Hire the right people
Learning the culture begins in earnest for Atlas Oil employees
when they start orientation. But the process begins beforehand.
The human resources department works with the managerial
team at Atlas to identify the people who mesh the best with the
company’s core values. The Atlas HR team and managers have come
up with a uniform set of questions asked of every job candidate,
regardless of what position the candidate has applied for.
“We all want to interview the same way,” Simon says. “Then we
make sure our core values are listed, and when we talk in the interview, we set up different questions and see how they answer. Based
on those answers and how they mesh with our core values, we can
tell if they have it or they don’t. Everyone has to go through this.
Everyone has to get hired through that system.”
Simon says playing matchmaker between people and jobs is one
of the most difficult tasks there is in business management. It can
require a significant investment of time and resources to make the
right hire. But he says it’s worth it, because making the wrong hire can
cost you much more.
“We spend a lot more effort on the hiring side of it, but even then,
we all make mistakes on the hiring side,” Simon says. “It’s probably
the most difficult thing we have. That’s why we have a uniform set
of questions to go off of.”
Once hired, employees have to live up to expectations.
Simon does not want excuse-makers on his team. In the struggling
Michigan economy, he says it’s easy to blame shortfalls on the government and other outside factors. But if someone constantly points
fingers instead of trying to figure out ways to perform better, it’s a sign
that the employee might not be motivated to achieve in the face of
adversity.
“As I said before, you have to stay hungry,” Simon says. “There are people out there who are not hungry. They complain and always talk
about things in the economy.
“I don’t let any of my team members talk to me about the economy.
You know what happens, they’ll just go and blame the economy for
everything. They won’t try harder. I tell my people that it’s not just
about the economy, that the economy will give you opportunities, too.
If you have a great foundation and great people, this can be your time
to shine, even when everybody else is having problems. The companies having the problems didn’t spend the money to make a great
foundation in the first place.”
Atlas did find a chance to shine recently. The company rebounded
from their failed oil supplier deal of several years ago to make another deal earlier this year. This one, Simon says, was even better than
expected.
“An animal gets eaten because a faster animal is hunting it,” he says.
“One of my big sayings is that the big don’t eat the small, the fast eat
the slow. Business is all about take your time, but hurry up. Take the
time to understand what you are doing and get it right, but get going
and get it done.”
HOW TO REACH: Atlas Oil Co., (800) 878-2000 or www.atlasoil.com
