly you should only be doing 10% of the talking and the interviewee should be doing most of the talking. Ask each girl the same questions so you may compare them. I also put them in scenarios, for example, your on the phone and a client walks in the door how would you handle this? A client asks you a question you are unsure of how would you respond, your in the salon and the electicity goes off and you have all the beds full, what would you do. I typically ask questions of manners, etc. items that you cannot teach a person. I also have my manager sit in with me, she asks her questions which is nice, because she has a different way of questioning. But the reason I do this is because having a second opinion of the person being interview is nice. I had one girl I loved and was competley gung ho for, but my manager saw something I didnt. And she ended up being right.

gripmarketing

"You can always ask like what did they like the most about their last job and let them tell you. Then ask them what they liked the least and they will tell you."

Unfortunately, questions such as these above and 'What did you like about your supervisor?' and 'What didn't you like about your supervisor' can be rendered useless by applicants after they have gone to school on several interviews where these types of questions have been asked. The prospective job hire learns after a few interviews what to say and what not to say and all you end up with is what the hire thinks you want to hear. In a few rare cases where you are the first interview the applicant has completed, from these type of questions you only find out whether or not they THINK they can get along well with others. Of course, most everyone thinks they can. In even rarer cases, an applicant might trip themselves up. But this is rare. In short, giving a "site"and "sight" interview as this type of interviewing is known will yield poorer results than testing.

"I'm sure I am not asking the right questions, but as you go forward and hire more and more you will get a feel for it. "You're right to be skeptical of whether you are asking the right questions. There is a better way.

In our furniture biz we had over 1100 sales employees and take it from my experience - you'll get superior results from a well-designed TEST. A test that will determine whether the applicant is weak or strong as a sales person (#1 reason to hire) - asking what they thought of their last job and supervisor won't help you with this at all - and you need to find out (quickly) whether they are resourceful, opportunistic, quick witted, hungry, service-oriented, have had any previous sales training, went to school on how they were sold by someone else, can follow orders, take direction, get along well with others, co-operate with others, are trainable, and can be a part of a team.

But the most important part of the test is can they SELL! Not much else matters. If you have a poor salesperson and their paperwork is letter-perfect, you could go out of business for lack of sales. If you have a killer closer and their paperwork is shoddy you'll be able to afford to hire an assistant to keep it neat.

SALES! SALES! SALES!

Develop a test yourself or buy one. BTW, (spam alert!) Grip has a fool-proof, widely tested (over 5,000,000 applicants have taken it in different industries) TEST for sales hires. Over 2,000 salons have purchased it - even as far away as Ergoline Australia. $295 for clients, $495 for non-clients. It can save that amount in lost sales in just a week! or even a day!

As Alex R, the owner of 8 salons in the Atlanta market said about the TEST, "These questions, in my opinion, were an excellent investment. They have for the most part, proven very helpful in selecting candidates without using emotions too much in the hiring process.

It's amazing how likable some people appear in the interview but obviously have no killer sales instinct whatsoever. This interview test will help you determine this. It's not foolproof, but pretty darn close to it.

It's important that the questions do not get modified when asking them. Otherwise, the test loses its effectiveness."

Alex is spot on. That's what we advise. You've got to start with the best raw material you can. Otherwise you end up trying to turn a sow's ear into a silk purse.

Extreme John

It is all about the sales, once I ask my initial questions and feel they MIGHT be a good prospect, THAN and only than do I move into the part where I talk and explain job functions to them, also using scenario's as someone said above is a great plan, it's very hard for someone to dress their answers up if you handle it the right way.

gripmarketing

Yep. And it's impossible to dress the answers for a test where they either know the correct answer(s) or they don't.