Well, things in the studio are changing, and the changes are nearing completion. But, there seems to be one big snag that is becoming very troublesome.
Over the last month, my sister-in-law has moved out of the big room at the studio. My landlord then had the room made bigger by moving the wall that separates her office from mine. This cut the size of her office a bit. At the same time as this wall was being ‘moved’, I had the same person put up a new wall which now gives me a separate office and a second treatment room.
Over the past couple of weeks, I have spent a lot of time painting, prepping and organizing. The new treatment room is almost finished. I need a few rocks to fill the shelves on the north wall, I need to do a little arranging of electrical cords, and need to create some draperies, and I need to get some carpet, not just for this room, but for the entire shop. (The carpet which is there has been there over 20 years. I have been covering this over with throw rugs since I opened.) Oh, and I also need to hire a therapist to work in the room.
The situation makes it a little hard to fill the position. Unlike the shop down the street that has lots of people walking in, I don’t have that. But I do know that a lot of the potential customers that call or come into the shop are male, and are looking for a female therapist. This week alone, I have had five people come in that I feel would have stayed had a female come out to greet them. (It’s a comfort level thing, and I understand it. But it does suck.) So, I am looking for a female to be a contracted employee and work under the Caring Palms name. This has seemed to be a harder task than I imagined. You see, I don’t want to just rent out the room as it would be as it was before with my sister-in-law. I actually want someone working for me and be part of the company.
Since I can’t guarantee a large number of clients immediately, I am looking for someone that is willing to work here and build a clientele (just as I have been doing for the last 18 months). So, I obviously need someone that does not need this to be their only source of income. I need someone that is still living at home, or who is married and has other money coming into the family.
I went to the local schools and was given 13 resumes. I called and left messages for each of them. I talked with two of them, but they needed to have a certain income. I interviewed two of them. One needed a steady income. The other I liked and scheduled back for a second interview. (The second interview is where this person comes back and gives me a massage. I know it sounds like a scam, but the only way I have to know if their work is any good or not is to experience it. This also seems to be a standard practice in the industry. I know, it’s a dirty job, but someone has to do it. J ) Of the remaining nine resumes I received, not one of them called me back. Wow. I guess they really aren’t looking for work.
At the same time, I put an ad in the Beaches newspaper. I got three calls from that. One told me that she would drop off a resume that afternoon. I never saw her. I talked to one who dropped a resume in my mail slot. She said she would call me back the next day when she knew her schedule, and come in for an interview. She never did. The third came in for an interview.
I liked her and scheduled her back for a second interview. The first person that was to come back never showed up, but she did call later. Her situation had changed and she needed a job with more money. the next day when the other person was supposed to come in, she never did. I knew she was interviewing in other places. I guess she got an offer there. It would have been nice if she had called to let me know. If this experience has taught me anything it is that common sense and common courtesy are not common anymore.
I placed an ad in the local freebie newspaper which will run for three weeks. It came out two days ago. From it I have received two phone calls. One was from a male therapist whom I asked to send in a resume. (I can’t tell someone over the phone that I am discriminating by sex. I am but I know that hiring another male will not increase my business.) He said he would fax it to my landlord’s office by mid afternoon. The resume never came. I also talked with a female that sounded interested and set an appointment to come in for an interview. As my luck seems to be going, she never showed up, and never called.
This is getting a little bit ridiculous. I’m actually starting to wonder if there is a sign over my office telling people not to come work here. This is getting way too coincidental.
I just did a search on the name of this last person that blew me off. She lives on the far side of town. It would take her a good 45 minutes to an hour to commute each day. She should have just told me that it was too far to drive. Duh!
The biggest problem aside from the fact that I’m not filling this room is that I keep making interview times and having people not show up. I was in a 10:00 session today, and had the interview scheduled for 11:30. because of this, I had written on the board in my waiting room that the next available session time was 12:30. During the session, I know the door opened and closed two or three times. I don’t know if this was the person I was supposed to interview, or potential business, potential business that decided 12:30 was too long to wait but might have stayed if the time said 11:30. Bottom line is that I could be losing business because I am not scheduling in the times that I have interviews set for.
I keep getting told that there is that right person out there, and that I am being prevented from hiring the wrong person before they get here. This could well be true, but it is bloody maddening.