Do you have a team or a group of individuals?
Do you ever hear yourself saying things like ‘I wish he would just do what I asked’ or ‘how many times do I have to tell you’?
Building a great team is paramount in business today. But where do you start?
Naturally most people’s answer to that is to find the right people for the job, but in my experience it often doesn’t work out quite like that.
We go through a selection process and pick a candidate, often by how they show up for the day to an interview and then throw them into the pack and let them get on with it. After all they came to us wanting a job and they say and seem to have all the qualifications to do the job.
After a week or two there are a few uneasy situations and the new recruit just doesn’t seem to fit in, they appear to need more support and training than we thought and just don’t seem as keen now the honeymoon period is over. They start to turn up late and be unreliable and make the odd comment that seems inappropriate for a particular situation. Your other trusted team members start to question his ability and look to you to `sort him out’. You are busy and need this extra pair of hands to keep up with the work so you do your best to change his behaviour but you end up tolerating some of his foibles for the sake of getting the work off your back.
I think you get the picture? You get into a downward spiral and this destroys the spirit that you previously had with the rest of the team who until this point had grown with you and the business.
So how can we do this differently?
What is your recruitment process?
It all starts with you the Business Owner, you need to have a clear idea of where you are going and what you are trying to achieve. You need a compelling vision, purpose and culture for your company that you can easily communicate. This is an absolute must as from now on we are going to be recruiting people who have the right attitude 1st and foremost before we look at their skills. The candidates that we attract will like and feel drawn to your vision & purpose and will want to be part of your business culture. In other words they will be people with a similar attitude to you!
These are my 4 principles of recruitment
- Attract a large pool of applicants. If you do this you are more likely to find the right candidates
- Get the Screening right. Set up a screening system that allows the candidates to de-select themselves.
- Observe a ‘shortlist’ of applicants performing an essential task of the position, on a trial basis.
- Asses the short list and make sure there is an appropriate match.
My 6 Stage Recruitment process
- Describe and write down precisely what your ideal candidate looks like.
- Put Together a great advert using the AIDA principle. Attention, Interest, Desire, Action
- Decide where to Fish, place your advert in multiple places where your target audience are likely to see it, Facebook, Linked in, your web site, agencies, trade press etc. etc.
- Screening. Have a process for candidates to de-select themselves from the process along the application journey so that when you get to the detailed reading of CV and interviews only the keenest are still hanging in there.
- Have several levels and types of interviews so that you really know how these people are for real. So maybe a practical one, a social one and a formal one,
- Selling. When you have decided on the most appropriate 2/3 candidates sell your future Vision for them and your company.
There was a survey I saw a few days ago that said the average cost of the wrong recruit to UK companies is £30,000. What has getting the wrong people in cost you in the past?
We get the people we deserve, so is it worth spending the time and effort on getting the best possible people to help us grow our business?
I would say Recruit slowly but fire quickly if it’s not working out. Don’t tolerate those who do not share your cultural rules of your game.
I can also recommend a book
Instant Team Building, By Brad Sugars
