Its been a while since I have written a post. We’ve spent the last 6 months scaling a new business unit http://www.dealcurrent.com and I am remembering how important hiring the right way is.
We have gone from hiring 3 people last year to hiring about 1 person a month and plan on growing to 40+ next year. As a result, I’ve spent a lot of time lately thinking about how to recruit, and more importantly how to hire people for our team.
The two goals when hiring are recruiting talented people and maintaining an amazing culture.
Here are my keys to accomplishing this:
- Define the personality and skill set you want. I believe the key to hiring the right person is outlining the ideal person in advance before any interviews. This prevents you from being blinded by a great personality and ensures you find what you are looking for.
- The hiring process starts with the first phone interview. The first human impression you have on someone is the first phone screen. If you are hiring or someone on your team is, its important to discuss goals, job descriptions, and make clear the point that: “We are a great company and working here is something you have to work for”. Its not about being arrogant, but its about knowing you have built something great and that you want people who would do anything to work with you and they are willing to give everything they have.
- After the first interview with a manager, schedule team interviews and give everyone a “Veto” right. One of the things I have found is that people behave differently with a hiring manager than employees. Train your employees to ask questions that dig into personality, work ethic, and motivation. I have found many times that a person tells a manager one thing and a future co-worker another eliminating themselves before they even know it. Also give your team permission to raise an opinion or cast a Veto if someone just rubs them the wrong way. It is important that team members are involved in the hiring process. This increases the chance that a new hire will fill in, but also should get the recruit excited to work with your company.
- Remember hiring continues with training. One of the key things that is often overlooked is that the hiring/recruiting process is not done with the start date. This is like saying a sale is finished just because the contract is signed. Now you have to deliver. This is the same with a new hire. I believe when someone starts with your team you have one month to impress them and mold them into your culture. Sometimes you have less. It is important to have a training plan, create an agenda for their first week, and to expose them to all the operations they are directly or indirectly involved with. Everyone who starts with us spends 2-5 days shadowing our sales team. We want everyone to know how a client comes to us, contracts with us, and why they sign with us. Attracting and retaining clients is the key to every business, so its important to expose everyone to this and express the importance even if they are not in sales
Jimmy Hendricks
kevinbeatty
patrickdillon
