In this article, I am going to go over a powerfully, effective tip that you can use to enhance your hiring strategy. It’s called “The Car Test.”
This test is an excellent way to improve your assessment of potential staff. A typical assessment of any potential hiree usually includes an evaluation of their state of dress and appearance. You should expect that a hiree desiring a position in your business would dress professionally in an effort to impress you—the hirer.
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What would you think if an applicant came in with a massive spaghetti sauce stain on their shirt and when you said, “Hey you’ve spilled some of your lunch on yourself.” They said, “No, that was from last night’s dinner.”
Or how about an applicant who came in wearing one shoe and when you said, “Hey, looks like you lost a shoe!” They said, “No. I found one.”
Of course, I’m joking here. Hopefully, they’re not that bad!
Let’s get back to our Car Test. Here’s how it’s done. While you’re interviewing the potential hiree, have a trained observer quietly go out to the parking lot and look over the applicant’s car.
What you are looking for are indicators that tell you how this person is actually behaving in life by looking at how they take care of one of their possessions. In this case, you (or your trained observer) will be looking at their car.
Their car will be in one of these states or an average of two of them:
- Perfect. It has recently been cleaned. The car may not be new, but it will look new. It will have no dents or scratches or broken pieces. There will be no rubbish inside at all. Any personal items inside the car will be stowed away tidily.
- Pretty good. The car may be a bit dusty but over all it’s clean. There may be small scratches or dents. There might be things in the backseat or, possibly, a tiny bit of rubbish on the floor.
- Not so good. Dirty. The car has not been washed in a while, and it has big dents and scratches. The car resembles a trashed storage unit. There’s garbage in the car, and lots of things scattered about the floorboards and seats. There are old fast food bags and cups, etc. And the stuff looks like it has been there for several days.
- Trashed. The car is filthy, dented, and it’s missing a side mirror. It may have been in an accident and never repaired. Or one of the wheels may be the mini-donut kind that is supposed to be used as a temporary spare. Quite possibly, there is a plastic trash bag posing as a window. If you move the bag aside and look into the car, it looks like it has been used as a dumpster for weeks.
You get the idea. Which car owner would you prefer to hire?
Now I’m not proposing that you use this as the only indicator on whom you hire. It’s just another tool for evaluating an applicant. But it happens to be a very good way.
Remember that hiring is a vital way to improve your business. Sometimes you have to interview as many as fifty applicants to find the right one. But when you find a good one, it will be worth the time you have invested.
To look professional, a person can iron their shirt and wash up for their job interview. But will they maintain this professional presentation of themselves into the future?
The Car Test can help you find the answer to that question.
