How to Hire and Retain the Best
By: Eric Douglas Statzer
Tags: Business Growth, Interviewing, Recruiting, Hiring, Eric Statzer

The tasks of running a successful enterprise can become overwhelming for just one individual, so it’s critical to have the help of a strong team of employees in order to scale and grow into a flourishing company. Hiring is a continuous process for any business leader running a healthy and prosperous business. New employees are like investments, and with any astute investor one would like to see a profitable return on their time and monetary investment. From searching, interviewing, vetting, and training - to the costs of covering new equipment, insurance, salaries, benefits, and taxes, business leaders cannot afford to make bad decisions when it comes to hiring.

Potential employees who are technically capable of a position aren’t always a sure thing. Simply meeting the criteria of being educated, experienced, and skilled won’t guarantee success within that position. It’s equally important to make sure that the candidate’s personality works within the position and that they are a good fit for the company in general. It all begins with how you present the available positions offered, attracting the best candidates from the start. When seeking new employees, a company will attract better quality candidates by focusing the job descriptions on what a company can do for a new employee, whether than what the company expects from a new employee. Hiring is a two-way street, and in any successful interview, both sides should be interviewing. You have to realize that if you’re interviewing the best, they have other options too.

Priorities have greatly changed over the decades, and this new generation’s best employees aren’t driven solely by money and benefits. Company culture is playing a major part in corporate success in the new era. What exactly is company culture? Essentially, it’s the character of a company, made up by the values, charisma, beliefs, behaviors, and the overall environment. It’s the fundamental basics which make up the camaraderie that’s crucial in the workplace, intrinsically encouraging employee happiness, optimism, and ultimately prosperity. This should be a focus and selling point when seeking new employment. If your company lacks cultural bliss, you’re going to have a very hard time retaining quality employees that truly enjoy their work. No one wants to be miserable at work. As the old saying goes; “if you love what you do, you’ll never work a day in your life.”

Now of course experience, education, skill, and the ability to perform the tasks of the job are fundamentally important. But those are just that, fundamental. If a candidate lacks in one of these areas, consider the compensating factors of that person. Some people have an innate ability to problem solve, lead, or succeed at anything they set their mind to. Some of the most successful people on earth are college dropouts. And some bright and talented minds may just need a chance to gain experience. These characteristics should be noticed and considered as compensating factors. Just because you’re sitting across from the most educated and experienced candidate, doesn’t necessarily mean they are the best person for the position. This is why the interviewing process is so important. Take time to actually get to know a person, asking questions about who they are, what they’re about, what inspires and motivates them, and figure out if together, your company, your team, and that potential employee can grow together.

When hiring and building a team, that’s exactly what you should be thinking about — your team. The most successful sports teams in history are lead by all-star coaches that recruit the best talent from all over, and together they prosper as a team. You’re the coach, and as the coach you have to recruit and hire not just for the credentials and qualifications of an employee, but which employee is going to fit best within your system, your team. People with shared values and the same passion for your industry and brand, these are the people that will work together in guiding your company to prosperity and success, and together as a team, everyone wins.