30: How to Break the Bad Habits of Hiring - a podcast by Natalie Gingrich
from 2020-02-05T09:00
What makes the hiring process so hard? Why do you find yourself hiring the wrong people, and why is your turnover so high? These are some of the questions I get over and over. Hiring is one of the biggest challenges I see in growing businesses.
Today we are going to be talking all about hiring the right people. I’m giving you all of my best tips from my years of experience in recruiting in the corporate world. I’ve hired hundreds of people, and my goal is to use that expertise to help business owners like you to hire smart.
Understand Your Company’s Mission, Vision, and Values
New business owners don’t always take the time to define their mission and vision before they get started. Instead, they wait until they are ready to scale--but I challenge you to do this immediately.
“The better you understand what your business is about, who you’re serving, how your serving them, and where you want to go, the easier it’s going to be to find someone who wants to support that mission.”
Values are everything. What are the values you have as a person, and how do they translate to your business? You want to look for similar or compatible values in the person you hire.
This is the way to break turnover in your business.
Don’t Hire Too Fast
Another thing business owners do is to hire too fast. I want to encourage you to pause before hiring someone just because you are in a pinch. When you throw up a Facebook post looking for someone in the next 48 hours, you likely aren’t going to get a high caliber hire.
“Take the time to create a real job description and you will get higher quality candidates.”
Make sure when you are creating that job description, you take your time and are analytical about who you want and what you need. Write a description that summarizes your business and yourself as a leader, as well as the role you’re hiring for.
“If you can find someone with previous experience that aligns with where you’re going… it’s like magic.”
Associate Metrics to the Role
If you are hiring someone, you want a return on that investment. The only way you can do this is if you have metrics associated with the role.
Key results areas (KRA’s) need to be created before you post a job description, and outline what success in the position looks like. Identify some numbers that will quantify that this person is on the right track and that they are serving your needs in the best way possible way.
Know Your Financials
Business owners often don’t know their day-to-day financials. Make sure you understand what the asset is going to cost you and if you have the money to invest. You need to know your numbers so you can discern if you have the capacity to hire a highly qualified person, or if you need to pull back and hire a more junior person.
What can you afford, and how do your business needs match that budget?
“Don’t put your profits at risk because you are desperate for help.”
Know How You Will You Qualify Candidates
It’s hard to get high quality candidates if you post on social media and ask applicants to PM you or send you an email. If you go this route, you will get lost in your inbox and find yourself hiring out of an emotional subjective state; that “gut feeling.”
Instead, create an application process (such as a survey) that will allow you to look at an aggregate of information and compare data. It may be a little more work up front, but you will be able to hire a better person who is going to be more invested, align better with your business, and have a much greater return.
By breaking all of these bad habits, you are going to be able to hire smart.
Weekly Ops Activity
Download this time and task assessment resource to understand how you use every hour of your working day. For three days, write down every task and how long it takes you. This will help you understand the time commitment you will need from the person you are hiring.
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This episode was first published at theopsauthority.com/podcast/30.
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