10 Things We Look For When Hiring New Team Members

You always here the saying that “good help is hard to find”. And to some degree it is true. We literally screen nearly 100 applicants for each new Better Life Maid that we hire. We actually use our CORE values to look for great traits when hiring new team members. It is amazing when you find just the right candidate who possesses most if not all of our CORE values and demonstrates them well during the screening process. These future Better Life Maids are rock stars of our company, because they understand that Better Life Maids success will lead to greater opportunities for them as well.

1. DELIVER WOW! It may sound cliche, but our best Better Life Maids are concerned with going above and beyond for our clients. During the interview process we ask them about a time they have gone above and beyond for a customer. Most people can’t cite a specific example because they only do the bare minimum. However the ones that we choose can distinctly recall a time that they delivered an exceptional customer experience. The truth is the best candidates have extremely high personal standards, and all we need to do is set them loose with the stated goal do doing whatever it takes to make a client happy.

2. BELIEVE. Great employees have a strong developed sense of self. They believe in themselves and their ability to be great. They also believe that their work matters and they are part of building something.

3. CREATE FUN. We like to have fun at Better Life Maids and look for people who have fun or interesting hobbies to join our team. We also look for people that exude positive energy and can use that do deal with stressful situations as they arrive. So much of any employees success with us comes down to attitude.

4. INTEGRITY MATTERS. Integrity is really not something we are willing to train into our employees. In fact we do a lot of screening and testing to see if a candidate meets our rigorous standards. You can’t take any short cuts here. Better Life Maids have to be able to tell it like it is. It hurts our team if we have to find out they made a mistake from a client, before they tell us and give us the opportunity to make things right. One thing we teach our staff is that integrity is our lasting legacy. When we are gone, no one will care how much money we had, or the car we drove, but our integrity will be remembered.

5. SERVING. Being a service minded person seems like a pretty obvious trait to look for when hiring at Better Life Maids, but what I really am looking for is people that donate their time and talent in service to others. Some of our very best people work on relief efforts when natural disasters strike, have a long term commitment to a cause such as Haiti, and are often found giving their time to local efforts as well. Someone who knows how to serve others when they have nothing to give in return, truly understands how to give great customer service as well.

6. DEPENDABLE. Being dependable is a trait that is not always apparent right away during the interview process, it does help if they make the effort to show up on time or early. However, I can’t remember a candidate who hasn’t told us about how reliable, and how hard of a worker they are. References sometimes help here, but their really is no way to know if you can depend on someone, until you have to depend on them. People that are truly dependable, find ways to make it to work, they are on time or early every day, and you have to spend little if any time coaching them on tardiness or attendance. They do what they are supposed to do, because its the right thing to do.

7. LEARN & GROW. Truly great Better Life Maids are dedicated to growing as people and often they inspire others around them to do the same. They read great books, they share ideas, and they want to learn new things each day. You can find out a lot about your candidates by asking them what their ideal future looks like. Tell them to be honest and listen without judgement. I promise you might even hear some ideas you’ll learn and grow from. We also encourage this trait with all of our employees with a company lending library with inspirational titles from Robin Sharma, Michael Gerber, Napolean Hill, and many more.

8. PASSIONATE: Life is too short to live without passion. It can be hard to be passionate about cleaning toilets, but great employees are passionate about their job. When you are interviewing them, see how they feel about their current and past jobs. Most of them can relate some aspect of it that they loved. How about hobbies or activities that make them light up with joy when they tell you about them. Passionate people are fun, and their energy is contagious.

9. KIND. It should go without saying that we all want kind employees, but in our fast paced, social media world, many of us have forgotten how to slow down and smell the roses. In fact many of us have lost basic manners altogether. We really look hard for people who have great customer service skills and kindness. These team members tend to be some of the most beloved members of our teams. As the old saying goes, kill them with kindness.

10. BE GREEN! We look for team members who are interested in being good stewards for the planet. Many of our team members volunteer in organizations dedicated to green initiatives like organic farming, or community gardens. It is not a make or break characteristic, but we find that employees who tend to embrace ideas on environmental stewardship and care about the community and the world as a whole make Better employees in our organization.

The truth is what works for us, may not work for your organization, but if you know what the values are that shape your business you can begin to look for great employees that will mirror those values to the world.

By Matthew Ricketts
President and Chief Experience Officer
Better Life Maids