The sauna reference check
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A past business owner who completed the Business Transformation Program called to run something past me.?
(We are all definitely creating a community of trusted people in our network to run things by).
They were about to offer a role to someone, almost everything clicked in the interviews and, excited, they were going to skip the reference check.?
Luckily, they didn’t.
They went on to tell me the stories of unethical and poor behaviour they had heard about!
I was a little worried he was still on the fence about the hire, so I recounted two stories to him - one funny, one not funny at all.?
A few years ago, I ran into a good friend at my local pub.
He proudly announced he had taken investment from a new business partner, to help fund the very fast growth in his business, doing several millions in sales.
When I heard who it was, the first thing I said was “why didn’t you call me to reference check her!? You know I worked in a business with him for several years. Is it too late to not take the money?”
His confident response was “it's all good, I did some reference checks”.
Clearly, not the right ones.
Three years later, I called him as soon as I heard his once profitable business had gone under, thanks to this new investors’ devious behaviour.
In as supportive a tone as I could muster, I closed this chapter with “I’m not going to say I told you so, but I just did” (I don’t take any rewards for being right in this case!).
Now, the funny reference check.
Sitting in the local sauna a few months ago, I overheard two tradies talking about a guy one of them had just hired, from the others’ business.
“Ahhh, that’s where he went - did you do any reference checks? You didn’t call me.”
The other guy turns around and sheepishly answers with a double sweat, “ummmm, no, I didn’t, why?”.
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“Because the guy is fucking hopeless. He literally falls asleep on the job - I found him sleeping on some insulation batts he was meant to be installing, he takes 2 hours to do a Bunnings run that should take 30 minutes, and I heard of the mess he made at the job before he worked for us. One piece of work was so bad, he was told to pull it down and redo it, in his own time - it took three days. I too should have done reference checks”.
Do reference checks with the right people, and the right way (we cover this in our two week recruitment course).
One Tool or Professional Development Resource:
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Pricing starts from $6 a month per employee, and from our experience, their service and technology is excellent.?
They not only manage your payroll once you have outgrown your accounting software, they have the tools needed to manage your team at every stage of their lifecycle - from interviews and onboarding, right through to offboarding.
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Podcasts Throwback
In 2019, he and his brother started a distilling company to evolve their family's generational business.
Despite the pandemic, they sold 1,000 cases and achieved half a million in sales.
The team grew from 3 full-time employees (FTEs) to 16.
Listen to Episode 138 I did with Michael in September 2021.
Regards,
Troy Trewin | Founder
P.S. Are you living the lifestyle you signed-up for? Check out our new 4 week Strategy Program, the start of our full 16 week 'Business Transformation Program' - the final 12 weeks is all about people (recruitment, onboarding, leadership and management).?