Every dealer knows that one of the more challenging aspects of running a successful business is hiring and keeping the right team…easier said than done, right? On today’s show, CBT’s Jim Fitzpatrick chats with Richard Bryan, international speaker, author, and business owner, to discuss the hiring process and how to bring top-notch talent to your dealership.
The 7-Step Hiring Process to Bring on ‘A-players’ to the Dealership
Richard developed this process in his own dealership because he was sick and tired of hiring the cast-offs from other dealerships, and knew there had to be a better way.
Here are the steps you need to follow when hiring your next employee:
1. Look for people with transferable skills and a great attitude: At Richard’s dealership, management brought in people from other retail industries and trained them for the dealership specifically which proved far more effective in terms of employee loyalty and performance.
2. Host a telephone screen interview to save time and money: Once a potential candidate has been identified, arrange a 15-minute chat on the phone in order to get a feel for the person, and see if they’d be a good fit.
3. Conduct the first in-person interview with a third party: very difficult for one person to interview one-on-one, ask questions, listen, and make notes/evaluations – a lot to keep track of for one person. bring in more people to divide up the task
4. Personality profile or DISC: What Richard describes as the ‘secret sauce’, is 
personality profiles. They are so accurate that it would be negligent not to use them. Candidates who interview well, will then take a DISC test to determine their personality, motivations, and help the company identify good follow-up questions, thus creating a short-list of people to interview for the second time.
5. Conduct the second interview with a manager: Richard believes that the second interview should involve the potential employee’s immediate superior. They are the ones that the candidate will ultimately be reporting to.
6. Ask for references: While it is easy to ignore this step, it is crucial for an employer to her from the candidate’s former employer or co-worker.
7. Make the job offer: An offer would be made at the second interview according to Bryan. The first interview is dedicated to each party selling themselves to one another, but after being fully vetted, the second interview becomes the offer.
