Why an ideal job candidate isn’t always the best choice

Second-chance candidates could become your business’ next game changers.

Welcome to The Manual Weekly – LI Edition, the can’t-miss newsletter for business leaders. You’ll find snackable bits of news highlighting emerging trends, actionable resources, and proven best practices that can help take your business to the next level.

Are you looking for the tools and strategies to streamline your operations and achieve long-term success? Then join us for a special (and free!) two-part workshop series with Lisa González, Process Success ProgramTM founder, and co-author of “Process! How Discipline and Consistency Will Set You and Your Business Free.”

• Part I: 3 steps to getting your processes documented and simplified.
• Thursday, Sep. 12.
• 9 – 11 a.m. PDT (12 – 2 p.m. EDT).
• Totally free and virtual.

Unfortunately, these sessions cannot be recorded — so clear your calendar to experience this incredible workshop live! Save your spot now!

This week’s must-reads:

• A process checklist template to streamline your hiring systems.
• Here’s your personal invitation to Playbook 2024 from our CEO.
• How this property maintenance business combines crucial onboarding with training buy-in.
• And how a non-traditional job candidate could be your next great hire.

Template of the week: Hiring Process Checklist

Tell us if this multi-tasker is you:

• You’re going through hundreds of resumes.
• Calls with candidates fill your calendar (and they’re starting to blur together). 
• Managers from every department need your help finding just the right person.
• And a million and one other things…

Hiring, are we right? It’s complicated enough without having a system in place. Oh, you don’t have one? Say less.

👉 Streamline your application sorting, meeting scheduling, and candidate finding with this Hiring Process Checklist template. Following the same process for every single new hire is gonna simplify your life — giving you extra time to get everything else done.

Check out our entire template archive of free and customizable policy, process, and role starters. New to Trainual? Get a demo.

Knock, knock: Are you coming to Playbook 2024?

Believe us when we say that we could go on and on (and on and on) about all the awesome things we’ve got in store at Playbook 2024, but if you’ve seen our other emails, you know we’ve already been there, done that. So instead, we’re tagging in one of our star players to help us out:

So pumped about Playbook 2024 that you literally spill your coffee? You gotta catch his energy (minus the mess) and see why Trainual's first-ever in-person conference is the can't-miss event of the year. 

Here are the deets:

📅 November 12 –14, 2024.

📍 Warehouse 215 in Phoenix, AZ.

So, what are you waiting for? 👉 Join us at Playbook 2024!

Want more info? Peep everything from the conference agenda to our personal hotel recs here. Can’t wait to see you there!

Trainual tips: How this business gets training buy-in

Allow us to introduce Hub Property Care, a residential property maintenance business. Before Trainual, they were a business on the edge of expansion — ready to scale and serve a wider market in their home base of West London. Their challenge? Maintaining consistent processes and training across their workforce. Their leadership team recognized the need for a more robust training management system that could keep pace with their growth.

Enter Trainual, which the company has leveraged to create innovative training programs that ensure consistency across their operations. One such example: their "Top 10 Tips" initiative, focusing on their field service management system.

"Every Monday afternoon, we would publish the tip of the week on Trainual," Tony Harris, their executive director, explained. "It would be a short, bite-sized training, or subject that people could study in three to five minutes maximum."

The program not only improved specific skills but also increased engagement with the Trainual platform itself (things we love to hear!). 

👉 Find more on how Hub Property Care uses Trainual.

Why you need to leverage the 'Second Chance Advantage' in your hiring process

Talent acquisition is a struggle.

Finding the best candidates in this business day and age feels like the Black Friday hay days —  when Best Buys had Taylor Swift-esque waiting lines and shoppers played tug-of-war over the last Tickle Me Elmo. But maintaining that commitment to finding the “perfect” person for the job could actually be holding your business back.

Introducing the “Second Chance Advantage.” The talent acquisition approach transforms the way you hire — replacing traditional hiring techniques to unlock a pool of potential just waiting to uplift your business. Here’s how it works:

• Hire for skills, not just “years of experience.” When you limit yourself to how long someone’s been in a certain position, you could lose out on the fast and adaptive learners who may have untraditional backgrounds. During your hiring process, test candidates for the core skills and competencies you actually need. 
• Look for a different kind of experience. Job swappers and candidates with work gaps shouldn’t be the pariah of hiring. Experience comes in different packages, and these employees could bring a fresh perspective to your operations. Don’t just throw out applications that may not fit the harsh criteria of more traditional talent guidelines.
• Embrace diversity. Teams with diverse backgrounds see bumps in decision-making abilities and returns — and they drive innovation and creativity.