Hiring temporary foreign workers: What you need to know
There are three ways in which Canadian franchises can...
Look for Skills and Not Experience
When you are a new Canadian franchisee and hiring employees for the first time, it's likely your first steps will be to look at the resume and other professional profiles of the applicants to see how well their experience matches what you need. This is a logical approach to hiring, but with the way skills are evolving in positions today, only focusing on previous experience can land you with a skills gap in your business. Hiring for skill instead is often the better long-term bet, but it can be tough to go against the experience grain.
To ensure you know the "right" employee when you see them, consider the tips below to hire for skill.
Don't make it all about the current culture
It is natural to want to hire someone who fits into your franchise's culture, and while that is certainly an important factor, you should also consider what a "fit" will look like five years from now and not just today. This is particularly important for a newer franchisee with a young or just-opening business. Your business will keep evolving over time, so how you go about acquiring talent should, too.
Boost your assessment skills
Knowing how to assess applicants for the skill sets you want based on their results and accomplishments is crucial to a skill-based hiring approach. Consider the skills the applicant has shown and get a better understanding of what they've learned from their experiences. You can do this by being an active listener instead of just responding.
Go beyond the data
Tech tools are great for parsing resumes and other profiles. You can use them to search for keywords related to the skills you're interested in and to keep yourself organized. Don't, however, rely solely on these tools for your search and evaluation. You'll need to dig a little deeper here.
With a better understanding of what you need from each role in your franchise today--and how fast roles may evolve--you will be better able to find good candidates who will turn into dependable employees who usher your business into a successful future. It may be difficult at first to look at experience but then move onto skills as your focus, but as you get better at this, you'll find hiring to be a much smoother process with a better outcome than before.
