HOW TO HIRE THE BEST TALENT AND CANDIDATES - LANCE WINSAFT

The market is competitive and it’s critical you do whatever is needed to get a competitive edge. 

1) Clarity, 2) Culture, 3) Speed – The top 3 things you need to have FLAT if you are serious about hiring the best talent.

*CLARITY – You need to be clear about what you need in the role, what the person will do, what their personality will be like, and what you will expect of them.

*CULTURE – Your company and team should have a defined culture that you can speak to and get people excited about. Find out ways to interview for culture.

*SPEED – In this market, there is no time for drawn out interview processes. Don’t compromise on what you need to do to hire the right people and be sure to move fast with the people you like – they are most likely being courted by other companies! 

Are You Missing Out?

We see too many clients miss out on great talent because of missing one more of the above  items. When you miss out on that great candidate, guess what? They are going to your competition! That is usually not a good thing. Every industry and vertical is competitive, you can’t afford to lose talent to your competitors.

On this same note, the above points apply to current employees as well. Employees stay with companies that have a clear vision, companies that move fast, and companies with a well defined culture. 

If you are able to retain the talent you currently have while also attracting and retaining other top talent, you will have an undeniable edge over your competition. The slightest edge in any game is what separates the winners from the losers.

You Are Being Interviewed As Well!

Every candidate you interview is also interviewing you and your company – and remember, if they are good, they aren’t desperate, and someone else is likely after them as well!! It’s so critical you find ways to sell both the opportunity of the role and the opportunity of joining your team and company.  Putting even a little bit more effort into candidate experience can have big payoffs in terms of giving you a competitive edge.

Top talent must be hunted in this current market. If you are serious about adding the best people to your team, you can’t rely on them finding you in time. If you are unable to hire a headhunter, find a way to hunt the talent on your own. This can be tricky but must be done! The best talent is waiting for you to find them and court them.  

This holds true the most if you are hiring executives or upper management – especially if they are currently working with one of your competitors. It isn’t enough to “build it and they will come.” So you have a great product or service, a great future for the company ahead of you, that is great, but not enough to lure over the superstars.

Be Willing To Court Them

Superstars need a little coaxing. Add in a dinner as part of your interview process, make your interview process is slick with very high communication. Your internal HR teams should be on the spot with scheduling and communicating with these folks. Give them a great tour of the office, sell them on your vision the perks, etcetera. Find out what really matters to them, what are their motivations, why are they interested. More importantly, find out their concerns!

Too many employers avoid asking what the candidates concerns are and therefore they never get addressed. Only when you find out what they are concerned about can you dress it. This is a critical interview strategy that most employers miss. What happens then is the candidate has a concern, they make things up in their head about the concern, it never gets addressed, and then they make a decision based on the made up thoughts they have about the concern! Most of the time the concern was something easy to address that likely would have resulted in a positive outcome. Don’t fall in to this trap.

Never stop improving your process. The way you find talent and retain them should be ever evolving. Outside recruiters are an amazing resource because we work with many different clients and we see what works and what doesn’t work. We strive to be that sort of partner for our clients – not just a talent mill.

Recruiters also help to manage those communications and set expectations. The last thing you want is to leave a candidate “hanging” out there at any point in the process. This happens WAY too much! Especially if they are hot, you can’t leave them on hold. Recruiters are great for setting expectations and taking that load away from you.

Conclusion

There are many ways to give yourself a competitive edge to attract and retain the top talent in the market. You owe it to yourself to invest in HR and recruiters. Invest in have a great candidate experience that motivates and inspires candidates. Court the people you really like, make them feel special, make them feel wanted, and keep this up for all employees. Millennials especially want to contribute and be apart of something. Give your employees that chance! 

Feel free to reach out to us if you want to improve in any of these areas. We are a true business partner and can provide you with not only the top talent but also insight and advice into your process. To attract the best you have to be the best and work with the best. If you offer peanuts you get monkeys. or if you do the bare minimum with candidates and think they should be happy to be interviewing with you, you will get mediocre talent. You have an amazing company, an amazing product/service, now do whatever it takes to have the best people.

Happy Hunting!

WHAT QUESTIONS TO ASK DURING MY INTERVIEW - LANCE WINSAFT

So you are going to interview for that great job you found – but what are the best questions to ask to determine if it’s a fit for you? You may only get to ask a couple, so make them count! This is a major opportunity to interview the interviewer. You want to take advantage of whatever chance you can to determine early on if this is the right company for you.

Interviewing is a way to not only have employers ask questions to see if you are the right fit for their company, but also vice versa. It is always important to ask yourself if you can see yourself working for the company you are interviewing for. Asking a variety of questions that really gives you good insight on if the job opportunity is going to be a good match is vital. This is easier said than done, so we have some tips for you.

CULTURE IS CRITICAL

Your skill set may be a match but what about culture? Ask questions that really give you a good sense about what people at that company are like. Ask about company outings, dress code, benefits and wellness. These types of details are extremely important to see if you would be a good match to the company. 

You want to also already be clear about what YOU are looking for in culture. Do you value work life balance? Maybe a close knit culture is important to you. Work hard play hard may be up your alley. Perhaps a lot of structure, or a little structure is important. The point is that you have a good picture of what you value so you can compare what you hear.

Really honing in on what a person in the position you are interviewing for needs to address or do in the role in order to be successful are good questions to ask as well. Assuming you are talking to the direct hiring manager, find out what they expect a successful person in the role to accomplish. You will want to get in their head. Could you really do the job? Are their expectations realistic?

Below are three very good and important questions to ask during a interview that we read in an article called, “Three Interview Questions To Test If An Employer Is Right For You”. 

1.) WHAT CHARACTER TRAITS DO PEOPLE DEMONSTRATE THAT SUCCEED IN THIS ROLE AND COMPANY? 

A question like this really will give you insight on if this role is a good personality fit for you and if you will be capable of being successful by how your traits and habits are. You will know right away of those traits are describing you or not.

2.) WHAT ARE YOUR FAVORITE THINGS ABOUT WORKING AT THIS COMPANY? 

Learning about why your interviewers like to work at the company you are interviewing for is a question that really determines the culture of the business. If you can gauge if they truly enjoy their job and work culture it will give you an idea of how everyone feels about the company. It is important to work somewhere that your co workers enjoy working at because it creates good relationships amongst each other.  You can even ask what are some of the things they dislike about the company. It’s natural and healthy for there to be likes and dislikes. No company is perfect and you should never expect that. What they dislike will still be very insightful.

3.) WHAT CHALLENGES HAS YOUR TEAM FACED IN THE LAST YEAR? WHAT ARE YOUR TEAM’S GOALS FOR THE NEXT YEAR? 

Asking a question in regards to what challenges the department or company you will work for gives you realistic goals that soon will be on your plate. Seeing what goals they are trying to accomplish will give you an overview of what your job will entail.

CONCLUSION

Asking the right questions at a job interview really will give you a good idea if it will be the right fit. Don’t take a job just because it looks good on your resume or because of money. We see way too many people get caught up in money and wanting to make a move try to get ahead. Chose a job that you will be a good fit for you both skill wise and personality. 

You have to be smart about making a move, your resume needs to show stability. Our clients are constantly turning down resumes because people look like job hoppers. Often times those people left their jobs because they ended up not being a good cultural fit. This is understandable. But if they had done a better job of looking at this before accepting an offer, they wouldn’t be stuck in this sticky situation. 

The last thing you want is to be stuck at a company because you didn’t do your due diligence. Or you have to jump from a couple jobs and now you look unstable. There is a lot of risk in not asking the right questions during your interview.

Make the most of your career and your life! Aldebaran Recruiting is here to coach our candidates throughout the entire recruitment process making sure our candidates and clients have the right fit.