Once you decide on the basic structure for your team, you will need to establish a few rules for the hiring process.  I believe it’s best to create some ground rules before you start interviewing and deciding whom to hire.  You can get so excited about the prospect of a new person or a specific person you want to hire that all logic goes out the window.

 Establish to what extent you will work to verify information: 1.      Do you want to talk with all previous employers?2.      How many references do you want to talk with?3.      What type of gaps of time will be acceptable in their employment history?4.      Will a few mistakes on the resume immediately knock them out of the running?5.      What if they don’t write a cover letter, which is standard professional practice?6.      Is there some test or assessment instrument you want each serious candidate to take?7.      How many interviews will you use before the hiring decision is made?8.      Will you be the only one interviewing them?9.      Will you require a criminal background check?10. Will you require a drug test? All of these are things you can legally do with any candidate for employment.  However, with the criminal background check and drug test, you must get permission from the applicant before either of these are conducted.  I would encourage you to consider doing most of these, if not all of them, to ensure a good hire. 

Be sure to date before you get married

 I believe that establishing a probationary period or dating period is prudent.  Telling the new hire right up front that you have a standard 90 day probationary period during which you will be evaluating them for permanent placement sets a strong standard.  If you include some type of benefits package, you don’t extend it until that probationary period is over.  In some states, doing this will help with legal liability and unemployment liability if you end up terminating the employee within the probationary period. Another dating technique is to have them come in for a week to work with you in a contract labor situation.  Call it a test drive for them and for you.  It will allow them and you to date each other for a week.  At the end of the week, or any time during that week, you can make the decision to hire permanently or send them home.  It helps you feel confident that you are making the right decision.  You are also minimizing the risk in dealing with raising your unemployment insurance costs. 

The honeymoon gets over quickly

 When the honeymoon is over, and it’s not working out, it’s time for the quick, no-fault divorce.  The old adage of hire slow and fire fast is true.  When you know it’s not going to work out, move on.  It’s not fair to the employee because they could be in a position where they fit better and advancement is an opportunity.  For you, prolonging the agony causes the situation to gnaw at you and affect your attitude and activities.  I guarantee you will see a reduction in the DIPA time you invest.  You will spend more time in PSA:  checking, re-checking, and monitoring a poorly performing staff member.  You could be investing all of that extra PSA time in training the right person, rather than trying to hold onto the wrong one. After the honeymoon, the divorce proceedings need to begin quickly when there is an attitude issue.  You can train almost any skill to anyone, but attitude is another story.  Check to see if the home life or other area of life is causing the problem.  Bring the attitude problem and set corrective action goals for improvement.  Coach and encourage positive progress.  If the changes aren’t happening quickly or if the change is not sustained, you only have one choice left . . . do it now!  Eventually, they will start to influence and infect your attitude.  When that happens, they have been there too long.  The evaluation, coaching, and corrective action time has come and gone.  You have now entered the damage containment and termination zone. I have had personal experience in this area a few times when my attitude was influenced by an employee.  When they start having too much influence on your attitude, your activities won’t be too far behind.  That’s when you have to act now and not delay . . . before the environment or your attitude turns south.  Real estate is too tough of a business to have people on your team dragging down your attitude.  That will happen enough in just the normal course of business in an agent’s practice. The only caveat I would apply to this counsel would be factoring the market timing.  The real estate business, in most markets, has some seasonal influence.  In many markets, the second and third quarters can be significantly busier than the first and fourth quarters.  Where are you in the seasonality of the marketplace?  Can you make the transition at this time?  You might find that waiting another 30 days would move you into October, when you will have greater time to train the new staff member, so they are ready for the spring season.