During a recent conversation with a service manager at a high volume import store we had a discussion about how hard it is to get the right front line team assembled to handle the expected needs of todays customer. Currently faced with need to replace three of his eight service advisors, the next thirty minutes quickly became about where to find the right person and what skills are best suited to blend well with the existing team and not bring any excesses baggage.

The service manager has taken over the roll close to six months ago and the toughest part of his job has been to put the “right” person in the right place and he quickly found out that there has been little to no premium put on growing your staff by training and mentoring. Simply put when the time was needed to promote from within he had no one on deck that would be able to step up to the plate and start swinging. Typically there is a porter, lot tech or internal service advisor that has been in training for the next step up ladder and in this store that was not part of the DNA. They simply have hired people to fill positions instead of hiring for the future.

For the next entry-level position vacancy you should be hiring the person that has goals and aspirations to run the dealership. Unfortunately the biggest mistake is simply finding the person that can do the job, onboard them and move on. This typically happens because you lack the resources to devote more time to it and the positions needed to be filled immediately.

A few months ago I read an article about Southwest airlines. This article talked about their company culture and the point that stuck out to me was that last year they filled 4,500 positions and the staggering part was they had 150,000 applicants. I put it in simple terms for the hiring service manager; this means that he should have over a hundred applicants to fill these 3 positions.

If you want to hire the best-of-the-best I would simply look and have a conversation about the candidates goals. Sure qualifications and skills have a vital role but when you ask someone about their goals you are able to determine what drives the candidate and where they see themselves in the future, really do their aspirations line up with your organizations goals. If those two lines up then you have a person that you can put in place, provide support and training and then the individual thrive when given the opportunity. Think of it this way; what people know is less important than who they are.

When hiring for attitude here are a few things you should be looking for.

• Coachability – can the new hire accept critical feedback?
• Temperament – is the new hire personality best suited for the tasks of the job?
• Ownership – can the new hire take ownership of a problem and run with it?
• Ambitious – does your new hire have goals to grow and become a leader?