Hire Power Radio Show

While everyone is chasing the same people, ie: those who work for competitors or the 3-7 year up-and-comers, there is a huge pool of talent that are on the sidelines waiting for a well positioned opportunity to present itself.  I’d like to challenge you to think about the concept that outstanding talent comes from the most unlikely places.  Last week we heard the story of a top sales performer at...

Growing your company from 2 to 10 people is the most critical time in your company's life cycle. The reason for this is every single hire that is made can make or break the company.  Every founder I meet has a story of “we hired a person that we thought was going to be a rockstar and it turned out to be a disaster”.  So where do things go wrong when a bad hire is made?   The interview was run from...

4 Million Americans quit their jobs in July of 2021 , according to the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics. What this means is that you have a tremendous opportunity to upgrade your talent base in your organization.  The pandemic has magnified people’s career wounds in a way that every business will be impacted.  While many reasons are given as to the cause of this mass exodus, the root of the fall ou...

Time and People are the most precious asset your company has on the road to success or failure.  As leaders, It is our responsibility to protect the time of our team to ensure that projects are delivered on time. It is also our responsibility to put processes in place that ensure that the strongest people are in the right seat! Shouldn't each step of the interview process have a purpose and save t...

Hire slow, fire fast is a motto we have all heard as startup founders. It makes logical sense but what really happens is quite the opposite. As entrepreneurs we shift into panic mode when we have a need and move quickly to fill the role. Completely missing all the evidence that this person will be a bad hire. Once the person is in the seat, the dread of having to refill a role often leads to conce...

“There is work that needs to be done and I just need someone good to do the work” *** sigh *** This is what we tell ourselves when we decide to hire someone. But it is so much deeper than just getting a butt in the seat!  Growth is the most important factor here. So, we must start with the end in mind to avoid making HUGE hiring mistakes!  Yes, we need to get the work done but will this person rea...

The first time I was fired was when I was 16 years old and working at Numero Uno Pizza. It happened really strangely, I went in to pick up my paycheck and the manager let me know that this paycheck would be my last one as I was no longer employed there.  No warning and no explanation. Bewildered, I simply walked out the door, walked across the street and was hired by their competitor.  The way in...

Answer: Linking Corporate Values into Your Interview Questions eliminates bias I posed the question to a room of over 400 corporate executives and the results shocked me when I first asked it. Now when I ask the question, the results just make me …. Sad. “Please raise your hand if you have had any formal interview training at any time in your career, other than what not to say in an interview”.  T...

You are at the point in your business where the company is ready to hire the first person to head up a department (i.e.: sales, marketing, engineering). You are excited and terrified at the same time. You’re thinking “I have to get this right”... and you are right, you do! How do you evaluate a person with an area of expertise that you are NOT familiar with?  The answer, my friends, is being prepa...

The key to retention is growth. With looming fears of “the great resignation” company’s are unsure as to how to structure the organization. Forcing a state of flux that is not healthy for the business.  The poles tell us that at least 40% of people will quit if forced to go back into the office full time. Will your company have a mass exodus? If you have not put your people first…. Most likely. Co...

We can all agree that running a remote business has become very challenging from both a cultural and productivity perspective. If anything the past year and a half has taught us, it is that paying attention to the needs of our people is really hard. Especially when they are remote.  So how do we progress through this challenge and continue to grow?....Take on a social mission.  We have all heard t...

It is time to change our mindset on how to really attract and hire the strongest people. The answer is not having the  greatest recruiters or tools. It is not about having strong “employer branding” or compensation plans. The answer is really simple... It is about gathering the evidence in the interview to support the decision without assumptions & bias.  Leadership drives hiring , not recruiting...

Have you ever thought to yourself “If we only could have paid a bit more money, we would have landed the A-player we really needed to hire”? If so, you would be wrong.  We often assume that money is the main reason for the turn down but in reality, it is our inability to demonstrate how our opportunity brings purpose to the individual. It is no longer a time where good people will sacrifice career...

As Entrepreneurs, we are constantly striving to get in front of the challenges we have. However we often seem to be in a constant state of fighting fires.  So now we are at a precipice where technology tools can alleviate this pain but we must first invest the time in training & understand how to best position ourselves and our teams to innovate successfully.  Let’s start to think about our human...

Listening is the most critical interview tool you have. Not listening to respond (which we all do) but listening to understand.  Think of the interview as an opportunity to gather evidence to support your decision and when you understand a person’s pain & desire first, you can accurately position your opportunity as the answer to their problems.  Why do you need to understand the person before you...

Do you have a target list of the people you desire to hire? It is easy to plan the roles you need to hire but the “who” is what matters most.  A very simple hack is to just create a spreadsheet and every time you hear of someone good, add them to your list.  Now here is the important part… reach out and seek to understand. Simply reaching out and listening to their desires is all it takes to attra...

Knowing at least one attribute that is shared by everyone in the organization is critical to nail down before you start hiring. This one thing becomes the cornerstone of your corporate values which shapes the company culture, attracts the right people and fuels growth.  Ask yourself, what is the one trait that is critical to the organization? Write it down, start talking about it and encourage it...

Are you considering hiring a team of experts offshore?  We all know that this option can give you a lot more bang for your buck. But does it really? The communication challenges, cultural differences and time variations may prove too much to manage for some entrepreneurs.  It’s important to consider this as an option only when the organization has the tools & structure to support successful commun...

People do not want to go into the office on a daily basis anymore!  In fact, the last search we completed had an overwhelming number of people that would only be interested in a hybrid or fully remote work situation. Quality of life has become far more important to people than the paycheck.  We have all had to pivot in the past year but we really should embrace & capitalize on the opportunity that...

You don’t need to see 50 or even 10 candidates to make a hire. You only need to see 1.  Why do we feel like we need to see a lot of people to “compare & contrast” before making a decision? Because we have been conditioned to window shop to ensure we are getting the best “deal”. But this is a transactional mindset which causes us to hire too fast with zero evidence to support the decision.  Resulti...

You’re hiring and just are not seeing the quality flow of people responding to your job ads. A bit frustrated, you decide to launch an email/LinkedIn campaign targeting people from your competitors. You identify the people you want to talk to and start sending messages. Hopeful that you’ll draw in the strongest talent.  But the response is underwhelming at best. Why? Because no one cares about you...

With everyone struggling to hire, companies are looking for a competitive edge in being able to attract talented people. But the answer is not compensation & benefits. Contrary to what most people are preaching right now.  What draws people to your company is NOT the transaction. It is the substance behind what is in it for me!  Today we are discussing how your book can have a surprising effect in...

It is no secret that diversity sparks innovation and fuels business growth.  But diversity for the sake of image or social pressure is dangerous. It needs to truly be embedded into the fabric of the corporate values in how people interact. It is not just checking off a box to satisfy outsiders. This is most dangerous when someone is hired simply for their gender or race without any consideration o...

What if you completely eliminated the resume from your entire hiring process? Now you might be thinking, “how is that even possible”? Well, lets’ divulge a few truths about the resume. First, all resumes lie. Not only in what is written but more importantly, what is not. Really the most valuable information on a resume is the contact information and the white space. And the white space is where th...

Assumptions are the #1 reason we fail in our expectations when hiring and raising capital.  Assumptions are drawn when we don’t invest the time to listen to all parties. Asking deeper questions to gather data to support an accurate decision is crucial. What is not uncovered is the reason we make bad hires. Because we inject our own assumptions, needs & bias where the evidence should be.  This espe...