A Good Dilemma

Tracy and I finished round two of job interviews tonight. We obtained quite a few excellent applications via our Craigslist ad. We narrowed that down to six interviews and set them up. We had one excellent prospect yesterday, and two above average prospects. One of our interviews for tonight was cancelled. He had to leave unexpectedly for Florida and will be back in three weeks. The other two were both excellent. So our good dilemma is that we were interviewing for one definite position, and wound up with three outstanding prospects. We have a gut feeling that we will have a daytime slot open soon, so it would not hurt for us to hire for two positions.

Tracy and I agree that we should hire Megan for our open position. It will be a closing position, and will include responsibilities of insuring the store is closed properly (everything clean/stocked), counting out the cash drawer, as well as the typical customer service. But wait, we have an added bonus here... Megan just graduated with a BS in Photography! How incredible is that, considering we happen to have a fully equipped photography studio on site?? I just recently mentioned in the blog that I would like to begin advertising the studio, setting appointments, and contracting out the photo sessions to one of my pro friends. Bringing Megan onboard would fill our need for Nemo's, and I can work out a deal with her to help get the Nautilus Photography going as well. I have a family portrait session on Saturday morning. I invited Megan to come and be involved in that session, and asked her to bring her portfolio for review as well. Some might say a situation like this is coincidence, but we have had too many absolutely perfect coincidences occur at just the right time. I believe that God is looking out for us and is providing solutions as needed. The more that Tracy and I relinquish control and have faith that God will provide, the more often that a perfect solution comes along right when we need it. We do have an amazing God! Anyway, Tracy is calling Megan back tonight to offer her a position, and to ask if she can come in for her first training shift tomorrow!

That leaves two other excellent candidates. They both have very magnetic personalities, meaning that they are very easy to interact with, and are very friendly. Many people can decide to be friendly and interactive, but these two are that way naturally. Both have experience in restaurant/food establishments. We will probably choose one of them to start part time, offering them additional hours as an incentive if they out-perform our other staff. I don't know if that sounds cut-throat to you, but we have a looming issue that is a potential problem, and bringing on a second new hire to prepare for that would be wise on our part. Since we do not have the labor budget to carry two people for one time slot, the competition aspect of it will help us decide who to keep if the potential problem does not materialize. I love competition, but Tracy is more concerned about this issue than me. The way I see it, we have built our reputation on the highest quality product, and the highest quality customer service. I think we need to have the best staff possible to continue with that goal of exceptional experiences at Nemo's. I'll keep you posted as to how things pan out over the next several weeks.

As for the third potential hire, we will ask them if we can keep their application on file for our next opening, or to add an additional staff member as needed for growth. I wish we could hire all three right now, but the budget just doesn't allow it.

Time to get to work...
Later,
JD