Personal Fitness Professional - March 2008 - (Page 22) culture. Personality is key to success and perhaps no more so than in the personal trainer relationship with the client. Successful companies will allocate additional financial resources for the recruiting process. Running an ad in the local newspaper will no longer work. Exhausting the Internet (88% of Americans are online), word-of-mouth, internships and becoming an employer-ofchoice are just the beginning steps for acquiring top talent. Use the Internet and the telephone to quickly weed out the applicants who are clearly not viable candidates. Verification of minimum requirements and checking for red flags is essential at this step. Don’t waste time on applicants who do not meet your criteria. Use of an approved state and federal compliant application form is critical. Don’t assume everything in the resume is the truth. Completion of the application, a legal document, not only brings out important information that may be missing from the resume, but it is also an opportunity to check spelling and grammar. The application should include a release to conduct reference checks and a warning that background checks will also be conducted. track. Ask all the applicants the same questions so you get “apples to apples” comparisons. Record the responses for use in the decision process. Watch out for the tendency to rely on first impressions. Conduct tests to measure math aptitude, comprehension and on-the-job skills. So much knowledge is required to succeed in your industry that applicants must have higher levels of intelligence. Additional assessments to determine such things as personality fit, emotional intelligence, sales abilities or other characteristics are given at this juncture of the process. Knowledge of fitness skills and tools should also be demonstrated. Step 3: Recruit Step 7: Test Step 4: Pre-screen Step 8: Reference check Step 5: Employment application Reference checks will enable you to verify the information in the resume, application and interviews and gain additional insight into previous employment behaviors of the applicants. Make sure that you get professional references, such as former employers or managers. Don’t settle for the accolades of friends and relatives. Objectively evaluate all of the qualified applicants against the hiring criteria. Create a matrix to rank-order each candidate so you can select the best one. Make a verbal offer, but immediately follow up with a full written offer, including all details of the offer and any Step 9: Hiring decision Step 6: Structured interview Prepare for this event. Know the right questions to ask, and do not hesitate to use a script to keep on Step 10: Make an offer PFP’S WEBSITE HAS BEEN ENHANCED ACCORDING TO YOUR NEEDS NOW YOU CAN: View material fit to your career level: ENTREPRENEUR, CAREER-BUILDER or JUMP-START ›› Submit original articles ›› Apply to be on the cover ›› Communicate with the pros ›› Access articles from past issues and e-newsletters ›› Test yourself by taking the quiz of the month ›› And much, much more! PFP’S GO NE READ TH E INTERA CTIVE MAGAZIN E ONLINE AT WWW.FIT -PRO DIGITAL .COM! CHECK OUT WWW.FIT-PRO.COM & SUBSCRIBE ONLINE 22 [HELPING YOU PROSPER AS A FITNESS PROFESSIONAL] MARCH2008 · WWW.FIT-PRO.COM http://WWW.FIT-PRO.COM http://WWW.FIT-PRO.COM http://WWW.FIT-PRO.COM
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