Andi Gray: Finding, hiring and keeping good people

Recruiting results are not good enough. We”™re growing, and because we can”™t get enough of the right people fast enough, we struggled during our busy season. Nothing that our clients saw, but we lived with the stress. And we plan on continuing to grow. We have to figure out how to ramp up efforts to attract the right people and keep them.

THOUGHTS OF THE DAY: Recruiting done right is a year-round job. Knowing what you”™re looking for is half the battle. Having a wide net to gather in candidates is the other half. Have a process that works quickly and efficiently to bring on candidates and turn the right ones into employees. Nurture new personnel and give them a reason to stick with you.

Look for good people everywhere, all the time. You never know when a good person is going to cross paths with you, so always have your antenna up. Pay attention to individuals who work in service industries, including restaurants and retail sales. If someone does an especially good job of taking care of you, ask for their business card so you can circle back when you”™re ready to do some hiring.

Looking for technical people? Get in touch with schools to ask if they can send you candidates who have been back recently for refresher courses. Technology is constantly changing. You want to hire people who are engaged in keeping their skills up to date.

Have a clear idea of the attributes that cause people to be successful in your company. Be clear what the company mission is. Promote both when you advertise for new candidates.

You want to have more than one interview with candidates, but don”™t drag things out too long or they”™ll be on to other opportunities. Cycle candidates through from one interview to the next in a short period of time. Have someone ready to do reference checks right away. If you plan to test candidates, set up the emails so all you have to do is hit the button to send out the links. Keep job profiles on file so that it”™s easy to pull out details when you need to look for new candidates.

Build templates for your offer letters so that it takes less time to put them together once you have zeroed in on a specific hire.

The other part of recruiting is having a system in place to ensure that those new employees will stay at your company. Accept that not everyone will stay with you forever, but there are some things a company can do to increase retention throughout the organization. Be sure to nurture new personnel and make them feel like they are an important part of the company right out of the gate. Assign someone on your existing team to mentor new employees and show them the ropes, especially when it comes to company culture and expectations. Having a fully developed and standard training plan for new hires is also crucial in ensuring that they don”™t get lost in the day-to-day activities of running the business.

When it comes to firing an employee, be sure to document everything that goes on with every employee ”“ this system should span from tracking accolades to fireable offenses and everything in-between. People make mistakes, but it”™s how people recover, learn from and fix those mistakes that shows their true character. Take stock of the team you have and the team you need to ensure company growth. Make sure those two visions align. If someone needs to be let go from your organization make sure that you have well-documented reasons for firing and be decisive in that decision.

Andi Gray is president of Strategy Leaders Inc., StrategyLeaders.com, a business-consulting firm that teaches companies how to double revenue and triple profits in repetitive growth cycles. Have a question for AskAndi? Wondering how Strategy Leaders can help your business thrive? Call or email for a free consultation and diagnostics at 877-238-3535 or AskAndi@StrategyLeaders.com. Check out our library of business advice articles at AskAndi.com.