Expert Strategies For Hiring The Best Employees
Expert Strategies For Hiring The Best Employees
Do you think managing employees has gotten any easier since that column was written? Have cats gotten any more obedient? The truth is, managing employees is the easy part: attracting (or finding) qualified employees is the really hard part. You’ve heard the old saying, "Good help is hard to find." You didn’t think someone made that up just to hear their head rattle, did you?
Like a buyer’s market in real estate, it’s an employee’s market in the job world. With more options than ever, top talent can pick and choose the companies they want to work for and in many cases, can set their own price and compensation package rather than having to settle for the offers made by prospective employers.
One of the companies that I have an interest in provides hiring management software to employers and the number one complaint that I get from clients has been the same for years: we can’t find enough qualified candidates to fill the jobs we have. Some of my clients have had open positions for months and unfortunately, I can’t offer them much solace because the competition for the best employees is tough; and only going to get tougher.
According to a CareerBuilder.com survey 40 percent of American companies say they plan to increase staffing levels in the first quarter of 2007. Health care, food services, commercial banking, transportation, construction and many other industries are begging for new candidates. And I’ll bet you a ton of Cat Chow that every one of those employers is as nervous as a cat on a hot tin roof about having to find qualified people to fill all those slots.
How about your business? Will you be adding new employees to the herd this year? Are you having a hard time finding good help? If so the following strategies will help make your job a little easier.
Take advantage of the Internet and new technology. Like it or not, we live in the age of the electronic, online application and if you don’t allow applicants to apply to job openings via your company website you’re missing a large percentage of the best applicants. Top candidates are computer savvy and Internet reliant. The sharpest candidates do everything online; buy cars, meet dates, pay bills, socially network, etc. Give them the tools they demand to get their information to you quickly and conveniently. And use software on the backend of the process to manage the flow of applicant data and the hiring process. I speak from experience here: the ROI in time, money, and top talent will be multifold.
Hire the experienced old pro over the young rookie. Every potential employee you consider should have a track record of success in the kind of position with the kind of product he's being hired for. If it's a sales job, only hire someone who has proved that he can sell the type of product you sell. If it's a service position only hire someone who is a master at servicing whatever it is you service. Don’t hire a vacuum cleaner salesman to sell airplanes. Choose "experience and performance" over "eager and willing to learn" every time.
Screen everyone. Screening and background checks should be a part of every hiring decision you make. There are lots of applicant-screening tools on the market that range from simple paper forms to complex web-based applications. Find one that suits your needs and use it on every applicant that you seriously consider hiring; from the janitor to the CEO. A good screening process will help you weed out problem employees before they are ever hired.
Perform drug tests without exception. I beg the pardon of those "right to privacy" do-gooders who tell me that a person's personal life and urine contents are none of my business, but if I'm going to be paying someone's salary you can be sure that I will exercise my right to check out that person as far as the letter of the law allows. If you have an aversion to little plastic cups, don’t apply inside.
Check references. This is a huge mistake that many employers make. They ask for references, but never check the quality or legitimacy of the reference. Surveys have shown that most job application references are either false or just family and friends who are willing to say how great the applicant is. Forget references from family and friends. Ask for the names of their last three employers, then call to verify the information on the application. By law, past employers are limited as to what they can divulge about the applicant, but if you simply ask: "would you hire this person again given the chance," you will be amazed at what you can learn.
The presence of a pulse does not quality you for the job. Many employers are more concerned with just filling an open slot than filling it with someone qualified to do the work. Never hire someone just because you have an opening and they have a pulse. It will always come back to haunt you.
Will these strategies guarantee that every employee you hire is a winner? No, but they will help you avoid hiring those crazy cats.
Expert Strategies For Hiring The Best Employees - To learn more about this author, visit Tim Knox's Website.
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A few years ago I wrote a column in which I compared managing employees to herding cats: just when you think you have everyone organized in a happy little group and going in the same direction one cat breaks from the herd and heads off to do its own thing. Then another cat falls out of line, then another, then another. Finally two more cats ask to go home sick and three others just wander off after lunch, never to be heard from again.
Do you think managing employees has gotten any easier since that column was written? Have cats gotten any more obedient? The truth is, managing employees is the easy part: attracting (or finding) qualified employees is the really hard part. You’ve heard the old saying, "Good help is hard to find." You didn’t think someone made that up just to hear their head rattle, did you?
Like a buyer’s market in real estate, it’s an employee’s market in the job world. With more options than ever, top talent can pick and choose the companies they want to work for and in many cases, can set their own price and compensation package rather than having to settle for the offers made by prospective employers.
One of the companies that I have an interest in provides hiring management software to employers and the number one complaint that I get from clients has been the same for years: we can’t find enough qualified candidates to fill the jobs we have. Some of my clients have had open positions for months and unfortunately, I can’t offer them much solace because the competition for the best employees is tough; and only going to get tougher.
According to a CareerBuilder.com survey 40 percent of American companies say they plan to increase staffing levels in the first quarter of 2007. Health care, food services, commercial banking, transportation, construction and many other industries are begging for new candidates. And I’ll bet you a ton of Cat Chow that every one of those employers is as nervous as a cat on a hot tin roof about having to find qualified people to fill all those slots.
How about your business? Will you be adding new employees to the herd this year? Are you having a hard time finding good help? If so the following strategies will help make your job a little easier.
Take advantage of the Internet and new technology. Like it or not, we live in the age of the electronic, online application and if you don’t allow applicants to apply to job openings via your company website you’re missing a large percentage of the best applicants. Top candidates are computer savvy and Internet reliant. The sharpest candidates do everything online; buy cars, meet dates, pay bills, socially network, etc. Give them the tools they demand to get their information to you quickly and conveniently. And use software on the backend of the process to manage the flow of applicant data and the hiring process. I speak from experience here: the ROI in time, money, and top talent will be multifold.
Hire the experienced old pro over the young rookie. Every potential employee you consider should have a track record of success in the kind of position with the kind of product he's being hired for. If it's a sales job, only hire someone who has proved that he can sell the type of product you sell. If it's a service position only hire someone who is a master at servicing whatever it is you service. Don’t hire a vacuum cleaner salesman to sell airplanes. Choose "experience and performance" over "eager and willing to learn" every time.
Screen everyone. Screening and background checks should be a part of every hiring decision you make. There are lots of applicant-screening tools on the market that range from simple paper forms to complex web-based applications. Find one that suits your needs and use it on every applicant that you seriously consider hiring; from the janitor to the CEO. A good screening process will help you weed out problem employees before they are ever hired.
Perform drug tests without exception. I beg the pardon of those "right to privacy" do-gooders who tell me that a person's personal life and urine contents are none of my business, but if I'm going to be paying someone's salary you can be sure that I will exercise my right to check out that person as far as the letter of the law allows. If you have an aversion to little plastic cups, don’t apply inside.
Check references. This is a huge mistake that many employers make. They ask for references, but never check the quality or legitimacy of the reference. Surveys have shown that most job application references are either false or just family and friends who are willing to say how great the applicant is. Forget references from family and friends. Ask for the names of their last three employers, then call to verify the information on the application. By law, past employers are limited as to what they can divulge about the applicant, but if you simply ask: "would you hire this person again given the chance," you will be amazed at what you can learn.
The presence of a pulse does not quality you for the job. Many employers are more concerned with just filling an open slot than filling it with someone qualified to do the work. Never hire someone just because you have an opening and they have a pulse. It will always come back to haunt you.
Will these strategies guarantee that every employee you hire is a winner? No, but they will help you avoid hiring those crazy cats.
Expert Strategies For Hiring The Best Employees - To learn more about this author, visit Tim Knox's Website.
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Dave KurlanDave Kurlan is the founder and CEO of Objective Management Group, Inc., the industry leader in sales assessments and sales force evaluations, and the CEO of David Kurlan & Associates, Inc., a consulting firm specializing in sales force development. Dave has been a top rated speaker at Inc. Magazine's Conference on Growing the Company, the Sales & Marketing Management Conference and the Gazelles Sales & Marketing Summit. He has been featured on radio and TV, including World Business Review with General Norman Schwarzkopf, in Inc. Magazine, Selling Power Magazine, Sales & Marketing Management Magazine and Incentive Magazine. He is the author of Mindless Selling and Baseline Selling – How to Become a Sales Superstar by Using What You Already Know about the Game of Baseball. He created and wrote STAR, a proprietary recruiting process for hiring great salespeople, and he writes Understanding the Sales Force, a popular business Blog and is a contributing author to The Death of 20th Century Selling and 101 Great Ways to Improve Your Life, Volume 2. - Visit Dave Kurlan's Website |
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Dianne CramptonDianne Crampton is an executive leadership coach, team consultant, author and president of TIGERS Success Series, Inc. Dianne has been helping CEO's and Executives connect their employees to their core values and goals for over 20 years using the trademarked TIGERS team culture process, which stands for trust, interdependence, genuineness, empathy, risk and success. To download a free white paper on behaviors that build strong teams and behaviors that will predictably tear them down go here. - Visit Dianne Crampton's Website |
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George LudwigGeorge Ludwig is a recognized authority on sales strategy and peak performance psychology. An international speaker, trainer, and corporate consultant, he helps clients like Johnson & Johnson, Abbott Laboratories, Northwestern Mutual, CIGNA, and numerous others improve sales force effectiveness and performance. Though it's George's strategies and processes that help corporations increase productivity and performance, it's his tremendous energy and dynamism that spark the transformation. Again and again, clients remark on his amazing ability to unleash human capacity and inspire men and women to break out of their comfort zones. The result is a whole new type of salesperson. His customized presentations teach achievers to make stunning advances in their lives. From helping salespeople realize cherished dreams to helping corporations exponentially accelerate revenue streams, George Ludwig leaves audiences and individuals empowered, emboldened, and clamoring for more. George is the best-selling author of Power Selling: Seven Strategies for Cracking the Sales Code and Wise Moves: 60 Quick Tips to Improve Your Position in Life & Business. - Visit George Ludwig's Website |
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Leanne Hoagland-SmithAre your sales where you want them to be? Will you be one of the few who achieves sales or business success or one of the many who have failed to change? Are you tired of being told you are like everyone else? Then you may find my first book on sales of interest. Be the Red Jacket in the Sea of Gray Suits, The Keys to Unlocking Sales available at Amazon or at http://www.processspecialist.com/red-jacket.htm. This book is a reflection of my no-nonsense approach to improving sales to overall business results. If you are truly committed to making sustainable changes, then I can help you secure a positive return on your investment because I focus on executable solutions not telling you the problems you already know you have. From training to corporate (group) coaching to executive one on one coaching, my approach is to assess, create awareness, build a goal driven action plan and then execute. The bottom line question is "Not do you or your employees know it, but do you or they want to do it?" Please call for a free strategy session at 219.759.5601. - Visit Leanne Hoagland-Smith's Website |
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Cheryl MatthynssensCheryl is a life skills coach, licensed Chemical Dependency Counselor and a 20 year entrepreneur. Cheryl's dedication to achieving a life of balance led to her expanding her teaching from the simple managing of life's daily challenges to adding financial well being as well. A direct marketer with DrinkACT, she is gaining ground in the online community with her concepts of making sure business owners, entreprenuers and employees have well rounded life styles. She opened up a small affiliate site - The Balance Guide- to help others find resources for mental and emotional well being. Visit Cheryl's blog to see more of the diversity beyond business she has began offering online at www.thebalanceguide.blogspot.com - Visit Cheryl Matthynssens's Website |
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Jay Kubassek(Jay's Full Bio: EvanCarmichael.com/jaykubassek) In five years, Canadian-born entrepreneur Jay Kubassek went from selling mufflers at a Midas franchise to revolutionizing Internet marketing with the 2004 launch of CarbonCopyPRO, a online marketing education company, now worth over $20 million with customers in over 160 countries.
As an independent film producer, his upstart film fund Aliquot Films is currently producing a films with Spike Lee and Abel Fererra (starring Ethan Hawke and Dennis Hopper.)
Jay's entrepreneurial spirit is irrepressible. He’s the owner of five companies, a professional speaker and trainer, international real estate developer/investor, extreme sport enthusiast and emerging philanthropist. Jay resides in NYC with his wife Jamie, son Milo and dog Cooper. Visit Jay's official website: www.JayKubassek.com - Visit Jay Kubassek's Website |
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