Retailers often have high turnover rates, particularly if they employ students to help out around the store. For this reason, it's essential that business owners know how to conduct a successful interview to draw in employees that will not only make work a pleasant experience, but also help move items off shelves and into wholesale shopping bags.
What to look for in a resume
The first impression an employee will give you comes when you receive his or her resume. In addition to looking for experience, you should screen to see if the applicant has put care and time into the document. Typos, missing information or hard-to-read fonts are all signs that an applicant is probably not detailed-oriented, and may not have a good grasp on aesthetics. If a person can't tidy up his or her resume, how can you expect he or she will keep your store racks and shelving neat and clean?
You should also scrutinize the resume for any information that seems sketchy. Was there a long break in employment? Has the person only stayed at his or her previous jobs for a few weeks or month? These aren't necessarily signs that you scratch the candidate from your list, but it's definitely something to bring up during the interview.
A creative and worthwhile interview
During the actual interview, you should try to ascertain how much research your candidate has done by asking about your store. You may even want to take the individual out on the floor and ask them to talk about specific products. Watch to see how comfortable the candidate is talking about your goods.
In addition to asking questions, you should give the candidate a rundown of what types of tasks he or she will be responsible for. Leave plenty of time for questions, so that if you do hire the individual, he or she will be prepared on the first day of work.
