Proven Recruitment Strategies Every Entrepreneur Must Know

Getting the right people for your company isn’t as simple as it seems. It is a challenge that many business owners and entrepreneurs often grapple with. Many fortune 500 companies and early stage startups alike have had this similar complaint on just how hard it is to find the right people for their companies and how ineffective existing recruitment strategies have been.

The good news is that recruitment can be a very worthwhile and rewarding process. The bad news is that it can lead to the downfall of an entire company if not handled with sufficient care. All that is required to be successful in recruitment is to put the people in your business at the centre stage of the recruitment process. This would require an overall mindset shift and the implementation of simple recruitment strategies which we will discuss in this article.

One of the key reasons why a vast majority of entrepreneurs and leaders find the act of recruitment so difficult is due to the fact that they have created at false separation between the business itself, revenue generation, increasing the sales, and recruiting new talent.

This is why we see recruiting being relegated to the back burner. The truth of the matter is, having by your side the right type of people in your team can make or break your entire business.

For instance in a recent study done in the United states it was established that 68% of employees were in fact disengaged or highly disengaged in the work they were doing which ends up costing companies billions of dollars in lost productivity annually. The reason for this is that when you hire the wrong person not only are you paying them but you are essentially paying them to light large piles of money on fire. Such employment is a cancer on your business which will spread throughout your entire company and run it into the ground. Companies are consumers of talent, while candidates are consumers of experience and opportunity. One of the fundamental strategies that you can apply in your business that will greatly aid your recruitment process is to simply understand just how similar the hiring process is as compared to the sales process. The prime reason why your customers and clients purchase your products is because of the value that you add to their lives nothing more. You gain the access and the trust of your customers by understanding them inside out. Who they are, how they communicate, what they need, and where you can find them.

You can use a similar approach to your recruitment process. The talented candidates are similar to your customers and the key reason why they would like to work for your organization is the experience and opportunities that would be afforded to them. Therefore, you should go about designing your employee profile in an identical manner as you would draft your customer profile. Have a picture of the potential hires’ interests, critical thinking capabilities, experience, and last and definitely not least, cultural fit, when you are evaluating the suitability of a particular candidate.

If your goal is to find the very best players, they are probably gainfully employed and are probably not looking for a job or any new opportunities at this moment. Rather than merely posting positions on millions of job boards and calling it a day; you should resort, to go to industry events, opens source coding rooms and conferences where you can get pools and concentrations of talented people.

Finally, you need to ask yourself how you are communicating to your prospective employees. How are you talking about the available opportunities that you are offering? What sort of language are you using to attract talent? If for instance you have a culture of innovation and collaboration but instead you employ the use of language that seems to read like a tax code then obviously, and rightfully so, you will not be able to attract the sort of talent that you are looking for.

FUNDAMENTALS: KNOW YOUR BUSINESS

In order to attract the right kind of people, you need to have a clear understanding of where exactly your business is today, and where you would like to take it going forward. By having a clear understanding of this important things you will be able to prioritize accordingly which types of hires you will need to have and where to allocate the requisite valuable hiring resources.

One of my key clients is a cofounder of an early stage online startup in the beauty industry on the brink of closing their first round of funding. The business has already achieved a certain amount of success. To move the company to its next phase of growth, they have to quickly increase revenue. So, they know that their first two investments in people once the checks clear will be in online digital marketing and sales.

Fundamentals: Know whom you need

When it comes to deciding who you would like to bring on board, it is important to note that the ideal candidate is made up of two main factors –skills and style. In other words, is the candidate able to execute the tasks that you need to perform the job well? Does this hire have the skills I am looking for? Whereas, this may seem like basic work, if the executive, isn’t clear about what is needed and what he wants, then this will end up being a shot in the dark.

The second aspect is style or cultural fit. If your company has an energetic and collaborative place, filled with innovation, then when you hire someone who likes working alone and is averse to teams isn’t going to be a nice fit for the company.

Make the process work for you.

A poor leader says “Nobody ever gets it right, guess I’ll have to do it myself.”

A great leader says “Well done”, next time consider these improvements.”

—Michael Flynn Mentor

 I have heard many complaints, from my friends, and colleagues alike who are entrepreneurs and business owners, who complain that hiring just takes too much time. I believe that not only is this misconception misleading, but it is dangerous as well. One of the key reasons why the recruiting process takes too much time is due to the fact that the companies create low barriers for the candidates to apply, which leads to time wasting in the evaluation of unqualified candidates.

A good example of such an occurrence is when I was casually going through my Facebook feed as I usually do, then I was suddenly stopped on my tracks, by an eye catching and relatively conspicuous ad saying: “ Niaje guys, I’m looking for some cool guys who can serve as salespeople in my company who are ready to produce great results and be a part of a fun team. Send your resume to this email if you’re interested in this life changing opportunity”

Now, the question that runs through my mind, every time I see such an ad is: “What the hell do you expect?” What kind of applicants do you think are going to respond after such a casual and informal recruitment message. The probable result of such an endeavor, is a situation in which you and your team are forced to spend long hours shifting through a stack of resumes of unqualified people who had no business even applying in the first place.

Instead of using such an approach, you should instead do the inverse. Set up a high barrier to entry in the application process. For instance when I was running an entrepreneurship academy in which we were recruiting creative college students, we ensued that we asked participants, for resumes, cover letters in addition to answering essay questions about themselves. This was in addition to doing recorded video interviews. This simple and strict process ensured that only the best of the best applied. 

Interview for results

Preparing more strategically for the interview itself can help you bring the right people in the door. Instead of entering a social conversation to “get to know” the candidate, be deliberate and strategic about the questions you ask.

If you know the role you are hiring for requires flexibility under pressure, creative thinking and obsessive attention to detail, have the candidate offer you specific, measurable examples of where they have demonstrated these three qualities. Don’t settle for answers that simply offer a yes or a no. “Tell me more...” is a great way to dig into the information that will get you the talent you need to drive your company’s growth.

If you know for instance, that the role you are hiring for has the requirement of immense flexibility especially under pressure and key traits such as creativity and attention to detail it is vital, that you have your candidates offer you specific examples where they have displayed such skills and how. Using a phrase such as tell me more, can greatly aid in this end; instead of relying on simple yes or no answers.

TRANSFORM YOUR BUSINESS TODAY!

Nine out of ten businesses will fail. Sadly the key reason why this happens is a simple lack of knowledge and strategies that if acquired, would have drastically transformed the fortunes of the business. At the Michael Flynn Mentor Entrepreneur Academy you are empowered with the leading edge tools and strategies to grow your business from a zero to a hero in no time! Enough is enough, reject mediocrity! Take action and change your life today!

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ABOUT MICHAEL FLYNN

Mentor, educator, leader, author, entrepreneur, father, philanthropist, master persuader, sales trainer and musician who has traveled to over 22 countries addressing and advising various leading businesses and CEOs globally. Michael has taken failing companies and transformed them into hugely profitable business. Michael gives you the tools and gives you the how.