So, you’re thinking of adding staff to the gallery. I hope that means business is growing! You need a hiring and onboarding process to help make finding the right person easier. In this article, let’s look at things to consider before you hire a gallery staff member and how to ensure that employee becomes a valuable and loyal asset for the gallery’s future success.
When is the right time to hire new gallery staff members?
The time to hire is before you reach a crisis. It will take time to hire a good person for the job and get them properly trained for your gallery’s needs and company culture. Sometimes as long as eight to ten weeks on average.
The need to hire is not always driven by growth or to replace a lost team member. Consider how the operations of running the gallery business are going at the moment. Does any of this sound familiar?
- Revenue is stagnating, and you need to boost sales
- You feel like you are always playing catch-up
- Fixing mistakes or putting out fires takes too much of your day
- New opportunities have arisen, and you don’t have the needed skills to execute
- You spend time working on administrative or repetitive tasks
If you can relate to any one of these, a new hire could be the solution. Before adding to the gallery team, be sure there is enough consistent work to justify additional staffing. You must also be confident the gallery’s financial stability can offer a competitive salary that will motivate a new hire to stay long-term. Reflecting on these points could help determine if you need a full-time, part-time, or short-term contractor?
The financials will be reasonably black and white as to whether or not you can afford to hire. Having enough work will need more critical thought. This is why carefully crafting a precise job description can be a helpful tool. The process will help you identify gaps in your organizational structure and any operational requirements not being met for a healthy gallery business.
Let’s look at that a little closer.
Know what you want and what your gallery actually needs
Most art galleries are run with a staff of one and maybe one other full-time or part-time staff member. I believe, in an ideal world, these galleries should have at least one person focused on sales, one on marketing, and a third who manages the operations aspect of the gallery, artist relationships, and curation of exhibitions. Sales and marketing are too critical to be distracted by wearing too many hats.
You have heard the saying, “A jack of all trades and master of none”. That is not always a good thing for a thriving gallery business. Running an art gallery is hard enough.
Of course – it’s not an ideal world. So, what role or job description would be a game-changer for your business. Taking a little time upfront to create a hiring and onboarding process for the gallery will help you make the best decision.
If you’re unsure, you may want to work with a recruitment firm. They will assist you in dissecting your gallery’s needs, challenges, and goals.
If you start interviewing candidates for a job that lacks definition or seems too generalized, that could be a red flag to your interviewees. It’s vital to know what you want and what the gallery needs before getting too deep in the process. You risk wasting a lot of time and money.
Allow enough time for the process
Before starting the hiring process, make sure you have adequate time to create a strategy that will provide the best and most efficient experience for you and your new hire. Consider your event schedule with exhibitions and fairs. Perhaps you have busy seasons in the gallery with increased foot traffic.
Trying to hire when you and your staff are less available to implement the process could lead to frustration and resentment for everyone. Don’t wait until your needs get desperate to hire if you can help it. Try to find a two-month window when you will be in the gallery and can interview and onboard a new gallery team member.
It is helpful also to allow time to create a position agreement and interview process before you start bringing candidates in. More on that later.
Tips for interview preparedness
Talented candidates will have options for where they choose to work, so remember that they are interviewing you as much as you them. It’s wise to plan your interview process to put your best foot forward while qualifying the best person for the job.
Here are a few tips for developing your gallery’s hiring process.
- Research the candidate before you sit down for the interview. Read their resume, review social media profiles and write down questions specific to their experience. You may also want to note any previous conversations to refresh your memory during the interview.
- Outline the hiring process with your candidate, from interview follow-up to onboarding a new hire, so they know what to expect.
- Plan to inspire candidates with your art gallery’s mission and purpose.
- Communicate the company history, culture, and any goals for the future of the business.
- Discuss benefits offered.
- Create standard questions for all interviewees helpful to the open position.
If you’re lucky, several excellent candidates will make it hard to choose. Your interview questions that go beyond their previous experience and education can often help reveal the deciding factor. Ask questions that give you an idea of other important traits such as interpersonal relationships, empathy, time management, adaptability, curiosity to learn, and leadership.
Below are a few sample interview questions for a gallery hire that could provide additional insight from work experience. Use these to better understand how a candidate might fit your values, other staff members, and clients. Make these your own and modify them as deemed appropriate for the role.
Working relationships
- Tell me about a time when you and your manager disagreed about something and how you handled that situation.
- Can you describe a situation where you needed to convince someone of an idea or viewpoint? How did you go about doing that?
- What kind of relationship do you like to have with co-workers in an ideal world? What do you dislike most?
- Tell me about a time, professional or non-professional, when you were put into a leadership role, and what made you effective?
Adaptability
- Which previous jobs do you believe you performed the best and worst? Explain why?
- What factors might motivate you to leave a job?
- In the past, how did you pivot when you felt you weren’t making progress towards a goal?
Goals and ability to learn
- What goals are you working towards right now, and describe how you plan to achieve them?
- What did you hope to learn from your last job, and did you learn unexpectedly?
- What is an example of a role where you needed to learn a new skill, and how did you develop that skill?
- What achievements are you most proud of from a previous job and outside of work?
Onboarding a new hire to the gallery
Congratulation on building your team! Now that an offer has been accepted, you want to help them get up and running quickly with a positive onboarding experience.
The goal of planning an onboarding program is to:
- Create a positive foundation for the new employee and clarify expectations.
- Schedule both social and training meetings so they can get to know colleagues and the business.
- Establish a support system while they are getting acclimated.
From day one, please provide a written agreement that details their responsibilities and what results you expect from them in the role. This kind of tool can be more comprehensive than the job description you used for recruiting. Providing goals and timelines are also helpful in this agreement. This document eliminates any misunderstanding down the road and establishes a benchmark for performance reviews. The more detailed and specific you can be, the more valuable a tool this agreement becomes. Send the agreement to them in advance, so they can review it carefully and prepare questions on their first day.
Starting a new job is always a little overwhelming for the new hire. There is usually a lot to learn. To not add to the overwhelm, schedule training over a few weeks. You will want to schedule a series of meetings that cover various topics to help them get to know you and your gallery business.
Onboarding meeting might cover things such as:
- Gallery mission and your value proposition to clients and artists
- The goals and strategies the gallery has in place
- The service experience that is expected to support both artists and collectors
- Software training and introducing resources used in the business
- Processes and procedures pertinent to their role
- Introduce vendors with whom the employee may need to interact
- And, of course – introduce and become familiar with the gallery’s artists
It typically takes around two months for a new hire to feel confident in their role, but that depends on many factors. Focus on the fundamentals and be open to ideas the new hire brings to the table.
To the point
Hiring the best talent for your gallery can be daunting in many cases. There are many things to consider to ensure they are a good fit with your gallery’s mission and values. Allow enough time to plan, interview properly, and onboard. That really is vital to the whole process of creating a hiring and onboarding process.
It’s your job to help mold a new employee into a valuable and loyal asset that contributes to the business’s success.
A strong onboarding experience will help with the training of your new team member and actually help retain them as they will feel more empowered and better equipped to succeed.
Take the time to create and document a hiring process that you can repeatedly use. It will save you time for future hires and develop a level of consistency among your team as it continues to grow. Who knows…. One day in the future, you might delegate the hiring task to your new hire.
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