Sourcing & hiring employees

[Contrarian]

I've found this forum incredibly useful in just a short space of time already, for the wealth of knowledge but in also in helping me finally cross that line from interested to committed - so I want to give something back.

I'm just beginning down the entrepreneurial path, however I am a veteran recruiter (by the standards of how long people typically last in this industry, at least). I've been in the game for six years, delivered searches as varied as sales managers for VC-funded startups, through engineers with extremely rare skills to C-level execs for pharmaceutical companies & oil and gas multinationals.

As with building a business it's all about the process...from defining the actual job, to finding the people you need without relying on ads or the internet, getting their interest, evaluating and selling to them correctly, getting them excited to say yes to the offer even if they didn't want to talk to you initially.

Anything you want to know - ask away.

 

Dislike ads? Remove them and support the forum: Subscribe to Fastlane Insiders.

[GrensonMan]

When hiring someone that is entry level like an intern where the pay will be slightly above minimum wage, how would you generate interest in the position? Is it a matter of focusing on the benefits and experience they will receive? Being part of something brand new?

 

[Contrarian]

When hiring someone that is entry level like an intern where the pay will be slightly above minimum wage, how would you generate interest in the position? Is it a matter of focusing on the benefits and experience they will receive? Being part of something brand new?

Depends on the context and the person. At the entry level, I'm assuming you're planning to generate interest via advertising or similar one-to-many marketing channels?

If you're posting an ad then your messaging by nature has to make a number of assumptions about what will appeal to the audience. In principle you're absolutely right; I never ever sell a position on the money. In the case of an ad, I would typically follow a format of three paragraphs - one selling the company, then one describing the role, and one selling the future of the role. And ensuring there is some barrier to entry/challenge involved - as people value things that are hard to obtain more highly.

Once you've got the interest via the ad, and you start speaking with/interviewing the candidates, then you have to get more specific in your messaging. In this case, use the opportunity to dig deep into what they want and what drives them - and THEN you can tell them in depth about the company and the role, tailoring what you tell them according to what they want. The mistake a lot of interviewers make is to spend half an hour telling them all about how wonderful everything is and why it's so great - but they're telling the candidate what they themselves like about the company. The things the manager/business owner likes about it are often of little or no interest to the candidate; find out what is and then present what you have in the best light possible.

Think of it like a sales funnel. People will fall into the top of your sales funnel on a passing curiosity. As they get closer to making the decision to buy, you have to get much more specific and personal in your "what's in it for me". You can catch their attention with statements and platitudes but you win them over by effectively matching/tailoring what you can give them with their aspirations.

PS. Most job adverts are just awful. They're just a massive nonsensical list of skills and experience drummed up by some muppet in HR, often without even explaining what exactly the role is let alone why anyone should be interested in it. It's easy to stand out if you use the format above instead.

 

[MJ DeMarco]

In your opinion, what's something a candidate can say that in your world, is a instant rejection? The big red flag, the black swan, the torpedo that sinks the ship...

Thanks for the AMA, just saw it.

 

Dislike ads? Remove them and support the forum: Subscribe to Fastlane Insiders.

[Contrarian]

In your opinion, what's something a candidate can say that in your world, is a instant rejection? The big red flag, the black swan, the torpedo that sinks the ship...

Thanks for the AMA, just saw it.

No worries, thanks for the rep.

I wouldn't necessarily say there's any one "smoking gun", unless it's a case of dishonesty/deceit/lack of ethics. Other than quality of character then every position and every company is different. Some would insist that for example it's critical to hire ambitious people, only their opportunity doesn't really have much to offer the ambitious. That ambition will soon be a burden for both parties.

What's more to the point and what usually gets overlooked is digging down into the real specifics of their achievements (as relating to the work that needs to be done). Especially when the kind of work they do is harder to quantify. I remember for example a conversation I had a couple of years back with a guy who worked in manufacturing operations. He wasn't particularly charismatic; with the good ol' "gut feel test" that's ever so common he would have been completely overlooked. He mentioned in passing that he implemented a new quality management system, so I quizzed him about it at some length. Turns out he came into the company, noticed some inefficiencies, did the numbers, went to the board and sold them on investing in this system. Then managed the implementation. Ended up saving the plant £2million a year. That's huge value! He got the job.

Plenty of others though will talk a good game and tell you how great they are, but when you really get into it they're utterly average. They're just charismatic when they need to be. Like the sales rep whose territory turns over £1.6m/year and is on budget, but when you actually get into the numbers, he inherited a great territory selling a market leading product and it was doing £1.6m/year on budget when he joined too. The previous guy (and the company's products) did all the hard yards. He just runs the milk round. In that case he just shines by association but it's a mirage.