How Do You Attract and Recruit High Performing Team Members?

How Do You Attract High Performing Team Members?

How Do You Attract High Performing Team Members?

What’s the biggest challenge entrepreneurs face? What single duty do most private business owners dread? No, I’m not talking about paying taxes or having a root canal.

Over 80% of the entrepreneurs I work with hate, yes, hate hiring people. It’s ironic to me having spent many years in executive search that so many business owners dread going through the hiring process. I thought it might be helpful to share several tips that can make your hiring easier, if not a breeze.

The first tip I share with my clients is always be looking.  That’s right, it’s just that simple. Don’t wait until you have to hire to start looking for great talent. Many of the most successful entrepreneurs I know have files with people they have been impressed with. They might meet them at a conference or trade show. In some cases, they’ve read a blog or article by them. Great entrepreneurs are great connectors and the more comfortable you get at this, the easier you job becomes.

The second tip is to understand what you and your organization have to offer a potential employee.  I can remember meeting with family business leaders who have an incredible product or service marketing story, but they haven’t spent any time thinking what would make their business attractive to a new hire. Consider taking time to develop you story with the different people on your team. As a founder we often times miss the why of people hiring. By asking your fellow team members why they joined you and they become much stronger at attracting great talent to your team.

If you are always looking and we know you now will be, you must understand what employees want in an opportunity. A word of caution on sharing, don’t be so hard on yourself or your organization. I can think of one great entrepreneur who had over 50% turnover in his senior leadership team. When we shared it with potential executives, we had to decide how to confide it with these potential team members. Here’s what we said, if you want to work in a great company and your want to get more responsibility faster, you should consider working for us. We have a high turnover rate because we are not the right place for everyone. Then we would wait to get a response. Over 15% of the leaders we interviewed saw it as a challenge and went on in the interview process. In discussions with senior management, I shared that they might be better served by not hiring so quickly and in several years we reduced the turnover rate by 40%.  We could not have done this without knowing what an employee is looking for in an employer.

The third tip is to know what you expect in an employee. We all work in competitive markets and know that you have to work hard to be a success. Then why do so many entrepreneurs spend little time considering what they expect out of a team member? Take time to write it out and share it with other people on your team. Make sure you really understand what you want. Create a shared story of what you and your team expect. Be willing to share examples of people going the extra mile. Share these during the interview process. No surprises, but this is a great way of describing what you expect from others. Don’t be timid in setting your bar high. The people who will do the best job will be the people who want to exceed your and their expectations in a role.

The fourth tip is to look for subtle clues to how they might perform on the job when interviewing. Use a multistep process and get feedback from other people before you hire. Make sure you collect feedback from the different people in your hiring process.  It helps you get a better handle on how people look at hiring. One of the biggest mistakes I’ve seen in hiring lower level people is the hiring manager rushes to judgment on a person and then struggles to collect feedback and support from the people who will be most impacted by the hiring decision. If you’ve done a good job on the other pieces of the puzzle, the more successful you become at hiring great people.

The final tip is it is better to dodge a bullet than take one. I learned this from my work with the military. If you’re not certain, don’t hire. If you’ve followed the other tips I’ve shared, you are going to be more prepared than almost anyone out there to make a good hire. Don’t let circumstances make your decision for you.  I’ve seen many bad hires made in a rush to bad judgment.

I’m often asked if I believe in testing people with employment tests.  The answer is yes, but make sure you understand how to use the tool before using it. Tests only validate who we think we are not how we actually perform in the job. My clients use these tools to spark more conversation during the interview, but it can also provide a strong platform to help build an effective on-boarding program for your new hires.

I hope this helps you be more confident in hiring your next great team member. If you have any questions, please drop me a note. I’d love to hear from you.  Thursday, we share several tips on how to get people off to a great start in your organization. Building a great on-boarding process can help you not only attract great people to your team, but also help you retain them over time. See you Thursday.

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