The All-Encompassing Guide to Successful Interviewing

We're going to talk about how to knock your interviews out of the park and really attract your dream team , and what that takes to just really create that exceptional interview process so that you feel 100% confident and certain in each hire that you make .

So if you're excited to hire the right person from the beginning , this is going to be your podcast for today , because we're really going to dive deep on what are the right questions to ask , how to really truly find of what light of life and we're going to talk about that of what light of life someone truly is in and to know , hey , is this the avatar that

I really want to serve and be part of my team ? Because one of the most beautiful places that I've come from lately and I was just sharing this is I want to be 100% . It's no more about hey , this person could be 50-50 . I am clear , I want to be 100% that this person is a right fit .

I feel like when you get to that certainty of 100% , wow , that's when your team is really able to grow and transform .

How much better would your daily operations run , how much more proud would you be when one of your friends or neighbors said , hey , I got to go in and see so and so at your salon today and you would just know with certainty that they had an exceptional experience with them .

And you'll know that because of this interview process , you're going to be able to read people out that aren't the right fit and bring on more people that are the right fit .

So it's kind of the difference between an inclusive interview and an exclusive interview , because you want to be inclusive of all of your race , religion , gender , all of that good stuff but you want to be exclusive about the mindset that you're looking for and having that right teammate .

We like to look at something with what we call is the AT-AT method , and so you really want to get really clear about the purpose for your interview system , because if you're not clear about that , they're going to fill that from you , and the intention of an interview is to really grab their attention so that you can create intention .

And so what the AT-AT model stands for is ask , tell , ask , tell . So the first thing that we always like to do is say hey , we're going to ask you some questions , we'll give you the opportunity to , we'll tell you some things , we'll ask you some more questions , and then you'll get the opportunity to ask us some questions as well .

So , lindsay , you want to kick us off with , like , what does that look like ? You've got somebody brand new on a Zoom call . What do you need to look for ? What do you need to ask ?

And really it's just about enrolling and getting their permission and you're also starting to quiet all of their thoughts that they have going on in their head . So they are coming on the call with a million thoughts and so really , this is such a kind way to go into that interview to give them that Ask , tell , ask Tell model .

So once they've said , yes , that sounds great , you can give me the outline . You'll say great .

So the first thing is is I'm gonna ask , or I'm gonna ask you a lot of questions and then I'm gonna tell you about our company and then you'll have the opportunity to ask me any questions you might have and then at the end you can tell me how this sounds to you . So it's really just setting up that clear intention to ask , tell , ask , tell .

You're gonna ask them a lot of questions , then you're gonna tell them about your company , then they can ask you any questions they have and then they'll tell you what it sounds like to them . So that's your way of kind of getting that buy-in . At the end , too , they can tell you what it sounds like .

But when you're diving into this method , the key thing that you wanna be looking at when you're getting into that first ask portion is you really wanna be uncovering what light of life that they are in this is gonna be .

We talk about this a lot inside of the PhD program , which is our full blown program for our elite salon owners that are really trying to create an abundance of wealth and prosperity for themselves and their teams mostly their teams . Having that win win win situation is definitely what we're going for .

So we wanna make sure that we are attracting the right people , and I kinda like to look at it as so . We talk a lot about the lights of life , but I really like to be looking for that person who sees themselves as like a doctor inside of our industry or has that opportunity to see themselves as like a doctor inside of our industry .

If it's someone's like , I don't really know . This is kind of plan B . Hey , they could do great things somewhere else , but I know inside of our company what we're trying to create .

We want someone who's like I love doing hair , I love working with people , I love doing all those things , and so those are some of the things that you can really uncover during those lights of life . Jen , do you wanna explain a little bit more about the lights of life ?

I know not all of us do , but when you working with a red light person , you will actually notice that maybe you ask how's your day going ? You're like , well , it was good till I fell off the stairs . Or it's like you're asking them questions and they're like they're just very negative .

And so you have to think to yourself like , okay , this person is probably gonna be working against me , and how hard is it gonna be to try to pull them up with me when they're gonna be truly working against me , so that would be like a red light person . A yellow light person is like .

That means caution , I know for some of you that means go faster , for others it means kinda slow down . So it's not right or wrong either way , but in a light of life analogy , a yellow light person is very cautious , so they're probably gonna be a little positive and a little negative .

But the cool thing about a yellow light person is they're usually pretty coachable and you can ask the right questions and we're gonna give you some of those hot tips too . To understand hey , can I pull this yellow light person up to what's next , which is a green light ?

And green light means go Like they are truly gonna work with you and they are truly gonna help fulfill your mission , like they're all in . They actually ask you beautiful questions during the interview . They're like wow , tell me about your company . That sounds amazing . That's something I wanna be part of .

So you just wanna make sure that you're looking for those signals that your interviewee is giving off to say okay , can I place them in the red light , the yellow light and the green light ? And it's not that red light people are bad people .

It's just that you have to think about are those the kind of people that I wanna work with in my salon or spa company .

You said that it's just a signal about where they're at currently inside of their life and it can signal to you hey , is this gonna be a win-win for both of us ? Or , like you talked about with a red light person , will it create more friction just trying to get them up to that yellow light space ? So I think there's so many beautiful questions .

We actually have an amazing download If you go to we'll put it in the show notes actually that you can download this amazing Lights of Life interview opportunities that just really kind of dives into some great questions .

So when you're in that ask portion at the beginning , you wanna make sure , of course , you wanna know a couple of things about their skills or what they like to do inside of the industry , but you also wanna really dive into their mindset to see , to identify which light of life that they are at .

You know , and on this great download that we have , you know it even kind of gives you some examples of ways that they could answer some of these questions . So , for example , one of the questions on there is what's one lesson you have learned in the last 30 days ? So , for example , a green light person would say they'll know right away the answer to it .

Green light people are able to just find the lessons in anything , and a lesson doesn't have to . You don't have to learn lessons through pain . I think one of our greatest spiritual teachers that we work with gave us that freedom of saying , hey , you don't have to learn a lesson through pain , and I think that that is amazing .

You can learn lessons outside of pain . So it doesn't mean that it's a green light or a red light person if they answer it through pain . I'm just giving you that gift that we were once given today , but a green light person , they would know right away , they're able to find lessons in every situation .

And so , like a yellow light person , they might take a few minutes to think about this , but they'll usually be able to come up with at least one possibility . And a red light person , they'll really struggle to look you in the eyes .

They really struggle to just see anything positive in the world because it's almost like subconsciously they're protecting themselves from anything else and so they just won't even be with any experiences that they've had in their life . So that's just one example of a question and kind of how the different lights of life would look at things .

But I think one of my favorite questions that we ask inside of an interview is who are some supportive people you have in your life at the moment ? Because we wanna make sure we know that there's random stigmas about our industry . People have spouses , significant others , family friends .

We really just kinda wanna get a poll of , hey , who are the supportive people that you have in your life , and kind of get that picture painted . Sometimes it can signal too I've asked that question before and had somebody really struggle with it and of course my heart breaks for that person , and that wasn't the only question .

That was kind of a red flag for me but if they don't have any supportive people in their lives , it'll be hard for them to create an amazing life , and I just you just have to weigh as an owner of the pros and the cons of that .

Can I out support all of the unsupportive people , or is this maybe just not the right time and place for that person , because that's okay too . Sometimes you give them that gift of even just doing that inventory on themselves . Like , oh , I don't really have any . That could be a beautiful gift to an interviewee that you give them .

So then they can start to think gosh , maybe I would like to go out and find more supportive people inside of my life .

It's like , oh my gosh , I gotta have all the right answers , I've gotta make sure that I do X , y and Z is like , honestly , to do like before you even begin to do just

a quick moment of presence with them is don't tell them what you're doing . They might think you're a little crazy , but just say , before you even speak , just like look that person in the eyes , get connected with them , and I feel like if you make that connection , it will also help you decide . Do you feel that red , yellow or green energy ?

Because as salon owners , we usually have been given that gift to fill that energy and just to let them know hey , today's gonna be very casual , like I'm really here to serve you , learn about you . I'm gonna ask you some questions and just know there's not a right or wrong answer when asking these questions .

It's just whatever comes to view for you and you can actually , if you say those exact words , you can actually feel the person's resistance lower and then you'll truly be given the gift of who this person's , what this person's natural beingness is , and I think that allows you to make a great assessment .

You know , for us we like to set up a series of interviews , and so our first one will just do like a quick connection with people as soon as we get their resume . We like to make it happen within 48 hours , if possible of just doing a quick connect with someone and just saying like hey , jen , it's Lindsay . Yeah , platinum and company .

I was super excited when I saw your resume come across my desk and you know , I had the opportunity to look you up on social media and you look like you could potentially be a great fit for all the amazing things that we're creating here , and so I was just curious if you had a couple minutes , real quick , for me to ask a couple of questions to see if

it makes sense for us to set up an interview . And you know that just really right away , you can just ask a couple of questions like so for us , you know we want to make sure that they can . You know we do have , you know , a master's program to continue their education before they're fully released on the floor .

You know , of course , they'll be hands and hair right away when they join us . But we just want to make sure hey , are you , you know , familiar with our master's program ? And just , it doesn't matter if they say yes or no , we just kind of want to . We just know that that's important to us and so we want to make sure right away .

You know , because we've had people who've moved from out of state that are like , oh , I'm not looking for that and hey , that's okay .

And you know , sometimes we'll have like a faster track for somebody like that , or sometimes , if they're not interested at all , we just know that that's not going to work for us , because our goal , promise , is super important and we want to make sure that everybody goes through every aspect of our training because for us it's not just about doing hair , we're

doing skin or whatever services it is that they're providing .

It's about creating that experience and we just have some different beliefs than other people and we want to make sure that , you know , everybody's enrolled on that same mission and has that same clear path , because clear is kind and so when everybody knows what we're doing just makes things operate a whole lot more smooth .

Yeah , you know , the story just happened the other day is , you know , most the time when we're hiring someone , we need someone that is really great at sales and serving as , because we truly know that one of the most valuable assets you have as a human being is the ability to sell , even as you , as the salon owner , like you were truly selling your company

or your leaders truly selling your company to the interviewee . And so I just said the other day , I said hey , you know , as we were interviewing for a hospitality host , and I said let's play a game , like at the Otter Salon . We love to play games .

And you could saw the person perk up a little bit and I was like , hey , there's , there's not going to be like any right or wrong answer here , like we're just going to play this game , we're just going to have some fun . And I said I want you to sell me your favorite and then I'm going to try to guess it .

And I said you know , I don't even know that a lot about candy bars , but I'm just going to try to guess it . And it really just opened my eyes to like is that person willing to try something new ? First of all , gave me a lot of data of what I needed to know , and it helped me to understand their language , how they spoke .

Is that going to be something that I can coach to ? And then it helped me to see if they were eager and willing to do whatever it takes and you know , as salon owners , that's really a beautiful place to come from is to have people on your team that want to do whatever it takes . So like having some fun during the interview .

It's going to feel different for them than any other interviews that they've had before , instead of just going through a list of questions and the girl she's like I've never done this before , but this sounds fun , and so it's just like think about how you can present your culture in that interview . It's .

It can be serious , but it also can be elevated in a fun way so that you can really get the true feeling or meaning of that person .

Because , if you think about it , literally everything that you do is selling in life and you know you're you're selling to your spouse or your significant other , you're selling to your friends , you're selling at work , everywhere that you go , you're selling , and so I love that you pointed that out in the interview .

It is selling , and so having that fun inside of the interview around selling is great Because it really does , like you say , it opens up your eyes to see , hey , is this person willing to have fun and try something new ? Because that that is one of the .

The key things to get somebody into that yellow and green light is to get them going and have them not be afraid to hear the word no or you know . So what if Jen guesses the wrong candy bar ? You know she already told me she doesn't know as many people as she does you know .

So it doesn't matter , it's just am I willing to do it , am I willing to try ? Because that's truly how you can serve others is when you're when you're willing to kind of take that risk . So I love that you include that fun inside of an interview . I think that that is such a beautiful way , yeah .

But you have to think of the whole picture is and like there's going to be so much more than just their per hour and you've got to make sure you sell that to them . Like think of all the beauty perks that you can be given when you work in a salon space .

I mean most people are going to pay $2 , $2.50 , $300 a month to have a service done at the salon and this can be a beauty perk that you know doesn't cost you $2 to $300 a month . So if you look at that , that could be a savings of like an extra $2 or $3 an hour . And if you're an hourly employee , so like paint the entire picture . Let them know .

If you come from a place of doing personal growth or personal development , like to me that's almost priceless . I would rather work less per hour and have the tools that are going to make me a better human being any day than have like the most money per hour .

So , like you know I say this a lot as like it doesn't matter if you work here for one month or you work here for 25 years .

Like our goal is to make you a better , even better human being than you were when you first started , and so like that to me , like will ripple into their personal life , and that will ripple into people they teach and people they hang out with , and that's truly the end game , or the game that I want to play .

And I think you know one thing that stood out to me too , on a recent recruiting experience that I went through was , you know , I just said , hey , you know , not everybody's the right fit for us , and that's okay , like , it doesn't mean that people are good people or bad people If they work for us .

It just means we are super clear on the mission that we're serving and we're just super clear on the people that it takes to to run a wonderful team that can serve out that mission , you know .

And so at the end somebody said so are you telling me that you will either not hire people or fire people that work for your company if they're not on that same mission ? And I said , absolutely , like it again , it doesn't mean that they're bad people , it just means they aren't the right fit for our company .

And they were like , wow , that I can't even imagine what my workplace would be like . If that's what my boss did , you know , and it really did , just , you know , it was just a great indication for that . We're doing the right thing , and I know that we are , and I know that we're clear about our mission .

But you know , I've also worked at a place before , or been on a team before , where not everybody was on the same same mission , and so just knowing that you could have that opportunity to be a part of a team like that , I think just really helps give people that freedom .

So , you know , making sure that when you're in that telling portion that you really do talk about what your mission is , you talk about your heartbeats , you know the values of your company , you know and not only because it's a generational thing that the newest generation can relate to . They really truly want to know does the work that I do matter Absolutely ?

I can tell you 100% if you come to work inside of our salon company , whether you are answering the phone and helping people book appointments , or you are creating the magic that happens with our hair , skin , whatever it is what you do , what you do matters and we want you to know that what you do matters and and we want you to have that sense of pride

when you're doing that work and so really just being able to during that tell portion and be able to let people know , hey , what you do here matters . These are some of our heartbeats , these are our vision , this is our , these are , you know , our mission .

All of that good stuff that can really paint the picture and either enroll them or they can say , you know , no , it's not really like . I mean , hair is not really that big of a deal to me , skin is not really that big of a deal to me , like they can just unenroll themselves , they can be like I actually don't see myself here .

So thanks , but no thanks , you know . So you , you just as much want it to be like that . You're enrolling the right people and then the people who aren't the right fit , that's okay . They're not bad people , but they're just not the right people for you .

Any questions that you may have ? And you know , I was just actually on an interview this morning and the girl was asking all these amazing questions and I was like , oh , hired , hired , hired you know , he's like how , how , how would I like , how often do you have an upset guess ? How would I handle that ? What does the training program look like ?

What are , what are your service standards ? What are your expectations of me ? Like , those are beautiful questions and like to me , like , if you have somebody that's asking those kinds of questions , that you already have , somebody that's probably done some research on you and they're already

enrolled in what you're creating , so they're really there to serve big . And you know , there's times that you might get someone to ask questions like , well , how much time am I going to get off ?

Well , that wouldn't be the kind of questions that I mean that's important , I get it , but like , but , like you really want to think about and consider , like , what questions are they asking me ? Because that will help you kind of place them in that yellow , red or green light of life as well .

That second step we do , you know , a 30 to 45 minute phone interview . So you know , for us we don't meet on Zoom .

You could meet on Zoom , that's a great way to really get a great feeling for people , but we have them call us on that second interview , you know , and we set all this up through Calendly to send them automations and all of that good stuff . But so during that second one , you know , we asked them why did you make the decision to meet with us today ?

And just getting really clear . And so then , once they make it to the third step , which is where we like to do the in-person interview , and ideally we like to have them go through our shadow experience and then have them trickle through our interview experience .

But so when we get to that , that that third step , where they are in the salon and we're getting to connect , you know , face to face and and having that we set it up to , to say , hey , when we're at this third interview , we give them a few scripts we want them to memorize .

You know they're they're easy scripts , but it's just showing us , hey , are you willing to to do something uncomfortable , are you willing to learn new information ? So then we don't have to ask them are you willing to learn new information Because they've showed us ?

Hey , I'm willing to learn new information and I'm willing to try something new , because that's uncomfortable to go to an interview and and remember a script that might be stuff that you've never learned about . You know , for us we have them learn a Kerasos Fuziodos script , and then we have them learn you know a .

You know , one of the biggest questions they get asked inside the salon is so , what do you do here , like what's your role ? And so we have them explain what our master's program is and that they are licensed , they could be doing hair anywhere .

They're just choosing to further their career with us and , and you know so it kind of goes in a little depth , but it's , you know , a small script to remember , but it just indicates to us like , hey , are they willing to do those things so that we don't have to ask . We just know that they're willing to do that .

But then we also set it up in those reminders like hey , come with questions to ask us .

Like because we want them to know , hey , it's okay , because you know , chances are they've probably been in an interview that wasn't great before you know , with another salon owner or in a totally different business probably , where somebody was annoyed by them asking questions and , like you said earlier , during your interview , you were pumped when that person was

asking you hey , what are your expectations ? Hey , what are these things ? So we want to let them know like this we have an open door policy right away . Like ask us anything . We don't have anything to hide .

We want you to know and make sure , because it's just as important that we love that person as it is that they love us , and so we want to help make this an enjoyable experience . So I think setting it up before they even come in hey , come ready to ask us a lot of questions that's great .

And I think that is where you really just get to think them , think them for their time , Think them for showing up , think them for being them and to really make sure that everything you shared makes sense to them and that you have all the data that you need that makes sense to you to make the right decision and always like to do whether you know that

person's going to be a perfect fit or not is to do some kind of follow up email that just says hey , you're an amazing human being , you're going to do great things . We just decided to go in a different direction . We wish you the best . We'll keep your resume on file . So I think what they're saying now is people are just quitting with .

No , what is it called Lynn , quiet , quitting , quiet , quiet . I'm going to say ghost quitting , quiet quitting . Same thing . It's Halloween . It's Halloween , yep , come on now . I like to be in exchange . The same thing with people that come in and interview is like no wonder people are quiet .

Quitting is like because , as employers , we never give anybody the next step , or that we've gone in a different direction . So I think that's just one thing . To keep in your pocket is to be in exchange with that .

If , for some reason , we've still got interviews with people like it's a I guess experience or hospitality host and we know we've got something through the next Friday , we might say hey , we generally like to get back pretty quick , but we actually have a few interviews that are pushed back a little bit further than normal .

So it won't be until the next Friday that we get back to you for sure . But then on that day , save a reminder in your calendar if you have to , but give them a yes or a no . They deserve to close that loop and not have it be open in their minds of do they want me to come work at that salon ? I don't know .

Like it just creates a lot of freedom and it gives them the ability to stay in exchange with you , like Jen was just talking about . You know you feel an even exchange for your time and hopefully you gave them such an amazing interview that it really did add to their life .

You know , that's what I love is to do such an exceptional interview that you're adding to their life , whether they you know you go on to create a beautiful career together with them or you know they go on to create a beautiful career somewhere else .

Like , just really looking at how can you add to their life during those interviews , I think is an amazing way of being inside of an interview process .

That will really help you identify red light , green light , yellow light and , like your interviews , will feel different and it will really give you the gift and the power to know how to be 100% confident in your hiring decisions .

Because I feel like when you have certainty , that is when things in your business really flourish and grow , because you know that you're bringing on the right people .

Keep running and going forward so that we can continue to give you amazing information . Share it with a friend . You know , maybe you have a salon owner that's you know , in a nearby town . Maybe there's just a salon owner that you admire , that you're like , hey , they could get some great value out of this .

It could be a great connection point for you that you could create a lifelong relationship with somebody over just sharing something . That doesn't cost either one of you anything and you can just stay in exchange better . So we'd love your five star review . We'd love for you to share this podcast . We'd love to hear from you .

Feel free to go check out the phdprogramcom if you'd like to learn more about us . So thank you so much for tuning in . We love working with all of the brilliant salon owners in North America and we are grateful that you chose to spend your time with us today .