Business matters
Hire Slow, Fire Fast 10 tips For Successful Interviewing By Doug Emerson If you are like many professional horsemen
on time, or late for the interview? Late
her to work, or you go through the day run-
and horsewomen, finding the right people
arrivals are often backed by good excuses:
ning on one less cylinder.
to help you in your business is one of your
“heavy traffic, difficulty finding the place,
biggest challenges. That’s partly because
drop children off, etc.” These are the same
4. Look for life in the eyes - good eye
candidates with horse experience are lim-
excuses you’ll probably hear every day from
contact, enthusiasm and energy. And while
ited, the rate of pay in the equine industry
the applicant once hired. If you expect
the following is not absolute, it’s worthy of
is low in comparison to other industries and
punctuality every day, lack of it at the in-
your careful observation. Research suggests
much of the work is unsupervised requiring
terview may be a deal breaker.
when a right handed person is remembering details, their eyes move up and to their left.
employees with good work habits. 2. Is the applicant dressed in a way that
When someone is making something up,
A resume, job application and a short inter-
is acceptable to you for your business im-
their eyes move to the right and down. It’s
view will tell you only part of the story
age? If unconventional body piercings-of-
usually opposite for left handers. There is
about an employee candidate.
fensive tattoos and sloppy general appear-
research available on the internet describ-
ance don’t bother you or your customers, no
ing eye movement and body language asso-
You know what I mean if you’ve ever had
need to worry. If they do, keep in mind you
ciated with lying and telling the truth that
your promising new hire show up for work
are probably seeing the best image of the
may be helpful to you.
on Monday morning and you find out that
candidate at the interview.
not only did the name on the job application
5. Bad mouthing and negative com-
and the face from the interview show up, a
ments - past employers, industry, rela-
whole person came along as well with a life
tionships, family, excessive bad luck. If you
history of good and bad habits.
hear too much of it in the candidate interview, you’ll be forever hearing it from the employee.
There are many books and articles written every year on the subject of hiring. Read
6. How many days off, benefits, what’s
one, or skim several to expand your skills.
the pay? If too many questions like these But, like most things, experience is the
come early in the interview, you know that
best teacher on the practice of hiring good
Johnny is all about his Paycheck.
people. 7. Lack of enthusiasm for horses and or Experience has taught me that the follow-
animals in general. Captain Obvious says
ing points are important to consider in your
this could be a problem.
interview process. They’re in random order 8. Messy car - no science or research backs
and may seem blatantly obvious. But, like a horse with her ears pinned flat on her neck,
3. Does the candidate have reliable
this up, but I got in the habit of walking a
the obvious is still worthy of your attention.
transportation? You know what happens
candidate to their vehicle to have a peek at
when a worker is a no-show. You either find
the car. Back seats littered with adult bever-
a way to pick up the employee to get him or
age cans and fast food wrappers, duct taped
1. Does the applicant show up early,
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Summer 2021 | Riding Instructor
