It's St. Patrick's Day and we've got March Madness and employee recruiting on our mind. Check out Somer's Snippets this week and her insights.
The Southgate Green Team
By Somer Athari
HAPPY ST. PATRICK'S DAY!!! Hope you are all wearing green today, or else, as you know, the consequence for such a crime is often painful (pinch-pinch). Luckily, the repercussions aren't as gruesome as say, the reason to remember the historical significance of the Ides of March. Yikes!
Well this week has been an exciting one, for we have a whole lot to celebrate here at Southgate Coins. The UNR basketball team has survived and made it into the first round of March Madness; let's hope they respond with a convincing win against the Texas Longhorns. It takes a great head coach like the newly appointed Mark Fox to make such a team as UNR's basketball squad.
Here at Southgate Coins, we have 2 great coaches. Rusty and Marie are always coaching us to be number 1 in our division in the field of full service coin shops. When it comes to recruiting new players, we often search long and hard to find just the right team player to join our prestigious staff. I am proud to say that the recruiting season is in full force and one of the on court positions has been filled already. Recruiting and hiring is not an easy task; the screening process is pretty intense and in case you're interested, allow me to provide you with a glimpse behind the scenes.
Finding a replacement player is never easy, either in sports or especially in this business. Rusty and Marie must be very careful when selecting staff members, especially due to the security issues, and their commitment to maintaining the highest level of customer service. Working at Southgate Coins, as you may already know, is not a typical job like being a waitress or a GAP employee. Nope! There is so much to learn joining a team like this one. When I first came to "try-out" for the position here, I came into a whole new world. I had never known that most of the coins in this store even existed. In fact, of all the coins in our inventory, I maybe had seen 10% before in my lifetime. So, needless to say, lots of time is invested in training us to become the knowledgeable employees that we are today. It takes a serious and dedicated player in order to be a part of this squad.
Marie has interviewed dozens of applicants and received more than 150 resumes to fill a position just like mine, so obviously, it’s not as easy as it may seem to find just the right teammate for our crew. Often, we look for someone (as Marie likes to call it) who can "bounce the ball back." This is very important because in this business it's essential to be able to hold conversations with customers, and to always ask questions. If an applicant has such skills they are 25% there. Then of course there are the "soft skills" that a player needs to possess in order to be a successful employee. "Soft skills" are the disciplines that all employees must have in order to succeed in the work place regardless of what job it may be:
Attendance
Hygiene
Substance Free
Stress Management
Interpersonal Skills
Willingness to learn and initiate
Conflict Resolution
Keep Work Area Neat
Flexibility
Integrity/Honesty
Responsibility
Problem Solving
With all these attributes any person will be a slam-dunk in today's business world. So, just like certain skills are necessary to be a stand-out in the sport of basketball, the same applies in the category of frontline coin shops and especially here at Southgate Coins; except only being 5' 3/4" isn't a problem here.
We are a team here at Southgate Coins; a team that works hard to cultivate friendships with our customers and amongst ourselves.
So, in keeping with the theme of St. Patrick's Day, I would like to give three cheers; one to UNR's Wolf Pack, one to our Southgate Squad, and one big cheer with a large green "luck of the Irish" beer.
We know that even with all the training and preparation that precedes a UNR Wolf Pack basketball game, a little luck helps too. And the same is true when it comes to recruiting, hiring, and training a new employee here at Southgate Coins. We're all keeping our fingers crossed that the new girl Marie just hired fits in with our team as snug as a Leprechaun's vest. (Good Luck Claire!)
Wishing you all as much luck as finding a rare four-leaf clover, or perhaps a rare Carson City coin!
Your non-Irish correspondent,
Somer