sportstyle

Independent Retailers Weigh in with Best Practices on Hiring Employees. By Bob McGee S ecuring new employees hasn't been an easy task for years, well before the start of the Covid-19 pandemic. Low unem- ployment rates and high demand for able, qualified bodies in a multitude of industries has given potential new hires leverage and has been particularly challenging to small and mid-sized businesses — particularly in the past two years. With the economy now shiing down a bit, perhaps heading toward recessionary times, the balance of power may soon be moving back to employers. Nonetheless, best hiring practices remain vital to small and independent retailers regardless of the economic climate. Sportstyle reached out for tips in hiring and polled several independent shoe and run specialty shops to get their respective takes on the issue. e retail insights ranged from focusing more on "aligned values" and "culture fit" to finding employees with the basic, but much-needed traits of being "willing to work" and having a "positive attitude." It also included one shop that informs its local Run Club members when positions are available. And other stores who suggest focusing on what your store has to offer to a potential employee as much as what the employee has to offer to the store. A key takeaway: an employee's personality is as important as their previous on-the-job experience in many cases. "For many years we focused our hiring practices exclusively on finding people with experience in footwear retail or high end retail sales. is generally provided us people that were quick to plug in because they required minimum training. We have evolved that practice in response to the changes in the workplace and the challenges with hiring in general. We now focus more on finding applicants that align with our values as an orga- nization. We put a lot of energy into having clearly defined values and have found it to be success- ful in hiring and retaining great employees. is method requires us to lean more into each individual and provide them with extra guid- ance and support but ultimately leads to a stronger overall team." — Dillon Dardano, Dardano's Shoes "We typically invite potential new hires in for two short sessions as a shadow day. is allows them to see what it's actually like working at RUNdetroit and also allows us to do more of a working interview and see how they get along with other staff. No training is involved. is is strictly understanding the culture that we are trying to foster. is method has allowed us to really HOW RETAILERS FIND THE RIGHT EMPLOYEES 20 • July/August 2022 sportstyle • sportstylemag.com Retailers Share Insight on Finding the Right Employees. RETAIL HIRING ADVICE FROM THE SHOP FLOOR

• Cover