I was talking recently with on of my friends, Paul, and the conversation was all about the best way to recruit and hire “New Millennials.” We talked for a while about what makes this demographic group different. Then we talked about if it’s possible to get this group as passionate about work as other demographic groups? The answer we came up with was: “Yes, it is – providing you hire the right candidate.”
So, we thought, how do leaders do that?
We began by really dissecting the hiring process. What we discovered was that the best hires we ever made in our careers had nothing to do with demographics. The best hires were made when we focused intensely on finding the best candidate, with the right cultural fit and the best attitude.
How? Well to get to the best process, we talked about some of the worst examples we had. About how team members involved in hiring were going through the motions, and making decisions based on the wrong data… For example: falling in love with the candidate’s CV (resumé), picking the candidate that gave the “perfect answers,” just reading the questions and not really listening, not probing further, not digging for more, not pushing the candidate to be real… essentially just accepting the interview for the “beauty contest that it was.”
Today, business is more competitive than ever. It will never go back to the way it was before 2008. Too much has changed. The world is flatter and competition is coming from all over the planet and from non-traditional sources. The team of people that you put together needs to be better than ever before. There is NO ROOM for mediocrity!
And… the best team starts with hiring the best people.
Hiring the best people takes commitment from everyone in your business – not just reading the questions from the interview sheet. It requires the team to really dig, probe and uncover who the real person is. Push the candidate outside of their comfort zone. Do something completely different in your interview process – stretch the candidate beyond a nice, comfortable interview room. Hire the candidate that is best cultural fit and has the best attitude. Skills can be taught – attitude cannot.
If you want to push your business beyond mediocrity, hire the best people. If you want to win in this new competitive, flat world, hire the best people.
