I suggest you don't check references until you're are ready to make an offer to a candidate. This saves staff time and demonstrates your respect for the candidates. After all, you don't know whether their current employer or favorite professor even knows they're looking for a new position. (I personally prefer candidates who tell their employer, but realize this isn't always possible, or even desirable.) In that case, use former supervisors or senior coworkers as references. If the candidates don't want you to contact their current employers, there's always other people who can provide a reference.
Tell all the candidates that you'll check their references before you make any hiring decisions. Business owners often hire applicants because of a well-written resume or a "good feeling" from an interview. No matter how quickly you'd like to get a position filled, always perform this due diligence before you take the hiring step. Otherwise, it's often a case of "hire in haste, repent at leisure."
Ask each applicant to sign a release form permitting you to ask detailed questions of former employers and other references. Make sure the form prevents the applicant from suing you or any former employers based on the information you learn during the reference checks. Without this permission, you may only be able to confirm employment dates, pay rate, and position — information that tells you little about a prospective employee's character. Also, check with your lawyer first, because some kinds of liability can't be waived. Fax a copy of the prospective employee's background check waiver and your personal credentials before you call a prospective employee's references. Many employers fear being sued for defamation if they say anything negative about a former employee. Your fax will ease their fears. Keep in mind that some states now consider employers' comments to be "qualifiedly privileged." That means the employer can't be held liable for the information he or she reveals unless he or she knows it to be false or reckless. If that's true in your state (check with your lawyer), make sure the references know it.
When conducting reference checks, get an overall summary of the candidates' strengths and weaknesses and always ask for specific examples to support generalities and glowing statements. This will reduce exaggeration.
• Ask "Please describe your reporting relationship with the candidate? If none, in what capacity did you observe the candidate's work?"
• Verify basic information such as employment dates, job titles, salary, and types of jobs performed.
• Ask "What was the candidate's reason for leaving?"
• Ask “What motivated or drove the candidate to succeed?”
• Ask “Would you rehire this individual? Why or Why not?”
• Ask “How would you compare this candidate to others you know at the same level?”
• To get an overall summary, ask “How would you rank the candidate's overall performance on a scale of 1 - 10, with 10 being highest? What would it take to move this ranking up a point?”
* Ask "If I describe the position we're hiring for, can you tell me how good a fit you think the candidate would be for that position?"
• Ask "Is there anything I haven't asked that you'd like to share with me?"
Having a standard format for checking references allows you to easily compare candidates and ensures your managers are asking the "right" questions to make an educated decision before offering candidates a job with your company.
You might also consider conducting a background check on a prospective employee. Not every company does this, and not every position merits it, but it might be appropriate in some cases. Background checks can verify past employment, as well as checking on educational and criminal records. Background checks can also search driving records and financial information such as credit reports, if that kind of information is pertinent to the prospective candidate´s position with your company.
Tuesday, June 30, 2009
Monday, June 29, 2009
Avoid these common hiring mistakes.
Working mostly with smaller companies these days, I find they usually have weak or nonexistent HR capabilities. Even if employees are valued in a family sort of way, the main concern in hiring is to fill a space and stay out of trouble with the law. Here are some of the most common errors and omissions I encounter. These can all be avoided by following the hiring outline I provided in last week's posts.
• There’s no formally spelled-out hiring procedure so managers all do it differently. Some do it well but most do not. They've had no training in how the company wants its managers to hire in a consistent way.
• Hiring decisions tend to be made on emotions (“I really liked so-and-so”) rather than being fact based. Managers hire in their own image and likeness, mostly hiring people they’ll be comfortable with. Not a great way to bring new and challenging ideas into the company.
• People are hired for what they know, then fired later on for who they are.
• Managers who are rated an 8 on a performance scale of 1 – 10 hire 7s. 7s hire 5s. And so on.
• When a candidate is interviewed by several managers, the criteria aren’t agreed to up front and the results aren’t scored against these criteria. When it’s over, all you’re left with are multiple impressions of the candidate and these are often based on different assessments of what the job entails.
• Position descriptions are seldom developed beforehand to define the skills, capabilities and experience the candidates need to have before they can be hired. Without this, it’s impossible to develop scoring criteria for the interview process. Job descriptions typically list activities, not capabilities.
• References are seldom checked because “since they could be sued, they won’t tell us anything worthwhile anyway.”
Tomorrow, I'll cover more about reference checking. Also what to do if the candidate doesn't work out after being hired.
Are there any other aspect of hiring that are of interest to you?
• There’s no formally spelled-out hiring procedure so managers all do it differently. Some do it well but most do not. They've had no training in how the company wants its managers to hire in a consistent way.
• Hiring decisions tend to be made on emotions (“I really liked so-and-so”) rather than being fact based. Managers hire in their own image and likeness, mostly hiring people they’ll be comfortable with. Not a great way to bring new and challenging ideas into the company.
• People are hired for what they know, then fired later on for who they are.
• Managers who are rated an 8 on a performance scale of 1 – 10 hire 7s. 7s hire 5s. And so on.
• When a candidate is interviewed by several managers, the criteria aren’t agreed to up front and the results aren’t scored against these criteria. When it’s over, all you’re left with are multiple impressions of the candidate and these are often based on different assessments of what the job entails.
• Position descriptions are seldom developed beforehand to define the skills, capabilities and experience the candidates need to have before they can be hired. Without this, it’s impossible to develop scoring criteria for the interview process. Job descriptions typically list activities, not capabilities.
• References are seldom checked because “since they could be sued, they won’t tell us anything worthwhile anyway.”
Tomorrow, I'll cover more about reference checking. Also what to do if the candidate doesn't work out after being hired.
Are there any other aspect of hiring that are of interest to you?
Friday, June 26, 2009
Piccolo Paradiso, a poem by Harold Norse.
Harold Norse, a San Francisco poet often associated with the Beats, died recently at the age of 92. He was mentor or peer to many of the greatest talents in 20th century American literature, including Tennessee Williams, James Baldwin, Allen Ginsberg and Charles Bukowski. He earned a bachelor's degree at Brooklyn College in 1938 and a master's from New York University in 1951. His work appeared in many prestigious publications, including Poetry magazine, the Paris Review and Saturday Review.
A pioneer of gay poetry written in plain english, he was called the best poet of his generation by William Carlos Williams. However, Norse never attained the recognition that he and others felt was his due. "I had a big ego," he told the San Francisco Weekly in 2000, "but I always said - and it was a stupid thing that I lived by - 'I won't lift a finger to publicize my work. It has to come from the outside.' So in a way I buried myself."
Piccolo Paradiso by Harold Norse
let the age hang itself! we've had
four marvelous days together
no news reports only music
& no serious discussions
plenty of wine the best
from the islands
white
falerno & ischian
& lacrima cristi
we've made up
for months
of loneliness
hard work
nastiness
of 'superiors'
we may not live
very well or long
our mistakes are perhaps too great
to bear correction
at this midpoint
of our lives (you're somewhat younger)
surely too great
to make up for the lengths we go
to hide them
e cosi...that's
how it goes
but at least
we're ahead of the game
we've stolen a march
on the dead the herd
if the return to grayness
sharp tempered weapons
of those who force life
into corners
is more than we can bear
remember this
the wine
the ladder
of stars that climb
vesuvius outside
my window
the waves
banging into smooth
tufa caves
& the opera
as we lay together
remember
A pioneer of gay poetry written in plain english, he was called the best poet of his generation by William Carlos Williams. However, Norse never attained the recognition that he and others felt was his due. "I had a big ego," he told the San Francisco Weekly in 2000, "but I always said - and it was a stupid thing that I lived by - 'I won't lift a finger to publicize my work. It has to come from the outside.' So in a way I buried myself."
Piccolo Paradiso by Harold Norse
let the age hang itself! we've had
four marvelous days together
no news reports only music
& no serious discussions
plenty of wine the best
from the islands
white
falerno & ischian
& lacrima cristi
we've made up
for months
of loneliness
hard work
nastiness
of 'superiors'
we may not live
very well or long
our mistakes are perhaps too great
to bear correction
at this midpoint
of our lives (you're somewhat younger)
surely too great
to make up for the lengths we go
to hide them
e cosi...that's
how it goes
but at least
we're ahead of the game
we've stolen a march
on the dead the herd
if the return to grayness
sharp tempered weapons
of those who force life
into corners
is more than we can bear
remember this
the wine
the ladder
of stars that climb
vesuvius outside
my window
the waves
banging into smooth
tufa caves
& the opera
as we lay together
remember
Thursday, June 25, 2009
How to score and rank job candidates.
To score and rank the candidates, I recommend using Lou Adler's 10-item checklist using a scale of 1 (weak) to 5 (strong):
1. Energy, drive and initiative.
The key to personal success is to do more than you have to, so look for this quality in every past job. Get examples of initiative and extra effort. Don't assume that an extroverted personality means lots of energy; have the candidates prove it by example, including specific dates, facts, and quantities. Don't ever compromise on this one.
2. Trend of performance over time.
Get detailed examples of the candidates' major accomplishments over the past five years. From this, it's easy to see how they've grown and impacted the companies they've worked for. The ideal candidates have had comparable (not necessarily identical) jobs and are still showing signs of upward growth.
3. Comparability of past accomplishments.
Use SMART (Specific, Measurable, Action-oriented, Results-based, and Time-based) objectives to compare the candidates' past accomplishments with the performance objectives of the job to be filled and get anchoring accomplishments for each one.
Be concerned about mismatching - for example, a smart energetic engineer may not be effective as a manager.
4. Experience, education and industry background.
Use this in conjunction with the past accomplishments category. Strong education and experience can sometimes offset a weaker accomplishment rating. Examine experience in the context of the pace, style and standards of performance where the experience took place. Give some extra credit for direct industry experience and education.
5. Problem solving and thinking skills.
Strong candidates need to understand the work, solve job-related problems, and anticipate what needs to be done. Collecting and processing information to make appropriate decisions is important, as is the ability to apply previous knowledge and experience to solving new problems.
6. Overall talent, technical competency and potential.
Score the candidates' ability to grow, develop and take on bigger roles. The top candidates will have a broader focus than the job demands. Search for thinking skills; candidates who see the broader needs of a business beyond their own functional requirements. Being able to learn technical skills is often more important than already having them, unless the job is very technically intensive and requires immediate knowledge.
7. Management and organization.
Have the candidates draw organization charts for the last few positions held. Assign names, titles, and direct and indirect staff size. Compare the size and scope of candidates' responsibilities with your current job needs. Then ask the candidates to describe their most complex team projects to assess their organizational skills.
8. Team leadership.
Team leadership represents the ability to tap into and harness the energy of others - getting them to move in the same direction or to do something they might not want to do. This has two aspects - motivating immediate subordinates and motivating people who work in different departments. Also look for candidates who've personally helped a number of people become more successful and who consistently go out of their way to hire superior people
9. Personality and cultural fit.
Personality is revealed in an individual's accomplishments. Look for flexibility and a pattern of accomplishments in different situations: as a member of a team, as the leader of a team, and as an individual contributor. Categorize the candidates' accomplishments on an ABC scale: "Alone," "Belonging to a team," or "in Charge of the team."
10. Character.
Character is a deep-rooted trait that summarizes a person's integrity, honesty, responsibility, openness, and fairness in dealing with others. Save this topic until the end of the first interview, or wait for the second interview when candidates will be more open and comfortable with their responses. Ask them to explain their personal value system and how they developed it. Find out why they want to change jobs and what aspects of work they find important. Understanding the candidates' value systems allows you to predict how they'll react to various work-related circumstances.
1. Energy, drive and initiative.
The key to personal success is to do more than you have to, so look for this quality in every past job. Get examples of initiative and extra effort. Don't assume that an extroverted personality means lots of energy; have the candidates prove it by example, including specific dates, facts, and quantities. Don't ever compromise on this one.
2. Trend of performance over time.
Get detailed examples of the candidates' major accomplishments over the past five years. From this, it's easy to see how they've grown and impacted the companies they've worked for. The ideal candidates have had comparable (not necessarily identical) jobs and are still showing signs of upward growth.
3. Comparability of past accomplishments.
Use SMART (Specific, Measurable, Action-oriented, Results-based, and Time-based) objectives to compare the candidates' past accomplishments with the performance objectives of the job to be filled and get anchoring accomplishments for each one.
Be concerned about mismatching - for example, a smart energetic engineer may not be effective as a manager.
4. Experience, education and industry background.
Use this in conjunction with the past accomplishments category. Strong education and experience can sometimes offset a weaker accomplishment rating. Examine experience in the context of the pace, style and standards of performance where the experience took place. Give some extra credit for direct industry experience and education.
5. Problem solving and thinking skills.
Strong candidates need to understand the work, solve job-related problems, and anticipate what needs to be done. Collecting and processing information to make appropriate decisions is important, as is the ability to apply previous knowledge and experience to solving new problems.
6. Overall talent, technical competency and potential.
Score the candidates' ability to grow, develop and take on bigger roles. The top candidates will have a broader focus than the job demands. Search for thinking skills; candidates who see the broader needs of a business beyond their own functional requirements. Being able to learn technical skills is often more important than already having them, unless the job is very technically intensive and requires immediate knowledge.
7. Management and organization.
Have the candidates draw organization charts for the last few positions held. Assign names, titles, and direct and indirect staff size. Compare the size and scope of candidates' responsibilities with your current job needs. Then ask the candidates to describe their most complex team projects to assess their organizational skills.
8. Team leadership.
Team leadership represents the ability to tap into and harness the energy of others - getting them to move in the same direction or to do something they might not want to do. This has two aspects - motivating immediate subordinates and motivating people who work in different departments. Also look for candidates who've personally helped a number of people become more successful and who consistently go out of their way to hire superior people
9. Personality and cultural fit.
Personality is revealed in an individual's accomplishments. Look for flexibility and a pattern of accomplishments in different situations: as a member of a team, as the leader of a team, and as an individual contributor. Categorize the candidates' accomplishments on an ABC scale: "Alone," "Belonging to a team," or "in Charge of the team."
10. Character.
Character is a deep-rooted trait that summarizes a person's integrity, honesty, responsibility, openness, and fairness in dealing with others. Save this topic until the end of the first interview, or wait for the second interview when candidates will be more open and comfortable with their responses. Ask them to explain their personal value system and how they developed it. Find out why they want to change jobs and what aspects of work they find important. Understanding the candidates' value systems allows you to predict how they'll react to various work-related circumstances.
Wednesday, June 24, 2009
How to ask good interview questions.
Your questions shouldn't offend and should help you establish the applicant's qualifications and prospects for success on the job. Questions about values look to find if there's any cultural misalignment.
1. What are some of the things that make a job really satisfying for you?
2. What three accomplishments do you take the greatest pride in?
3. What's the toughest job you have ever had? How did you handle it?
4. What kind of boss do you work best with?
5. What would your present or former boss say about you? What would he have liked to see you do differently?
6. Tell me about a mistake that you made, either at work or in your personal life, that taught you a significant lesson?
7. Give me an example where you improved yourself over the last three months.
8. Have you ever risked being fired to do what you thought was right? Explain.
9. What values do you admire most in your favorite Company?
10. During a heated disagreement between co-workers, if you could be either a peacemaker or a decision maker, which would you choose and why?
11. Do you have any responsibilities that would conflict with your job attendance or travel requirements?
12. Describe times when you’ve had to juggle several tasks and deadlines at the same time.
13. What work situations have irritated you or made you upset, angry, in the past?
14. Describe a time when you took the initiative to handle something outside your area of responsibility. Why did you decide to do this?
15. Suppose we had a product or service that you felt didn't meet our customers' needs – what would you do about it?
16. What personal agendas do you think you'll satisfy by accepting this position?
17. What’s the best use of your time and talent?
18. What do you wish you had more time to do?
See also some excellent advice from Van A. Thaxton, a HR consultant in San Diego, at
http://www.cfstaffing.com/CFS/Employers/Resource/The+Most+Revealing+Interview+Questions+And+How+to+Ask+Them.htm
1. What are some of the things that make a job really satisfying for you?
2. What three accomplishments do you take the greatest pride in?
3. What's the toughest job you have ever had? How did you handle it?
4. What kind of boss do you work best with?
5. What would your present or former boss say about you? What would he have liked to see you do differently?
6. Tell me about a mistake that you made, either at work or in your personal life, that taught you a significant lesson?
7. Give me an example where you improved yourself over the last three months.
8. Have you ever risked being fired to do what you thought was right? Explain.
9. What values do you admire most in your favorite Company?
10. During a heated disagreement between co-workers, if you could be either a peacemaker or a decision maker, which would you choose and why?
11. Do you have any responsibilities that would conflict with your job attendance or travel requirements?
12. Describe times when you’ve had to juggle several tasks and deadlines at the same time.
13. What work situations have irritated you or made you upset, angry, in the past?
14. Describe a time when you took the initiative to handle something outside your area of responsibility. Why did you decide to do this?
15. Suppose we had a product or service that you felt didn't meet our customers' needs – what would you do about it?
16. What personal agendas do you think you'll satisfy by accepting this position?
17. What’s the best use of your time and talent?
18. What do you wish you had more time to do?
See also some excellent advice from Van A. Thaxton, a HR consultant in San Diego, at
http://www.cfstaffing.com/CFS/Employers/Resource/The+Most+Revealing+Interview+Questions+And+How+to+Ask+Them.htm
Tuesday, June 23, 2009
Does your company use a consistent hiring process?
Bob Spence introduced me to this very effective multi-step hiring process:
1. Spell out the attitudes, beliefs, and behaviors desired. This is the "who" criteria, the attributes of the person needed for this job.
2. Next spell out the "what" criteria. Define the job's duties and responsibilities. Identify and include issues like accountability, performance, and cultural or political issues in the company that you need in the person being hired.
3. Then define the capabilities the candidate needs to have before they can be hired.
4. Quantify the interview information not by reading resumes, but by scoring and ranking them.
5. Screen all potential employees first using telephone interviews (see previous posts on how to use phone interviews in recruiting - Sept 17, 2008).
6. Include several behavioral probes about how the candidates have actually performed in the past, not how they think they'll act in the future. For example, ask them; "describe a time in which you were faced with problems and/or stresses which tested your coping skills. What did you do?"
7. Interview only your top candidates on-site.
Following this hiring process may take more time than you’re used to. However, most companies find that they’re spending less time hiring because they aren't hiring as often. They also save lots of money. If you hire a receptionist at $25,000 a year and she doesn't work out, this could cost you a lot more than her salary. Since the receptionist is the first person your customers have contact with, if she offends them so they stop doing business with you, it can cost you a small fortune.
Recruiting is the single most important part of the hiring process. It's not something you do at the end of an interview - it starts the moment you begin the interviewing process. If you can't attract the best people, everything else has been a waste of time. You know you have problems if you're consistently paying too much or if candidates frequently say, "I have to think about it," after receiving an offer. Problems occur because many managers stop interviewing and begin selling as soon as they find someone they like. Once you start selling, you stop learning about the prospective hire.
Recruiting is more about marketing than selling. If you oversell, you tend to over-talk and under-listen. As a result, you'll either lose the best candidates or pay too much for them. As you talk more and the candidates talk less, you lose control of the interview. From that point on, you won't learn anything new about them other than what they want you to know. If you present the job, without pressure, as a significant long-term and exciting opportunity, candidates will want to sell or convince you about their skills and capabilities, instead of you having to sell them.
1. Spell out the attitudes, beliefs, and behaviors desired. This is the "who" criteria, the attributes of the person needed for this job.
2. Next spell out the "what" criteria. Define the job's duties and responsibilities. Identify and include issues like accountability, performance, and cultural or political issues in the company that you need in the person being hired.
3. Then define the capabilities the candidate needs to have before they can be hired.
4. Quantify the interview information not by reading resumes, but by scoring and ranking them.
5. Screen all potential employees first using telephone interviews (see previous posts on how to use phone interviews in recruiting - Sept 17, 2008).
6. Include several behavioral probes about how the candidates have actually performed in the past, not how they think they'll act in the future. For example, ask them; "describe a time in which you were faced with problems and/or stresses which tested your coping skills. What did you do?"
7. Interview only your top candidates on-site.
Following this hiring process may take more time than you’re used to. However, most companies find that they’re spending less time hiring because they aren't hiring as often. They also save lots of money. If you hire a receptionist at $25,000 a year and she doesn't work out, this could cost you a lot more than her salary. Since the receptionist is the first person your customers have contact with, if she offends them so they stop doing business with you, it can cost you a small fortune.
Recruiting is the single most important part of the hiring process. It's not something you do at the end of an interview - it starts the moment you begin the interviewing process. If you can't attract the best people, everything else has been a waste of time. You know you have problems if you're consistently paying too much or if candidates frequently say, "I have to think about it," after receiving an offer. Problems occur because many managers stop interviewing and begin selling as soon as they find someone they like. Once you start selling, you stop learning about the prospective hire.
Recruiting is more about marketing than selling. If you oversell, you tend to over-talk and under-listen. As a result, you'll either lose the best candidates or pay too much for them. As you talk more and the candidates talk less, you lose control of the interview. From that point on, you won't learn anything new about them other than what they want you to know. If you present the job, without pressure, as a significant long-term and exciting opportunity, candidates will want to sell or convince you about their skills and capabilities, instead of you having to sell them.
Monday, June 22, 2009
How to hire great people.
A lot of the problems I find in my consulting and counseling practice are a result of bad hiring practices. And it seems I'm not alone - the bestselling author, Malcolm Gladwell, is currently working on a book that argues there's a mismatch problem in the way we usually hire people, that we set up qualifications to try and judge how people might perform where what we should be doing is watching them actually perform.
see http://www.newyorker.com/online/video/conference/2008/gladwell
Successful companies marry seasoned talent with people who have fresh perspectives. Many years of experience in an industry can turn out to be a detriment rather than an asset when looking for new ideas. Nanogen’s Chairman Howard Birndorf says, “Look for people who are smarter than you, who both compliment and support your own skills. You need to find people who understand how to take risks, people who aren’t afraid of change, who can go from one day to the next with a big change in either direction without being blown away.” Kevin O’Connor, a co-founder of DoubleClick says, “The thing we most tend to look for in hiring people is intelligence - and athleticism: people who love to compete, who don’t like to lose.”
Look for smart people with a combination of experience, drive, commitment and passion. Getting that mix right is the difference between companies that achieve greatness and those that merely survive, or fail. The new hire’s priority has to be making the company successful, not getting a certain title or a private office. For key hires, it’s also important to meet the prospect's spouse. If they're going to have to live with long days or frequent travel, they need to know about the company and its business plan. Have your current top people take assessment tests - then build the profile that’s worked for you and use it to hire new people - that way, you know what you’re looking for.
Creating a successful company is as much about good people as good technology. Bill Gates says, “It’s important to have someone you totally trust, who is totally committed, who shares your vision, and yet who has a different set of skills and who can also act as a check on your ideas. Some of the ideas you run by him, you know he’s going to say, ‘Hey, wait a minute, have you thought about this and that?’ The benefit of sparking off somebody like that is that it not only makes a business more fun, but it leads to a lot of success.”
Hiring good people is like getting married - if you do it right, you don’t have to do it often. If you’re in a situation of excessive risk, hire somebody who has already learned to shave on someone else’s beard. Hire the people you think you’ll need five years from now if everything works out. Hire people who share your vision and agree with your business principles. Make sure these are clear to the people being recruited. Have the best candidates spend time with the people they’re going to be working with. Hire backups for key people; the biggest weakness in smaller companies is a lack of bench strength.
If you want an innovative organization, you need to hire, work with and promote people who make you uncomfortable. You need to understand your own preferences so that you can compliment your weaknesses and exploit your strengths. Never hire or promote in your own image. It’s foolish to replicate your strengths and your weaknesses. If you hire people with the same character qualities that you have, you’ll just end up fighting with them.
see http://www.newyorker.com/online/video/conference/2008/gladwell
Successful companies marry seasoned talent with people who have fresh perspectives. Many years of experience in an industry can turn out to be a detriment rather than an asset when looking for new ideas. Nanogen’s Chairman Howard Birndorf says, “Look for people who are smarter than you, who both compliment and support your own skills. You need to find people who understand how to take risks, people who aren’t afraid of change, who can go from one day to the next with a big change in either direction without being blown away.” Kevin O’Connor, a co-founder of DoubleClick says, “The thing we most tend to look for in hiring people is intelligence - and athleticism: people who love to compete, who don’t like to lose.”
Look for smart people with a combination of experience, drive, commitment and passion. Getting that mix right is the difference between companies that achieve greatness and those that merely survive, or fail. The new hire’s priority has to be making the company successful, not getting a certain title or a private office. For key hires, it’s also important to meet the prospect's spouse. If they're going to have to live with long days or frequent travel, they need to know about the company and its business plan. Have your current top people take assessment tests - then build the profile that’s worked for you and use it to hire new people - that way, you know what you’re looking for.
Creating a successful company is as much about good people as good technology. Bill Gates says, “It’s important to have someone you totally trust, who is totally committed, who shares your vision, and yet who has a different set of skills and who can also act as a check on your ideas. Some of the ideas you run by him, you know he’s going to say, ‘Hey, wait a minute, have you thought about this and that?’ The benefit of sparking off somebody like that is that it not only makes a business more fun, but it leads to a lot of success.”
Hiring good people is like getting married - if you do it right, you don’t have to do it often. If you’re in a situation of excessive risk, hire somebody who has already learned to shave on someone else’s beard. Hire the people you think you’ll need five years from now if everything works out. Hire people who share your vision and agree with your business principles. Make sure these are clear to the people being recruited. Have the best candidates spend time with the people they’re going to be working with. Hire backups for key people; the biggest weakness in smaller companies is a lack of bench strength.
If you want an innovative organization, you need to hire, work with and promote people who make you uncomfortable. You need to understand your own preferences so that you can compliment your weaknesses and exploit your strengths. Never hire or promote in your own image. It’s foolish to replicate your strengths and your weaknesses. If you hire people with the same character qualities that you have, you’ll just end up fighting with them.
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