Hiring: Fighting the battle
Quick Jab Coming: The reason you can’t find and keep good employees is because of your hiring practices.
Right Cross Inbound: The unemployed candidates seeking employment are not typically the best candidates, they’re probably not the ones you want. But you’ll probably need to interview a few dozen of them anyway just to be sure.
Huge Uppercut Coming: You won’t know you hired the wrong candidate for a few weeks, months, or even years. By then, you’ll have wasted $1,000’s of dollars and maybe even damaged your brand/reputation.
I told you those 3 punches were coming, but if you’re still reading, they landed.
Now, this doesn’t mean you won’t find a good candidate posting an open position on a hiring board, but if you want to find the right person and do it with true purpose, you need to interview a lot of people utilizing a proven hiring process. This takes time. You should do this when you need to fill a position that you might not even have a need for yet, if not, you’ll rush it and probably hire the wrong person.
The person that you think interviews really well is probably the one who worked really hard to sell themselves to you. They say things about how hard they work, how they “ran the whole operation for their previous employer,” and how much they know and what they can do for you. These are the ones that seem like the easy hire, but rarely work out in the long run. You know this to be true.
Knock Out Punch: The person you want to hire isn’t openly looking for a job right now.
THE BENCH
Not everyone who’s seeking employment is a bad employee. But the large majority of the best candidates are already employed.
People who want to work are working. It’s that simple. People who are good at what they do will typically stand out.
People who you want to hire are working for a competitor or maybe an ally in the industry.
They are waiting tables at restaurants, as bartenders or maybe in the position you need to fill, but at another company. We like to call this “The Bench”
In sports, the bench is the place where the coach looks to when they need to substitute a player (fill a position)
When establishing your bench you want to keep a list in your trusted journal that we discussed a few weeks ago.
If a waiter or waitress you know, at a restaurant you frequent, consistently delivers top notch service. Put their name on your list.
If the kid at the big box store who helps carry out the flowers to your car is a polite and well spoken fella. Put his name on your list.
Now, of course, you’ll focus on selecting individuals who possess the necessary skills, relevant experience, and align with the company’s culture and values. But beyond technical expertise, you’ll really focus on their ability to collaborate, adapt, and contribute to a positive work environment.
Furthermore, evaluate the personalities on your team. What personality type is missing? Who could you hire to enhance the culture your trying to build? Could you envision this waiter/waitress on your team? How would they level up the culture?
By investing in the right people, a business lays the foundation for a cohesive team that drives innovation, productivity, and long-term success.
The key here is to let the waiter/waitress know that you notice they are really good at ______ and you think they would excel in a position with your company. Keep in touch, when they are ready you’ll know.
It may take months or even years. But when that top performer is looking for a new challenge, they’ll look to you.
They won’t have to waste a minute of time selling you on how good they are. You’ll already know.
They know about you, they know what you do and they want to be on your team.
