Ducks in a Row: People to Hire
by Miki Saxon
Yesterday I said I would share ways to find employees who would be invested in your company and not just in themselves.
The best place to start is to take a look at the stupidest hiring practice I know and why it is so stupid, i.e., only hiring people who are currently working or not off more than six months.
I’ve seen this attitude before during other recessions, but to see it this rampant now, when the economy is still shaky and the job market hasn’t turned around is beyond belief.
As I told the managers who contacted me and I’m telling all of you, I have no empathy for managers who say they can’t find good people.
Pundit managers (those who share their views through articles and blogs) are constantly saying that attitude is more important than skills; add willingness and ability to learn and the value skyrockets and if the candidate is a good cultural fit the value jumps by an order of magnitude.
Manage them well and you will get additional benefits that money can’t buy—gratitude, appreciation and loyalty—all because you gave them a chance.
The wisest engineering vp I ever met once told me that he would rather have a programmer who knew multiple languages than an expert in the one he needed at the moment. He said that technology would keep changing faster and faster and he needed people who could learn on the fly and change with it. He said that a proven ability to change was more valuable than expert status.
When hiring stay focused on the fact that your next top performer won’t necessarily
- have the best grades;
- attend a prestigious school;
- work for your competitor,
- in your industry or
- even be working at all;
- be younger than X;
- have a full head of hair, with no gray; or
- fit easily into your comfort zone.
The bottom line is your success is the result of your ability to recognize jewels where others see only lumps of coal.
Flickr image credit: ZedBee | Zoë Power
May 28th, 2013 at 1:17 am
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