sportstyle

To get the right people you have to compensate them [well], especially in this hiring environment. We put a lot of energy into having clearly defined values and have found it to be successful in hiring and retaining great employees. We let our Run Club members know we are hiring. I had two great candidates apply that we are lucky to have employed with us today! Ultimately, we believe that we can teach anybody how to talk about/ sell shoes. We can't teach people how to be good listeners, connect with others, or have an eagerness to help. weed out people who look good on paper but would not be a good fit over the long term. Once we hire a new staff member, we put them through an initial 40 hours of training that is somewhat light on processes and procedures. It's more focused on the customer experience, the culture, and critical thinking for problem solving. e second 40 hours is focused on the ins and outs of procedures. All in all, I would say that our method has been extremely successful. So suc- cessful that we've not actually hired anybody in a little over two and a half years." — Justin Craig, RUNdetroit "e best way we find people is from employee referrals or people we might know in the industry. If the new employee stays six months we give our current employee $500. If the new staffer stays a full year, the current employee gets another $500. And all of our sales associates are on commission vs. hourly, which- ever is more. To get the right people you have to compensate them, es- pecially in this hiring environment. e minimum employees make here is $20 per hour, but none of our associates are currently making that as they are all making signifi- cantly more. We also give them bonus opportunities based on sell- ing multiple items, accessories etc., and offer a benefit plan that rivals most other employers. Making a good impression on the candidate during the interview is crucial. It's important to help land the hire you want, but word will get around if candidates aren't pleased with the hiring process, affecting all future hiring prospects. ese days, people aren't afraid to warn others about bad experiences with compa- nies on social media. As far as the type of people we look for, it's mostly about their personality and less about out what type of experience in this industry they might have had. We can train them how to sell shoes, but if you don't have the right attitude or personality traits then you won't be successful here. Shoe experience is certainly helpful and makes the on- boarding process easier, but some of our best employees didn't have any shoe experience before they started working here." — Michael Wittenstein, Karavel Shoes "We have used a few different practices that have enabled us to staff our two locations in Bluon and Hilton Head, SC. e first practice is to make sure that we let our members who participate in our weekly Run Club events know we are hiring. I had two great can- didates apply that we are lucky to have employed with us today! ey also tell their family members who may be looking for employment to apply. Secondly, we have referral cards for our employees to give to friends, customers they feel would fit into our culture at PRC. We do use that as an incentive, we will reward the employee if we hire the applicant they referred. It has given us another amazing staff member. Finally, our student ath- letes who shop at our store are a perfect source of hiring. ey know us and have a general understand- ing of the products. is landed us one of the best employees we have today." — Tammy Zito, Palmetto Running Co. "At Beck's Shoes we don't neces- sarily focus on work experience, we focus on applicants that have the willingness to learn and project positivity that will contribute to the overall work environment… With the hiring market being as challenging as it is currently, appli- cants are on the hunt for the right culture. It is up to us as employers to create a true family felt envi- ronment which ultimately retains applicants once they are hired." — Markus Lopez, VP of Sales, Beck Shoes "Shoe Fly has always maintained a philosophy of being open minded when sifting through job applicants. Many people in our industry want to see 'shoe experi- ence' or at least 'retail experience.' We don't view any of that as being overly important or necessary when considering someone for a job at Shoe Fly. Some of Shoe Fly's best hires have been people who had never sat on a fitting stool or sold a shoe their entire lives before they came and worked for the company. The culture at each of our stores is built on 'The Shoe Fly Way.' You don't learn 'The Shoe Fly Way' by working at Dick's, Nordstrom, or Macy's. We want our new hires to come in as a blank canvas and embrace our unique/thor- ough customer service model… Ultimately, we believe that we can teach anybody how to talk about/ sell shoes. We can't teach people how to be good listeners, connect with others, or have an eagerness to help. We are open minded when we look through resumes because the qualities that are most important to a Shoe Fly new hire don't show up on paper — they show up once you engage in conversation. — Mark Wagner, Shoe Fly n 22 • July/August 2022 sportstyle • sportstylemag.com RETAIL

• Cover