HR

Early into our second full week of business it became apparent to us that we had underestimated the number of team members that we needed to operate Fox Valley Center. It was time to hire…and hire quickly! I found a quiet corner in the back of the restaurant, called a number of prospective team members, and then proceeded to conduct over 40 interviews this week alone (no lie!). It is my philosophy that hiring quality people and training them properly is more important than anything when assembling a team. Because of this philosophy, I was determined to find quality people and not just warm bodies to get us through a short period.

We had the pleasure of having a couple of operators help us out this past week, including Jason Ramsey. Jason is passionate about the hiring process and had a lot of valuable information and tips to share with me during the interview – and training – process.

One tip that I really liked is to start the interview with a short story about my journey with Chick-fil-A. This helps relax the interviewee and results in more honest answers (and less canned responses).

Another tactic that I had never thought to do in an interview is to test the interviewee throughout the course of the interview. For example, if I “accidentally” drop my pen while talking and the prospective team member does not even flinch to pick it up, chances are that she will not pick up a cup in the parking lot on her way in to work.

Overall the week was a success…we ended up hiring 16 new team members who we are VERY excited about and the amount of information that I was able to learn from Jason and the other operators this week was amazing!