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POWER 50 The Transportation Revolution uses job fairs with success BY LIZ KEENER MANAGING EDITOR When The Transportation Revolution was looking to fill seven positions in the spring of 2014, management tried something it had never attempted before — a job fair. Now, after the success of the first event, the dealership has completely changed its mindset around hiring. "It's the only way we're going to do things from now," Zach Materne, general manager of sales, told Powersports Business. LAUNCHING JOB FAIRS The Transportation Revolution (TTRNO), a 2014 and 2013 Powersports Business Power 50 dealership out of New Orleans, hosted its first job fair, a train-to-hire event, in May. At the dealership's Triumph 20-club meeting, moderator Sam Dantzler explained the benefits the dealership would see if it would only add to its staff. "We kind of hit a ceiling of success with the amount of people that we had," Materne said. After assessing TTRNO's needs, manage- ment decided to hire seven people throughout sales, F&I, service and parts. "We didn't really know how to make it work as far as who to hire first, so we said why not hire everybody," Materne recalled. The dealership quickly went to work, cre- ating a two-day job fair, which Dantzler had recommended. Such an event was especially ideal, as the dealership was looking to fill such diverse positions. With the event slated to begin at 6 p.m. on a Thursday night, TTRNO took to the Internet about a week and a half prior, advertising the job fair via its website, social media and email blasts as an event designed for anyone who wanted to work in the motorcycle industry. Those efforts were successful, as 30 potential hires showed up the first night. Night One of the job fair began with a pre- sentation about the dealership's history, how the dealership is run and what the dealership is looking for in an employee. Management then explained the job descriptions of the open positions, the salary range and what efforts employees could put in to increase their pay. Candidates were then told that if they were still interested, they should return Friday night with a completed application, résumé and a written plan on how they'd fit into their desired role and how they could contribute to the deal- ership as a whole. As Night Two began, 30 people again showed up. While a few from Night One didn't return, a few newcomers joined in on the event and were soon brought up to speed. The sec- ond part of the event began with a personality test, an icebreaker to see how people handled talking to each other and basic sales training. "The idea here is everyone here is a sales- man," Materne explained. "You need to point people in the right direction to create a sales transaction." Candidates were also taught how to do a basic customer greet. They then set off to greet each other in pairs for about five minutes and returned to the group for a debriefing. "The people that talked about people and not product are the ones we ended up hiring," Materne said, adding that those hired were also all smiling in photos taken by the staff Thurs- day night. From that event, TTRNO filled five of its open positions, while two others who were interviewed prior to the job fair were hired for the other two positions. Out of those seven, one has been fired since and one quit, but the rest have worked out well. "I definitely got better quality people through an event like this than I had ever got- ten any other way," Materne said. TTRNO previously posted open jobs through Craigslist and industry-related job sites and shared them through word-of-mouth, but those efforts didn't produce the same type of candidates. TRIAL, ERROR AND LESSONS LEARNED Though the May job fair was quite successful, only five candidates showed up for TTRNO's December sales-only job fair. Materne believes the discrepancy came in that the first job fair was slated as a general event for anyone who wanted to work in the industry, while the December event was pro- moted as a sales-focused job fair. Even though TTRNO was only looking for sales staff in December, Materne has discovered that some- times people who don't have sales experience actually turn out to be good salespeople with a little training. Because he's learned that lesson, he's look- ing at only conducting general job fairs in the future. For example, TTRNO is hoping to host another job fair early this year, and though two open sales positions will be the primary focus, anyone interested in working at TTRNO will likely be invited. "I think it's always good to have an array of talent that you can pick from when you're at the point that you do have to hire somebody else," he said. Though TTRNO hired everyone of high- quality out of the May job fair, Materne is con- vinced that with future events, the dealership should be able to keep a pool of résumés of potential hires on hand. "We can always go back and see if they're still interested," he said. CHANGING THE PROCESS Because the first job fair gathered high-qual- ity candidates, Materne has decided job fairs are the only way the dealership will hire in the future, except for positions it specifically recruits employees for. "I don't think I'd hire any other way because what it does is it shows initiative in that they showed up," Materne said. Being able to observe candidates as they interact with TTRNO staff and each other over two days gives management better insight into how they'll work with customers, than if they had only completed an in-office sit-down interview. "The people that are showing up for two nights are spending four, five, six hours with me, and I'm able to interact with them," Materne said. Those who sent in résumés and said they couldn't attend weren't given the same con- sideration as those who took the time out of their nights to go to the dealership. The job fair also brought out competitiveness in potential employees, as they could see first-hand who else was vying for the same job, and they were required to explain in writing how they could contribute to the dealership. "It kind of turns the interview process around, I think," Materne said. "I feel like once you go through that vetting process, it puts the employee in the driver's seat, and it's like a battle to show who could be the best at it." TTRNO plans to host about two job fairs per year going forward. PSB A new way of hiring 30 • January 26, 2015 • Powersports Business www.PowersportsBusiness.com }With THE TRANSPORTATION REVOLUTION OF NEW ORLEANS promoting its job fairs via its own social media, website and e-newsletter as an opportunity to work in the industry, the job fairs attracted not only future employees but also customers who were interested in possibly filling a position. Though not everyone who attended the fair was hired, they were able to learn more about the dealership through the first night's presen- tation on TTRNO's history, how the dealership is run and what the dealership looks for in its employees. "The customers that showed up for that really appreciated that there's a whole lot of work that goes on behind the scenes," TTRNO's general manager of sales Zach Materne said. Due to that feedback, the dealership is considering adding a version of that presenta- tion to dealership events, such as its frequent Tech Talks. UNEXPECTED JOB FAIR BONUS The Transportation Revolution New Orleans has turned to job fairs to fill its open positions. A.D. FARROW CO. 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PAUL HARLEY-DAVIDSON • STEAMBOAT POWERSPORTS • SURDYKE HARLEY-DAVIDSON • TEAM CAROLINA POWERSPORTS • TEJAS MOTORSPORTS • THE TRANSPORTATION REVOLUTION • ULTIMATE CYCLE • WILD PRAIRIE HARLEY-DAVIDSON • WILDCAT HARLEY-DAVIDSON • WILKINS HARLEY-DAVIDSON 2014 POWERSPORTS POWER 50 DEALERS SPONSORED BY } The Transportation Revolution's first two job fairs were promoted via social media, the dealership's website and e-newsletters. THE TRANSPORTATION REVOLUTION