Step #2 In Hiring The Right Person For Your Dojo...

Once you have the job description hammered out, the next step is to decide what sort of skills and personality traits you want this new employee to possess.

Obviously, the skill set they need to have is directly related to the job description. And for some positions, the person applying for the job must already possess certain skills in order to be eligible for the position.

SKILLS MATTER!

If you're hiring someone to assist in teaching classes, then that person must be a qualified martial artist who possesses the skills that you want them to pass on to your students. In certain systems, this means someone with a black belt, while in other systems the qualification for rank will vary (for example, in many BJJ schools students will start assisting at purple belt).

What you don't want to do, however, is search for the bare minimum candidate for a position. There is a certain martial arts organization (one that operates more like a franchise) who is notorious for hiring unqualified people to instruct their martial arts classes.

School owners in this organization will hire anyone with a background in gymnastics, dance, cheerleading, or some related athletic endeavor to "coach" their martial arts students. They train them on how to "coach" their "curriculum" and then they turn them loose on their students to teach martial arts classes.

Yep, these schools are hiring people with zero martial arts experience to teach their martial arts classes.* This folks, is a scam.

So, you don't want to fall into this sort of assembly line mentality in hiring people to help you teach your classes. The only thing it can lead to is turning out a bunch of students who suck at martial arts (but who are really good at gymnastics, dance, and cheerleading, I suppose...)

WHEN CAN YOU HIRE SOMEONE WHO IS MERELY "TRAINABLE"?

The quick answer to this is it's when you're hiring someone for a non-skilled position. Answering phones, setting appointments, and taking care of customer service issues is something that any reasonably intelligent person can do.

Since there are no specialized skills required for a position working the front desk or in the office of your school, obviously it's going to be much easier to fill that position.

That's why I usually suggest that school owners who are hiring their first employee should seek to hire office help first. That way, at least you'll be freed up from office duties during class hours, so you can focus on being on the floor instead of being distracted by customer inquiries and so on.

THE RIGHT PERSONALITY IS ESSENTIAL

When choosing the right candidate, right after skills qualifications comes personality. This goes equally for administrative positions and for teaching positions.

Not everyone is cut out to deal with people in a customer service position - and every position in a martial arts school is a customer service position. So, it falls on you, the owner, to find and hire employees who have good people skills and who enjoy serving others.

The last thing you want is to hire someone for a position that their personality is ill-suited to... because hiring the wrong person will cost you clients.

And although this happens often enough when school owners are hiring front desk and office personnel, it happens most often when they are hiring people to help teach classes.

See, this is why those schools I mentioned earlier are hiring people with no martial arts skills - because it's hard to find good martial artists who also have people skills.

In addition, not everyone likes working with kids. If you offer children's classes in your school, take my advice and avoid trying to fit round pegs in square holes. In other words, don't try to make people teach kid's classes when they are obviously no good with kids.**

But whether you're hiring someone to teach kids or adults, you'll want to hire instructors who enjoy working with other people, who are patient, and who possess the interpersonal and relational skills necessary for dealing with customers on a day-to-day basis. 

Alright, I think that's enough talk on this topic. I'll be back tomorrow to talk about hiring from within versus hiring people who have never stepped foot in your dojo.