For business leaders: How to get the best talent?
It ought to go without saying that people are the most valuable assets to any company or organization. Develop a great workforce, and a great business will follow suit. It has always been a challenge, though, for most human resource executives and business leaders to find the most effective way of finding the right people to work for their company. How exactly do you find the best talent and hire the best workers for your business?
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May 27, 2014
In order to attract top talent and retain your top talent your salaries need to be competitive. But there is also a need to be able to offer top notch benefits to your employees in order to attract, retain, maintain, develop and reward them. Through Insperity's PEO offering, we are able to offer Fortune 100 benefits and over 4400 different training programs. This process allows the smaller companies to be just as competitive as the larger companies in terms of giving great offers/packages to potential employees.
May 17, 2014
I sense that we have a group of smart professionals, so I'll just address three key characteristics that are often compromised:
1 - Humbleness; leaders with great egos and hidden agendas will only get as far as they can keep their hands on "things" and rarely earn the trust and support of subordinates. This has been proven in Fortune 500 and smaller companies alike.
2 - The "giving factor"; whereby leaders thirst to help others grow and succeed and acknowledge then accordingly. This not only will earn respect and desired performance from subordinates, but it will create an un-wavered loyalty in return.
3 - Energy; a sincere and contagious attitude that generates adrenalin within others. This creates an unmistakable drive in a culture while motivating others.
Again, there are many core competencies that make a great leader and unfortunately, studies continue to show that less than 5% of people in such roles are truly qualified to be level 5, top leaders.
May 7, 2014
The biggest mistake made today by business is looking toward a resume or any piece of paper to give you the true character of a person and let's face it, how well of an employee a person is, remains fully developed in their character. Instead of looking for credentials and accolades, let's look at if the person shows up for the interview on time and if they do not what is used to excuse. Let's see if the person is comfortable with answering many questions or do they get annoyed when you ask too many. Let's see if a person stays on topic and for how long or goes off subject way too quickly and can't seem to find their way back. These are just a few things that human resources people need to be gin training to look for instead of what is printed on a piece of paper or what they dress or look like. How many of you who feel as though they have made it, would honestly say that putting it all down on a piece of paper really does give the best picture of you?
May 7, 2014
Hi.! You could start by re-wording the question to 'what is the best type of talent I need for my business?'.
Some of your 'minimum criteria' might be characteristics many people don't want in their employees. Trying identifying where your existing employees are different from those around. That might help look at recruiting in a completely different way. It will also help you frame interview questions more appropriately to screen candidates. Good luck.!
May 7, 2014
I would start with making sure you have a company where the best talent wants to work. I have worked with people who say this and all their action point in a different direction. Take a look at how you treat your people, do you lay out expectations, do you show respect and ask for their opinions. Do you live your values each day?
Once that is done - promote it. Share you philosophy and find people who match your values. Do this first and then focus on skills.
You will attract like minded individuals if you are clear on who you are and what your company has to offer.
May 7, 2014
Hire slow and fire fast! The best approach to hire top talent is to use several sources (Referrals, Recruiters, Campus) but to focus on putting the effort into committing to the recruiting function. It is one thing to create amazing branding materials, purchase LinkedIn etc... but if the people that are the face of the company aren't dynamic and a gregarious extension of your business you will hire the best of what you can get.
May 7, 2014
Finding high-quality talent takes time and resources. You can embark on
a search yourself or you can align yourself with the right help by enlisting the services of
professional recruiters.
Why Should Someone Want to Work For Your Company?
It important that you develop your employer brand. The ability to differentiate yourself from others in your industry as an employer is critical to attracting
the best candidates. Recruiting professionals can help you craft an effective recruiting program, which should include:
An internal job posting program
A background check program
An employee referral program
A sourcing strategy
Precautions to Take When Recruiting
Even in the tightest of job markets, employers should exercise caution
when adding another employee to the ranks. A good employee can go
a long way toward increasing productivity, infusing new energy into
the company and possibly improving employee morale. The opposite is
also true if you hire the wrong person. While embarking on your search,
here are a few precautions to take when picking the best candidate.
1. Examine the job description.
If you plan to take on recruiting yourself, fine tuning the job description
prior to publication can help limit the number of unsuitable applicants.
Be specific about job requirements, such as skills and education, as
well as tasks associated with the position. Although you will
undoubtedly hear from some applicants who don’t offer any of the
stated qualifications, by clearly articulating the job description and
requirements, you can decrease the number of unqualified applicants
and reduce legwork.
2. Scrutinize resumes.
While some candidates’ resumes may merely attempt to present them in the best possible light, others result in outright fabrication.
A CareerBuilder.com survey of more than 3,100 hiring managers indicated that 49 percent encountered lies on a
candidate’s resume. However, only 8 percent of candidates admitted to stretching the truth on their resumes.
The survey found the top resume discrepancies to be:
Embellished responsibilities (38 percent)
Skill set (18 percent)
Dates of employment (12 percent)
Get down to the facts of a candidate’s resume by verifying education, employment, certifications and accolades. A
background screening service can help verify all those factors. Background screening can also verify salary information.
3. Analyze the interview.
There is no golden question when it comes to interviewing. Done well, however, a good job applicant interview should
mirror an engaging conversation. During the interview, you should gain insight into what candidates are looking for in a
career, their personality and whether they have the skills and qualifications to be successful.
Your questions should be tailored to fit your company’s
culture. Ask questions that gauge what type of environment
the candidate works best in and what type of manager he or
she works best with. Make sure to dig deep and ask follow-up
questions. Professional recruiters use tools such as behavior-
based interview questions that allow them to more effectively
learn about the candidate and determine if the person will
mesh with a client’s corporate culture.
4. Conduct pre-employment screenings.
Before extending an offer to a candidate, it’s important to
know who you’re hiring. Background checks and other pre-employment verifications can help you formulate a decision.
Some background check services can include drug screening, criminal history, driving records, credit checks (although
keep in mind that some states prohibit employers from obtaining credit checks unless certain requirements are met),
education verification, immigration status, cognitive testing and more. The benefits of knowing your candidates
thoroughly far outweigh the potential consequences of hiring the wrong person.
Academic degree (10 percent)
Companies worked for (7 percent)
Job title (5 percent)
Professional Recruiters
Professional recruiters can bring a lot to the table in terms
of helping you find the best candidate and taking much of
the burden of hiring off your hands. Sifting through the
applications and identifying potentially viable candidates
is a time-consuming process, and separating fact from
fiction in submitted resumes can also be an arduous task.
Recruiters have access to a key segment of the candidate
pool – passive candidates. These candidates are likely
already employed, but may not be 100 percent happy
in their current position and may be open to new career
possibilities. Contact with a recruiter can be the push they need to submit their resume. Passive candidates can
also be a valuable source for referrals. They may know the perfect person from their industry to fill the position.
Professional recruiters work with your company to find the person whose qualifications best suit the job
requirements. They also can help ascertain which candidate best fits your corporate culture.
Whether or not you use a recruiting service, hiring new staff can be a tricky process. Be sure to take the time to find
the candidates who possess the skills, training, education and personality your company really needs.
Finally, retention should be part of your recruiting strategy. Keeping the good people you have engaged with the right environment, tools, and compensation.
May 6, 2014
The first thing the Business leader should know as to what exactly he is looking for.
May 6, 2014
It's like the question of the chicken or the egg? In this case, in order to recruit great talent, you have to already have great talent in the organization that can coach, lead and nurture their direct reports to deliver stretch goals and objectives. If you focus on people leading that can develop others, the process becomes organic. People want to work for people that stretch and develop them into someone better than they started. As a former recruiter, manager and director of P&G, we placed a high level of importance and priority to developing people, the business will come.
May 6, 2014
Yes people are the most valuable assets to any company or organization. But one should realize that ‘one man’s meat may be other man’s poison’. Meaning a valuable asset for one company may not be a valuable asset for the other company and vice versa.
1) Understand the stage the company is in – Is it a start-up, a growth company or a huge multinational?
2) Decide what kind of skills we are looking for – An entrepreneurial / Technological / Process Orientation / Business orientation?
3) Make the company more attractive for the right skilled candidates – They should know that they can chase their passion, will be working with like minded people, will have opportunities for growth and will be able to operate with very little intervention from their Bosses.
4) Start shaping up the talent pool. It will take patience and determination on the part of the Leader / Founder / CEO of the organization to build a great work force.
5) Best talents will make the Company BEST and this would keep attracting other top talents from outside to join the company.
6) Go back to Step 1 and continue the process!
Cheers
May 6, 2014
Today's businesses demand 'smart' employees and in the hunt for smarter people 'goodness' is being ignored. If a choice is given between goodness and smartness, I would prefer to pick one with innate goodness and will develop him/her smarter after the induction. The persons ability to connect emotionally with the business and environment is more important. This I found proven times and again to build a long lasting relation between the employee and the business. Need patience and efforts to build such talents; there is no short cut.
May 6, 2014
People want to be relevant to an organizations success....They want to go beyond the processes...use judgement. The best, look for the best environment, compensation is a given for the best...will they have the respect and involvement to satisfy them. One of my recent blogs addressed just this issue...For those interested I've attached the link
www.edisoncappartners.com/blog/2014/04/26/297
May 6, 2014
Ask people what is the most challenging thing you have ever had to do.Sorts the riff from the raff.
May 6, 2014
I understand how you feel... I know that we can help you, if you have time this week? What's your schedule look like this week? 972.987.6816 Office
In a recent survey of more than 1,700 CEOs, 71% rated their employees as their most important source of sustained economic value.
More than infrastructure, more than business models, more than budgets-it’s now people who determine the success or failure of your business. Which is why, on a smarter planet, companies are thinking as strategically about workforces as they are about everything else.
An emerging concept known as “workforce design” is using technology to help companies offer employees more meaningful work, create experiences that engage and stimulate them, and encourage them to grow as fast as their abilities allow.
May 6, 2014
I still believe the very best results, hands down, come from current employee referrals. All other methods combined do not yield the same successful results. They know the culture, the tolerance, the focus and who or why someone might fit well with the company. I’ll take this over all other methods every time.
Next best results for me have come from recruiters. They like to say…if you think it’s expensive to hire a professional, wait until you hire/invest in an amateur! There is some great logic to this. If you’ve spent time dealing with unraveling the wrong hire, you can find the value in this approach. Be as selective when choosing your recruiter to ensure greater results.
Today’s climate does not lend to simply posting an open position all over the various internet sites hoping to find good talent. It will waste enormous amounts of your time and you will be frustrated with poor results of unqualified candidates.
Many people will spend a fair amount of time and effort shopping for a major purchase such as a car. They will read articles, go online and research it, test drive it and take months to make a decision to spend $30K, $40K or even $50K for a car as a one-time purchase.
Conversely, employers often make a decision to hire someone at a rate of the same $30K, $40K or $50K per year in wages. The difference is they spend this amount year over year (much more expensive) without doing a fraction of the research they did for the car.
If you hope to hire well, it will take practice and it will take time to do it right. The answer is “there is no silver bullet”. You have to roll up your sleeves and spend quality time in this effort. This is one of the most challenging and important things a business can do and it’s not easy. Anything less is just pretending or just looking for shortcuts.
I agree with the comment from Michelle that we are in a talent war. The last few years have changed the landscape for talent. Some are still waiting for an offer to pull them away from a job they don’t care for. Others are actively seeking new opportunities. The best hiring results are coming from creative people applying creative ideas to be the “employer of choice” and they are letting everyone they come in contact with know that. When in battle, you must be very good at what you do if you hope to win.
Happy hunting…
May 6, 2014
I look for the desire and ability to learn, be flexible and work in and with teams. I have found that peer interviews are a great way to make sure candidates fit into an organization. If people are truly the most important asset, then the same time and effort applied to a major capital expense should also be applied to selecting key members of the workforce. Would a company spend $50K on cool new software tools based on a cursory interview and minimal background check? I hope not. Trust, but verify at several levels. Simulations, role play and tests should be incorporated into the final selection process. A specific example: when a fork lift driving test was added to the fork lift operator screening process, it eliminated 50% of the candidates who might have otherwise been a huge liability to the rest of the workforce. Most of the warehouse leads were trained to conduct these test, which also added another level of applicant screening. The time and money will be spent, it is always better to do it making good choices rather than documenting terminations or worse, dealing with labor boards and attorneys.
May 6, 2014
I actually just got back from sponsoring an ERE Recruiting Conference out here in San Diego, CA this month. It was chalked full of talent acquisition folks looking for insight on your questions. There's a LOT of info out there that addresses the challenge of finding & hiring the best talent around. I can say that at my company one of our best practices is using online video conferencing (our iMeet software as an example) as a platform to screen/interview candidates more efficiently. Using virtual meeting technology allows you to go outside your local area to find the best talent from all over the world.
May 6, 2014
I think there are three parts to getting the best talent.
1. You have to have the type of organization that challenges top talent so they are attracted to come (Build it and they will come... word of mouth spreads quickly!)
2. Besides your employees, you have to be able to communicate about your company in the right places about what you do, this could be going to a local college and starting an internshiop, working a convention in your industry that your HR talks at, to even the words you use to describe the positions you are advertising for in various job boards.
3. You need to use good assessments that can get past the common dating relationship of interviews where everyone presents themselves as they want to be seen and not who they are in real life. I currently use a combination of three reports in executive staffing that have been spot on for years in not only picking the top talent, but helping the company on-board and train that talent, and work with them to ensure they stay engaged. I also use the same assessments on the executive team looking for new talent to ensure they are also aware of their own strengths and limits. Sometimes we “think or feel” we know what we need, but in reality, you really need to “know” what you need.
Too often we hire like ourselves and while it seems to work for some, the real truth is that most staffing and recruiting situations, without the use of assessments are not able to predict success any more than flipping a coin. David Rock recently spoke on Breaking Bias and noted that there are over 30 different biases that we as humans cannot overcome. Mahzarin R. Banaji in his book, Blindspot: Hidden Biases of Good People, also points out how we really cannot overcome our own limited thinking.
If you want to hire better people, you need to have an engaging company and a non-biased way to evaluate what exactly top talent looks like so you can objectively measure when you get it!
May 6, 2014
It begins with having an open mindset. Too many HR departments use a formulaic approach built upon degrees and years of experience within the industry or within the same role in another industry. This doesn't allow them to harness the talent that's in different (but complimentary) careers. With a broader mindset there would be additional professional associations and Linked In groups that would hit HR radar's screen then there are currently. They would also bring fresh thinking into the organization.
Ronnie, I have to agree with you on the piece of paper providing an incomplete picture. There are character traits that you just can't capture on paper. In addition to what you've mentioned, I'd also add resiliency, innovative problem-solving, and sound decision-making. Those traits are teased out through discussion.