Whenever I get a cover note addressed that way or "to whom it may concern," I immediately hit delete. How tough is it to go on my company's website and figure out my name?
HR Consultant Greg Chartier recently gave me one of the best tidbits of business advice I've ever received. "Hire based on personality; skills can always be taught to the right person. Make a list of the three most important criteria for you and your business and recruit based on them."
At first, it seemed simplistic and, quite frankly, a bit goofy. But I decided to go for it and changed my entire hiring approach six weeks ago -- everything from my ads on Craigslist to my phone interview questions to my scheduling and in-person meeting process. (I was even able to narrow my criteria down to three attributes, but I confess that I had a number of sub-bullets under each.)
Although we're still early on in the process, my team and I can already tell that this approach is working. We found some awesome candidates and are spending less time interviewing clear "mis-matches." Hiring people into a relatively new (less than five years old) entrepreneurial and service-oriented business (especially one in the burbs) is really tough. But here are some things I've learned. Perhaps they can save you time, money, and aggravation too.
- Trust your gut. Yeah, it's pretty obvious. But it's oh-so-true.
- Forgive just one interview mistake (like a typo, slight lateness with a reasonable excuse, stain on a tie), but two strikes (especially similar ones) make an "out" in the hiring ball game.
- Give front runner candidates a trial project. Like the good ol' typing test, it should be administered in the office or under a tight time frame, if possible. Our favorites these days involve research and online media -- great ways to measure agility and intellectual curiosity.
- Use social media (like Facebook, LinkedIn and MySpace) to get a better grasp of candidates' "online personalities" (but remember that marketers are especially good at writing fiction).
- Ask unpredictable, insightful, and tough interview questions that relate to your "Big 3" criteria (e.g., "Tell me about a time in life when you thought you had a really great plan and a totally unexpected situation threw you off course? What did you do? What did you learn?")
Alas, no hiring system is really perfect. If you make a hiring blunder, be quick to fire. Consider it a business annulment and move on before things get really ugly.