How do you look for, and land, the best talent for your business? How do you entice highflyers to work for a low salary? How do you assemble a dream team without the process becoming a bit of a nightmare? Read on for some savvy secrets to successful recruiting and some dos and don’ts every interviewer ought to know…
Why ‘different’ is good
Before you start recruiting your team, you need to get clear about your personal strengths and weaknesses. The more self-honesty you have about your limitations, the easier it is to identify who to hire to fill in the gaps in your own skill sets.
This exercise might help you assemble your thoughts:
- Make a list of all the aspects of your job you love doing and are good at. These are obviously the things you needn’t outsource as they’re in your zone of genius.
- Now, list all the tasks you struggle with and don’t enjoy.
It won’t be good for your business (or for you) to battle away at things that don’t come naturally. Instead, employ someone who’ll happily take them off your hands and do them better and faster.
Why ‘same’ is essential
While it’s important to employ people whose talents contrast with yours, it’s equally crucial that their values match your own. You could interview the most brilliant candidate who’s won numerous accolades and sold a company for millions – but if the two of you aren’t aligned on the principles that matter most, it will be a difficult relationship.
How can you recruit for a role you don’t understand?
Here’s a conundrum. Imagine you want your first employee to be an IT person because you yourself are a bit of a technophobe. Problem: how can you tell if a candidate is any good, if their field of work mystifies you? How will you know what questions to ask in an interview if the intricacies of their job elude you?
Aside from employing a headhunter to select and vet a shortlist of candidates, your best tool is knowledge. Ideally, you should invest a little time immersing yourself in the applicant’s world to get a basic grasp of what they do. How? Well, you can learn pretty much anything on YouTube. And Udemy.com offers over 180 thousand online video courses. You can also find curated tips and toolkits in the Knowledge section of the Creative Entrepreneurs website – and see our Journal section for more ‘How-To’ guides like this one, on multifarious topics.
How do you attract great talent if you can’t offer big bucks?
When you’re just starting out, you won’t yet have the kudos of a famous brand everyone wants to work for. And it’s unlikely you’ll have enough money to offer very competitive salaries. How then, can you create a package that will entice the dazzling talent you want?
Fortunately, people aren’t incentivised by financial gain alone. They may be drawn to a role because they want to join an amazing team, work flexible hours, learn new skills – or many other reasons. So, if you can’t offer a big pay packet, think about what you could offer instead? Of course, if you’re convincing enough at selling your vision, people may even willingly work for you for free (this is not unheard of).
Think of each interview as a PR opportunity
A golden rule when you’re interviewing candidates is to treat every interaction as a chance to promote your business. Even if a candidate isn’t right for a role, they may know someone who is. Or they may come back in a couple of years when they (or you) are more experienced. So always be kind and respectful.
People talk. And word spreads fast. When your new recruits are asked how their job’s going, you want them to say things like, “I have a great boss. I feel so excited about what we’re doing. It’s very collaborative…” So, think carefully about what kind of culture you want to create. Define it to yourself first and then reflect it in the way you behave.
Touting for talent on LinkedIn
LinkedIn is a great recruitment tool. You can see which connections you share with potential candidates and ask your mutual contacts for an introduction. And it’s an ideal platform for advertising roles as it’s relatively inexpensive and gives you good visibility.
A word of caution though: having placed your ad, it can seem exciting initially to get hundreds of applications. But screening all those profiles is very time-consuming. So advertising a role is probably no quicker than if you tracked down individuals on LinkedIn one by one and proactively approached them – like being your own headhunter. Whichever method you choose, you’ll need to put the hours in.
When you reach out to a stranger on LinkedIn, you only need to send them a brief message at first (not a whole job description). The shorter the better, as busy people will be more likely to read it. You basically need to say, “I’m building my business and keen to talk to you”. Then they’ll probably look at your profile and respond if they’re interested and available.
What if a hire doesn’t work out?
When you take someone on, it’s a good idea to make their contract conditional on completing a successful probation period of say, three to six months. Establish some targets you expect them to achieve within this timeframe. Then halfway through the probation period, if they’re not hitting those goals, this could be a red flag.
If you find a new recruit is faltering a little, your inclination might be to give them extra guidance and training – especially if you’re a coach-orientated CEO. This generous approach often pays off by helping people find their feet and go on to flourish in the role. However, investing this extra effort and time may sometimes prove fruitless and frustrating (like trying to squeeze a square peg into a round hole). You’ll need to gauge which scenario you’re working with – and act appropriately.
Of course, the more thorough your initial interviewing process, the greater your chance of getting it right the first time with the people you pick. But if you realise you’ve got it wrong, don’t let the relationship drag on, as this won’t be beneficial for anyone. A good motto to remember is, ‘hire slow, fire fast’.
Finally, some important dos and don’ts of interviewing…
DO get very clear about your business’s fundamental purpose before you start recruiting. Knowing who you are is a prerequisite of knowing who to hire.
DON’T be tempted to hire a friend (or a friend of a friend) just because you like them. They might be a lovely person – but that doesn’t mean they’ll be any good at the job.
DON’T hire people just because they remind you of you. Our brains are hardwired to like similarity. So if someone went to your school, shares your fashion sense or enjoys the same sports, you may assume they’re a good fit. Having a rapport is good. But you need to make sure unconscious bias isn’t skewing your perception.
DON’T go into the interview not knowing what you’re looking for. Pin down the skills and qualities you’re seeking before you even think about meeting people.
DO write a structured list of questions and stick to the brief. Always keep in mind these three key factors when you’re hiring people: are they 1) a good fit for the role, 2) a good fit for your culture and 3) good for the growth of your business?
DO ask the same questions to every person you interview. This will help ensure you don’t deviate from your criteria. This is important, as it’s tempting to avoid asking difficult questions to people you like, as you want to believe they’re right for the role. Use the interview as an opportunity to put every candidate under the same scrutiny.
DON’T be confrontational to candidates you don’t instantly like. If you get an unfavourable first impression of someone, you may want to create evidence for yourself about their unsuitability for the role. For example, you might try to catch them out by asking more difficult questions than you ask anyone else. But as mentioned in the previous point, the interview will only be a fair process if you use the same script with everyone.
This How-To Guide was inspired by one of our Zoom Dives with Maria Hvorostovsky, Founder and CEO of HVO Search – a consultancy that helps businesses hire the best C-Suite talent.
Our Zoom Dive events are deep-delving discussions between our founder, Carolyn Dailey and a handpicked creative business expert. You can listen to Carolyn and Maria’s full discussion here.
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