The Essence of Recruiting

What it takes to attract great people

I think it’s fair to say that college football coaches, especially the elite ones past and present — such as Saban, Holtz, Bowden — knew how to reach into an athlete’s heart and persuade them (and their loved ones) to become part of their program when they had many other options, as almost all elite athletes do.

These coaches were “hands-on.” They showed up, got on the ground, and met the athletes in their homes. They met their families and persuaded them — and especially their parents — on why their program was the best place to not only build them as athletes, but also as strong men.

In short: They addressed the whole person, not just the athlete.

How does it apply to business?

Companies that struggle with retention and recruiting are missing the important opportunity to connect with their people.

We think that the needs differ by generation, (e.g., Gen X vs Millennials), and that may be partly true. However, capturing the hearts and minds of people in the workplace is a timeless practice. As best selling author, Jim Collins would put it, It separates the great organizations from the average ones.

I recall one time when I asked my boss, “What would it take for me to get promoted?” I had another opportunity with another company, but I really liked where I was and didn’t want to leave. While I’d only been there two years, which was a short time even for this growth stage company, I had many achievements and felt this question was not premature.

He called a meeting and, to my surprise, the CEO showed up. Instead of taking the seat next to my boss, he walked around the long oval table in the executive conference room, and, smiling ear-to-ear, shook my hand with both of his, and maybe even a pat on the shoulder. Then he sat down next to me.

That basic, yet rare, gesture went a long way with me.

He proceeded to tell me that I was on an executive track, and he outlined two milestones that I’d need to hit to attain this expanded role. Less than a year later, I was promoted (in the spirit of the culture of the company) over dinner at one of the finest restaurants in Silicon Valley.

From that meeting to the promotion dinner, I declined further calls from any company or recruiter. I had my home, and I was going to keep building here.

Art vs. Science

Recruiting has always interested me because it’s more art than science. Whether you’re a coach or a CEO, everyone is looking at the same data on people. There are always a few deficiencies to uncover with almost any executive or athlete, and it’s a matter of understanding them and determining whether you can live with it and take advantage of the whole person and their capabilities.

I’ve had my successes and failures in recruiting top talent. To be clear, few tasks are more important for leaders. Your success or failure in building great companies is dependent on the people you recruit. Theodore Roosevelt said, “The best executive is the one who has the sense enough to pick good people, to do what he wants done, and self-restraint enough to keep from meddling with them while they do it.”

Investing in a recruiting process will yield the desired results because business is about having an engaged and committed team. Period. It takes time, but with the right processes you should be able bring the right talent on board to make your company soar. Elite people will be keen to join a company that has a strong brand and culture. The essence or lack there of will bring them in or cause them to pass. This is why your brand matters and is an important, sometimes overlooked, recruiting tool. Telling the story on it should be an integral part of your process.

Here are some methods to recruit effectively:

• Accountabilities: Have an accountability chart, not just a job requisition for the person you’re interviewing. An accountability chart outlines the time-based metrics they would assume and also shows how their role fits into the overall team. Showing their KPI’s/OKR’s in the context of the rest of the team, matters.
• Preparation: Have each interviewer prepare their questions and share them with the other interviewers. It’s OK to repeat questions to make sure the answers stay consistent.
• HR’s role: They must handle the tactical scheduling and the moving of the process along. I think it’s a fault for a company to have an elongated hiring process especially if they are certain they need the role.
• Summaries: Take copious notes about the interviewee after the interview. They should follow a checklist and also have a written summary that is shared in a file with the other interviewers.
• Role of the CEO: For direct and indirect leadership roles, the CEO’s questions should be around culture rather than their functional expertise. The latter is the job of the hiring manager.
• Deciding to hire: The trick is in striking a balance of assessing objective data and the subjectivity driven by the interviewer’s experience and instinct. It all should follow a scoring method to make the best “blended” decision. This means the data on a scorecard and those instincts count. References should be vetted, but I prefer the process by which you can uncover things about a person in the interview testing their resilience and know-how, putting them through simulations and asking behavioral based questions that begin with “tell me a time…”.

Now, I want to leave you with a quick story.

We needed to backfill a senior role fast. We were a growth-stage company scaling and, admittedly, one of the members of my leadership team had plateaued. I had a feeling they were interviewing elsewhere, but it was one of the “fires” that I decided to let burn while extinguishing larger ones (These are the tradeoffs a CEO will make when scaling). The leader announced her resignation and wasn’t surprised and was not going to make make an effort to retain them. I wanted a new leader in that role, an outsider and we had a recruiting process that needed to be activated to get the best person in the role.

We followed much of that recruiting process outlined above, and it worked. Believe it or not, (and with a little luck) we were able to backfill the role in ~45 days, and this new hire even ended up becoming one of the best I’ve worked with in my career and was instrumental to the company’s success. We made improvements to the process and applied it to other key leadership hires. Two (2) years transpired, we grew successfully and exited (almost) according to plan. This process works.

Growth is all about people and process, in that order. Follow that consistently, and profits will come.

Thank you for reading,

Chris

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Chris Greco is a dedicated father, husband, and CEO known for his faith, underdog grit, and perseverance. His boundless energy and core values approach have been instrumental in uniting organizations to achieve goals that once seemed unattainable.

Beyond his professional achievements, Chris serves as a Board Director, advisor to growth-stage companies, volunteer, and keynote speaker. He resides in Kansas City with his wife, two children, and their rescue dog.