There’s no magic recipe for talent acquisition, but there is a secret ingredient: the CEO.
Think of your business like a restaurant. A great dish starts with quality ingredients. You wouldn’t want anyone but the chef to choose them, right? That’s exactly why CEOs must take the lead on recruitment.
If you don’t believe me, consider this: How do you think Facebook has become a mecca for tech talent? Well, it isn’t luck. CEO Mark Zuckerbergspends almost half his time recruiting employees. It’s even rumored that he takes candidates on walks in order to pitch the company to the candidate and to learn more about them.
Your people are your company: They can either create satiated customers or spoil the broth for all. And because 87 percent of organizations cite culture as a top challenge, remember that passive candidate sourcing doesn’t just risk an unsavory dish for customers; it can leave a bad taste in every team member’s mouth.
Don’t Ruin Your Cake
Every chef knows the strongest vanilla beans can’t cover up rotten eggs. And, if you don’t personally recruit, vet, and onboard the right individuals, then you’re bound to bake a few rotten eggs into your company cake.
For me, this ‘aha’ moment came when my organization was conducting a legacy platform migration. When an ill-qualified team put the project 1.5 years behind schedule, I knew it was time to rewrite our recruitment recipe.
Why did we hire rotten apples to begin with? In a word, urgency. Fast growth dictated our hiring, and with few vetting procedures in place, we had to no way to tell the good from the bad. My involvement in recruitment has slowed the process a bit, but it’s dramatically improved the quality of our hires.Cheers to that, I say.
Serve Up a Delectable Team
While you might be the first hiring-focused CEO in your network, you’re hardly alone. Ariana Huffington, founder of the Huffington Post, made a name for herself by grilling each and every hire she brings aboard.
Here’s how to make talent acquisition your company’s secret sauce:
- Don the chef’s hat. If you’ve got grit, then consider becoming your organization’s full-time recruiter. “But what about my other responsibilities?” you might ask. Well, are any of those responsibilities more important than finding the right people to maintain and grow your company? One quarter, I devoted 90 percent of my time to hiring. It’s not glamorous, but you know your company’s needs best.
- Rethink your recipe. No great meal is made in one step. My company divides its interview process into four parts to sniff out quality stock:
- Screen the chaff. Short and simple, this 20-30 minute interview is all about references. Ask them to name their last supervisor, then ask how the manager would rate them on a 1-10 scale. Be clear that you’re going to speak to their former boss. Candid, unwavering answers show confidence in their prior work
- Learn who they are. Take the Zuckerberg approach in this interview. Walk with them for an hour to get a sense of their character, work ethic, and intrinsic motivations. This is all about cultural fit. As Zuckerberg says, “I would only hire someone to work directly for me if I would work for that person.
- Keep score. In this third, tactical interview, frame the job description in terms of actionable outcomes you’d expect of the hire. By introducing a recruit to the position’s KPIs, you establish a baseline for later performance measurement, should you choose to hire the candidate.
- Do your homework. Do yourself the service of contacting at least four references per candidate. It’ll save you from finding out later what prior supervisors have already learned.
- Pass the ladle. Once you’ve written a recipe that works, let your sous chef take over. Move from spending 90 percent of your time on recruitment to 40 percent. You still get the final sign-off, but trust your team to chop the carrots, so to speak.
Of course, no hiring process can ensure every dish that leaves the kitchen is perfect. Beware, too, that lengthy vetting means you might lose a great candidate or two along the way.
But those are the grisly realities of recruitment. It’s always better to hire two choice steaks than ten cheap cuts. And, if the cook doesn’t develop the recipe and pick the ingredients, then the meal’s never going to taste quite the way he wants.
I wrote this piece as a freelance writer for Influence & Co. for Gene Ku of Mobovida.