About ten years ago, I had a chance to meet with a very successful venture capitalist to discuss my business. I had an idea that someone in the v.c. world might be a great referral partner for me, as great staff increases value in a company.
The kind gentleman who I connected and scheduled with thought that I had come to make a pitch for money, which I wasn’t interested in at the time. So, to be fair, our agendas weren’t in alignment from the beginning.
I walked into the office, and he had a speed chess timer set for 15:00 minutes. He started the timer rolling and waited for me to begin.
When I was about 3 minutes into my spiel, he stopped me and said, “Staffing professionals are all the same. They drop the same statistics and do not talk about how to solve the problem of hiring the wrong people.” With this statement, he rose. Our interaction was clearly over. I left at 6 ½ minutes.
That 6 ½ minutes changed my life.
I realized that my “pitch” was totally wrong even if my intention at the time was not about raising funds. It occurred to me that focusing on the fear around the issue of hiring did not inspire anyone, from venture capitalist to employer to my client. Everyone knows that the hiring process is broken; my repeating that fact helps no one.
Since then, I have changed my pitch completely to EXCLUDE any fear-based language, and to INCLUDE my story (the bad hiring mistake that made national news) and educational language. I talk about how I can help my potential clients find the right people so that they can grow their businesses and meet their missions.
If you are really struggling to find the right people, if you cannot seem to get the outcome that you want, change your messaging. Change the wording on your job advertisement. Describe the position differently. Talk about WHO you want, not what skills you want. In other words, transform your pitch.
And to the Venture Capitalist that I met so many years ago, thank you for the 6 ½ minutes of your time that completely change the trajectory of my business and my life. I am deeply indebted.
I regularly speak to groups of CEOs’ who are primarily concerned about hiring. Invariably, someone will tell me that they can’t find the right people because the unemployment rate is so low. They talk about how there are “no good employees” out there and because they don’t have good employees, they can’t expand the way they want.
Do you see the slippery slope they just went down? Irrational thinking like the one I describe above is way more impactful on our hiring processes then any unemployment rates, regardless of how low they may go.
Here are some tips to get you out of the trap of thinking no good employees are available for hire:
Create a great place to work. According to this recent article by Bloomberg News, people are leaving their jobs at a 17-year high. People are leaving jobs like they did right after 9/11, meaning they are looking for a place to work where their work matters. They want to contribute to something bigger than themselves. So very simply put, this is the perfect opportunity to sit down with your direct reports and have a vision conversation about the culture of the company and their roles within it. Ask them where they want to be, what they want to do and how they want to contribute. Then, make it happen for them.
Focus on retention. According to this recent article by HR Dive , employees are 4 times more likely to be looking for a job if they work for a jerk. So, don’t be a jerk. And, don’t let your managers be jerks either. If you want good employees to leave your company, keep a jerk on your payroll.
Have no fear. Don’t focus on the bad stuff. If you fear that you won’t find good employees, you won’t. Write your Ideal Candidate List for your best employee and read over it every day. Don’t settle. They ARE out there, probably just as frustrated as you are in trying to find you. Which leads me to my last tip…
Create a candidate – friendly interview process. What does this mean? It means, interview fast. Call the candidates quickly, get them scheduled soon, and make an efficient interview process. Have your basic screening processes in place but do not be ridiculous in your requirements for applying. Then, give the candidates a clear deadline as to when they will have answers, and stick to that deadline. Say no politely, but firmly, and don’t leave people hanging. Candidates have lots of choices these days. Be a place that they want to be.
Warren Buffet says that money flows from the impatient to the patient. I say that the same thing happens with candidates: be patient, be thorough and be polite.
There are 3 important reasons why you should respond to every candidate who applies for a job within your company. Beth Smith of A-list Interviews explains in this one-minute interview essential video.
On Friday the 13th, I had a meeting planned with one of my favorite clients. I arrived excited to be there and was greeted by the team having a company lunch.
I asked my client, “What is the occasion?”
He replied, “Flood prevention.”
Oh…Wait! What?
Everyone on to the team laughed as they began to fill me in on the joke. Apparently, the company has a cultural tradition of having lunch on Friday the 13th. The one time that the company did not have a lunch on this notoriously superstitious date, their conference room flooded. So now, they NEVER miss having a company lunch on Friday the 13th…flood prevention!
During lunch, there was a lot of good natured ribbing of one another with a very comfortable banter where everyone was included. It was a lighthearted meal that showed how much of a team this group had become. And, I might add, highly productive and efficient.
Very often, leadership refers to the people who make up the workforce within the company as “human capital”. This reference has always struck me as an odd way to refer to the people, not just “humans”, who sell and produce, care for clients and are essentially the lifeblood of a company. They are so much more than “capital’, they are essential. This CEO is an excellent example of how our workforce should be referenced. He greets his employees by name, asks about their family members and supports whatever fun his people may be having. He never refers to his staff as “human capital”, FTE’s or “current head count”. Instead, he uses words like “team”, “crew” and “associates”, much higher titles of respect and acknowledgement.
If you want to change your company culture, begin with your language. Refer to your staff by name, not as “human capital.” Then celebrate the people who create success with the occasional company lunch, even to ward off superstition. Remember to laugh a lot and chime in on friendly banter. And if you happen to prevent your building from flooding, then congrats… 2 birds, one stone.
It may surprise you to discover I have been learning to box. When I am sparring, I am notorious for dropping my left hand, which means my face is left unprotected. My trainer keeps telling me that I am going to get punched in the face if I don’t protect myself with the left hand. Do I listen? Eh… sort of…This did remind me of a quote from Mike Tyson, the former heavyweight professional boxer, “Everyone has a plan until they get punched in the mouth.” I realized my current plan was to land a punch, not protect myself. To really protect my face, I would have to learn to punch differently. I would have to change the way I do things.
It is so easy not to change methods when life and work are going okay. You skate along for a while following a plan, then status quo sets in. You think about ways to improve or make things better without much action. Then, WHAM! You get punched in the face. NOW you want to change and change fast.
I have a client who hired a woman who had worked for him for years. She was mean to clients, obstinate with her boss, and a stickler for doing things HER way. When a handful of great employees met with my client and told him that they were all leaving because of this woman, he knew he had to do something fast. He had let his left hand drop by keeping her for so long and he got punched in the face with the threat of losing better performing employees.
He immediately fired the employee who was difficult and workplace morale dramatically improved. What took him so long? Change normally requires an impetus. Significant “pain” must be present for the motivation to kick in to make changes, especially when they are perceived as tough to accomplish or hurtful to others.
I say punch bad hiring and firing techniques in the mouth and change your processes. Hire and retain great employees and replace those who are not a fit. With A-list Interviews training program, you will improve your plan and learn how to protect your assets. Don’t wait.
