Furniture retailers are used to hiring salespeople and office staff. Most are not nearly as strong on the warehouse and delivery side of the business. As a result, they often do not hire the best people for these critical jobs. The focus of this article is to relate the experiences of Ronnie Kurlancheek of Jacob Kurlancheek Furniture who recently replaced her warehouse manager.

Jacob Kurlancheek Furniture is a 98 year old family owned business in Eastern Pennsylvania, presently managed by Jacob's granddaughter, Ronnie Kurlancheek. Twenty years ago it was a single store with $1.5 million annual sales and by early 1996 it had grown to three locations and more than $12 million annual sales. Ronnie was comfortable with her marketing, merchandising and advertising responsibilities, but recognized that warehouse and delivery improvements could boost customer satisfaction, build repeat sales and ultimately increase profits. While in High Point last year, she attended NHFA's seminars relating to operations which confirmed that her current warehousing and delivery practices could be significantly improved.

In early October 1996, at the beginning of Kurlancheek Furniture's busiest season, the warehouse manager of twenty years called in sick for five days straight. He explained that his job was so stressful that he could no longer continue. Compared to his early years at Kurlancheek, he was expected to handle much higher volume. The job functions were also more complex and customer expectations had risen. After his resignation, a meeting was held to discuss all options. She decided to step in as warehouse manager until a qualified replacement could be hired.

There are about ten key items in every job that, if done well, will result in success for the individual and the company. If you don't have a clear idea of what you want your warehouse manager to do, you won't have an appropriate set of measurements with which to evaluate the candidates. So our first step was for Ronnie to write her own "Top 10" list for the warehouse manager. The employment ad was developed from that list.

Space doesn't permit sharing the structured method Ronnie used to review the resumes she received but the focus was to:

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  Initially screen for candidates that had excellent warehouse and people skills.
  
  
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  Probe for weaknesses that might disqualify the person or require additional training if....

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