How to Hire the Right People for Your Gym

When you ask someone about their gym — about what they love most or why they keep coming back — the first thing out of their mouth rarely has to do with the workouts or their weight loss. It’s almost always about the employees. The people who work at your gym are the faces and heart of the services you provide to your members. This makes them incredibly important in the overall success and growth of your gym.

Think about the impact your employees and trainers have on your customers. If you offer classes, they’re the ones who are motivating and encouraging members to get out of bed, make the trek to your facility, and work out. If you’re a more machine-based gym, they offer support and guidance to members while they’re in-house. And, throughout it all, your employees do it all with a smiling face and great personality.

So, how can you ensure your members renew and develop a strong loyalty to your trainers and your gym? You need to find and hire the right people. Here are a few tips on hiring the right people for your gym:

Create a specific, targeted job description

Knowing exactly what you’re looking for is key to finding the right talent. Instead of panicking when a job opens up and scrambling to fill it with someone as soon as possible, take a step back. Work with your employees to create the perfect job description that outlines what this person would be responsible for day-to-day. Understanding what you’re looking for early on will narrow down the talent pool early on so your team isn’t wasting time down the road interviewing unqualified or wrong candidates.

Market your job openings in the right places

Many times, job owners struggle to find the right candidates because they aren’t looking in the right places. Post your openings on industry job boards, forums, and message boards to find qualified candidates. As a gym owner, leverage your industry connections and network to see if any of your peers know of a candidate. Additionally, it never hurts to turn your eyes inward. Check and see if any of your top members would be up to taking over a few shifts or running a few classes.

Take your interview process seriously

The gym industry is notoriously laid back and filled with fitness-types who would rather be out on the gym floor than in an office (in a suit, no less!), but this doesn’t mean that gym owners and managers can skate through the interview process. It’s all about finding the right fit for your members and your other employees. Try running a few ‘round robin’ interviews with different people to get a good gauge of character. Additionally, if this person will be running workout sessions, have them do a sample class for a few of your other staff members to test their skills.

Think about culture fit (both with other employees and your members)

No matter what role this new employee will have, it will be customer-facing and customer success oriented. That is just the nature of how gyms work. The entire culture (and success) of your gym rests on the shoulders of your employees and how they engage both with each other and with your members. As you’re looking for new talent, think about how this person will engage with your staff members in both private and public, as well as how he or she will interact with members.

Don’t ‘settle’ on candidates

Sometimes, managers (across all industries) become so fed up with the hiring process that they want to just hire the next person to come in for an interview. It’s important to not settle on a candidate to simply fill a spot in the lineup. Just remember that if you’re still unsure about a candidate there is always someone better and more qualified out there. You just need to take the time, go back through your job description, and look a little harder.

Stay on top of the hiring process

Finding, interviewing, and hiring the right candidates can be difficult, especially with all of the other things gym managers must deal with. It’s difficult, but it doesn’t have to be overwhelming. With the right technology in place helping to manage other processes in and around your gym (payroll, scheduling, and more) you can free up more time to focus on hiring new staff. Finding the right candidates can be an exciting step in the growth of your business, and with industry-specific solutions helping to better manage your gym, you can stay on top of the hiring process from start to finish.