The success of your business hinges on the quality of your staff.
But recruitment can feel daunting: how do we find candidates who align with our values and mission?
And if we bring someone on board, how do we know that they’re going to be a good fit with our clients, the rest of the team, and ourselves?
Your staff are the face of your gym, shaping the experiences of your clients and influencing the overall success of your business.
The key to effective recruitment is to create a systematic, thorough process that puts new recruits through their paces. The recruitment process also ensures that your new staff are equipped with the knowledge, skills, and motivation to excel in their roles – driving customer satisfaction and loyalty.
Here are some important milestones in that process.
1. Recruit proactively, not reactively
Start the recruitment process before there’s an urgent need for more staff.
If you don’t, you’ll find yourself hurrying through the recruitment process to get the candidate in the job and working before they’re ready for it. This leads to substandard performance, stressed employees, and stressed you.
2. Contract with your recruit
Once you’ve found someone that you feel will be an asset to your business, sign them up for the recruitment process. Make sure to tell them how the process will unfold from the get-go, and get their signed commitment to the task.
3. Immerse them
Unless time is really tight, we like a new candidate to spend four weeks in the business as a member. This allows them to get a really good sense of what your business is all about. Ideally, they should get to see operations from the clients’ perspective, learning without the pressure of performing.
It’s a crucial stage in checking the candidate’s “fit” with your business – the people, the place, and the product – as well as their personal and professional values. For both you and them, it’s a chance to test the waters before jumping in. During this period, you can observe the candidate and get feedback both from them and about them – from the rest of the team and your members.
4. Develop them
The next stage continues to test the fit, while involving the recruit in the day-to-day realities of the business. In our approach, we bring the recruit in for fifteen hours a week to work with our coaching team. This time is unpaid and represents a valuable sixty hours of free OPD (ongoing professional development) for the recruit. It’s an important step in testing their commitment to the role, and their engagement with the business.
During this stage, they should have clear tasks to complete – such as a presentation to the team on what they’ve learned, and helping with coaching clients under the eye of a more experienced coach. They should also take part in regular team meetings.
5. Sign them up
At this point, if both you and the recruit think it’ll be a good match, you can offer them a job. Make the terms of this relationship clear in writing so everyone knows where they stand. In our process, we share an offer letter, job description, contract, and staff handbook that have to be signed. These leave no grey areas in the contracting process – and cover your tail in case of any HR issues down the road.
6. Give them a final check
It’s generally a good idea to include a probation period in any job contract. We have our new employees on trial for twelve weeks as junior coaches before we make their contract permanent. This allows us to see how they react after the initial honeymoon period is over. It also gives them the chance to pull out if they realise it’s not the right place for them.
The key to doing the recruitment process right is to take your time. If you need a new team member in a hurry, you can compress the timeline process and accelerate their onboarding onto the gym floor. But you should still cover these important pillars to make an informed decision – and get your recruit in the best position for success.
We’re not feeding the “hire and fire” mentality here. We’re looking for serious individuals who we’re willing to invest time and effort into, making them a valuable long term-asset to the business.