Hiring question: Imagine my surprise! What 2 do?

[flip4u]

A few years ago I opened my own gym. The gym that I previously coached for went through a rough time. The owner was trying to rebuild the team (the previous coaches left and opened their own gym about 40 miles away), (s)he had taken on cheerleading at the local high school, and had opened another business with a partner. But she had built up a phenomenal preschool and daytime program.

The owner started spending more and more time away from the gym and the competitive team. The parents from the competitive team, of course, did not like his/her absence and felt that the owner did not care about them anymore, so 80% of the "new" competitive team left and dispersed to other gyms. I decided that this would be convenient time for me to leave too and open up my own gym, again about 30 miles away in the town where I live.

I heard that when I left, the owner talked bad about me to other people/coaches. Anyway, the owner closed that gym the same month that I opened my gym. Since that time, the owner worked at a few other gyms as a coach (not a manager).

Recently, I put out an ad searching for new coaches for my gym. Imagine my surprise when I received an email from by previous boss asking to be considered for the coaching position at my gym .

What do I do?

 

[bogwoppit]

Laugh very loudly like this "Bwhahahaha"!

Seriously though, I guess it depends how badly you need a coach, and how good a coach you believe her to be. Loyalty and team work are very important in a gym and I would wonder whether this coach can be trusted.

I guess if you are asking, it is because you think she has something to offer and you are not 100% sure if it would be right to hire her.

A sit down chat to clear the air would be a good thing, during which you would be free to say "I understand that you were unhappy with me when I opened my own gym, can you just explain to me what the issues were and how your feelings have changed since then". This would allow you to clear the air and force her to explain herself without feeling too put on the spot.

You have to feel totally comfortable with this person in your gym, can you imagine that?

Hope my rambling helps a bit....

 

[gym law mom]

I guess it comes down to your opinion of her as a coach. To do that you have to seperate out all the other things that happened at the previous gym and just consider her background, experience and how she works with the kids. One concern would be these other businesses she had that took her away from her job working with her teams and sounds like caused her gym to close.

You can always bring her in for an interview(talk about role reversal) and see how committed she seems to be and stress that this is a coaching job only---not management.

 

[gymnut1]

Laugh very loudly like this "Bwhahahaha"!

Oh you are naughty!