Hiring Managers – How Do You Find the Best People for Your Company?
We get asked this hiring question all the time…Mike Sipple Jr. weighs in to share his thoughts and opinions!
The first step is to be sure you truly know what you’re looking for – be able to answer these questions:
- Who are the decision-makers in the process? Have you all met around a table to agree upon what the ideal candidate profile looks like?
- Have you agreed on the benchmarks for the candidate evaluation? What do you want to be different than the last leader who held the position?
- What similarities and differences do you want in the next candidate compared to the past individual and others on the leadership team?
- What behaviors should you be looking for in candidates? What are the behaviors needed today, and what’s needed to get your company where it needs to be in the future?
Once these questions (and more!) have been answered and agreed upon, we encourage you to ask an outside advisor who specializes in the process of recruiting and attracting talent or look to people in your network who know you and what you are about.
- Who do you know and trust?
- Who understands and appreciates your business and culture?
- Who can identify and refer you the leadership and talent that will fit your organization?
Centennial is especially strong in this area, because we are constantly out meeting people and networking. We are regularly communicating with the top leaders, whether they are currently looking for opportunities or waiting for the “right time.” We invest the time with our clients to understand goals & objectives, challenges, opportunities and “fit” and match this to the leaders who can meet and/or exceed expectations.
If your preference is to use the job board process, that’s ok too, as long as you have the proper expectations. In this scenario, you are really only looking at the best of who applied. There is a difference between this approach, versus proactively communicating a message, networking and searching for candidates. You may be able to find an “A” player on a job board, but how can you be sure? How could you benchmark that?
It’s critical to understand and clearly communicate not only “what” you’re looking for, but also “who” you’re looking for. The “what” is defined by the role, responsibilities, and critical success factors to meet goals and objectives. The “who,” which is equally as important, is defined by the intangibles – chemistry, culture and character. They key is knowing both “who” and “what” you want, so you’re able to hit the target on the first round and the bulls-eye on the second round!”
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