{"id":41196,"date":"2023-10-20T15:12:17","date_gmt":"2023-10-20T15:12:17","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/startupsmart.test\/2023\/10\/20\/ten-steps-to-hiring-the-right-talent-for-your-startup-startupsmart\/"},"modified":"2023-10-20T15:12:17","modified_gmt":"2023-10-20T15:12:17","slug":"ten-steps-to-hiring-the-right-talent-for-your-startup-startupsmart","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.startupsmart.com.au\/uncategorized\/ten-steps-to-hiring-the-right-talent-for-your-startup-startupsmart\/","title":{"rendered":"Ten steps to hiring the right talent for your startup &#8211; StartupSmart"},"content":{"rendered":"<div class=\"td-post-featured-image\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"640\" height=\"332\" itemprop=\"image\" class=\"entry-thumb\" src=\"\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/02\/Startup-business-team--640x332.jpg\" alt=\"Startup business team\" title=\"Startup business team\"><\/div>\n<p>Interviewing job candidates has become rather like <em>Shark Tank<\/em>&nbsp;\u2014 except that you\u2019re in the driver\u2019s seat, which automatically puts you in a position of relative psychological advantage over the candidate.<\/p>\n<p>Because job interviews are seldom level playing fields, it\u2019s really in your mutual interest to make the process worthwhile so that both of you, having exchanged the salient points, are wiser for the knowledge and determine the correct direction thereafter.<\/p>\n<p>No question, there\u2019s some very tough cookie recruiters and HR types out there who don\u2019t want their time wasted and believe they can winnow out talent in short order. One claims she can do it in seven minutes. Some US banks go all out to competitively and aggressively recruit talent&nbsp;in ways that may be be gaining traction in Australia, employing Olympic competition or even war-like strategies.<\/p>\n<p>Okay, so you\u2019re seeking the right person for a particular position within your company or organisation. Would you boil it down, as Marla Malcolm Beck does, to \u201cskill, will and fit\u201d? This form of recruitment speed-dating might work in some instances, but can just as easily bomb:<\/p>\n<ul>\n<li>\u201cSkill\u201d: Bureaucracies make this worse by asking leading questions about how the candidate \u201csolved\u201d certain challenges when they were in their last role. The candidate may neglect to mention that others were key to rectifying a particular mess, painting themselves in an unfairly glowing light;<\/li>\n<li>\u201cWill\u201d: What\u2019s wrong with good old-fashioned tenacity and concentration? Will can be code for \u201cpowermonger\u201d or \u201csteamroller\u201d \u2014&nbsp;it\u2019s too broad a term to be useful in recruitment; and<\/li>\n<li>\u201cFit\u201d: This is frequently HR shorthand for lazy selection methods. Just because there\u2019s insecure business owners out there who only function when there\u2019s mini-me\u2019s and an army of Stepford Wives at their beck and call, doesn\u2019t mean that \u201cfit\u201d is necessarily right. It can be the HR equivalent of egg battery farms \u2014&nbsp;you\u2019ll get eggs alright, but would you really want to eat them?<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p>Catchy slogans like Marla\u2019s probably don\u2019t cut it if you\u2019re seeking high achievers, let alone candidates who are right for your organisation. You may learn the hard way that a candidate knows just what to say to you, whereas the one who didn\u2019t talk in 10-second \u201cbites\u201d may have been the better pick.<\/p>\n<p>It\u2019s true that we can form a pretty accurate assessment of most people within the first few minutes of meeting them. But the point of an interview is gathering evidence to back, or overcome, that initial impression.<\/p>\n<p>In a survey of 20,000 employees, Leadership IQ found 46% of new hires had failed in the first 18 months, mostly owing to attitudinal (rather than technical) reasons. In other words, the new hires stumbled on \u201ccoachability\u201d and emotional intelligence.<\/p>\n<p>If you\u2019re wanting to recruit high achievers that hit their mark, make sure you following these 10 steps.<\/p>\n<h3>1. Research needs<\/h3>\n<p>Do the research and determine what your company really needs (this will naturally vary, depending on those you\u2019ve already got there, their skill sets and personalities), and above all, how well your workplace already functions.<\/p>\n<h3>2. Assess resumes<\/h3>\n<p>Read resumes properly, study them for strengths and weaknesses, and inconsistencies. Get a feel for the candidates, and do your vetting (beware the overly glowing referees who may secretly be trying to get rid of the person).<\/p>\n<h3>3. Quality time<\/h3>\n<p>Set aside a decent window to meet with the interviewee. This cuts out the razzle dazzle, and gives them a chance to listen and speak (the same applies to you). It\u2019s preferable to let them know at the outset how long the discussion will be.<\/p>\n<h3>4. Challenge<\/h3>\n<p>By all means ask curly questions \u2014&nbsp;you want a person who thinks on their feet and who has experience. Equally, you\u2019re looking for initiative and capacity for good judgment.<\/p>\n<h3>5. Determine attitude<\/h3>\n<p>Seek a combination of energy, positivity and keenness to learn, balanced with what they already know. If a candidate seems a little cynical or reticent, draw them out to see if they warm up (some won\u2019t and may be clear non-starters for the role).<\/p>\n<h3>6. Assess problem-solving skills<\/h3>\n<p>Look for people who have good problem-solving approaches, but don\u2019t forget they may not always have been in a position to problem-solve.<\/p>\n<h3>7. Don\u2019t jump on generational bandwagons<\/h3>\n<p>Examples include privileging millennials over Generation X\u2019s or vice versa, or letting biases bubble to the surface. You\u2019re wanting the best person for this role, so don\u2019t be superficial \u2014 think about what really will progress your organisation.<\/p>\n<h3>8. Listen carefully<\/h3>\n<p>By all means have questions ready, but listen closely to what candidates say and how they say it \u2014 if you avoid clich\u00e9d approaches to questions and trendy phrasing such as \u201cwhat are you passionate about?\u201d, you may well get far more revealing answers. A little silence here and there can be useful in eliciting further explanation (but don\u2019t overdo the sphinx routine).<\/p>\n<h3>9. Not just you<\/h3>\n<p>You may like to bring in a second, even third person to co-conduct the interview with you. This can allow you to draw on their reactions and different interviewing approach as a means of sifting through various candidates.<\/p>\n<h3>10. Manage emotional energy<\/h3>\n<p>Don\u2019t forget, job interviews can be emotionally draining for both interviewer and interviewee. Offer them coffee, tea\/water before you begin, choose a pleasant, quiet place for the discussion, and bring some warmth and good will to the meeting. Chances are, you\u2019ll meet halfway, and that\u2019s far better for determining prospective hires than speed-recruiting or trite one-size-fits-all approaches to asking questions.<\/p>\n<p><em>Eve Ash<\/em><em>&nbsp;is a psychologist, author, filmmaker, public speaker and entrepreneur. She runs<\/em><em>&nbsp;Seven Dimensions<\/em><em>, a company specialising in training resources for the workplace. See the rest of Eve\u2019s blogs&nbsp;<\/em><em>here.<\/em><\/p>\n<p><em>This article was originally published on SmartCompany.&nbsp;<\/em><\/p>\n<p><em>Follow StartupSmart on&nbsp;Facebook,&nbsp;Twitter,&nbsp;LinkedIn&nbsp;and iTunes.<\/em><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Interviewing job candidates has become rather like Shark Tank&nbsp;\u2014 except that you\u2019re in the driver\u2019s seat, which automatically puts you<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":61017,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[19,24,1],"tags":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.startupsmart.com.au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/41196"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.startupsmart.com.au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.startupsmart.com.au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.startupsmart.com.au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.startupsmart.com.au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=41196"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.startupsmart.com.au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/41196\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.startupsmart.com.au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/61017"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.startupsmart.com.au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=41196"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.startupsmart.com.au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=41196"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.startupsmart.com.au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=41196"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}