EVERY STORE I talk to is in need of staff, including salespeople, admin staff and bench jewelers. Two years ago, The Great Resignation began, and many people quit their jobs. I read recently that when polled, of those who left their job and didn’t return, over 40 percent said they left because of how they were treated. That’s on management.
There are many places to try to find employees, but I will address two places to try.
Sales Staff & Admin
Want somebody who knows your store, lives nearby and also just loves jewelry (which makes them easier to train)? Who better than someone from your customer list!
Three of my best sales staff were customers. Your customers love jewelry, right? Many have money and means, right? All three of my best who were previous customers told customers they helped: “You need this! Buy it for yourself!
Treat yourself! Here: Let me wrap this up for you.”
Whether full- or part-time, email your customer list and put a small placard sign on the showcase that reads, “Wouldn’t you just love to work here and help others enjoy our jewelry? Ask anyone, we have flexible hours and pay well.”
Send out a few email blasts to your customer list and list it on your website and social media posts.
Jewelers
Finding good jewelers is much harder than finding sales staff, who are easier to train. Bench jewelers are not a growing population. Many young people don’t know that we are a viable career field.
Start by planting seeds and grow your own. Do what we did. I went to my local high school and spoke to the counselor. I told them we were looking to hire a jewelry polisher during after-school hours, and we’d train them.
My father taught me efficiency, and it’s not efficient for a jeweler to polish their own work. A polisher who is trained for this and typically is lower paid polishes everything. Because you don’t charge extra to polish a ring after you set it or extra to polish a lobster claw after installing it, it’s more productive to let a lower-paid employee polish the work. This also makes your jeweler more productive.
About 20 percent of the high school students who did the polishing for us stayed on to be trained as a jeweler. At the end of the school year, I told the students they were not allowed to quit, which took them aback.
“Nope,” I said, “You can’t quit until you bring me a replacement student and train them yourself.” They did, and they only brought top students as their replacement.
Get started, you can do this too!