Recruiting new people is always a great cause for celebration. Not only does it signify that the organization is growing but it is also exciting to invite new people to join the family.
But this joy can quickly turn into anguish if the new hire does not turn out to be quite to our expectations, or worse, turns out to be a freeloader/benchwarmer who does not contribute to the growth of the organization.
Of course, recruitment, like just about everything else, is not foolproof. Some bad apples do slip through.
However, we can minimize that chance and recruit great people if we take some steps.
Here are some of those:
Hire better people than you: Paraphrasing a famous statement by Michael Dell “if you are the smartest person in the room, invite smarter people” seems apt here. Always hire people who are smarter than you and ask them to continue the same tradition. Gone are the days when communication only flew one way.
Today’s workplaces are more collaborative in nature and everyone’s view counts. Brainstorming with the entire team has become the norm rather than the exception.
In such cases, you want to work with people who are smarter than you rather than someone who just goes with the general flow of discussion. A growing organization needs good, smart people who don’t stop at anything before reaching their goals.
Quality, not qualifications: This is one mistake that many people have made, including yours truly. Sometimes, you are so dazzled by the qualifications of the candidate that you overlook the other important attributes. Sure, qualifications are important, but hiring is more than that.
You have to think about the candidate’s fit with the organization, whether he/she has a participative attitude, and lots more. When it comes down to quality versus qualifications, give quality more weightage.
We’ll continue this in the sequel. Click here for part two.
