JimmyCast

Podcast: How to Find Good People and Avoid Employee Nightmares

And, by the way, why can’t millennials fill out job applications?

Published

5 years ago

January 25, 2019

Jimmy DeGroot

Or listen on your favorite podcasting platform with our RSS link.

HIRING. IT’S ONE of the most important things you do. Hiring the right person can lift your store into the stratosphere; hiring the wrong one can drag you into Dante’s 7th circle of hell.

Finding and hiring people who can become high-quality employees is the topic under discussion in the third episode of INSTORE’s new podcast series, JimmyCast, from jewelry-store trainer Jimmy DeGroot, along with co-host Doug Meadows of David Douglas Diamonds in Marietta, GA.

Some of the topics covered in the podcast:

Why people today can’t fill out job applications
Why restaurant servers are often great candidates to attract into the jewelry business.
Doug shares how he has found some of his employees. These include Craigslist, spreading the word amongst friends, hiring a family member (who didn’t have a choice); and several from Facebook. Doug has even used divine intervention, praying for a good employee to arrive at a critical moment. (Guess what? It worked.)
How Jimmy took a coffee-shop barista and turned her into a half-million-a-year seller.
One question Doug used to weed out applicants for available jewelry sales positions: “If we had two positions available — one in the backroom, working with inventory, and one out on the floor, working with customers, which would you prefer?” He was surprised to see that numerous people who, we want to remind you, were applying for a sales position, said that they would far prefer the back-room job. “You don’t even call those back,” says Doug.
When it’s appropriate to use a headhunter.
Why it’s almost always smart to hire a good candidate even if you’re not looking for someone new.
Is it smart — or not — to hire your good customers?

Why This Jeweler Chose Wilkerson

Mark Lauer is the owner of Mark Michael Diamond Designs, the Minnesota-based jewelry gallery known for exceptional and uniquely designed diamond jewelry. Though he loved creating the beautiful jewelry his business was known for, retirement was an exciting alternative to the 60+ hours a week he’d spent building it up. He called Wilkerson to help with a retirement sale. “I did talk to two other companies, but I just didn’t feel they offered the same services that Wilkerson did,” he says. “I knew Wilkerson had the expertise to follow through and give me the service and results that I wanted. They’re the number one rock stars in this industry.”