No? You should be…
I recently went through an exercise in finding a new employee – not for a client, but for my own business. I wondered for moment…What sort of people would apply? How many different places would I need to advertise? Would I need to compromise on quality? Turns out my biggest problem was turning away amazing talent because I didn’t have enough positions. Are you finding the same problem? Didn’t think so…
What’s going on out there?
Is it because I am such a great guy and everyone wants to work with me? I would like to think so, but alas, that is probably not the reason. The approach I took is similar to a method I have employed with a number of my clients (so surely I need to follow my own advice right?). I recruited on the basis of talent – not experience.
So what does that really mean?
I know, that is just HR rhetoric, right? Well, maybe if it isn’t explained – so let me explain it. Most managers recruiting will significantly overdo the experience and qualifications requirement for a role they are hiring for. We only want the best! The ironic thing is that such an approach is the least likely to find you the best.
A question I often ask: if you had the most S*#@ hot person walk through that door, what experience or qualifications could they be lacking that would still make you say no? The answer to that question is your minimum experience and qualifications criterion. Taking this further, to what extent could we provide that experience or qualifications ourselves?
By approaching hiring this way, you open up the potential pool of talent significantly, resulting in a much better chance of finding a high performer.
Why don’t people take this approach more often?
Well, there are a few reasons.
The first is that they haven’t read this article yet – so you are way ahead of them.
The second is that we overestimate the amount of time it takes to learn our industry and the jobs within it. But think about this – if you hire talent with excellent learning agility and motivation – and you provide a decent induction and training program, while spending the time to coach and mentor – your new talent will actually come up to speed incredible quickly. With one client I am working with, we are seeing new entrants after three months perform better than some people who have been around for two years!
So, what should you do?
First of all, start thinking about where the best pools of talent would be who may want to work in your industry. Consider how you could develop them rapidly and how much better talent you can secure.
Then write a compelling job ad that speaks their language and snap them up quickly!
Not worth it? Fantastic! You just left all the best talent for the rest of us who aren’t looking to chase our tail.
Tommy Sim, Director,
