NEWSLETTER - BOSS WITH ME #5

From 1 to 2, or how to recruit, when to recruit, recruitment! 

When I announced the launch of Boss with me or during Q&A sessions on Instagram, this question often came up, surprisingly: how to recruit? I'm not sure why, but I found it harder to write about than usual. Let's go ! 

At first, when I was thinking about this newsletter, I didn't think I had any real answers to give, so I thought I'd tell you that it's like everything else, I did a lot of it on instinct. You're going to think that I hide behind the joker of intuition every 15 days, but that's not entirely untrue... So as I was preparing my draft (yes, I have a newsletter draft book), I was thinking about the best advice I could have been given for recruiting collaborators, and I immediately thought of one of my associates, Sébastien. For those who listened to the podcast Entrepreneurship in fashionHe's taught me so many things over the last few years, helping me to ask myself the right questions and write the foundations of my brand/company. 

I'm doing one of those little digressions I'm so good at, but follow me to the end, we'll get back to recruitment, I promise. When the brand was 2 years old, and we needed to structure ourselves a little more and make strategic choices for the future of the company (like hiring a logistician to stop going to the post office 3,000 times a day), Seb asked me to define the values of my company. A company's values can be many things: they can be intimately linked to the founder's beliefs, the way others perceive the company, or an ideal towards which the whole company should strive. And these values can evolve over the life of the company. 

Your values don't have to be as long as your arm. Three is fine. Okay, we've got five, because we couldn't choose. 

Our values at Make My Lemonade are:

•  Honesty
•  Reinventing ourselves
•  Be proud
•  Doing a lot with a little
•  Kindness

These values need to be on display for all to see. They can be on a post-it note, a poster, engraved on the wall, whatever you like, but they have to be visible. It's like a lighthouse in the night, and it's your employees' inner voice if their intuition isn't clear enough for them. Now, I'm sure that sounds a bit vague, but I'll give you some concrete examples. In an exercise we did together, we listed what these values meant to each team member. I'll show you for Honesty:

• Not being afraid to say things 
• Saying what you think to people sincerely and kindly 
• Talk about money and economic health 
• Saying when things aren't working 
• Communicating your true feelings...
• Don't blame others and make excuses 
• Don't be afraid of conflict if you feel legitimate, go for confrontation
• Dare to say when you think someone is treating another person badly 
• Don't hide things or lie 
• Know how to accept a remark for the good of the company and not take it personally 
• Verbalize when you have a problem to solve. 
• Taking responsibility 
• Don't withhold essential information from others 
• Take the first step when necessary 
• Keeping commitments 

How cool is that?

Once you've defined the values you want to convey, it's much easier. During an interview, you'll be able to sound out your interviewer with a clear idea of what you're looking for in a new recruit. What Sébastien once said to me "you hire and you part ways, based on these values"But when you have a disagreement with one of your colleagues, it's easier to tell him or her when something's not right, based on the company's values. "When you did that, it wasn't in line with our company values, so let's talk about it". 

And this also serves as a guide for teams, so that if they have doubts about a decision to be taken in a hurry without a superior on hand, they'll know what to do. In another case, if someone on the team feels outside the company's values, their life is changing, their vision of the world of work is evolving, they can also refer to these foundations to find out whether they are still aligned with the company, or whether these values no longer resonate and it's time to move on to new adventures. 

I have a feeling you're going to pick up your pens and list your company's values. It's really an exercise I've loved doing, but I can well imagine sitting behind a sheet of paper and not knowing where to start... Get some help, call the good people around you and get them to brainstorm, you'll see it's easier. Sometimes we're too wrapped up in what we're doing to realize what we're doing. As you watch the debates come alive and the words flow, you're bound to hear ideas that speak to you, and all you have to do is join in the brainstorming dance or catch them on the fly! And when your list is ready, it's time to get down to business!

So why and when should you recruit? I'd say when you can't take it anymore. Seriously, though, it all depends on the size of the company, and if I had just one piece of advice to give you, it would be to surround yourself with a good chartered accountant right from the start. A partner who really understands what you're doing can be like finding a good shrink - it takes time! Even if accounting isn't the thing you're most excited about, finding a real partner may seem time-consuming. Take the time you need, but believe me, it will save you a lot of time, energy and even money later on. In the beginning, when you're on your own, the accountant is your ally, so don't be afraid of him. 

So when should you recruit? First of all, when your company's economic health allows it, and this often goes hand in hand with your personal state of health. So you ask your accountant for advice. And secondly, I'd say when you think it's a handicap to be on your own, and when you're convinced that if there had been two of you, you'd have been able to go faster, win another contract etc... Being surrounded by entrepreneurs, I get the impression that when you're starting out, you're all a bit scared of money. We think we can manage everything, and that since it's our business, we know best what it needs. We often wonder who might want to do what we don't want to do ourselves.

When I started out, I realized that I needed an extra pair of hands to keep up with all the incoming requests, and still get at least 7 hours of decent sleep a night (I'm exaggerating, but hardly). Recruiting is obviously a risk. So you cogitate, thinking what if the contracts come to an end, or you don't get on that well, or the job doesn't suit you after a few days, etc. With nothing but ifs, nothing much ever happens. You can assess the danger, but you mustn't let the risks paralyze you. And before recruiting your first permanent contract, you can start with a paid intern, a work-study program at the end of your studies to train someone for a future position, or a freelancer for a few days a week to test his or her skills. And above all, test yourself as a manager and evaluate your ability to delegate (and that's the subject of another newsletter). But I know it's scary, so listen to yourself (and your accountant) and you'll always know if the timing is right.

I'm going to save you some time by telling you an anecdote that happened to me a few months ago. Last January, I was feeling so pressurized that I couldn't move forward; all of a sudden, a little seed planted itself in my brain. We'd just had a lower-than-usual turnover, and I was afraid that my business would grind to a halt and all my employees would be out of work, and I couldn't sleep. I felt like I was carrying the whole weight of rent, shopping and all my employees' lives on my shoulders. It was awful. I ended up talking about it because I couldn't hide the fact that something wasn't right, and I was put into perspective. I was seeing things through the prism of superman syndrome (superwoman in this case).and I was reminded that I had signed an employment contract with these people. Working together was a risk we'd taken together, as adults. I hadn't lied about the size and resources of my company, and as soon as there might have been difficulties for X or Y reasons, that was said. And if the company had to close tomorrow, I took out insurance so that there would be the means to ensure that "the end" would take place in the best possible conditions for everyone. So, yes, this scenario isn't my ideal world, I grant you, but that's what an employment contract is, a pact between two protagonists who make a commitment on the job market. Once I had digested the information, everything went much more smoothly for me, my mental health and my sleep.

So, finally, how do you recruit?

Well, I can't really help you there, I'm pretty rubbish at interviews, so after listening to the candidate's background, I ask them the dreaded qualities and faults question: "In your opinion, what are your three main qualities and faults?" I feel like slapping myself in the face when that sentence comes out of my mouth. And the answer is "As for my faults, I'd say I'm a perfectionist. I feel like crying tears of blood, but if someone answers "messy", I say to myself, interesting, this person is honest. Bim! Honest rhymes with one of my company's values... CQFD... Well, I don't only recruit messy people, but you get the idea. 

I admit that I don't do much interview preparation, but I rely on my superpower: intuition. Generally speaking, I know within the first 20 seconds10 seconds, if it's going to work. I like people to look me straight in the eye, to shake my hand frankly, and to make an effort with their clothes. It may sound silly, but I attach a lot of importance to these details.

A limp handshake is a red card, chipped varnish a red card, sunglasses in the hair a yellow card. 

If the person is dressed in full Make My Lemonade, it makes me feel uncomfortable, even though I know the good intentions behind it, but I prefer to be surprised with a cool, colorful look from another brand, and that makes me curious to find out more about the person. It's important to overcome your shyness during interviews. I'm not saying that shyness is a fault, but break the ice by saying that you're a bit shy, it's touching and what's more, you're honest! I don't want to recruit people who don't know what they're doing. I need people who can conquer, who are highly motivated, to take my company even further!

On the other hand, people who are too sure of themselves both fascinate and scare me. "I don't have any faults / I can't stand incompetence / ah so I'm a perfectionist" Red card too... It's not easy. 

During one of my interviews for one of my last jobs as an employee, I was so bad and I realized it during the interview. I don't think I ever looked higher than the tips of my shoes. An hour after the interview I wrote a funny e-mail to the person who'd interviewed me saying how I'd been a beta version of what I could be, apologizing for my performance and asking for a second chance. I think I had an interesting portfolio and she agreed to see me again. I'm telling you this because it's possible to make a mistake, and if you're disappointed by a profile that seemed promising, it's possible to see these people again. You're the boss, you write the rules of the game.

As I write this, I realize that I've forgotten to tell you about a step I've put in place that saves me an incredible amount of time. I look after strategic recruitment and the creative team, so I let my retail manager conduct interviews on her own, because she's the one who has to recruit her teams, and I know we're completely aligned on the dynamics of the profiles we're looking for. But when we're looking for a creative position, we work by giving small assignments, let me explain! When we post an advert for a graphic designer or assistant DA position, we receive hundreds of e-mails, we make an initial selection from the CVs and cover letters, we keep around half the applications and then we don't give out 50 appointments, no, but I do give out creative assignments. I ask them to make a moodboard of the current collection with at least 20 images, I also send a drawing I've made and I ask them to make a pattern based on my sketch, with a deadline. Out of the 50, I generally see who's really motivated, I get about 30 creative files, 5 of which are out of date (red card) and then as I know what I really need for the direction I want to give to the Make My Lemonade image, I get about 10 people. 

These recruitment phases are terribly difficult for me because they require me to be at 200% on the rest of my tasks. I often feel like a gold digger and it takes a long time to find the nugget. But it's an investment in the future! Breathe, everything's going to be fine. It was a very long newsletter for a subject I was dreading, but writing to you has even given me ideas for what to do next! Kisses and see you in 15 days! 

Lisa