Did you know that more than half of applicants lie or distort information on their application?

Finding the right people for the job, no matter what position or business, is often frustrating, time consuming, and painful. Either you’re getting a lot of interest, but no one seems to be the right fit or you need to fill the job fast and feeling pressure to just make a decision, or the instincts you rely on are raising flags, but you can’t put your finger on why.

Even what seems to be an easy job to fill are often some of the most important people you will hire. They impact your every day operations behind the scenes in the winery and in the tasting room. While hiring the right people for large businesses is important, in a small business it’s critical. In a winery, everyone makes a difference from the greeter in your tasting room to the cellar hand in the back. I’ve heard some interesting stories from owners along the way too. Here’s a few examples

1. One of the tasting room staff starts skimming cash out of the register.
2. The cellar hand hired doesn’t have the right mindset and soon starts skipping a step of sanitizing the hose, which introduces bacteria into the batch of wine, turning it to vinegar.
3. An employee simply is not a good fit for the other employees, soon becoming disgruntled. When the state or federal alcohol bureau stops by for inspection, the employee smuggles a bottle of liquor in for the inspector to find.
4. You hire someone to work in the tasting room and they end up being crass or rude to your customers.

So, what’s the solution? You’ve got to hire someone if you have any ambitions of having a day off!

Put into place a proven hiring process.

One way you can do this is by using a hiring consultant. And one of the most important aspects to put into practice is to use a hiring assessment tool, one that is comprehensive, covering integrity, reliability, thinking style, personality traits, and consistency of responses during the assessment.

Looking above at the problems identified, how does the assessment tool help?

1. Theft: A good assessment tool at the core should evaluate the level of integrity of the people. That is typically done by asking questions at different levels of integrity, from using company equipment for personal use without permission, up to questions like “borrowing” money from the register or observing others taking money and not reporting it.
2. Manageability: This if often thought of as an employee’s willingness to take direction, but it is also a measure of the employee’s belief in following the process set forth by management. Will they still follow the process, whether they understand it or believe it to be necessary?
3. Work Ethics: Someone who is assessed for having a good attitude and higher propensity to trust will be less likely to become disgruntled and sabotage the business.
4. Courtesy & Tact: Identify this before hiring a person that is in contact with your customers.

In addition to these general assessments that impact all positions, there are specific assessments to target specific positions such as selling, delivery, customer service, etc. The the most effective way to do this is to use a hiring consultant who will work with you to create a hiring system utilizing an assessment tool for anyone going through the hiring process. The winery owner and other management should take the test as well to define your personality styles, thus enabling you to see who you may work best with. A good assessment tool will provide you interview questions that really matter for the job. For several years I have worked with Jeannette Seibly who has been working with businesses for over 25 years, setting them up for success in recruiting, interviewing and hiring the right people, and I’ve worked with her for several years and she’s saved me many headaches!

Note, this assessment is not separate. It is not the decision maker. It needs to be incorporated into the entire process. AND it does not remove the need for a background check. And a background check does not remove the need for assessment. Someone can have the tendency to be a thief and just never get caught. Someone could show up with scores that look good and yet, have been disruptive in a previous environment.

We’ve found putting a simple assessment consisting of integrity, substance abuse, reliability and work ethic in the application stage automatically eliminates 7% who are least likely to be a fit before you even take the time to speak with them. In our case, the initial results from the assessment combined with the application was enough information to further reduce 90% of the applicants from consideration. 1 in 10 people are actually interviewed and the information provided allows for effective interviews.

Finding and hiring the right people can only happen if the whole system is in place.

1. Write accurate job descriptions reflecting the position, the winery, and the people.
2. Post the jobs in the most effective places.
3. Ask the right questions during the interview.
4. Use an assessment tool for personality style and performance.
5. Request they complete a task or project in advance of hiring or hire them for a trial period first.

As a small business hiring the right people for your winery is crucial. While it may cost you a little bit of money up front to put a system in place, in the long run it will save time, money and effort, and potentially save you from a major catastrophe in your business.