Not you. Not you. You...you’re hired!

Employees. I’ve got ‘em, you’ve got ‘em. And while you may sometimes feel like you can’t live with ‘em, a successful company definitely can’t live without ‘em. (At least until the day that Cyberdyne Systems finally delivers on the cyborg promise. Of course, then you may have some wrongful termination suits of a different flavor...) But finding, hiring and keeping good employees has always been a trick for this industry.  Right now there is no shortage of people out there looking for work. But you don’t want to just hire any person into your fold. A bad hire can do more damage than just lost time and wages in training; it can harm your company’s rep. So, how do you cull the good ones from the bad ones?

I’ve been in this industry for nearly 14 years now, and in that time, I have seen my fair share of people come and go from our company. Some forcibly ejected where you think, “Holy crap! What was I thinking when I hired that guy?!” Others where it’s more a, “It’s just not working out. It’s not you, it’s me. But, OK, it’s really you,” break-up. And others that move on of their own accord when the job just wasn’t right. We’ve hired from people that had no industry experience, people with a construction background, people with backgrounds in “live” sound, CEDIA guys from other companies, and ex-Best Buy, Circuit City and Bose employees.

Prior to a hire, we try we sit down and have a fairly lengthy interview, trying to ascertain who they are and what they know and whether they will mesh with our company. I even have a 20 question “test” that I have them complete to establish their knowledge of this industry. And it doesn’t matter how people are dressed, how they handle the interview or even if they ace – though no one has – the test. Over the years, I’ve managed to identify the one criterion which seems to have the highest margin of success for finding an employee that is going to be around – and successful – for the long haul. And it can be boiled down to a single question...

Come on, did you really think I was gonna tell you the question here? Cliffhanger, baby, cliffhanger. To see the question and why it is so successful, you'll have to head over to SCN's Website -- run by none other than Glasseser herself. You can find the rest of the story by clicking this link...