Bringing New People into The Organization - Page 2

Spend enough time developing an understanding of the potential new hire. Meet more than once. Have the person meet others within your organization. It’s amazing what comes up about a person once there have been several discussions and the guard has come down a bit. I like to meet new recruits at odd ball times, i.e. maybe 8 o’clock on a Saturday or Sunday morning or on a Holiday for example. I like to see how applicants react to be asking to do something unconventional or inconvenient.

Don’t be afraid to ask unconventional questions. But also invite the applicant to ask you unconventional things as well. In my third interview with a potential hire I happen to ask him what his previous wife (he was divorced) would likely say if I called her for a reference. He was very open in explaining all the bad things she would be likely to add. He was honest but it was clear he had issues that made him a bad fit with us.

Be actively looking for new, exceptional people all the time. If you happen to find one, i.e. the hidden gem, you can always find a way to add a great new person. If you wait with your recruiting efforts until you loose a key member of your team you will be behind the eight ball for a long time trying to find an even better replacement. When you are under pressure to fill a hole in your organization that’s when you are likely to make the biggest hiring boo-boos.

Don’t assume because we have high unemployment in the country that you can turn on the spigot and come up with a handful of potential new great hires for your organization. The financial stress in our economy has cost millions of good people their jobs. But this “thinning” of the herd for the most part is turning loose mainly the underachievers. As organizations shrink they generally work harder than ever to keep their best people. In your current recruiting efforts you are likely seeing mainly mediocre to poor performing applicants.