If Paola Schifino had any doubts that the advertising agency she had co-founded would bounce back from a devastating fire, she didn’t reveal the fears to her employees.
“We got up and running very quickly due to our tenaciousness,” says Schifino, who is a principal at Schifino Lee. “We didn’t lose any of our data, and we didn’t lose any of our people, so it was all good in the end.”
It’s that philosophy of tackling challenges head on and moving through them as quickly as possible that has helped the 30-employee agency be successful through challenges. That includes the April 2007 fire that scorched one of two agency buildings and the ongoing economic recession.
“It’s keeping people going because they are stressed and fearful,” Schifino says.
Smart Business spoke with Schifino about how to assemble a strong team and work with that team through challenges.
Always be looking. We continuously interview whether we have a hiring need or not because it’s just great to stay connected. So whether there is a position open or not, if I see a good resume come across my desk, I will interview that person.
Last year, my partner and I hired someone and we really had no work for him. We just knew if we got him on board, within six months, we knew there would be an account for him. Don’t bypass great talent. Every single resume that comes across my desk is usually unsolicited.
It’s a result of research they have done in the Tampa Bay market. They all looked at our Web site. To have a high-quality Web site that sets the standard for who you are and the work that you produce and who your clients are, that’s extremely important.
Learn before you hire. The question I always ask is, ‘What role did you play in this particular project?’ They might have been part of a huge project or a very successful project. They might have been the one that made the copies. Sometimes it will come out that they actually played a very small role in a particular project or they were the one that spearheaded it. That’s a key question to ask.
It tells me a lot about the person and whether or not they are honest. I’d rather somebody be honest and know that they did little. I think there is more value in that.
Assess cultural fit. Just because someone has the right skill set, that doesn’t mean they are culturally the right fit. They have to fit in with the culture of the company. Interview them multiple times with multiple people. Get lots of references.
Just before we make the hire, we take (job candidates) to lunch. If you can relax and have a good time and behave professionally and socially at lunch, to me that’s a key component to being able to work with customers. We don’t hire the person at lunch. It’s more like, ‘This is the person we want to hire, the top candidate.’
That’s one of the skill sets that you have to have. You have to be able to communicate with clients whether you’re having a working lunch in the conference room or taking a client to lunch and working through lunch. You have to be able to do that.
It’s also just a good test of personality, instead of giving them the written personality test.
