The Pillars of Hiring
Most businesses struggle with hiring. With the Great Resignation in full swing and the pendulum shifting towards employees being in the driver’s seat, it can be easy to drop your guard and make a hire that you regret. In order to combat this tendency, there are two pillars that I always encourage you to keep in the front of your thoughts when you are hiring and to build them into your hiring process:
#1 FIT: Do they fit your business?
Do they fit with your team?
Do they fit with you?
Is there anything that triggers you about them initially?
What’s their personality like?
Can you work next to them for 12 hours at a time, day after day? (not that you want to work 12 hours a day but this is still a great test)
Do they fit with your clientele?
Do they fulfill a gap in the team?
Does their communication before and during the interview feel good or odd?
Pay careful attention to this “FIT test” because it is also a great indicator that unveils red flags 🚩. The reality is, if they don’t truly “FIT” from the beginning they very likely won’t fit in the future. If something doesn’t quite feel right or add up with the answers a candidate gives you, then you are probably seeing indicator flags to run the other direction and find a better candidate.
The second pillar that I encourage you to keep at the forefront of your hiring is “THE BAR”. (And, no, I do not mean go to the bar to do your interview, although you might feel like going to the bar when you are interviewing!)
#2 The BAR: Do they raise the bar (for your business)?
Do they raise the bar with customer service, with an amazing attitude, with reliability, with a powerful smile, with honesty, with experience… (any or all of these)?
If they don’t, they will always be blah and mediocre and you just want to take that into consideration upfront. It’s perfectly fine to hire blah and mediocre, but set your own expectations from this awareness.
This bar can just be about attitude, dependability, flexibility, and not about hiring a "type A" perfectionist. Keep in mind what raising the bar is in your business and know that you aren’t looking for a unicorn. Think about your ideals and values and how you can hire someone to raise the bar of your life (peace, joy, time freedom).
Consider if by “raising the bar” they simply normalize the intensity of all of the high performers you already have on your team. This means they can fill a gap you don’t have by being mediocre (which can have a great deal of value)
Hiring doesn’t have to get too complicated if you keep these two pillars at the forefront of your decisions. Remember, keep it simple so that you don’t get overwhelmed and you keep moving your business in the direction you want to go.