The Entrepreneur Forum | Financial Freedom | Starting a Business | Motivation | Money | Success

Welcome to the only entrepreneur forum dedicated to building life-changing wealth.

Build a Fastlane business. Earn real financial freedom. Join free.

Join over 80,000 entrepreneurs who have rejected the paradigm of mediocrity and said "NO!" to underpaid jobs, ascetic frugality, and suffocating savings rituals— learn how to build a Fastlane business that pays both freedom and lifestyle affluence.

Free registration at the forum removes this block.

What is the FIRST thing you need to know about Hiring

Topics relating to managing people and relationships

Dami-B

Bronze Contributor
Read Fastlane!
Speedway Pass
User Power
Value/Post Ratio
251%
Jan 25, 2015
179
449
33
Lagos, Nigeria
This thread was created for the sole purpose of discussing our tricks and knowledge and intuition and gut system analysis and procedures and best time to hire and worst time to hire and yada yada.

Basically everything involved in hiring your first employee, please let's share our experiences on some of the mistakes we have made in the past in terms of hiring, and the lucky things we did, and we feel and understand can be systematized into procedures that anyone in this platform can adopt across various departments and positions.

I will also be bringing my own knowledge into this while contributing my quota to the discussion from a theoretical and observatory perspective.

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

Dami-B

Bronze Contributor
Read Fastlane!
Speedway Pass
User Power
Value/Post Ratio
251%
Jan 25, 2015
179
449
33
Lagos, Nigeria
And also, this one has had me thinking for a while, how did sarah blakely (spanx owner) get the former CEO of "Coca-Cola" to become Spanx's CEO, while she retained 100% ownership...that must have been a really good offer
 

The Grind

Silver Contributor
Read Fastlane!
Speedway Pass
User Power
Value/Post Ratio
165%
Oct 17, 2014
478
789
I remember reading something brilliant ( of course ) from @JackEdwards about hiring.

If a guy comes in in a 3 piece suit claiming to be the best worker ever.

If he's such a badass, why is he coming in looking for a job.

The lesson: Being able to recognize a person who has nothing but their ego.
 

Dami-B

Bronze Contributor
Read Fastlane!
Speedway Pass
User Power
Value/Post Ratio
251%
Jan 25, 2015
179
449
33
Lagos, Nigeria
I remember reading something brilliant ( of course ) from @JackEdwards about hiring.

If a guy comes in in a 3 piece suit claiming to be the best worker ever.

If he's such a badass, why is he coming in looking for a job.

The lesson: Being able to recognize a person who has nothing but their ego.
Very true and top respect to @JackEdwards, but you have to be careful with this kind of thinking, because you want the best, and ego is a big part of a winners philosophy IMO. So my take is, your eyes have to be definitely open to those that are all mouth and no show for it, BUT you also do not want to chase the superstars away, because superstars sometimes have the worst ego, and wear the best suites...
 

Dami-B

Bronze Contributor
Read Fastlane!
Speedway Pass
User Power
Value/Post Ratio
251%
Jan 25, 2015
179
449
33
Lagos, Nigeria
Number one rule : hire your weakness
It's a game changer for me
Someone once told me the direct opposite, "Hire your strength and focus on your weakness" its a twisted ideology but in its defense, that way you improve on the things your not good at, and the things you've mastered, you do not bother with them...so if you're a good sales man, hire the best sales manager and then you focus on improving something you are not good at like management or something else. I agree with your opinion by the way, in hiring your weakness, but its just another school of thought i wanted to bring to light.
 
Last edited:

Harestock09

Contributor
Speedway Pass
User Power
Value/Post Ratio
121%
Sep 22, 2014
42
51
This thread was created for the sole purpose of discussing our tricks and knowledge and intuition and gut system analysis and procedures and best time to hire and worst time to hire and yada yada.

Basically everything involved in hiring your first employee, please let's share our experiences on some of the mistakes we have made in the past in terms of hiring, and the lucky things we did, and we feel and understand can be systematized into procedures that anyone in this platform can adopt across various departments and positions.

I will also be bringing my own knowledge into this while contributing my quota to the discussion from a theoretical and observatory perspective.

Thanks.

Having done a lot of interviewing and a fair bit of hiring in an SME, one of the key questions I ask myself is "Can I trust this person?". Particularly in an SME, each team member makes a real and significant contribution to the success (or otherwise!) of the business.

Typically, I place a priority on character over skills, but that comparison is limited in that you still need to hire people with the right skills, or at the very least the ability to acquire those skills very quickly. I've always adopted the mindset of being able to teach a person skills, but not being able to change a person's character.
 
Dislike ads? Remove them and support the forum: Subscribe to Fastlane Insiders.

Dami-B

Bronze Contributor
Read Fastlane!
Speedway Pass
User Power
Value/Post Ratio
251%
Jan 25, 2015
179
449
33
Lagos, Nigeria
Having done a lot of interviewing and a fair bit of hiring in an SME, one of the key questions I ask myself is "Can I trust this person?". Particularly in an SME, each team member makes a real and significant contribution to the success (or otherwise!) of the business.

Typically, I place a priority on character over skills, but that comparison is limited in that you still need to hire people with the right skills, or at the very least the ability to acquire those skills very quickly. I've always adopted the mindset of being able to teach a person skills, but not being able to change a person's character.
Thank you, very good notes, character is very important, I remember reading mark cuban's book and he talking bout the time where his secretary or so, forged a cheque or something fraudulent in that regard, stole some money and almost crashed his company micro solutions, so yes she was competent but she had a terrible character. but how do you gain insights into one's character, personality tests?
 

Harestock09

Contributor
Speedway Pass
User Power
Value/Post Ratio
121%
Sep 22, 2014
42
51
Thank you, very good notes, character is very important, I remember reading mark cuban's book and he talking bout the time where his secretary or so, forged a cheque or something fraudulent in that regard, stole some money and almost crashed his company micro solutions, so yes she was competent but she had a terrible character. but how do you gain insights into one's character, personality tests?


For fear of sounding old fashioned, I prefer techniques such as...looking somebody straight in the eye, and asking them to tell me about an instance where they failed at something. I want to know about THE biggest mistake. Ask them what their weaknesses are, where they have made errors in the past. This gives you the opportunity to test their honesty, and gives you insight into how they learn and improve. Failure isn't something to be ashamed of.

I also try to understand a little more about an individuals motivations and the driving forces behind their decisions. I do a lot of listening, ask a lot of 'why' questions, and often rely on my gut instincts about a person.
 

Growth & Learn

Bronze Contributor
Read Fastlane!
Speedway Pass
User Power
Value/Post Ratio
88%
Jan 1, 2015
282
249
Southern California
I agree, like hiring close friends or family because of the emotional attachment

This is actually interesting. In some ways I agree but I've also loved the loyalty of having someone I trust immediately be part of the business.

For example, a few years ago I had one of my family members work for one of my businesses for a couple years.

He did a few things here and there that would probably would have gotten him fired at another job. Yet, he also had my back in many situations..probably more so than an average employee would have.
 
Dislike ads? Remove them and support the forum: Subscribe to Fastlane Insiders.

Growth & Learn

Bronze Contributor
Read Fastlane!
Speedway Pass
User Power
Value/Post Ratio
88%
Jan 1, 2015
282
249
Southern California
Here's my tip. Go in this order for finding talent.

1.Start recruiting from your network first.
2.Then, 1 step removed from your network (trusted referrals from your network)
3. Finally go with job ads (Monster, Indeed, etc.)

Bonus points: Interview the hell out of them. Multiple interviews. Test their skills. Do a trial run etc. etc. How do I know all this?…name the hiring mistake, I've made it. :)
 

Post New Topic

Please SEARCH before posting.
Please select the BEST category.

Post new topic

Guest post submissions offered HERE.

Latest Posts

New Topics

Fastlane Insiders

View the forum AD FREE.
Private, unindexed content
Detailed process/execution threads
Ideas needing execution, more!

Join Fastlane Insiders.

Top