I’m still peppered with questions from my clients about the impact The Great Resignation continues to have on their business and how it affects the overall hiring process. As a business owner, it can be rough out there for you to find the right replacement. A great employee does make the work light and even fun. Losing them can be a major hit. Fear not, *adjusts cape*, today I’m here to share how to hire the best candidate.
Leaders and the Great Resignation
During the continued era of this Great Resignation, more and more leaders, like you, have been challenged to hire new employees or at least try to attract suitable candidates. The most important thing when hiring a new applicant cannot be limited to just what you quickly pursue on their resume. What’s more important is what you can’t read, it’s what you see in the person, their energy, passion, drive, competence, and their willingness to positively serve and impact others.
This isn’t just necessary for line staff recruitment, nope, nada, no! This is applicable across each level of the organization. I’ve said this before and I’ll say it again, the right employee is more important than having any ole’ somebody. A bad hire might fill the void for you today but is guaranteed to be your nightmare tomorrow.
Here’s my three reminders that can help you tackle this challenge.
1. You need to look beyond the resume
You need to do away with just sticking to the resume
The resume only tells us what someone has (possibly) achieved in the past and their level of education and skills (fingers crossed it isn’t a fable). Let’s take a beat here, remember the worst medical doctor in the world still has the honor of being called doctor. Sad right? Here’s another truth bomb, I have been playing golf for over 20 years and I still stink at it. However, when questioned about my interests, I’d still include it.
Hey, you need to recognize the resume just for what it is, a preview of someone we may be interested in. A potential candidate whose accomplishments have been heavily curated to suit their need to impress you. What it doesn’t do is determine if they are the best fit for our organization’s future and overall energetic culture.
2. Focus on what you can’t read
You need to focus on the person, not the resume
How do they make you feel? Do you like them? Are they someone you can sit with during a two-hour layover at the airport? Do their ambitions and goals align with your organization’s? Here’s a pretty big one, do they blame others for their outcomes or their current situation? I get deep man; it’s important for me to know what their favorite boss was like and why and vice versa with the worst boss. I use that to help gauge how they’d view my own leadership style.
I’m sure you’ve heard this already, but it’s worth repeating, in life and our never-ending journey of self-development, it’s often been said that what makes a person successful or not is not what you can see, but what you can’t see. It their mindset, their beliefs, their willingness to serve and help others.
Now I’m not saying go hire an engineer without an engineering degree, that’s a hard no. It just means as hiring managers we must go beyond the resume and do our best to access the actual person.
3. You cannot afford to get desperate
So, I’m sure you know desperation makes us humans do strange, strange things. I get it, you’re frustrated, your staff is overworked, and you’re one more interview away from running away. However, don’t get desperate and hire the wrong person. You cannot sacrifice finding the right person for a dud. You know why? Soon enough, you’ll be forced to repeat the whole long sordid process because they’re the wrong fit (and have suffered greatly along the way).
Above all, you should never hire a person that goes against your instinct. Trust your gut, it’s what’s gotten you in the leadership chair. I know finding the right person is hard, but so is everything else that we as leaders must do to be a great leader. And yet, still worth the effort, every time.
Today we spoke about the ‘Great Resignation’, well, let’s talk about a better topic, the great retreat! Come on over to The Retreat Ranch to unwind and clear your headspace. Heavy is the head who wears the crown, well, let me tell you, we’ve got great pillows so you can take it off and rest your head! And we do corporate leadership retreats at the ranch too!
