by Abe Sherman – CEO, BIG – Buyers Intelligence Group
July 12, 2022

We can’t find good people! This isn’t a new assertion of course, but lately it seems I’ve been hearing it a lot more. They are out there, I promise them. How do we find them? They always ask.

Sure, put an ad on Indeed or a We’re Hiring! on LinkedIn, but that’s not how you find them. You have to literally, find them. The good news – they are there, they are all over the place, but they are not walking into your jewelry store because they are intimidated by our business. Since they know nothing about jewelry and gemstones, they are not likely to expect to get a job with you.

But what they really don’t know is that they would be an awesome addition to your staff. Here’s the rub – they are out there and you want to hire them, but you have to find each other. So, go find them!

Hire the person, the one with the personality that lights up the room. The one who looks like she is paying attention to everything going on around her but is still focused on you. The one who has the confidence in the way he carries himself. The one whom you want to buy from. They are out there.

Will you have to spend a lot of time going from store to store in every mall in your marketplace? Yes, you will. Will you have to visit every furniture store, makeup department and showroom within 10 miles of your store? Yes, you will. Are you going to be disappointed and frustrated by some with their lack of focus, lack of interest, lack of personality? Again, yes, you will be. But that’s because you are going to looking for that one person who has the right ingredients to be a part of your team. That one person who has that certain something that cannot be taught by you or read about in a book.

You are looking for bright, curious people who would fit your culture. Hopefully you have a good starting point with your existing staff that would embrace an additional team member (but if you don’t, you have other issues to deal with).

It doesn’t matter how long it takes. It doesn’t matter how many hours you have to spend on how many outings. What matters is that you get out there and find them. The expression, Always Be Recruiting should be an integral part of your job – I would argue it’s one of your most important jobs, which is to build a great team. Let’s just call it your most important job. We can talk about inventory management and financial management all day long – but if you want a successful business, you need to build a great team.

Get out there. Start today, tonight, on the days you are closed. See who’s working nights and weekends at every store and restaurant around. Yes, you’re going to meet dozens or even hundreds of people who are going to be quite bland or outright frustrating – but so what, it’s your job to find the one gem in the bunch. Or, as the expression goes, you’re going to have to kiss a lot of frogs until you find your prince.