Tweet

Recruiting Quality Talent and Top Performers

Written by: Marshall W. Northcott

Article Overview: What are the secrets to making quality hiring choices and refining your candidate selection process? How do you acquire the team members you really desire and eliminate the guess work? Read on to learn more...

Recruiting Quality Talent and Top Performers

Years ago my sales manager told me how difficult it was to find quality recruits with staying power. He said he wished that he had a crystal ball for hiring because it seemed that no matter how good he thought he was at making a quality call, he only hit it one out of five times. This is a reflection of what is known as the pareto principle or the 80/20 rule. Without some sort of tool or proven system in place, recruiting is at best an educated guess!

There are six key areas in which an ideal candidate should have strengths and balance. They are problem solving abilities, drive (influence), emotional resilience, self-c0ntrol, interpersonal style and practicality. A balance in these six key areas will provide you with an individual who is more likely to be a quality, long-term asset to the organization.

It is highly unlikely that you will ever build a great company on your own. In order for an organization to become a financial asset and outlive the founder, it takes a team of people who are all contributing to the cause. In the 1960's the rich oil tycoon J.P. Getty said, "I'd rather have 1% of 100 mens efforts than 100% of my own."

According to John Maxwell, weak fearful leaders have insecurity issues and tend to recruit underlings. That way they never have to worry about someone on their team competing with them for their job. Building a strong, solid team requires a confident leader who is not afraid to recruit people who are strong, intelligent, capable, confident and competent. Have a solid strategy and plan for hiring. Take advantage of any tools and resources that are available to increase your odds for success. Know what type of person is most suitable for any positions being filled or tasks at hand. Prepare a list of core competencies and raw skills that an ideal candidate should possess. Know which of these are an absolute must and which are on the wish list, so that you don't settle for second best. When qualifying and screening candidates, the questions you ask are key. Have your questioning strategy down cold for interviewing so that you are confident you have covered the key points that matter most! This will make you much more confident in the choices that you make.

In smaller companies, a three phase interviewing process is very common and up to five interviews will occur in larger organizations. Psychologically, this process creates an impression in the mind of the candidate being interviewed. He or she feels a greater degree of importance or significance in the role they are being interviewed for. Being selective sends the message that we don't just hire anyone, you have to be unique and special in order to get in here. Due to the time commitment involved however, you must become proficient in your prescreening and interviewing skills. Telephone interviews are an excellent way to complete the initial phase of the interviewing process.

In the best selling book Good to Great, Jim Collins notes that in their research, they discovered that many of Good to Great executives said they always keep their eyes and ears open watching for talent. In some instances, they actually created positions for people because they felt so strongly that they would be key contributors to the organization they didn't want to pass on the opportunity. Develop a very clear picture of what you want (even what you don't want) and need in a recruit. If you keep your eyes and ears open at all times, some of the best hires you'll ever make will come as a result of recruiting on the fly! When you know what you're looking for you'd be surprised how often you will come face to face with an ideal candidate. It can happen at any time, in any environment, during your hours of work or when you are on personal time. In these sorts of situations, it is much easier to interview them because it is casual and they don't even know that is what you are doing.

One last point that I would make with regard to people in your organization that aren't giving a solid effort. I often witness situations where an employee is literally putting in time, taking up desk space and merely collecting a paycheque. Identify those individuals in your company, work with them to see if you can turn them around. If you can't, then help them move on to something more suited to their needs. It's tough to do but you'll be doing them a favour in the long run.

"Learn to say no to the good so you can say yes to the best."

Related Articles
  Be A Top Performer
  MANAGING NON-PERFORMERS
  Quick Tips For Hiring In A Recession
  Fighting for Superstars
  Recruiting Sales Professionals: Sales Recruiter Reveals Three Key Ingredients Needed to Hire Top Sales Talent

Article Tags: according to john, core competencies, crystal ball, educated guess, emotional resilience, financial asset, getty, insecurity, interpersonal style, john maxwell, key areas, oil tycoon, pareto principle, practicality, proven system, quality recruits, reflection, rich oil, staying power, term asset



Related Forum Posts
Quote of the Day - ?"I've never met a successful entrepreneu - ?"I've never met a successful entrepreneur that didn't simply outwork all others. Talent is important, but the work ethic is a necessity." - Adam Braun (Pencils Of Promise)
Re: What makes a good sales rep? - Quality of a good salesman. Believe in yourself Know your product like the back of your hand Resufe to take no for an answer Be passionable about your product
Re: June Contest Winners, New July Contest! - You are doing great things in this forum. This forum is the first one that will reward pepole posting. My hobby is writing and this will gear me to write more for this forum. Quality post that will benefit members. Thanks for this contest
Re: Search Engine Optimization Guide for All - I see...[i:dvipfcie]Quality[/i:dvipfcie] content wins every time, as the saying goes. Thanks for the resource. It looks like a great site and Higher quality then some that i've seen so far. I will [u:dvipfcie]definately[/u:dvipfcie] use them soon.
HRPreneur - Hi everyone, I am new to the forum and I recently started my own Human Capital (HR) consulting firm called HRPreneur Inc. HRP focuses on making human capital a strategic differentiator for SME's. Below is a summary about HRP; Who We Are: HRP is a Human Capital consulting firm with 30 years of experience that becomes an extension of your company by providing a full array of services to help you create a highly engaged workforce focused on achieving strategic results in order to build a long lasting great company! Mission: HRP provides small and medium sized businesses a Strategic HR Business Partner to increase employee engagement, resulting in cost savings, increased productivity and results at an affordable rate! Vision: To inspire and warrant SME's reach their full competency! Cost Effectiveness: We provide over 30 years of experience at a fraction of the cost at a strategic executive HR business level You will save between 50% to 60% in costs per year on salary, bonus, benefits, training, office space alone We will provide you additional cost efficiencies through our services Services: • Strategic Human Resources Planning • Organizational Redesign • Change Management • Organizational Culture Development • Employee Engagement Programs • Leadership Assessment and Development • Compensation Design • Talent Acquisition • Assimilation and On-Boarding • Performance Management • Talent Management & Succession Planning • Human Resources Due Diligence • Human Resources Audit • Full Service HR Outsourcing


Share this article with your friends. Fund someone's dream.

Leave a comment below or share on the left and you'll help support entrepreneurs in Africa through our partnership with Kiva. Over $50,000 raised and counting - Please keep sharing! Learn more.

Tweet

Newsletter

Get advice & tips from famous business
owners, new articles by entrepreneur
experts, my latest website updates, &
special sneak peaks at what's to come!

Name:
Email:

Popular Articles

Here's a great ROI

The Death of the Sales Magazine

Why Marketing Outsourcing is Growing So Quickly

Suggestions

Email us your ideas on how to make our
website more valuable! Thank you Sharon
from Toronto Salsa Lessons / Classes for
your suggestions to make the newsletter
look like the website and profile younger
entrepreneurs like Jennifer Lopez.