How to hire a tennis professional. (Sports).

A tennis program's success and contributions to a club are directly linked to the professional management team. A good management team--owner, manager, and director of tennis--will always constitute greater profits and happier members.

When owners and managers are faced with hiring a tennis professional to be the third link in the chain, they often ask if there's a systematic approach to finding the right professional. I'm happy to tell you that there is both a system and resources available to help you with the process.

The United States Professional Tennis Association (USPTA) has identified 10 steps that will help you increase your chances of finding qualified applicants to interview and select the right professional to hire. A brief discussion of them follows:

Step 1--Locate resources. This is particularly important if this is your first time hiring a tennis professional. At USPTA's main website, you'll find:

* "Find-a-Pro"--the only job listing service that allows you to target USPTA-certified professionals, and it's free.

* "How to Hire a Tennis Professional"--the full explanation of the hiring steps described here, plus worksheets, a sample contract, and other exhibits to help clarify your task.

* Ratings explanations--a professional's certified rating can be a clue to his or her accomplishments, so we define Master Professional, Professional 1, Professional 2, and Professional 3.

Step 2--Appoint a selection committee. Keep the committee small: three to five people is ideal. Include a fair representation of the various interest groups at the club, including yourself and a member of the tennis committee. If possible, have a small retail business person who can appreciate the problems of running a seasonal business with a limited market. A good way to speed up the selection process is to empower the committee with full selection authority, providing they are unanimous in their recommendation.

Step 3--Evaluate your facility. No two facilities are alike, so evaluating your facility, is a critical step before hiring. For instance: What are the needs of your facility? If your membership is under-subscribed or facility usage is low, you may want an enthusiastic promoter. If, on the other hand, you are bulging at the seams, you may need an especially adept organizer and administrator. Do your tennis events and activities meet the needs of the membership? Does your job require an aggressive merchandiser? Would management skills be the greatest asset in your new tennis professional?

Conscientiously evaluate your needs, discuss them, and write them down. When there is a consensus among your committee, identify the scope of the position.

Step 4--A job description. To clearly define the position, include both specific and general duties and establish lines of authority and areas of responsibility. If you've hired a tennis professional before, you may have a job description from which to work. (Have your tennis professional write one every year.)

Now consider the kind of person who will meet your requirements. Have the committee rank the skills that will be required of the new professional according to importance, with five being the most important and zero being not important. Those skills receiving the highest rankings should be given the most consideration among candidates.

Step 5--Job information worksheet. Creating this worksheet will familiarize the committee with additional details, including the income and expense portions of the tennis operation, and should be made available to candidates so that they have an honest picture of the job's financial potential. The worksheet should contain:

* General club information (e.g., name, address, facility type, number of courts, type of position, tennis member characteristics);

* Important skills (e.g., teaching and playing ability, leadership, administration, personality);

* Financial arrangements (e.g., all tennis operations income and expenses, salary range);

* Contractual arrangements (e.g., term, compensation, duties, renewal, termination)

* Application procedure/requirements (e.g., deadlines, contact person, credit rating, references).

Step 6--Post the job. Go to uspta.com and register on the "Employers-Find-Pros" part of the website to receive quick approval to post your job on the site. (Your job will also be added to a print version of the Find-a-Pro listings.) Menus will help you specify job characteristics, and you may enter a 75-word description of the job and desired candidates. Ask USPTA for copies of ads used by other employers as examples for formulating your own.

Step 7--Screen applicants. Check the references of all candidates who interest you. Note the quality of the references, and contact some people not listed who might know the candidate. Ask open-ended questions, such as "Tell me how the professional handles the teaching job." Remember to ask why the candidate left his previous job. Top-caliber applicants will quickly become evident.

Once you have narrowed the field to a final small group (six is a reasonable number), we recommend you send them invitations to interview. Make sure each has a copy of the job description and worksheet, and ask them to present a specific plan on how they would administer the major activities in which you have expressed the greatest interest.

Step 8--Interview candidates. In addition to an interview, during which the committee will ask questions and take notes, committee members might play a few sets of tennis with the applicants and invite finalists and their spouses to dinner. Afterward, the committee should complete and review their evaluations. This might result in a general approval or disapproval of a candidate or lead to second interview requests.

Generally, expenses incurred in interviewing are paid by the facility. Keep in mind that some good candidates may not be able to afford the interview, particularly if they have been asked to come to other such sessions in the past.

Step 9--Make a selection and sign a contract. When you've settled on a No. 1 choice, do not make any announcements until a contract has been signed. Job relocation is a complex decision and a verbal commitment may be reversed. Reasonable confidentiality is also advisable because your top two choices may reject the position if the final arrangements do not meet their expectations.

Experience suggests that it is mutually beneficial to enter into a formal written employment contract. This eliminates any possible areas of misunderstanding or assumption. A contract establishes a clear working arrangement, assures a new hire that she will be given reasonable time to perform a good job and assures you that you will have the right person on your professional management team for several years.

Step 10--Notifications. Once you've signed a contract, one committee member should write a press release for the local media--a great promotional opportunity for your club. Other finalists should be sent a personal letter thanking them for their participation and complimenting them on their presentations, and all ads posting the job opening should be removed.

Fred Viancos is the director of professional development for USTPA, and has been a member since 1985. In 2000, he was selected as one of Tennis Industry's "40 under 40," representing the 40 rising stars under age 40 in the tennis industry.