Running a business and managing a team can be wonderful, fun and rewarding.
It can also be stressful, time-consuming and aggravating.
The difference is largely in getting your people “right.”
In a study by Gallup, it was found managers fail in the hiring process – and hire the wrong candidate – 82% of the time.
That’s incredibly high… but not surprising.
You consistently need to solve the puzzle of having the right people, in the right positions, who are doing the right things, in the right ways, and at the right times.
If any of these “rights” are wrong, it can put your business, team and profits into constant disarray and keep you working longer, tougher hours to fix them.
As a former top-performing leader in the corporate world, I was in charge of hiring and developing teams and businesses. Here are the seven secrets I learned to get hiring process right and build an excellent team that moves the business forward.
1. Know exactly what you’re looking for
It’s easy to look at the skills someone needs to fulfill a job position, but what you’re looking for should run deeper than that.
Not only should you have a clearly defined organizational chart, but you should also take into account what the position requires in:
– Aptitudes
– Experiences / past performance
– Personality
– Adaptabilities
– Learning and growth abilities
– Long-term fit and future career goals
– Company culture fit with the team and the business
– Fit between your management style and the style that brings out their best
– Whatever is missing from the team that you want added
– Philosophies, beliefs and values the candidate holds for job responsibilities, the industry, your company’s mission, etc.
2. Use pre-interview phone screenings
Having a “mini” phone interview before seeing candidates in person avoids wasting time with wrong candidates, and it warms up the interaction and relationship, giving you both an idea of what to focus on and what to dig deeper when you decide to interview them in person.
3. Facilitate a two-way interview
The candidate needs be interviewing you and your company, so they have enough information to know if they should take the job if it’s offered.
But most candidates don’t do this. They may fall in love with you or the job and are trying to sell themselves, are too nervous to ask important questions, or just don’t know what questions to ask.
It doesn’t mean they’re bad candidates, but it does mean they might not know when to turn a job down that’s not a great fit for them, so you need to help them do a great job interviewing you, while you assess them.
It’s also easy for you to fall in love with a candidate and start selling the position.
Instead, stay focused and neutral. A candidate who accepts a job because one of you fell in love with the other and didn’t get all the necessary information is likely to fail in the position.
4. More eyes and ears are better
Use the buddy system to interview candidates in teams of two and debrief each other. Your interview partner will often have insights and opinions that you may have missed and vice versa.
Have the candidates meet or sit with a current employee to see what an average day looks like. Prepare some questions for that employee. There’s a chance the candidate will feel more comfortable with a “non-boss” and ask “real” questions or offer more glimpses into their personality, goals, ambitions, shortcomings, etc. This also helps the candidate understand on a deeper level what the job is really like, and get a better assessment of the business or team culture.
5. Get the evidence
See if what was uncovered about the candidate during the phone screen and in-person interview is true by giving on the spot or take-home exercises, post-interview questions, etc. Contact their references and, when appropriate, their past managers, co-workers, employees or clients to make sure what you heard in the interviews matches others’ perceptions, or if any other pertinent information is gained.
6. Be consistent
Use the same process for all your interviews, so you can accurately keep records and compare candidates. This also helps you to be fair and not open yourself to potential legal problems by treating candidates differently. It’s easy to forget or overlook something important when you skip parts or questions.
Lastly, as my high school jazz band teacher always loved saying:
7. “Perfect practice makes perfect.”
The more you follow your system and seek improvements, the better you’ll get, the better you’ll hire, and the more you, your employees and your business will prosper.
Your friend and coach,
Jason
