Hiring Great (and Not-so-Great) Staff (1149 words)
By Susan J. McIntyre
Catalogers have a uniquely tough time when hiring employees, because good cataloging requires several skills that many people don't have — skills like math.
"I can't figure out this math problem," said the designer, a recent college graduate with a good GPA.
"Well, I hope I can help," I said doubtfully. Math classes were far in my past.
He placed a sheet of paper in front of me. "The regular price of this item is $40, and there's a 10-percent off sale. So how do I calculate the new price?"
Catalog math isn't that advanced. But spend an afternoon calculating breakeven on a catalog with 200 SKUs, or building a circulation plan and sales projections for a catalog with seven drops and five versions, and most people will say cataloging can be math-intensive.
This poses a problem when you're hiring, because the sad fact is, a vast number of people can't do arithmetic — including many college graduates.
The solution? Give all job applicants a simple math test. You'll feel a bit embarrassed at first, as if you're asking them if they know how to breathe. But as the number of applicants who fail the test keeps growing, you'll soon realize how important it is.
Educating Graduates
"I'm leaving," she said.
I'd hired this woman straight out of college just two years ago. She'd done an excellent job.
"What's happened?" I asked in alarm, visions of an employee lawsuit flashing through my mind. "You've got a great salary, interesting work, you're learning from the best in the business, you like your co-workers — this is exactly the job your college major prepared you for. Why are you leaving?"
She gazed earnestly at me. "I just don't feel passionately about cataloging," she said.
Hiring recent graduates is tempting for most catalogers, because they work for less, and catalog budgets are always tight. But hiring a new graduate for a position that requires prolonged, on-the-job training is a gamble, because many will leave before they become productive.
Now when I hire a new college graduate, I wrap up my "Welcome aboard!" speech by saying, "You're going to learn about two important things here: cataloging and life. Please understand, life isn't my fault."
Life is a lot tougher than school. No matter how hard they hit the books, recent graduates seldom are prepared for the grittiness of ordinary business.
For a while I believed a solution might be to provide dream jobs — extra flexibility in hours, a lot of opportunity for training, a lot of variety in the work. But I soon realized that doesn't help. Recent graduates have no basis for comparison except school, and compared with school, even the dreamiest job is pretty grim.
I have yet to find a solution to this problem. But my advice for now: Don't build a hiring program that involves a long period of training before new graduates can become productive. You may fail to reap any reward from your investment.
Look for Clues
I looked again at the computer screen. "You've included all the SKUs," I said. "And the font's OK. The color accuracy is good. And the trim margin is correct. All in all, this technically is a sound spread. There's just one problem."
The designer looked puzzled. "What's that?"
"It's ugly as sin," I said.
One of the tougher challenges you'll face as a cataloger is hiring someone to fill a position that requires good aesthetic judgment.
Most people believe they have good taste — by which they mean they have aesthetic opinions. They like some things and dislike others.
But that's not the point. You need on your staff someone who consistently can identify looks that the majority of your customers will find appealing. This aesthetic judge needn't personally like these looks, but simply be able to identify them and guide your creative team to achieve them.
How can you identify/hire such a person? One of the best clues I've come up with is how the job applicant dresses. Look for someone who has a sensitivity to aesthetics of all kinds, and I've found that such people generally do a good job of "putting themselves together." Whatever personal styles they adopt (and I've seen them adopt all kinds, from wacky to button down), they'll do it with a deft eye for color coordination, style and flair. When they walk in, you'll feel that they simply look good, almost striking, in a way that has nothing to do with their bodies and everything to do with their outfits, makeup, hair and accessories.
Of course, I'm not advocating that you discriminate against applicants based on their looks. But I do breathe a sigh of relief when a person who looks striking walks in — they're uncommon and worth searching for.
Teaching Versus TV
This job applicant had presented himself so well. He was well-spoken, well-dressed, bright, quick and had great verbal skills. I felt slightly embarrassed as I reached the final step of the interview: my "list lesson."
I give each applicant a short, simple lesson on mailing lists, and then ask him or her to teach it back to me.
I ran quickly through the lesson, then said, "As I explained at the start, I'd like you to teach that back to me. You probably won't need your notes, but use them if you like."
The young man gazed up at me, smiled and said, "Sorry, I was thinking about something else."
Many years ago, you could glance at job applicants' clothing, listen to one sentence out of their mouths, and come away with a pretty good idea of how sharp they were. Not today.
I think TV has made the difference. Everyone watches it, and as a result, everyone learns to speak glibly, to dress presentably and to move appropriately. So from a hiring standpoint, when you call people in for interviews, you'll be presented with an endless sequence of applicants young and old who dress well, move well, speak well and make a good first impression. And none of that will give you the slightest clue as to their competence, intelligence or diligence. It only means they've watched enough TV.
So to hire well, you have to dig deeper, which is why I invented my simple list lesson noted above. It's an intelligence test (really, a little memorization, a bit of organization, learning and recalling a few new concepts).
I've found the results profound. Many people utterly fall to pieces, to their surprise as much as to mine. Often I've been convinced an applicant is worth hiring until this simple little test laid them low.
If you devise such a lesson for your interviews, build it from elements that your applicants will actually need to know on the job. You'll get a better read on whether they have the specific kinds of intelligence they'll need in your organization.
Susan McIntyre is president of McIntyre Direct, a full-service catalog agency and consulting firm based in Portland, OR. She can be reached at (503) 286-1400.