Recruiting and hiring the right people to build out a high-performance team is the most important work you will ever do. If you get that right, you can make mistakes on a great many things and your outstanding team will STILL carry you to a win. Get it wrong and you will be playing catch up for the rest of your career.

• Start by leveraging ALL of the networks available to you in securing great candidates! Use connections such as your colleagues, your networking group, your BNI chapter, your LinkedIn Groups and your contacts. Pay a nice bonus to the person who refers the winning candidate!
• Prepare for the recruiting process with a meticulous zeal and things go MUCH better. Think about what the role and responsibilities are for the job. Create or update the job description. Figure out the top 10 characteristics or competencies that an outstanding candidate will have and share that information with the person screening candidates for you. Set aside time on your calendar for the interviews and time also to follow up with notes, while the interview is fresh.  Don’t cut corners!
• Pay close attention to each application and resume you receive. Do not use screening tools for resumes; they prevent interviews when you want to welcome them. Look for the “diamond in the rough” candidate with a great attitude and a great upside potential who you can coach to greatness over time.
• Build a great “recruiting team” to attract, interview and select the best candidates. This could include HR, you, the hiring manager and one or two associates who hold the position currently or have worked in that role in the past.  Have all members prepared and encourage them to play their role. HR screens the field and narrows the list down to the 3 or 4 “best” candidates. You or the hiring manager focus on qualifications, determining FIT and excite the candidates about company culture and vision. The position holders help the candidates to really understand the role and how it fits into your company’s vision. They also validate your culture and answer candidate questions. Use a structured interview process with multiple interviews as listed below:

Screening Interview –  Human Resources conducts screening interviews and narrows the candidate field to the top 4.

1^st Interview – The hiring manager interviews the candidates for 45-60 minutes. 80% of the time should be spent on qualifying the candidate and 20% selling them on your company & culture.

2^nd Interview – The hiring manager interviews the candidates for 1.5 hours and goes deep to determine qualification and fit with the company culture.

3^rd Interview – The associates who have held that position interview the final two candidates to help qualify them and determine their cultural fit with the team they’ll become a part of.

Final Interview – You and/or the hiring manager meet with the final candidate to ensure that they are the best candidate and present an offer of the position, if they’re the right fit.  Seal the deal and welcome the candidate to the team!

• Employ behavioral questions designed to get the candidate to think on their feet.  There is no substitute for a colleague who can handle ambiguity, think on their feet, speak with confidence when thrown a curve and who can wear multiple hats while still functioning coherently.

More next time on recruiting Best Practices! For now, remember to work at this and develop some great recruiting and interviewing skills along the journey. Enjoy the ride!