Do you want to know how to hire the right person for the position you’re filling?
Today’s article shares 3 proven strategies to hire and retain top talent in your business.
How To Hire The Right Person Video Training:
Struggles With Hiring In Your Business
Many business owners struggle with hiring in their business.
You want to make sure you attract top talent.
Because “B” and “C” players will drag you down while wasting time and money.
They are simply not good at their role.
Fortunately, there are strategies that make the hiring process easier.
And when you follow this approach…
You’ll also be able to retain good employees.
They’ll enjoy working for you longer.
So in today’s article, we’re going to talk about different techniques you can use to fix these classic hiring problems.
Let’s get started.
1. Write A Job Description That Magnetizes Your Ideal Employee
The very 1st mistake I see people make is in their actual job description.
So many people put out these generalized job descriptions.
And as a result, they get generalized talent.
Otherwise known as unqualified people applying for the role.
You want to know how to write job descriptions to effectively hire the right person.
Okay, so let’s get specific here.
Which Example Would Lead To The Right Person?
In the 1st example, people might say “I want a Facebook ads person to run ads for my business.”
But on the other hand, what would happen if you wrote this in your job description…
“We need a Facebook ads person who can drive between 1,000 and 2,000 qualified leads into our funnel every month.”
The 2nd example is more specific.
As a result, you’re going to attract the right level person.
And repel the people who can’t do this.
They won’t even be applying for the position.
So it even saves time in the interview process.
Add Quantifiable Metrics To Screen Candidates
More specifically, now it gives you a baseline metric in which to judge and to interview the person who’s applying for the role.
Can they truly build out 1,000 to 2,000 leads?
If so, have them prove it.
Ask them during the interview process about how they would actually go about doing it.
And it’s going to be pretty obvious from the start whether they can or can’t perform this specific function.
Stop putting out these generalized job descriptions.
You want to have:
- Crystal clear
- Quantifiable
- Clear metrics
For what success looks like in the job role.
It’s not something you do after you hire the person.
It’s something you put in the job description.
- Talented people will be attracted to it
- People who can’t execute will be repelled from the position
You’re going to be able to weed low quality candidates out very early in the hiring process.
2. Recognize What Top Talent Looks Like
The next mistake many people make comes with their ability to recognize talent.
They don’t actually know how to measure talent the right way in their business.
How can you tell the difference between:
- Somebody who’s a generalist
- From a true rock star
What’s your baseline level of understanding for that role?
As an entrepreneur, you’ve got to know a little about everything.
It doesn’t mean you have to do everything.
But you need to know all the different components of how the sausage is being built.
An Example Of How To Hire The Right Person
I have a friend who’s a general manager at Maggiano’s.
There’s 1 really interesting thing Maggiano’s did while they ascended him.
He started out as a waiter.
He worked this role for a couple of weeks.
And they transitioned him through every single role in the company.
They were making sure he was:
- Serving bar
- Busing the tables
- Doing the basic bookkeeping
He made sure the books were reconciled correctly at the end of the night.
But he wasn’t truly a master of these individual skills.
After just a couple of weeks, he had a baseline understanding of what it looks like to do that role.
And as entrepreneurs…
If you’re hiring:
- A coder
- Media acquisition buyer
How do you tell the difference between somebody’s who just sort of a generalist?
From a true rock star?
You’re not going to know unless you have a somewhat of an understanding of that particular role yourself.
There’re a couple things you can do.
Just like my friend at Maggiano’s, you can work that role for a couple of weeks.
Get a baseline understanding of it.
How To Shortcut the Process & Hire The Right Person
Or you can shortcut the process.
1 of my favorite ways of doing it is to read a couple books.
This way you understand the overall framework of how this particular role takes place.
The perfect example in my business is when I needed a coder who was an expert at PHP.
I’ve read a few books on PHP before.
But I’m not a good coder at all.
I wish I was. I’ve got plenty of other skills but coding is not 1 of them.
But when I’m hiring a developer, how do I know that they can execute on what they’re talking about?
I’ll ask them to explain some things to me.
And it’s been very helpful.
Because I’ve been able to weed out the people who are just like 15 seconds out of the latest coding bootcamp class.
I can more easily recognize who the true rock stars in that particular area are.
How To Avoid Hiring The Wrong People
So getting that baseline level understanding either through:
- Short term experience inside the business
- Or reading a couple books.
So you know what talent looks like.
If you don’t know what talent looks like, guess what?
You’re going to put just anybody in that role.
You might wind up with those B and C players who should not be there.
How To Retain Top Talent & Great Employees
You want to pay close attention to this in order to retain top talent in your business.
I’m going to be completely transparent here.
When it comes to having elite players on your team…
A lot of the time they’re going to have egos.
It doesn’t mean this is a bad thing.
If they have egos, it means they recognize they’re particularly good at what they do.
And they want to be recognized for that, right?
If you as a business owner don’t really understand how great they are…
You might just think they are the same as everybody else.
They’re not going to stick around.
What To Do With Top Talented Employees
You want them to know that you see how good they are.
Praise is a wonderful retention tool.
In general, it’s just a great communication tool.
But when it comes to employee retention…
Get clear on the job role by:
- Working in the role yourself
- Studying the basics
Anything to get a light level of what the role looks like so you can find the right people.
3. How To Hire The Right Person Who’s Smarter Than You
You want to hire people who you are able to learn from.
It’s important to recognize this very early in the interview process.
You can get this knowledge while you’re talking about the roles…
And how they’re going to be successful in this particular area.
You want them to show you things that you do not know yourself.
Remember, you’re only a baseline level of talent.
You’re like a level 1 talent.
You want them to be far superior to where you are.
If you’re not learning from the candidate in the interview process, that’s a red flag.
There’s a high probability that they’re not at the level that you need them to be.
This is an early warning sign that they won’t be successful in the role.
Level Up Your Network With This 1 Tip
There’s a common saying in business…
You want to be the dumbest person in the room.
As a business owner, you want to hire people smarter than you are.
And it’s just so true, right?
You don’t want them to be just a little bit better than you.
You want them to be drastically better than you, right?
Learn from them.
Have them show you exactly how they would build out that 1,000 person funnel.
It’s good to hear things you haven’t heard of before.
Let’s say you have this goal of a 1,000 people coming into your business through lead generation.
They’re going to show you exactly how to do it.
And more importantly, they’re going to be able to communicate it with you.
The previous exercise is a great way to see how you connect with them in terms of communication.
Because culture wise, you need to make sure you are good communicators as well.
Quick Summary – How To Hire The Right Person
In summary, these are 3 amazing strategies to hire the right person.
You want to have crystal clear job descriptions.
Stop putting out these generalized job descriptions.
- You’re just going to get generalized results.
- You’re going to hire the wrong people.
Or you may not find any people at all.
If you end up hiring a talented person, they’re going to quit.
Secondly, you want to have a baseline understanding of this role.
This allows you to judge the average from the greats.
They need to be drastically better than you.
You want your mind blown when you see how good they are.
Finally, you want to make sure they are smarter than you.
You find this out during the interview process.
You don’t want to be the smartest person in the room.
Because you want to be learning from the people you hire.
And it’s also a secondary way and able to judge how they communicate with you.
Tools For Success In Your Hiring Process
So if you fix these small little tweaks in your hiring process…
I think you’re going to have significantly better retention in your business.
Because you’re going to hire better talent.
You’ll have people in the right roles.
And more importantly, you’re going to be able to weed out those people who are B and C players.
That’s the goal if you implement the strategies we’re talking about today.
If you enjoyed this article, be sure to check out the Strategy Samurai YouTube Channel.
My name is Steve Nixon.
I constantly put out free content on the topics of:
- Marketing
- Investing
- Business Growth Strategies
Another article you might benefit from is how to build out a marketing team with 7 key hires.
Thank you so much for visiting Strategy Samurai and reading this article on how to hire the right person for your business.