#1 Hiring Podcast Designed Specifically For Startup Founders & Entrepreneurs Tuesdays @12PM (PST), LIVE on LinkedIn, YouTube, & Facebook Our mission is to enable values-driven startups to win-win the strongest hires by sharing insights from top-performing entrepreneurs, game-changers, & industry thought leaders. www.hirepowerradio.com www.rickgirard.com
Episodes
Thursday Apr 18, 2024
How Skipping Process Bites You With Bill Snyder
Thursday Apr 18, 2024
Thursday Apr 18, 2024
Having a need often clouds reason. Especially when it comes to hiring and the interview process. There is work to be done and no one is doing it.
So you prioritize filling the gap with a warm body, rather than focusing on the right person in the right seat. How’s that been working out for you??
Short-cutting the interview process is never a good idea because when you do, It will most often bite you in the ass!
Guest Bio:
Bill Snyder is the CEO of digital health startup Vivante Health, the employee benefit for GI care. Bill works with Fortune 500 companies and large health plans, including Walmart and Cigna's Evernorth, to reduce GI-related healthcare costs.
He secured a Series B fundraise in September 2023, which was led by high-profile VC firms Mercato Partners and Health Catalyst Capital. Bill’s success in various leadership roles has been a result of building strong teams and learning each day from those he is fortunate enough to work with.
Challenge today?
- Moving too fast on hiring and not following a detailed process leads to poor hiring.
- Anytime you negotiate against yourself it never works out well
- Deviation from the process does not end well either.
- Never skip steps
- Culture
- Clear about what they value and answer that they don't.
- What they are looking for and not looking for
- Mission-driven organization
- Why us?
- Does align with the mission, not a fit
Why is this important to the company?
- Culture is built by people at the company.
- Strong culture has been driven by the people
- Engagement (#)
Rick’s Nuggets
- Set people up for success even if it is outside
How do we solve the problem?
- Three things:
- 1) Put process in place early
- 2) Ensure there is transparency, collaboration, and accountability across the team for all hiring managers and all positions
- 3) Never settle
- Plan on recruiting, interviewing, and ongoing cultural engagement
- Having one
- Healthy Job description- core themes,
- Put together the interview panel
- Mission and Culture front and center
- Formal presentation- evidence of the work
- Feedback on the work
- Interview for coachability
- Holding each other accountable with the process
- Collaboration with co-workers
- Full visibility for everyone across the organization
- Same process.
Rick’s Nuggets
- Job description- focus on them (WIFM)
- Intense process - determined on what the business needs. Working session.
- Accountability- the process is a value chain for the candidate- attracts a
Key Takeaways that the Audience can plug into their business today!
- Start the process early and adhere
- Always include culture early
Guest Links:
- LinkedIn: Bill Snyder
- Company: Vivante Health
- Facebook: Vivante Health
- Instagram: Vivante Health
- X: Vivante Health
Host Links:
- LinkedIn: Rick Girard
- Company: Intertru, Inc.
- Podcast: Hire Power Radio Show & Podcast
- Book: Healing Career Wounds (Amazon)
This show is Powered by Intertru
Thursday Nov 24, 2022
The Characteristics of a Successful Hire with Allan Jones of Bambee
Thursday Nov 24, 2022
Thursday Nov 24, 2022
What are the common characteristics of every successful person at your company?
Think of those characteristics and write them down as standard operating procedures. This is critically important because when we operate under the same frequency, pace, and purpose… growth happens. But this can change instantly when a new person is added to the team.
Too often we hastily add a person to the mix without understanding how they really operate on a daily basis. Assuming that they will be the answer to all of our current challenges because of the skills they are bringing to the table.
There is nothing more critical to hiring success than aligning people first, and skills second. This means investing the time to dig deeper into your interview process. Understanding not just what a person accomplished but the details of exactly how it was done and why it was approached in that manner.
Guest Bio:
Allan Jones is at the helm of Bambee, a new type of business built on the innovative premise that every small business should have a dedicated HR Manager. This concept was derived from Jones’ previous experiences working with—and growing up around—small business owners.
In 2021, Goldman Sachs celebrated Allan Jones as one of the 100 Most Intriguing Entrepreneurs at its Builders + Innovators Summit. For three years running, Forbes has named Bambee a top startup employer in the U.S., and in 2022 it announced Bambee as a Top 5 Company in Los Angeles.
TODAY WE DISCUSS
- Understanding your company's unique characteristics
- How to implement critical characteristics into your interviewing & hiring process
Challenge?
- Getting people who fit a special suite of characteristics
- Infinite characteristics that are valuable
- How do you narrow it down to 8?
- Being honest about who you are
- Characteristics of leadership values
- Mastery of communication
- Broad outcome objectivity: don't care where the right answer comes from
- Urgency & greatness in tandem
- Separate leadership & team values
- High potency friction
- Hired leader that doesn't fit,
- Courage to make a change
- Scoring system & scorecard
Why is this important to the company?
- Looking at blemishes before celebrating wins
- Continuous loop of how can we be better
- Continuous improvement is just part o the game
- 200+ employees
- Not afraid to say “not every person is right for the company”
- Companies are Olympic sports teams, not govt service agencies
Rick’s Nuggets:
- How people operate within your company
- Core values drive the operating characteristics
- Adding a player to the game, not an ass to a seat
How do we solve the problem?
- Identify that the problem exists
- Building leadership personas
- Hired multiple executives and 50% did not work out
- Right after fundraising
- Practices did not scale
- CEO can not make hiring decisions for the company
- He is not the only sign-off anymore.
- Interview Structure
- Hiring committees
- Only leaders sit on the committee
- Master of communication
- Cliff notes version of who you are personally & professionally
- Go to the resume
- Listening skills along with speaking
- Eliminated Leadership savior complex
- Problems would be solved by our next hire
- Company already had great people
- Never let a problem go unowned
- Realization that already had an A+ executive team
- From savior to draft pick
- 90% success rate
Rick’s Nuggets:
- Values drive characteristics
- Interviewing process
- Structured & designed to gather evidence to support the correct decision
- Assign interview questions for people alignment
- Follow up with what & how questions
Key Takeaways that the Audience can plug into their business today! (Value):
- Offsite with sr leadership & build leadership personas’
- As a founder ask yourself “ your unique role in the hiring failure”
- Set up screening committees
- Make sure you are aligned
Guest Links:
- LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/allandjones/
- Company: https://www.bambee.com/
- LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/company/bambee/
- Twitter: https://twitter.com/TheAllanJones
- Twitter: https://twitter.com/BambeeHQ
- Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/bambeeHQ/
- YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rzJhkTm7baY&t=1s
Host Links:
- LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/rick-girard-07722/
- Company: https://www.stridesearch.com/
- Podcast: https://www.hirepowerradio.com
- YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCeEJm9RoCfu8y7AJpaxkxqQ
- Authored: "Healing Career Wounds" https://amzn.to/3tGbtre
- Startup: www.intertru.ai
- HireOS® inquiry: rick@stridesearch.com
Show Sponsor:
- www.stridesearch.com
- www.intertru.ai
Thursday Nov 03, 2022
Maximizing VC Hiring Referrals with Rob Whalen of PTO Exchange
Thursday Nov 03, 2022
Thursday Nov 03, 2022
Referrals are most often your most potent source of talent for your organization.
So investor referrals must be the holy grail of all referrals. After all, there is a vested interest in your company's success so why shouldn't the referrals be outstanding?
Here’s the thing to consider. Yes, these referrals are gold but it is dangerous to assume that this person will automatically thrive in your unique company. We cannot forgo a formal interview process based on a strong voucher from a trusted source.
The only way we discover if they will in fact thrive, is to be diligent in the interview process to really understand if the person desires the value your organization brings to the table. .
The decision needs to be made through evidence and buy-in rather than confirmation bias and assumptions.
Guest Bio:
Robert Whalen is the Co-founder and CEO of PTO Exchange, the first benefits platform that allows employees to self-direct the value of their unused paid time off for other needs and causes.
He is a serial entrepreneur that has over 25 years selling and developing software and hardware products for the world.
Under his leadership, Rob and his co-founder, Todd Lucas led PTO Exchange to “Cool Vendor of the year” by Gartner in 2017 and awarded “Awesome New Technologies" at the Health and Benefits Leadership Conference in 2018.
TODAY WE DISCUSS:
- Investor referrals: The value & challenges
- The importance of proper diligence in your interview process for referrals
HIRING STORY:
When we first started the business with 4 founders, 2 of us were working on the project constantly and the other 2 were not putting in the time so prior to vesting we bought the other two out.
We had to do this to keep a clean up the cap table so that we could raise capital.
Going through this process we realized having that right person at the right time joining the company is really important. So we put a simple process in place
- What the company needs or needs to know in our case.
- 3 things we are looking to have them accomplish - alignment
- 3 interviews at minimum
- Gut check - (culture, willingness to learn)
- Reference checks
PROBLEM:
Challenge?
When you raise capital you hope those investors will bring value and relationships. But investors aren’t there day in and day out managing the business and they sometimes associate a person's success at another of their other companies to the value that individual could bring to yours
Most of the time the investors' relationships are with the other executives and most of the time you aren’t looking for a high paid person.
An example is when we were hiring a VP of Sales as a small company.
- VC wanted them to hire a particular person
- Expensive
- No skin in the game
- Not a known entity to you - getting dirty
- Not the highest paying company
- Get to do things they wouldn't be able to do at a large company
- Mission-driven people - passionate about the mission
- Do they care about what we do
Why is this important to the company?
- People have to fit in with the culture
- They are a large % of the population
- They need to be able to learn, be curious, and take on responsibility
Rick’s Nuggets:
- Value in referrals
- Cannot rush or fast track the process.
- Work within your timeline
- No skipping steps
How do we solve the problem?
- Knowing when to say no to the investor
- This is sometimes tough to do when they are looking to help your business and they don’t see their input being considered
- When people try and help you, you need to understand that those suggestions or introductions come with emotions attached.
- Having a process that to hiring helps facilitate your decisions and reasoning. Which helps take the emotions out of the decision
- In an early-stage company where you might not have the money or benefits to attract the top-top tier individuals. we look for those candidates who are trying to grow into the role.
- Candidates that have the experience but do not have the title and maybe they are looking to have more responsibility because that comes with being in a small/agile company.
- They have the ability to solve problems and are open to new ways of thinking.
- Look for the hidden value in the person
- The individual needs to have the willingness to learn and take on responsibility
- Finding the intangibles that they can bring to the team.
- Usually this is in comes from their personal experiences and not their career experiences
- Personality fit
- We look for candidates that have similar passions but different problem-solving skills
- This brings diversity in developing our company’s ability to be more agile when confronted with roadblocks.
Rick’s Nuggets:
- Values fit first
- Does the person operate to the expectations of the rest of the organization?
Key Takeaways that the Audience can plug into their business today! (Value):
- Create a process - simple is best but a process that works for the size of your company.
- I have made great hires and bad hires. The difference in those decisions was not following the process and being in a hurry to fill the role. Taking things slowly, stepping back, and following a process would have shed light on what later became an issue.
- Culture fit is the most important piece.
- I have a rule of thumb.
- When making a big purchase, walk away and reflect on how this purchase is going to impact your life. Because making a wrong purchase can have a very negative impact on you. I have found the same rule applies when hiring employees.
Guest Links:
- LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/rob-whalen-1287077/
- Company: https://www.ptoexchange.com/
- LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/company/pto/
- Twitter: https://twitter.com/ptoexchange
- Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/ptoexchange
- Blog: https://www.ptoexchange.com/blog
Host Links:
- LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/rick-girard-07722/
- Company: https://www.stridesearch.com/
- Podcast: https://www.hirepowerradio.com
- YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCeEJm9RoCfu8y7AJpaxkxqQ
- Authored: "Healing Career Wounds" https://amzn.to/3tGbtre
- Startup: www.intertru.ai
- HireOS® inquiry: rick@stridesearch.com
Show Sponsor:
- www.stridesearch.com
- www.intertru.ai
Thursday Oct 27, 2022
Hiring the Right Person in the Wrong Seat with Thomas Brunskill of Forage
Thursday Oct 27, 2022
Thursday Oct 27, 2022
How often have you hired the right person for the wrong seat?
Here’s how that happens.
A person is identified and it is assumed that because of their background that they crush it for you. After all, they are already doing it for someone else.
Perfect logic, right? Nope!
The reason this logic is so dangerous for your company is that current skills are just a small part of success. As we have all experienced, by going above and beyond to land that “rockstar” from a name brand company. Only to have them crash and burn within the first 90 days.
To avoid this dilemma in the future, we simply need to understand the person’s desires and level of accomplishment first. Interviewing to understand, not to sell.
This produces much stronger evidence to predict of success of your new hire in your unique business.
Guest Bio:
Tom Brunskill is the co-founder and CEO of Forage which is changing the world of career discovery and skill building.
Before moving to San Francisco, Tom was a corporate lawyer at a multinational law firm in Australia. It was during his own career journey that Tom discovered that an education and a degree doesn’t necessarily translate to knowing how to do a specific job role. He also realized just how inequitable the education-to-workforce pathway is.
After observing the unfair advantage those with access to connections or educational opportunities had, Tom made it his mission to provide anyone the ability to learn skills through virtual job simulations produced by the world’s top companies,
By breaking down barriers to gaining workplace-specific skills.
Tom hopes to level the opportunity playing field and empower anyone to pursue their dream career.
TODAY WE DISCUSS
- Why your company might be the wrong seat for the right candidate
- How to avoid wrong seat hires
HIRING STORY
This isn’t a story about a hire we did make, but a hire we wanted to make and didn’t pull off.
We were building out our leadership team between our Series A and Series B. Obviously in an early-stage company, getting the right leaders into your organization is crucial. Leaders in early-stage environments have a disproportionate influence on the ultimate success or demise of a company so the stakes are high.
On this particular search for this VP role, I was finding it really tough. It was the middle of 2021 when start-ups were sitting on a record amount of capital and there was a real pinch finding exceptional talent...
Challenge?
- Too many people end up in the wrong seats.
- Education on what the roles look like
- Gap between the candidate's perspective and what the role really is
- Realistic depiction of what it is like to work in the company
- Attract the right people
- Le
- Companies use the wrong signals when they hire
- Schools, companies
- Don't predict future success
Why is this important to the company?
- High attrition 73% failure rate
- SHRM reports that the cost of replacing an employee is approximately 33% of that employee’s salary
- But that’s just the direct cost of having to find and replace that employee. It doesn’t take into account the indirect costs of a disengaged, non-aligned workforce.
- My broader take is that recruitment processes traditionally focus on getting bums on seats rather than the right bums on the right seats. Until you figure out how to design a process that gets the right people into the right roles for the long-term, employers will continue losing millions in direct costs and lost productivity.
Rick’s Nuggets:
- What a person desires needs to be discovered in the 1st conversation!
- Do they get it, want it, and have the capacity to do it
How do we solve the problem?
- Educate the candidate pipeline
- The recruitment process has typically worked as a ‘hire then train’ model. I believe that in an age of software employers should be training their candidates first then hiring. And this needs to start at the top of the funnel.
- This is a great model for both candidates and employers. If you take the time to educate your candidate pipeline on who your company actually is and what the roles truly entail, you are going to attract the right type of candidates rather than a large pool of applicants who have no real idea whether they truly want to work for you or not.
- Volume has become the enemy of quality. Too many HR tech companies and employers have focused on removing friction from the recruitment process in the pursuit of getting the maximum number of candidates. That’s dumb. I would argue that it’s actually far better to introduce positive friction - and education or a ‘try before you buy’ model is a great example of positive friction.
- What does education actually look like?
- What are your values?
- Who are your people?
- What are you building? And why?
- What does this specific role look like?
- Be authentic and realistic. Don’t sell a candidate a lemon otherwise you will end up with lemons. You don’t want your hires to turn up on day 1 and realize they’ve signed up to something which didn’t fit their expectations. Employers and candidates don’t win in that situation.
- The other great consequence of spending time educating your candidate pipeline is that you’re more likely to attract candidates from broad and diverse audiences.
- Better hiring signals:
- So educating your candidate pipeline is the first crucial step towards getting the right person into the right seat. But then you have to look at the hiring signals you are using to hire candidates.
- My view is employers do a very poor job of what hiring signals they use to make a hire. I do a lot of work in early-talent recruitment where employers over-index your GPA, what school you went to, and other signals which statistically just don’t correlate to long-term success in a role. If they were indicative of success, you wouldn’t see 70% attrition.
- But even in start-up land I see this happen and I have fallen into the trap of this myself. The classic hiring signal trap in start-up land is over-indexing where someone was an early employee at a successful company. You will often hear a founder say ‘We just hired employee no #25 from Salesforce’. I have found out the hard way that the connection between being an early employee of a successful company and going to be a great hire at your company is tenuous at best.
- One of the most underrated hiring signals, especially for more junior employees, is intent. Does the candidate exhibit demonstrable intent that they are deeply interested in your work, your people, your values and your brand? My bet is that if you truly vetted for intent during the recruitment process, 9 out of 10 hires you made would become exceptional hires. And compared to the mean, that’s a pretty good strike rate.
- Simulations / case studies:
- So you’ve educated your candidate pipeline and vetted that candidate pool using better hiring signals. What’s the final step?
- I strongly believe in the use of simulations or case studies during the recruitment process.
- When you get down to your final few candidates, you want to give them an opportunity to road test working with your team and the problems your company is focused on solving. And vice versa, you want to be able to see the candidate in action before you commit to hiring them.
- This is undoubtedly the most interesting and illuminating part of any recruitment process. Understanding the way a candidate thinks, communicates, builds in a live setting can’t be replicated. It’s obviously crucially important for the employer to see them in action, but equally important for the candidate to see their new potential team and company in action. So any great case study or simulation requires active participation from both sides.
Rick’s Nuggets
- Values
- Own who you are & your environment
- Does the candidate “get” your values. If not, let them go
- Evidence over “feel”
-
- Train interviewers to extract evidence to support their decisions
- Discovery call & Interview
- Record and document the data
- Desire it
- Does the person want what you offer
- Is there value in your opportunity for the individual?
- Does the candidate recognize and feed back the value
- “ What's in it for me”
Key Takeaways that the Audience can plug into their business today! (Value):
- Educate your candidate pipeline. Figure out how you can adopt a ‘train then hire’ model so that you’re attracting high-intent candidates who truly want to work at your company.
- Look for better hiring signals. Stop and think about whether the signals you are currently using truly connect to long-term success. Instead of pedigree, college, GPA, who they know, look for signals such as motivation, demonstrable intent and true capability.
- Use case studies and simulations for your very best candidates. It’s a super illuminating exercise for both you and the candidate to figure out if you are truly a good match.
Guest Links:
- LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/tombrunskill/
- Company: http://www.theforage.com/
- LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/company/theforage/
- Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/theforage1
- Twitter: https://twitter.com/theforage_
- Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/theforage_/
Host Links:
- LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/rick-girard-07722/
- Company: https://www.stridesearch.com/
- Podcast: https://www.hirepowerradio.com
- YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCeEJm9RoCfu8y7AJpaxkxqQ
- Authored: "Healing Career Wounds" https://amzn.to/3tGbtre
- Startup: www.intertru.ai
- HireOS® inquiry: rick@stridesearch.com
Show Sponsor:
- www.stridesearch.com
- www.intertru.ai
Thursday Oct 20, 2022
How Your Company Can Hire Like Amazon with Steve Anderson of Catalyit
Thursday Oct 20, 2022
Thursday Oct 20, 2022
Amazon’s leadership principles (Core Values) have been the most critical element in their unprecedented success. Value alignment first, and skills second.
So why is this not a standard practice among all up-and-coming startups?
The reason I believe is that leaders then become accountable for their actions when they misbehave. Without values, it is easy to hide. It is easy to rationalize bad decisions and easier to deflect blame when the shit hits the fan.
This is why 9 out of 10 startups fail. Without the right people, your company will not be able to execute. And the right people are attracted to more than just money. They want growth, structure, and purpose.
When your company demonstrates that none of these elements are present, the A-players run! And what you are left with are the people who are willing to take the job.
Guest Bio:
Steve Anderson is the CEO of Catalyit. He has spent decades shaping the insurance industry through a deeper understanding of emerging technologies and how businesses today can best integrate and leverage them.
Steve is a sought-after speaker and influencer. He is also the author of the widely-anticipated book The Bezos Letters, where he reveals 14 principles for business growth based on the ideas and patterns that emerged when he examined Jeff Bezos’ 21 annual letters to Amazon shareholders.
TODAY WE DISCUSS:
- Balancing need with patience to get the right hire
- How to put the right structure in place to land them
HIRING STORY:
- Hired an operations manager, who seemed like a good fit. Terminated after 3 months. Hired too fast! Pressure to move fast from start to offer in 3 days. The person already had an offer.
- He didn't follow his own advice.
Challenge?
- Balance need with hiring the right person
- Miscasting a hire
- Don't hire when you rushed to fill a position
- The interview process is not intentional.
- Not having a hiring process, hiring questions (winging it)
Rick’s Nuggets:
- Problem: Pacing is determined by the candidate
- Clue that the person just needs the money
- Mitigated by disclosing your hiring process & timeline
- Intention: purpose of the interview?
How do we solve the problem?
- Structure
- Have a good job description
- Have a good hiring & interview process
- Intentional interviews
- Amazon
- Will you admire this person?
- Will this person raise the average level of effectiveness of the group
- Along what dimension might this person be a superstar
- Don't cave into the pressure
- Candidate pressure
- Own need pressure
- Find short term solutions while the interview process is moving along
- Be willing to fire fast
- Not fully committing or fully focused
- Not understanding urgency
Rick’s Nuggets:
- Evidence trumps assumptions
- Pacing determined by the process, not the person
- No need to fire, when you have hired the strongest person
Key Takeaways that the Audience can plug into their business today! (Value):
- Process is key to success
- Need a place to start - Use Amazon’s hiring questions
- Culture fit might be more important than skills.
Guest Links:
- LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/stevetn/
- Personal: https://thebezosletters.com/
- Company: https://catalyit.com/
- LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/company/catalyit/
- Twitter: https://twitter.com/SteveTN
- Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/SteveAndersonNetwork/
- Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/steveanderson/
Host Links:
- LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/rick-girard-07722/
- Company: https://www.stridesearch.com/
- Podcast: https://www.hirepowerradio.com
- YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCeEJm9RoCfu8y7AJpaxkxqQ
- Authored: "Healing Career Wounds" https://amzn.to/3tGbtre
- Startup: www.intertru.ai
- HireOS™ inquiry: rick@stridesearch.com
Show Sponsor:
- www.intertru.ai
- www.stridesearch.com
Thursday Oct 13, 2022
The Hire, Fire, Hire, Fire Cycle with Jason Sherman of Spinnr
Thursday Oct 13, 2022
Thursday Oct 13, 2022
There is nothing more disappointing than a hire that does not work out.
Especially when the person hired was someone you were convinced, would be a great hire!
Conventional wisdom says “hire slow, fire fast” but this almost never happens. Because we are too concerned with filling the role fast. Triaging our pain.
Maybe if we really hired slowly, the interview would produce much stronger results.
To break the hire, fire cycle we must ignore our assumptions about the person's resume and start by gathering evidence. Evidence that supports a proper decision that ensures a successful hire.
Guest Bio:
Jason Sherman is a successful innovator, award-winning filmmaker, published author, tech startup expert, and the co-founder of the video friendship app Spinnr.
Jason’s methodologies on entrepreneurship and data-driven decisions are his main source of education for those he helps worldwide. His startup book Strap on your Boots is the culmination of his life’s work to help other entrepreneurs succeed with a podcast of the same name, and is the focus of a class he created called Startup Essentials.
Jason is fluent in Spanish, is a classically trained violinist, and was a featured speaker on FOX’s Emmy award-winning Futurist TV Show: Xploration Earth 2050.
TODAY WE DISCUSS:
- Breaking the hire, fire cycle
Challenge?
- Finding people who are excited about the company vs just looking for a job
- Care about being part of something where your creative input matter
- Just there for the paycheck
- Uninterested, unenthusiastic, easy remote work paycheck
- A lot of time onboarding
- Time differences
Why is this important to the company?
- Bad hires impede growth
Rick’s Nuggets:
- Positioning
- Time
How do we solve the problem?
- Finding the excited people in the interview
- Install the app, try it out, and tell us what they think
- Give feedback
- website & social media content
- Smiling happy
- Have questions about the business
- Not focusing on payment/ paycheck
-
- Excited to learn they can earn stock options
- Ownership
- Get through the process to find the 4 people who worked
- What to do before the interview
- Share pitch deck to understand the company mission
- Have everything ready in a package for onboarding
- What have you done; share your work
- Filming content event
- Content creation hiring day
- Gig hiring
Rick’s Nuggets;
- Positioning
- Get it, want it, capacity to do it
- Do they really desire what you offer?
- A, B, or C player?
- Don't be the destination for a JOB (ie: paycheck)
- Interview with purpose
- Get to the truth
- Not sell
- Interview design
- Truth fast
- Empowered decision-making - Keep your people productive
- Evidence trumps gut
Key Takeaways that the Audience can plug into their business today! (Value):
- Finding the excited people who want to do what you do.
- Fully read & understand what your business is. Come with questions
- Don't discount onsite parties to hire people. Compensate people who show up
Guest Links:
- LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/jasonsherman76/
- Personal: https://jasonsherman.org
- Company: https://spinnr.app/
- LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/company/appspinnr
- Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/appspinnr
- Twitter: https://twitter.com/spinnr_app
- Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/spinnr_app
Host Links:
- LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/rick-girard-07722/
- Company: https://www.stridesearch.com/
- Podcast: https://www.hirepowerradio.com
- YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCeEJm9RoCfu8y7AJpaxkxqQ
- Authored: "Healing Career Wounds" https://amzn.to/3tGbtre
- Startup: www.intertru.ai
- HireOS inquiry: rick@stridesearch.com
Show Sponsor:
Wednesday Oct 05, 2022
Wednesday Oct 05, 2022
Every interview that happens in your company needs to have a purpose.
There is a specific purpose for the phone screen, which is positioning & quality of the individual.
The onsite interview’s purpose, does this person align with our company values and finally, the skills interview’s purpose is to determine if the person has the capacity to thrive in the role.
Too often the directive is given to “have a conversation to find out if you would like to work with this person”. And it is in this non-structured format that bias and discrimination fester because the interviewers don’t understand the interview’s purpose.
Guest Bio:
Robert Hudock founded Hudock Employment Law Group in 2015 to deliver tailored legal services to California companies that thrive in vibrant, creative work environments. His clients are often companies looking at new markets and competitive opportunities, that want to recruit the best talent available while avoiding distracting workplace issues or lawsuits.
Robert is also a competitive triathlete, which requires careful planning, attention to detail, and dedication. He uses those characteristics in his professional life for his client's benefit.
TODAY WE DISCUSS:
- Employment law issues in the hiring process you may not know–but should.
Challenge?
- The 3 most common recruiting and hiring functions in which employment-related issues can arise are: (1) job posting/advertisement, (2) interviewing, and (3) assessing fitness for a position (e.g., any criminal history, drug screening, physical capabilities, psychological health).
- California’s anti-discrimination laws explicitly apply not only to employees and termination of employment, but also to applicants and “refusing to hire” based on a characteristic protected under the applicable antidiscrimination laws (e.g., age, disability, gender, race, etc.).
Why is this important to the company?
- Consider a scenario where your company spends significant time and resources on employment law compliance and protecting itself from lawsuits, only to be subject to an employment-related claim that could have been prevented but for a gap in general knowledge and available preventative strategies relating to recruiting and hiring. Today we’re going to introduce you to the topic and some possible preventive measures.
How do we solve the problem?
- Interviewing: any non-job-related inquiry that "expresses, directly or indirectly, any limitation, specification, or discrimination as to” any protected characteristic is prohibited
- Common implicated categories: age, disability, national origin
- Some examples may surprise you - you may have been asked such questions and you answered without a second thought, the questions are relatively common, or are common topics of conversation:
SUBJECT |
ACCEPTABLE |
UNACCEPTABLE |
Age |
Virtually nothing - but allowed when law requires it |
|
National Origin |
Inquiries re verification of legal right to work in US |
|
Marital Status/Family |
Virtually nothing |
|
Religion |
Statements re regular days, hours, or shifts of the position |
|
- Identify and define, BEFORE interviewing, any legal justification for discriminating with respect to a protected category
- As with job postings, antidiscrimination law does not categorically preclude any and all inquiries into matters relating to protected categories, or lawful discrimination. For example:
- AGE: When a law specifically requires a certain age for job, or requires keeping records re employees’ ages or related information
- RELIGION: When an inquiry directly or indirectly relates to any religious belief or practice does not have any “exclusionary effect”
- DISABILITY: An inquiry re physical capabilities legitimately related to ability to perform an essential job function
- Proper education and training of all interviewers
- How to respond when applicant volunteers information
- Let’s say an interviewer and interviewee are discussing where the interviewee obtained his/her undergraduate degree
- The interviewee, making friendly conversation, says tongue-in-cheek: “...that’s hard to remember for an old guy like me, but I’ll never forget these seemingly endless stairs going up to where I met with my “Campus Christians” group. It was like running a marathon once a month because of my knee injury” → just that short aside references three protected categories (age, religion, and disability)
- In these types of circumstances, the interviewer should (1) steer the discussion away from references to any protected category, and (2) and at some point identify the company’s commitment to equal opportunity
- E.g., “Interesting. That story makes me think about how this company supports equal opportunity and has a strong policy against discrimination.” Let’s move on to your work experience.”
Rick’s Nuggets:
- Teach your people the purpose of each stage
- What data are they expected to gather during the conversation
- Provide a script to each person
- Behavioral interviews
- Tell me about a time when…
- How did that work?
- Walk me through that…
- What steps did you take…
Key Takeaways that the Audience can plug into their business today! (Value):
- Develop job descriptions and use them as a foundation for interviews; this can help interviewers remain focused on job qualifications and duties
- Education/training of anyone who will be conducting an interview; e.g., covering the topics we’ve been discussing today
Guest Links:
- LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/hudockemploymentlaw/
- Company: https://hudockemploymentlaw.com/
Host Links:
- LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/rick-girard-07722/
- Company: https://www.stridesearch.com/
- Podcast: https://www.hirepowerradio.com
- YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCeEJm9RoCfu8y7AJpaxkxqQ
- Authored: "Healing Career Wounds" https://amzn.to/3tGbtre
- HireOS inquiry: rick@stridesearch.com | www.intertru.ai
Show Sponsor:
- www.stridesearch.com
Thursday Aug 11, 2022
When Hiring is Overwhelming with Karima Gulick of Innovent Law
Thursday Aug 11, 2022
Thursday Aug 11, 2022
Most good hires are a result of luck rather than skill. In fact, I would argue that very few hires are by design.
Throughout my career, I have never met a person who views interviewing and the hiring process as anything more than a chore that they loathe. In fact, the most common reaction to the subject usually results in a huge “uuuggghhhhh” or “I hate hiring”.
We dread the act of interviewing and hiring because it is unstructured and inconsistent and it produces mediocre results.
Here’s the good news: There is an easy fix! When we train our people how to interview it brings purpose to each and every interview question. Giving your people a basis for decision-making that results in extraordinary hiring results.
Guest Bio:
Karima Gulick is the CEO & principal patent attorney of Innovent Law.
She dedicated her career to counseling businesses within the tech and creative communities, combining her passion for engineering and the law. Karima is a polyglot and guides her clients through legal matters in French, English, Arabic, Spanish, and some Italian as well! She is also the former co-host of the Gen Y Lawyer podcast, a show where she interviewed innovative lawyers shaking things up in the legal industry.
Karima is building a next-generation law firm and is here to share her experience.
Today We Discuss:
- The overwhelming hurdles of hiring.
- How to interview to bring purpose to your interview questions
Challenge today?
- Overwhelmed & stuck in the business
- The idea of hiring was overwhelming
- So overwhelmed in my business, that adding one more task to my list, which is hiring to free me up seemed daunting
- Having had a bad experience with hiring in the past, it seemed as an even more daunting task
- No clear strategy on how to go about
- interviewing
- selecting candidates to interview
- Finding candidates.
- I could write what I thought was an amazing post but it might not be read or looked at by the right person
- Jaded on values because of corporate America
- Values area words splattered on the wall
- No one ever explained what the values stood for
- Never defined what it looked like.
- Defining what you stand for seems hokie
Why is this important to the company?
- A burned-out and overwhelmed leader is the worst thing that can happen to a company
- Even if you have the best team, without the right energizing and enthusiastic leadership,
- It’s just a matter of time before you stop caring, and the rest of your team starts seeing that
- We all have values,
- You have them as an employer
- Certain things that are intangible
- Employees have a reason to care. Buy in and bring more energy to the process
- Employees have taken more ownership
- When there is a change in the workforce, the chatter makes it more difficult find a fit. Buying into the negative ideas
Rick’s Nuggets
- Values First Strategy
- Makes evaluating people easier
How do we solve the problem?
- Realizing that I was stuck
- Knowing that I needed someone to step in and save me from myself
- Knowing myself, I knew I needed to bring on someone to help
- I had posted a couple of job posts but I was too exhausted to even call people
- Then I realized I was making the same mistake as I’ve made before
- I’m in pain doing all the work, so I pick someone who can do the work
- But there is so much more -
- That’s where Rick, you came in and opened my eyes on the hiring process
- It’s more than just a post and looking for someone who can do the work
- Values discussion - being jaded from the corporate world where values were meaningless
- A fresh new look at values
- Example: Caring, Competence, Trust
- Might not mean much to others, can come off as just buzzwords, but with this process, these values came to life.
- Example: Caring, Competence, Trust
- Holding conversations with candidates looking to learn more about them and their pain points
- Conducting interviews based on your values
- Conducting assessments and work sessions to see how you’d work with these people
- Reaffirming that I already have great people
- Believing that you deserve being able to grow the business
- Allowing the entity to grow
- Sitting down with intention
- Mindful & intentional on what you want/ the business needs
- Clarity on what you are hiring for & why?
- Being Systematic
- Bring life into the process - involve others
- Flexible on terms/needs
- Having a flow
- Discovery calls
- Having a process
- Behavioral questions to understand if people align with what the company really stands for
- Informed process
- The more thorough you are, the better the chances of bringing on the right people.
- Evolve
- Coming up with my own set of questions based on behavior I see around me
- Tell me about the first thing you do when you come home from a trip..
- Coming up with my own set of questions based on behavior I see around me
Rick’s Nuggets
- Discovery call
- Values
- Not aspirational
- Team input
- Working session
Key Takeaways that the Audience can plug into their business today! (Value):
- You don't know what you don't know. Bring on help to allow the business to grow
- If you’re serious about growing your business, you have to go through this exercise
- You can have the best gut feeling in the world, but having a systemized approach and one you can delegate to your team will help you scale.
- If you’re serious about growing your business, you have to go through this exercise
- Invest the time to get clarity on what you are looking for
- Be open to learning new things, including skills outside of your comfort zone.
Guest Links:
- LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/thepatentlady/
- Company: https://kgulick.com/
- LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/company/innoventlaw/
- Twitter: https://twitter.com/thepatentlady/
- Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/thepatentlady/
- Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/thepatentlawyer/
- YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/innoventlaw
Host Links:
- LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/rick-girard-07722/
- Company: https://www.stridesearch.com/
- Podcast: https://www.hirepowerradio.com
- YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCeEJm9RoCfu8y7AJpaxkxqQ
- Authored: "Healing Career Wounds" https://amzn.to/3tGbtre
- HireOS inquiry: rick@stridesearch.com
Show Sponsor:
- www.stridesearch.com
Thursday Aug 04, 2022
Instilling Values into Your Hiring Process with Ken Babcock of Tango
Thursday Aug 04, 2022
Thursday Aug 04, 2022
Do company values really matter? They do if you are looking to scale a business.
In order to scale you need the strongest people, but the strongest people don't need you…or your company.
What High performers need is to understand how your company brings value to their world, personally & professionally. And how we bring value through value alignment.
Value alignment is the catalyst for performance and retention. When a person is misaligned with the company values, they underperform and/or leave.
As a startup company, every person who is misaligned is a setback of 3-6 months of productivity. So, before you hire another person, incorporate your values into the interview to encourage the strongest people to join your company. Giving your business the fuel for success.
Guest Bio:
Ken Babcock is the Co-founder and CEO of Tango, which allows users to create beautiful step-by-step tutorials of any digital process without the performance art of video recordings.
Ken, along with his co-founders Brian Shultz and Dan Giovacchini, dropped out of Harvard Business School during the pandemic to start the company. Since then, the company has grown to over 150,000 users and 25 full-time team members.
Prior to HBS, Ken spent most of his career in the Bay Area at Uber, where he helped scale launch operations through playbooks and best practices.
TODAY WE DISCUSS:
- Why building your interview around your values is so important
- How to build your interview to gain evidence of value alignment
Challenge today?
- Bringing values into the interview process
- Defining how to show up for an interview
- Principles of how we evaluate people
- Training people on how to interview
Why is this important to the company?
- Every hire is important
- Critical that the process was not shooting ourselves in the foot
- Great experience brings great people
Rick’s Nuggets
- Defocus on skills.
How do we solve the problem?
- Framework for Evaluating for Values
- Define Your Values
- Training
- Defining what a good/bad answer is
▶️ Take Action
Avoid indecision and move past points of uncertainty. Value speed.
🚀 Aim High
Set uncomfortably ambitious goals. Reject mediocrity.
🌎 Embrace Diversity
Bring our true selves to work each day. Seek unique perspectives.
🌱 Leave It Better
Be an owner, not a renter. Cultivate a growth mindset.
✨ Customer Love
Serve the end user and listen closely. Make magic.
🏆 Team First
Winning as a team beats winning alone. Lift up others.
Training
- Develop a recruiting process document
- Shadowing
- Hot to operate during an interview
- Time, opener,
Initial Phone Screen - 30 minutes
Purpose: Determine whether a candidate’s experience is relevant to the role. Understand whether the role matches what they hope to do next (scope, career path, salary expectations).
🚀 Aim High. Set uncomfortably ambitious goals. Reject mediocrity.
- Attributes: Passion, Champion’s mindset, Ambition, Optimism
- Sample Questions:
- How do you think this role fits in with your career goals?
- What are you most proud of in your career?
- What’s your underlying motivator? What’s your why?
- Do you think you're ready to make the jump?
Hiring Manager Phone Screen - 30 minutes
Purpose: Determine whether the candidate would thrive on this team and whether the team would be up-leveled by this candidate
🌱 Leave it Better. Be an owner, not a renter. Strive to improve 1% each day.
- Attributes: Growth mindset, Humility, Ownership, Feedback-oriented
- Sample Questions:
- What are your development areas? How are you working to address them?
- Tell me about a project that fell short of expectations. What happened and how did you fix it moving forward?
- Fast forward five years - assume Tango was a great experience. Describe what might have happened.
- What's a tough piece of feedback you received recently? How are you working on it?
Technical Screen - 60 minutes
Purpose: Determine whether the candidate can execute in the role at a high level.
▶️ Take Action. Avoid indecision and move past points of uncertainty. Value speed.
- Attributes: Resourceful, Decisive, Problem-solving, Truth-seeking
- Sample Questions:
- How do you approach projects where the scope is overwhelming?
- Tell me about a time where you had to act on incomplete information.
- What's the first thing you'd want to do if you started tomorrow?
- Tell me about a project where your hypothesis turned out to be wrong.
Virtual Onsite - 30-45 minutes each
🏆 Team First. Winning as a team beats winning alone. Lift up others.
- Attributes: Mentorship, Collaboration, Communication, Gratitude
- Sample Questions:
- Tell me about a colleague or manager you admire. What qualities do you try to emulate?
- Tell me about a team dynamic that just wasn't working for you and others. What did you learn from that?
- What do you need from your team members in order to be successful?
- How do you pay it forward in and out of the workplace?
✨ Customer Love. Serve the end user and listen closely. Make magic.
- Attributes: Listening, Perspective-shifting, Humble, Creative
- Sample Questions:
- In prior roles, what have you learned about your customers?
- How do you incorporate the customer’s perspective into your work?
- Tell me about a time at work you made a mistake.
- What does it mean to you to deliver an “Aha Moment” to a customer?
🌎 Embrace Diversity. Bring our true selves to work each day. Seek unique perspectives.
- Attributes: Unique, Conscientious, Self-aware, Inclusive
- Sample Questions:
- You've just been notified you have to give a Ted talk in 15 minutes. What's your topic?
- What have you changed your mind about recently?
- Tell me about a time at work where you really thrived. What contributed to that?
- How do you incorporate feedback into your work?
Closing Interview - 15-30 minutes
Purpose: Sell the candidate on the company’s vision and the quality of the team. Answer any remaining questions.
- Sample Questions:
- How did today’s interviews go? What excites you most about the opportunity?
- What hesitations do you have?
- What timelines or competing processes should we account for?
- Are there any other questions I can answer?
Answer Quality Rubric
Weak |
Average |
Strong |
|
|
|
Decision
- Thumbs up or down
- Do not require unanimous thumbs up
- Debrief, revote
- verdict
Rick’s Nuggets
- 4 to 6 values is all you need
- Phone screen
- Working session
Key Takeaways that the Audience can plug into their business today! (Value):
- Integrate your core values into your hiring process and beyond! (performance management, operating cadence, etc.)
- For early-stage companies, you need to toe the line of “always be selling” and evaluating candidates
- Requiring unanimous decisions on candidates can actually force a regression to the mean and avoid taking risks on high-potential candidates.
Guest Links:
- LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/kenbabcock/
- Company: https://www.tango.us/
- LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/company/trytango/
- Twitter: https://twitter.com/bigredbabz
Host Links:
- LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/rick-girard-07722/
- Company: https://www.stridesearch.com/
- Podcast: https://www.hirepowerradio.com
- YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCeEJm9RoCfu8y7AJpaxkxqQ
- Authored: "Healing Career Wounds" https://amzn.to/3tGbtre
- HireOS inquiry: rick@stridesearch.com
Show Sponsor:
- www.stridesearch.com
Thursday Jul 28, 2022
Thursday Jul 28, 2022
Doom & gloom is the impending economic forecast according to the media. Having flourished through two previous recessions, I have learned to look for the opportunity that comes with the adjustment.
And when it comes to hiring, the opportunities to thrive are bountiful!
One trend that I have personally observed throughout the years is that companies like Google & Facebook silently ramped up passive recruiting during those times and were able to come out of the adjustment even stronger.
Today I challenge you to recognize the opportunity that lies ahead and to commit to the growth of your people. This can and will only have positive results for them and the business.
Today’s Question:
- How do you build a stronger company in tough economic times?
Today we’re going to discuss:
- Why it is critical that you continue hiring activity
- How to hire effectively to increase the productivity & retention of your people
Challenge today?
- Keeping your High performers engaged
- Your best people are MORE valuable!
- They will be hunted by your competitors
- Hiring stronger people challenges & motivates the people you already have
- Your best people are MORE valuable!
- Growth through an economic downturn
- Look for the opportunity for your people
- People become fearful and move to more “stable” environments
- Recruiting remains a reactive activity
- We only hire when we feel the pain
- Hiring happens regardless if you chose to participate
- Participate
- Look for the opportunity for your people
Why is this important to the company?
- Downturns are opportunities for growth!
- The people onboard Fuel or Stifle growth
- Fear drives people to make poor decisions
- Poor decisions kill business
- Avoid being forced to hire anyone who is willing to accept your role… because they need a job
-
- Due to attrition
How do we solve the problem?
- Perspective
- Understand the value of continuously hiring
- Higher bar, less volume
- Opportunity to opportunistically hire
- Attract people who will elevate performance in the organization
- New ideas, new energy
- Understand the value of continuously hiring
- Increased Communication to retain your current people
-
- Career pathing
- Know the “What’s in it for me” for every one of your people
- Planned exits
- Promote purpose
- Engaging New People
- Dedicate 1-2 hours a week
- Passive talent engagement; NOT RECRUITING
- Reconnect with past talent
- Ask for new referrals
- “Get to know you for the future”
- Commit to 2 meetings a week with potential hires - Coffee ok
- Use Discovery Call script
- Purpose: positioning & value alignment
- Empower the hire
- Communicate timeframe and allow the person to be proactive
- Pull the trigger!
- Dedicate 1-2 hours a week
Key Takeaways -Value:
- Proactive hiring: Commit to 1 hour a week to expand your talent network
- Communication: Recognize the opportunity for your people and the business to thrive
- Action: When the opportunity arises to hire a high performer, embrace it. Allow the new person to fuel the energy of your team
Host Links:
- LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/rick-girard-07722/
- Company: https://www.stridesearch.com/
- Podcast: https://www.stridesearch.com/hire-power-radio
- Authored: Healing Career Wounds (Amazon)
- https://www.amazon.com/dp/B094TL14CD/ref=dp-kindle-redirect?_encoding=UTF8&btkr=1
- HireOS inquiry: rick@stridesearch.com
Show Sponsor:
- www.stridesearch.com
Thursday Jul 21, 2022
How to Avoid Hiring a Bad Actor with Becky Wanta of Q5id
Thursday Jul 21, 2022
Thursday Jul 21, 2022
We have all become painfully aware that cybercrime is at all-time record highs. Now the bad actors have figured out how to hack your hiring process.
Stories have been surfacing about people accepting roles remotely that are different people from the ones attending the interview.
Let’s face it, hacking the interview process is probably the easiest way to infiltrate your company and ultimately your data. When the interviewers focus on the skills and do not dig deep enough into the truth about the other person the result can be the opportunity that puts your company in jeopardy.
Guest Bio:
Becky Wanta is the CTO of Q5id and a highly accomplished global senior executive with more than 30 years of success in applying extensive IT experience to guide companies in a wide variety of industries to achieve their goals.
She has proven her ability to improve market share and profitability while establishing long-term business relations and recruiting and developing cross-functional and high-performing teams.
She has also been profiled by various publications, including Profile magazine and Bloomberg News. She is the holder of two US patents.
Today We Discuss:
- How bad actors can infiltrate your company
- How to avoid hiring those who can decimate your company
Challenge today?
- Not a guarantee that the person who you are hiring is who they say they are
- No prevent identity
- Billions are lost every year because of data breach
- background check does not guarantee that the person is who they say they are
- References, credit score,
- Remote workforce is giving rise to fake personas & identities
Why is this important to the company?
- Cost the company Millions of dollars
- The FBI just issued a warning on June 28 about fraudulent candidates applying for WFH positions and using deep fakes to hide their true identity. We can be sure this activity will increase, and we can be sure that these are professional criminals and foreign-state actors who want to hijack a company’s data. (source: https://tinyurl.com/mvsnz7bs)
- Background checks are often perfunctory, particularly if a candidate has presented well and you really want to hire this person
- if a person has an apparently clean record, but is a member of a criminal gang or a malicious state actor. Professional criminals are way ahead of you here.
Rick’s Nuggets
- Targeted and focused search
- Totally negates the issue
How do we solve the problem?
- Tighten up and expand pre-employment and background check processes to include a proven identity process which includes:
- Biometrics/personal identifiers that your employees control. This needs to include liveness checks, biometric and AI-driven models to ensure individuals are who they say they are
- Government ID checks
- 15 se Face-to-face live view
- Be Systematic
- So, companies need to keep the entrepreneurial spirit alive while building a distributed team, with everyone focused on the product. They must be systematic about finding specific skillsets and finding those skillsets in people who want to work with other people.
- prove their new employees are not working for someone who wants to break into your IT systems and steal everything they can.
- The FBI says cybercrime cost in the form of phishing and other scams and data breaches cost US businesses almost $7 billion last year. With more criminal organizations and state actors involved, and now deploying deep fakes, that number could go up exponentially if companies don’t address this problem urgently. (Source: https://tinyurl.com/yc7abcht)
- CEOs, C-suites, and Boards to implement a program that can combat deep fakes, I’d make sure my Board has at least one person who’s familiar with enterprise-grade security, and I’d make sure I have an A-team Chief Information Security Officer (CISO) on my team.
- Implement a proven identity method
- biometrics
Rick’s Nuggets
- Targeted hiring approach
- Identify & proactively develop a relationship with the person BEFORE you need to hire them.
- Referrals!!!
- Structured Interview process
- Behavioral Interview
- Train your interviewers!
- Evidence
- Values first, skills second
- BS meter
- References
- Verified Managers only
- Backdoor company references
- Behavioral Interview
- Decision Making
- “Hell Yes” or NO
Key Takeaways that the Audience can plug into their business today! (Value):
- Never compromise on finding the best people with the best-fitted skills
- Never forget you’re building a product for a specific reason and customer.
- But never be lax in proving your exciting new employees are who they say they are.
- Never be lax in finding out if your new employees are working for a criminal organization or malicious state.
Guest Links
- LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/rebeccawanta/
- Company: https://q5id.com/
- LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/company/q5id/
- Twitter: https://twitter.com/Q5idProvenID
- Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/provenidentity/
Host Links:
- LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/rick-girard-07722/
- Company: https://www.stridesearch.com/
- Podcast: https://www.hirepowerradio.com
- YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCeEJm9RoCfu8y7AJpaxkxqQ
- Authored: "Healing Career Wounds" https://amzn.to/3tGbtre
- HireOS inquiry: rick@stridesearch.com
Show Sponsor: www.stridesearch.com
Thursday Jul 14, 2022
It’s Never Too Early to Lead through Core Values with Marc Reinfenrath of Spinutech
Thursday Jul 14, 2022
Thursday Jul 14, 2022
Last week I had a conversation with a CEO who thought it was too early to establish core values because his company was only 15 people. His thinking was that things would just change anyway and he would have to do them all over again as the company grows.
But here was the ginormous problem: Two of his people recently quit, the last 4 offers he made were turned down and the candidate pipeline was drying up.
… And he thought it was about the money.
Today, more than ever, people desire to be in alignment with the values of the organization. If they aren’t in alignment, they leave.
Here’s the truth: your company has values whether you like it or not. Solidifying your values and making them a decision-making tool can never happen too early and will only fuel company growth.
Guest Bio:
Marc Reifenrath is the CEO & Co-founder of Spinutech, a full-service digital marketing agency with 165+ team members across the U.S.
Marc has helped Spinutech grow from a college start-up to one of the premier full-service digital marketing agencies in the country. The secret ingredient? Company values that are truly lived, including a commitment to “Get Better Every Day”.
In that capacity, Marc understands firsthand how critical a company’s culture is to achieving and maintaining success.
Today We Discuss:
- When to implement your company values
- How to weave them into the fabric of your company
Challenge today?
- Had unwritten core values but were not formalized
- Had a miss on 2 or 10 or 20.
- Talent outweighs the cultural fit
- Drawn in by talent and weeded out by the environment
- 2 people hired that within 90 days were gone. Instant misalignment
- -realized culture pushed them out
Why is this important to the company?
- From a hiring perspective, it is a really quick filter
- Not too aspirational. You have to own what you really are
- We take too long to make the decision
Rick’s Nuggets:
- Formalization attracts the right people and repels those who do not
- Notion that you want to attract everyone is WRONG
- Time!
- Interviewing kills the production of your team
- Assumptions, bias & personal motives… oh my!
How do we solve the problem?
- Leadership team development
- People who understand the organization
- Doesn't need to be perfect
- Needs to be honest
- *** needs to be authentic, not aspirational
- Values need to be actionable
- We get better every day: better myself, team & clients
- Work into a daily routine
- Core values onboarding
- Slack channel language is communicated
- Natural part of how they do business
- Lived every single day
- Leaders need to show core values in Action!
- Weekly video “get better every day”
- In every part of the business
- Without core values, a lot more problems.
- Stronger the core values the more you are prepared for growth
- Every person who onboards becomes less of an attack
- Inject DNA into people as quickly as possible
- Feedback on how to enhance the value
Rick’s Nuggets
- Be realistic about who YOU are
- Aspirational values are worthless
- North star for how everyone operates within the organization
- Build interview questions around core values
- Evaluate against values
- Aligned = hire
- Build an interview question library
- Assign interview questions to each interviewer
Key Takeaways that the Audience can plug into their business today! (Value):
- Honest about what your core values are, Lived not aspirational
- Actionable values -
- Stay patient in the hiring process. Don't just put a butt in a seat.
Guest Links:
- LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/marcreifenrath/
- Company: https://www.spinutech.com/
- LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/company/spinutech/
- Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/spinutech
- Twitter: https://twitter.com/spinuser
- Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/spinutech.llc/
- YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/user/spinutech
Host Links:
- LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/rick-girard-07722/
- Company: https://www.stridesearch.com/
- Podcast: https://www.hirepowerradio.com
- YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCeEJm9RoCfu8y7AJpaxkxqQ
- Authored: "Healing Career Wounds" https://amzn.to/3tGbtre
- HireOS inquiry: rick@stridesearch.com
Show Sponsor:
Thursday Jun 30, 2022
The Hiring 4-S: Strategy, Systems, Staff & Skills with Hilmon Sorey of CoachCRM
Thursday Jun 30, 2022
Thursday Jun 30, 2022
Are Strategy and Systems missing in your hiring process?
The answer is most likely “Yes” as 99.9% of entrepreneurs approach hiring as a reactive activity based on a current need. This is dangerous because it perpetuates the transactional mindset that sets you up for failure.
Strategy is not about “how do I turn on the funnel”. Strategy is about how you identify, contact & engage with the person who will thrive in your business. This means being able to articulate your value to align with each individual.
But, strategy is not enough to get an A-player to join your company. The structure of your interview process is the System that demonstrates excellence within the organization. And excellence is what every high performer strives for in their next company.
Guest Bio:
Hilmon Sorey is Co-Founder of CoachCRM sales coaching software for managers; Co-Founder of ClozeLoop, a sales strategy, training, and enablement firm with offices in New York, Houston, Silicon Valley, and Johannesburg; Partner in 2.12 Angels as a seed-stage venture capital firm; and author of 8 top-selling books on sales, sales management, and coaching.
He has helped build teams in companies that range from early-stage startups to Salesforce, Box, SurveyMonkey, Bill.com, and some of the fastest-growing companies in the world totaling over $600B in valuation and market cap.
He’s an award-winning trainer who has trained over 15,000 salespeople and over 5,000 executives. He is a sought-after speaker around the globe and a Forbes contributor.
Today We Discuss:
- The 4 S’s: Strategy, Systems, Staff & Skills
- How to implement the missing pieces into your organization
Challenge Today?
- Ensuring that you are hiring the right people who will have impact
- Understanding go-to-market strategy in how you hire
- Strategy and Systems absent in most hiring process
- How Companies Scale and How to Use Hiring as Competitive Advantage
Why is this important to the company?
- Ask any CEO of a Unicorn what they consider to be their competitive advantage. They’ll say their people.
- Tech eventually equals out, Markets change, Investors are wonderful - but even they invest in people.
Rick’s Nuggets
- Strategy absent:
- No time to do it
- Feel it’s not important
- It’s all bullshit anyways
- System
- No time to set up or train
- The results you get are the fruits of the effort of the work put.
How do we solve the problem?
- Strategy
- Understanding GTM strategy
- Competitive Differentiation (direct, indirect)
- Winning Zone
- Messaging and Channels
- Systems
- Agile Tech Stack
- Sales & Marketing Playbooks
- Feedback Loop and Ecosystem
- Staff
- Sales Strategy
- Competency Matrix
- Methodology for Alignment (proof)
- Culture
- Skills
- Training
- Coaching
- Margin Gains
Rick’s Nuggets
- Strategy:
- Only hire people who align with company values!
- Learn early
- Understand YOU first
- Only meet people who “lean in”
- System
- Interview process
- Documented, and communicated,
- Interview process
- Skills
- Train your people
Key Takeaways that the Audience can plug into their business today! (Value):
- Focus on Strategy and Systems to create scale.
- Hiring is as critical as identifying customers
Guest Links
- LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/hilmonsorey/
- Company: https://www.coachcrm.com/
- LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/company/coachcrm/
- Twitter: https://twitter.com/hilmonsorey
Host Links:
- LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/rick-girard-07722/
- Company: https://www.stridesearch.com/
- Podcast: https://www.hirepowerradio.com
- YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCeEJm9RoCfu8y7AJpaxkxqQ
- Authored: "Healing Career Wounds" https://amzn.to/3tGbtre
- HireOS inquiry: rick@stridesearch.com
Show Sponsor:
Thursday Jun 23, 2022
Thursday Jun 23, 2022
Why is the phone screen is the most underutilized tool in hiring today?
There is this perception or fear that the person making the call will say the wrong thing and screw up the chances that the person will show up. So the phone screen is treated like a used car sale.
Tell people all the great things about our company, gather some basic information and invite the person in to interview. And because we like them because look good on paper, we assume they will want to work for us.
Here’s the truth: High performing people do not want to work for your company based on your sales pitch. What people want is to be understood and to be positioned where they can deliver the greatest impact.
How do I get better with phone screens?
Today we’re going to discuss:
- Why Phone screens (Discovery calls) are critical to hiring A-players
- The most important question you need answered before you bring ANYONE in for an interview
Challenge today?
- Phone Screen! - Discovery call
- Often skipped
- Viewed as a time waster
- Real time waster is the interview
- 90% of the people that get interview will position themselves out
- The most important question:
- “What are 3 or 4 main criteria you need to see in an opportunity for you to accept an offer with a company”
Why is this important to the company?
- First impression of your company
- You need people to show up to your interview
- Understand how to close the person at the end of the proces
How do we solve the problem?
- Value the Discovery call
- Prioritize time
- Make the decision to call EVERYONE
- Basic screening eliminates the bottom 10% but also the top 10%
- A-players often hide
- Positioning before skills
- Pain, Desire & Impact
- Common info (skills, commute, interviewing, compensation expectations)
- Wrap up
- Main Criteria Question
- “3 or 4 main criteria you need to see in an opportunity for you to accept an offer with a company”
- Confirm if they desire what you offer
- How you can get me to join your company!
- Connect the dots
- Allows them to take ownership
- They show up, ready to succeed
Key Takeaways -Value:
- Prioritize the phone screen/discovery call
- Look for alignment of positioning for EVERY person you talk to BEFORE they are brought in for an interview
- Let the person ask for the interview
Links:
- LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/rick-girard-07722/
- Company: https://www.stridesearch.com/
- Podcast: https://www.stridesearch.com/hire-power-radio
- Authored: Healing Career Wounds (Amazon)
- https://www.amazon.com/dp/B094TL14CD/ref=dp-kindle-redirect?_encoding=UTF8&btkr=1
- HireOS inquiry: rick@stridesearch.com
Show Sponsor:
- www.stridesearch.com
Thursday Jun 16, 2022
Necessary Interview Intelligence for Hiring with Raphael Danilo of Yobs
Thursday Jun 16, 2022
Thursday Jun 16, 2022
Two people pop into a room together for an interview. What happens next?
No one knows!
This is the eternal mystery that most companies have faced for decades. And the single point of failure in hiring!
Because we assume that everyone knows how to interview. But the truth is, they do not as most interviewers have only been trained on what NOT to say. There is no insight as to what is being said, the questions that are asked or personal motives that drive a person’s opinion on a hiring decision.
So today we are going to help to give you insight into how you can gain valuable interviewing data to empower your people to make stronger hiring decisions for your company!
Guest Bio:
Raphael Danilo is a French entrepreneur and investor based in New York. He's the CEO and founder of Yobs, an Interview Intelligence platform that sits on top of Zoom and the ATS and enables every interviewer to feel prepared and be more efficient in hiring top talent.
Raphael has helped 100+ high-growth organizations up level their recruiting organization with Interview Intelligence through Yobs and Evening Fund, the VC fund he runs on nights and weekends.
TODAY WE DISCUSS:
- The importance of interview intelligence
- How to gain data to secure accurate hiring decisions
Challenge today?
- Recruiting is incredibility opinion spaced
- Opinions about what we remember about the conversation
- Not evidence based
- High vs low quality question
- Work about work
- Labor intensive tasks - ie: interview plan, taking notes
- Pre-interview
- During interview
- Post interview- scorecard
- Recruiting teams misaligned
- Not having a shared view of reality
- Not offering enough benefits, equity, pto
- Opinions drive decision rather than data
Rick’s Nuggets
- Interview is riddled with fail
- Interviewers are not trained
- Company values
- Bias, assumptions & personal motives
- To understand how good the person is across the desk
How do we solve the problem (solution)?
- Capture reality
- capture all candidate interactions - across web conferencing, dialers, phone, and email.
- Invest in interviewer training and coaching
- Analyze Interview them and surfaces key moments automatically to...
- Deliver insights to level-up your organization by better understanding your candidates, your teams and your hiring process.
Rick’s Nuggets
- Interview intelligence
- Start with the company values
- Decision making language throughout the organization
- Interviewers champions of the values
- Protectors of realm
- Everyone buy’s in!
- Assigned Interview questions
-
- Behavioral interview questions
- Questions tied to a measurable of the core value
- Train your interviewers
- Assumptions allow bias & motives to fester
- Listening skills - digging under the hood
- Take diligent notes-
- what they said, not what you translated
- Record & review the conversations
- Video (zoom, teams, etc…)
- Review until you achieve consistent quality data
Key Takeaways that the Audience can plug into their business today! (Value):
- Capture reality- record your calls
- Invest in coaching/training
- Reduce bias in process
Guest Links:
- LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/raphael-danilo-481b41b2/
- Company: https://www.yobstech.com/
- LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/company/yobs/
Host Links:
- LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/rick-girard-07722/
- Company: https://www.stridesearch.com/
- Podcast: https://www.hirepowerradio.com
- YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCeEJm9RoCfu8y7AJpaxkxqQ
- Authored: "Healing Career Wounds" https://amzn.to/3tGbtre
- HireOS inquiry: rick@stridesearch.com
Show Sponsor:
- www.stridesearch.com
Thursday May 05, 2022
The Blind Spots of Hiring Managers & Candidates with Varun Puri of Yoodli
Thursday May 05, 2022
Thursday May 05, 2022
Let's face it, a lot of people are BAD at interviewing on both sides of the table.
It is easy to understand that candidates or job seekers are bad for numerous reasons. Being nervous, out of practice, and under pressure to do well because of NEED, create a large margin for error. For seasoned interviewers, it becomes easier to perform because the person has a lot of practice interviewing. That practice is what eventually makes it easier to land a job.
On the company side, interviewers get a lot of practice asking the same questions as everyone else, but the lack of structure & coordination does very little to uncover evidence to support the decision. The problem with that is that only surface information is gathered and at the end of the day, the hiring decision is made on circumstantial evidence, assumptions, and bias.
Guest Bio:
Varun Puri is the Founder of Yoodli and an Entrepreneur in Residence at Paul Allen's AI Institute. Yoodli uses AI to help people improve their public speaking and interviewing skills without the pressure of an audience.
Prior to Yoodli, Varun worked on a GoogleX project to bring high speed internet to unconnected regions using invisible lasers. He also ran special projects for Sergey Brin, Google's co-founder.
Today we discuss:
- Why it is important to practice your interview (or any presentation)
- How to practice effectively for an interview
HIRING STORY:
- Struggle getting someone to hire him…
- Now getting people to hire for his startup
- The key to getting people to bet on you is how you communicate with them
PROBLEM:
- Smart people on both sides of the fence (interviewers and candidates) who miss dream job and miss dream candidate
- Outcome: Missed hiring on both sides
- Hiring managers may not represent companies in the best way
Challenges today?
- Communication skills are an amorphous training concept. No clear way of measuring progress or diagnosing issues (we’re dealing with peoples’ deep insecurities). We practice in front of the mirror, camera, and stopwatch. Or worse, avoid it altogether
Why is this important to the company?
- Individual:
- Land your dream job. Get access to the opportunities you deserve and don’t miss out on them because of how you speak
- Corporation:
- Get your dream candidate
- Ensure your team is aligned
- Help people become more confident communicators and leaders
Rick’s Nuggets
- We don’t set Expectations
- Allow people to prepare
- Makes interviewers seem unimpressive - demonstrate
- Unable to
How do we solve the problem?
- 3 pronged solution needed:
- Be aware of your biases/ way you communicate
- Collaborate with your team to ensure you’re all saying the same story
- Diagnose the issues and work on them
- Solution:
- Practice interviewing skills for hiring managers:
- Be aware of your biases/ way you communicate
- Stay on company brand
- Collaborate with your team to ensure you’re all saying the same story
- Don’t say the wrong thing (non inclusive language, berate competition)
- Diagnose the issues and work on them
- Time stamped feedback
- Convey energy
- Be aware of your biases/ way you communicate
- Practice for candidates
Rick’s Nuggets
- Interview Structure- expectations
- Repeatable & predictable process
- Timing and Steps in process
- Interview question scripts
- Feedback loop
- Interview training
- Documentation habits
- Interview preparation
- How to prepare the candidate
- How the interviewer prepares
Key Takeaways that the Audience can plug into their business today! (Value):
- Align with your team with a set of interview questions you want to ask and follow up with the Why questions to dig deeper.
- Conduct the work as a team
- Watch the post-game highlight reel & critique
Guest Links
- LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/varun-puri001/
- Company: https://www.yoodli.ai/
- LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/company/yoodli/
- Twitter: https://twitter.com/yoodli
Host Links:
- LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/rick-girard-07722/
- Company: https://www.stridesearch.com/
- Podcast: https://www.hirepowerradio.com
- Authored: "Healing Career Wounds" https://amzn.to/3tGbtre
- HireOS inquiry: rick@stridesearch.com
Show Sponsor:
Thursday Feb 03, 2022
Hire Faster by Interviewing Deeper with Kison Patel of MAScience & DealRoom
Thursday Feb 03, 2022
Thursday Feb 03, 2022
As an entrepreneur, we all share one thing in common. Every single one of us has made a bad hire.
Let’s define what a bad hire is. A bad hire is what happens when our need to fill something quickly overrides our logic. The interview process gets rushed, red flags get overlooked, and… Just like that, you have hired a person who is nothing more than a seat filler. We all hope that the person will work out but we know deep down we just made a bad hire.
Here’s the truth: You can still hire quickly when you slow down your interview process. Less steps, more quality time. Going deep is the only way to uncover the fit of the individual into the culture of the organization.
Today we discuss:
- Why we continually make bad hires & when to break the cycle
- How to go deeper while moving faster
Kison’s Hiring Story:
- Hired the first 5 people who responded to his craigslist ad
- Flannel shirt, BO guy who sent video rants.
- Went through a year and a half of harassment.
Challenge today?
- Hiring across functions
- Organic vs outside leaders
- Be proactive about letting people go
- Talent you need with goals your trying to achieve
- 1 of 8 hires was a bad hire in 2021
- Development function & Marketing is really mature, low attrition
Why is this important to the company?
- Learning
- When to take a passive hiring approach
- Knowing key roles, CFO, Demand Gen… get to know those people and courting
- Centralizing the hiring
Rick’s Nuggets
- My bad hire story
- Friend no more - The relationship ending was on me!
- Expectations Alignment document (write it down!)
- Friend no more - The relationship ending was on me!
- Root of the issue: expectation alignment
- Not sharing the same values
- Process allows people to take you seriously
- Interview: less questions, more depth
How do we solve the problem?
- Accountability
- Shifted from founder hiring to leaders
- Stepping back and optimizing leads
- One person that didn't work out came through a search firm
- Being systematic
- Pragmatic in having a comprehensive scope
- Do more passive recruiting
- Test project 24 hours
- Closing people
- Ended to end in 10 days
- Keeping things compressed
- *** Write the offer letter on the phone with the person
Rick’s Nuggets
For critical hires:
- Create an expectations document (Positioning & Accountability)
- Why (pain)
- Desire (do we both want the same thing?- positioning)
- “Positioning is the single largest influence on the buying decision.” -Geoffrey A. Moore, Crossing the Chasm
- Impact (growth plan)
- Outline & communicate your process
- People check out with time & poor communication
- Provide active feedback
- Timing
-
- Time + communication + feedback = Hire
- Less time, more depth
- Empower each person to be a decision maker
Key Takeaways that the Audience can plug into their business today! -Value:
- Identify and build your company's core values
- Utilize your referrals and be proactive with recruiting
Guest Links
LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/kisonpatel/
Company: https://www.mascience.com/
LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/company/mascience/
Twitter: https://twitter.com/dealroominc?lang=en
Website: https://kisonpatel.com/
Host Links:
LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/rick-girard-07722/
Company: https://www.stridesearch.com/
Podcast: https://www.hirepowerradio.com
Authored: "Healing Career Wounds" https://amzn.to/3tGbtre
HireOS inquiry: rick@stridesearch.com
Episode Sponsor: Criteria Corp: https://www.criteriacorp.com/
Friday Jan 28, 2022
Friday Jan 28, 2022
We hear a lot about culture today as being the most important aspect of growth. Yet product development & sales are too often prioritized over people.
Let’s break this down for a quick minute. Your company's success and/or failure is determined by your people and the relationship you have with their growth. What this means as an entrepreneur is that you are responsible for creating an environment where communication and failure is embraced and celebrated.
It is only when people feel safe & important that they take ownership of their role and allow themselves to thrive.
Guest Today: Justin Erdtsieck, President of Trencore & Brix
In 2016, Justin started to focus the business on hard work, perseverance, determination, resilience, compassion, and trust, and then began relaying these core values to his team through servant leadership.
Each individual employee knows they’re valued and respected and in turn, they care for the company and the final product.
As a result of this mindset shift, Justin has grown the company from $10M in revenue to over $60M in just a few years.
Today we discuss:
- Why you must adopt the mindset shift from product to people
- Justin’s mission to put culture at the forefront of the business & the results of that work
Challenge today?
- Story:
- Stagen: coaching
- Culture was a shit show!
- Inspired by a tour of Zappos. Allowed everyone to create their own space
- Bio -
- History of the company
- Who we are as a company
- People come in with understanding the purpose
- Training
Why is this important to the company?
- 2016 - now- grew from $10M to $60M in revenue. 600 people
- People want to stay- no one has quit in 4 years
- Proactive communication has saved the company over $1M a year
How do we solve the problem?
- Review Core Values
- Weekly Standup
- Check In meetings in the field (fostering company health)
- Culture
- Creating a purpose, helping everyone understand the why
- Living by core values
- Innovative on spreading the word on purpose,
- “A place where people feel safe & enjoy the experience we call work”
- Hiring process
- Eliminate the cancer
- Starting people from the bottom and growing them
- No formal interview process
- Moved people up internally!
- Understand the culture
- Teach
- Trial by fire first… didn't work
- Stagen program for leadership
- Personal development is key
- Motivated
- Creating daily habits to hold people accountable
Key Takeaways that the Audience can plug into their business today! -Value:
- Document your purpose so the people who work with you understand the “WHY”
- Success comes when you stop worrying about how much money you are going to make
- Treat people well, take care of yourself & create a good support syste
Guest Links:
LinkedIn https://www.linkedin.com/in/justin-erdtsieck-a20716105/
Company: https://trencoreandbrix.com/
LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/company/trencore-brix/
Host Links:
LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/rick-girard-07722/
Company: https://www.stridesearch.com/
Podcast: https://www.hirepowerradio.com
Authored: "Healing Career Wounds" https://amzn.to/3tGbtre HireOS
inquiry: rick@stridesearch.com
Show Sponsor: Criteria Corp: https://www.criteriacorp.com/
Thursday Dec 02, 2021
Thursday Dec 02, 2021
We all have bought into the belief that following hiring best practices will ensure that we make the correct hiring decisions. Yet those best practices really do not produce consistent results. Why?
First, “best practices” are guidelines that trickle down from the big name-brand companies who all have the advantage of a much fatter wallet… And they are Transactional!
Second, what works for large companies does not work for startups. The truth is that you are needing to hire totally different people. Startup companies need “builders” to fuel company growth. And builders are not all about the $$money. They are about personal & professional growth.
This requires that you approach these people in a way that is counterintuitive to “best practices” and centered upon answering the question, “what’s in it for me”.
For those of you who are new to the show or don’t know me yet:
- Cut my teeth as an Executive Recruiter for Tech Startups in the Silicon Valley
- Coached leaders, candidates & helped to build over 200 tech companies
- Black belt in BJJ, F1 aficionado & adrenaline junkie
Today we discuss:
- Why it is critical to break away from hiring best practices
- Process to create your Own “best practices” that crush your competitors
Challenge today?
Beliefs
- There really is NO right way to hire
- Hiring Fails are acceptable (50% success rate)
- Cost of doing business
- Copy those who are already successful
- Google today is much different than Google at your stage.
- Evaluate for cultural fit… you evaluate for skills
- People from name brand companies are great hires
- They may be…. If they are builders
- Most people that are willing to leave big companies are not high performers
- High performers have “golden handcuffs” - best to rent
- More candidates give me a greater chance of success
-
- More candidates = time loss
- Target
- 1-3 people per position into the Interview process
Focus
- Top of funnel
- Reliance on job boards
Execution
- Interview training
How do we solve the problem?
What to believe
- Strong hires come from someone in your network
- Positioning before Skills
- Positioning is in a person’s DNA
- Builder, Improver, Maintainer
- Only builders will help you grow the company
Focus on the interview, not the funnel
- The Interview process is what wins hires, not the number of candidates
- Current best practices are:
- 10-15 minutes on a “screening call”
- Selling the company
- Selling the job
- Gather requirements
- Schedule an interview
- 10-15 minutes on a “screening call”
- Importance of the Discovery call
-
- Biggest time investment is to be made
- Determines a person's positioning (builder, improver, maintainer)
- Invaluable insight into a person’s pain, what they desire
- Impact they have brought into their current organization (key indicator of a builder)
Make Interviewing your strongest talent
- Solidify your process
- Timing
- from first contact to offer acceptance
- Timing of each interview (45-1 hour)
- Rules
- Interviews start and end on time!
- No meandering
- Timing
- Steps - Discovery call, Interview (video, onsite) -number of interviewers
- Content- pre determine & assign interview questions
- Questions must be designed to surface evidence of value alignment
- Not about asking questions but having conversations
- Broadcast your process
- Make it known that the interview is challenging
- Hire for Value Alignment first!
- Make it known that you foster growth for “builders”
- No Evidence, no vote
-
- Interviewers need to be trained!
- Roleplaying
- Recording conversations
- Bias has no merit
- Either a “Hell Yes” or a no
- Decision must be supported by evidence
- Interviewers need to be trained!
Rick's Links:
LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/rick-girard-07722/
Company: https://www.stridesearch.com/
Podcast: https://www.stridesearch.com/hire-power-radio
Authored: Healing Career Wounds (Amazon)
https://www.amazon.com/dp/B094TL14CD/ref=dp-kindle-redirect?_encoding=UTF8&btkr=1
HireOS inquiry: rick@stridesearch.com
This show is proudly sponsored by Criteria Corp: https://www.criteriacorp.com/
Thursday Sep 23, 2021
How to Stop Sucking at Hiring Sales People with Joseph Fung of Uvaro
Thursday Sep 23, 2021
Thursday Sep 23, 2021
Hire slow, fire fast is a motto we have all heard as startup founders. It makes logical sense but what really happens is quite the opposite. As entrepreneurs we shift into panic mode when we have a need and move quickly to fill the role. Completely missing all the evidence that this person will be a bad hire.
Once the person is in the seat, the dread of having to refill a role often leads to concessions made to the detriment of the business.
Hiring Slow means investing the time to really make sure the person will be a strong hire. Therefore there should be no need to fire fast. Especially if you really understand who the person is and gain evidence of the value they add to the company.
Think of each person you hire as being worth $2 million dollars to the company. Changes your perspective, right?
A lot more care and a higher talent bar would be prioritized over just “filling the seat”.
Our guest today: Joseph Fung, Founder & CEO of Uvaro
A tech sales career accelerator, and of Kiite, a sales enablement platform purpose-built to provide sales teams with the information they need when they need it. Joseph’s a repeat Founder & CEO, and with multiple successful exits, and speaks frequently on the topics of sales leadership, diversity, and corporate social responsibility.
Joseph is an expert in sales, startups and building scalable culture.
Today we discuss:
- Our mentality around hiring sales people
- How to effectively attract & hire high performers
Challenge today?
- Hiring for software skills rather than problem solving skills
- No internal training- want someone who already doing what you need done
- Rely on stereotypes and gut
- Need people who can speak to a bigger variety of customers
Why is this important to the company?
- Fix the problem, you can triple the production of 1st year sales reps
- 8 months to ramp, average sales rep only achieves 60% of quota
- Ramp in ⅓ time and drive production to 80% - Training
- Churn & burn kills morale
- Cash costs are immense on the back end
How do we solve the problem and hire the strongest people every time?
- Throw out your job description
- Translate ideal customer to sales job description
- Ideal Customer Profile- go granular
- Choosing what & who to hire
- Invest in Revops & sales enablement
- 50:1 ratio Rep to SE is a start => move to 20:1
- Mindset
- Treating the organization with respect
- Thinking is you solve the problem by hiring more people
- Interview
- Culture fit interview - “Is this someone I want to have a beer with?” not
- Turn it into a behavioral interview - what behaviors demonstrate values alignment
Rick’s Nuggets
- Performance metrics are most critical component today for job descriptions today
- Accountability up front
- Understanding a person’s positioning
- Transactional Sale VS. Enterprise/Solutions Sale
- Resources available
- Builder, Improver, Maintainer
- Uncovering the impact that has been made in their current/former position
- Save time, increase revenue
Key Takeaways -Value:
- Throw out your job description . Copying others is just propagating bad habits
- Stop asking people to sell like the founders - it won’t work
- Re-think your culture fit interviews...write behavioral questions
Guest Links
LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/josephfung/
Twitter: https://twitter.com/josephfung
Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/josephfung/
Company: https://uvaro.com/
LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/school/uvarolife/
Twitter: https://twitter.com/uvarolife
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/uvaro.life
Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/uvaro.life/
YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/uvaro
This show is proudly sponsored by Criteria Corp: https://www.criteriacorp.com/
Thursday Sep 09, 2021
How to Terminate an Employee with Dignity - Lori Torres of Parcel Pending
Thursday Sep 09, 2021
Thursday Sep 09, 2021
The first time I was fired was when I was 16 years old and working at Numero Uno Pizza. It happened really strangely, I went in to pick up my paycheck and the manager let me know that this paycheck would be my last one as I was no longer employed there.
No warning and no explanation.
Bewildered, I simply walked out the door, walked across the street and was hired by their competitor.
The way in which the whole experience went down, left me feeling embarrassed & resentful.
Never again did I eat at that restaurant because of the way they made me feel.
Our guest today: Lori Torres, Founder & Former CEO of Parcel Pending
The nation’s leading provider of innovative package management solutions. Prior to Parcel Pending, Lori was SVP of property operations at The Irvine Company.
She has been recognized on multiple occasions for her leadership, including being named 2017 “Innovator of the Year” by the Orange County Business Journal and chosen as one of 13 entrepreneurs admitted into the EY Entrepreneurial Winning Women™ 2017 North America class.
Lori worked to build a world class organization and is going to share her wisdom.
Today we discuss:
- Making the difficult decision to part ways
- How to fire a person in a way that leaves everyone feeling good about themselves
Challenge today?
- When is the right time to make a change and terminate someone?
- Can you afford to do it, do you have the bandwidth
- Taking the time to really understand
- Have an intervention- performance improvement plan, use to be successful
- Articulate to really improve the person's performance
- Everything possible to make sure they are successful
- Accountability tool &
Why is this important to the company?
- Benefits: often find someone better
- Help the person you are terminating to the world,
- Embrace the people management side of the business
- Termination is part of the evolution of the company
- Change needs to happen,
- This is the game we are playing, these are the rules, here’s how we move forward
- What you need at $3mil is different at $10M
Rick’s Nuggets
- Be proactive in your hiring
- Hiring for growth first - start with the end in mind
- “people will forget what you said, people will forget what you did, but people will never forget how you made them feel.” - Maya Angelou
How do we solve the problem?
- Identify performance issues first
- Candid open, specific conversation
- Time frame to meet the expectations
- Check in: not meeting expectations,
- Provide a performance improvement plan
- Whatree performance is now, when they are not meeting expectations, when we are going to convenience to review
- Termination
- Reason for termination:
- Labor attorney- worth the money to handle things properly
- Quick conversation : next step, it is not working
- Part ways with dignity!
- Severance with a legal document release of liability & non-disparagement
- Walk them out the door and wish them well
- Offer help to help them move forward
- Sample Termination
- Rick gets Fired!
Rick’s Nuggets
- Really take seriously the performance metrics that were set for your people in the job description
- Evidence to support the hire first!
Key Takeaways -Value:
- Really spend the time to hire correct people. It's like dating, Interview a lot
- When the person is not performing, invest the time to
- Have non-confrontational conversations with people
Guest Links:
LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/loritorres/
Company: https://www.parcelpending.com/
Twitter: https://twitter.com/ParcelPending
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/parcelpending
Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/parcelpending/
YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCFj7yh4kDC7Jx5CDUYnar7A
This show is proudly sponsored by Criteria Corp: https://www.criteriacorp.com/
Thursday Aug 19, 2021
The Great Resignation & Struggle Learning with Sam Caucci of 1Huddle
Thursday Aug 19, 2021
Thursday Aug 19, 2021
The key to retention is growth. With looming fears of “the great resignation” company’s are unsure as to how to structure the organization. Forcing a state of flux that is not healthy for the business.
The poles tell us that at least 40% of people will quit if forced to go back into the office full time. Will your company have a mass exodus? If you have not put your people first…. Most likely.
Companies who have been fostering personal & professional growth through leadership will experience far less separation because they have put their people in front of the transaction.
Our guest today: Sam Caucci , Founder & CEO of 1Huddle
A workforce tech company that upskills, trains, and motivates employees through science-backed, quick-burst mobile games.
Sam founded 1Huddle on the belief that every worker deserves access to the job training, support, and coaching needed to win on the job. Put simply, 1Huddle is making training more fun, effective, and accessible for the entire workforce.
Sam is also the author of the #1 bestseller, Not Our Job: How College has Destroyed a Generation of Workers and How to Fix it. Sam is an expert in workforce engagement and development.
Today we discuss:
- Why struggle based learning is the key to retention
- How to build learning into your culture
Challenge today?
- Training
- Do unto others as it was done to you
- Struggle is important to learning
- Leverage technology to increase outcomes
Why is this important to the company?
- Middle management job function is more important than ever
- How do we arm them to be better coaches to the front line
- 55% of workers are Millennials & GenZ
- They like structure
- Coaching up and development
- Struggle based learning
- Game based learning 45% faster!
- “Make it Stick” -Peter Brown
- "It's the Manager” Only 15% or workers are engaged (before pandemic)- Gallop
- #1 driver to engagement is having a coach
How do we solve the problem?
Struggle based learning
- Content Audit
- What do you have now?
- Gaps - Where are the business problems?
- Finding content: buy vs. build
- Selecting Technology (learning management system)
- Accessibility, Outcomes &
- Authoring
- What kind of staff is required to manage it
- Wrap learning in a game format
- Mobile first
- 52 week calendar (never ending game)
- Continual development
- Up-skilling (stop siloing workers)
- Reskill & re-onboard
Key Takeaways -Value:
- Workforce technology is making it easy to more effectively onboard every worker from frontline to full time
- Effective skill building and retention requires struggle
- Managers need better tools and strategies to onboard, develop and engage workers.
Guest Links:
Sam Caucci:
LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/samcaucci/
Twitter: https://twitter.com/samcaucci
Company:
1Huddle: https://1huddle.co/
Twitter: https://twitter.com/1huddle
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/1huddle/
Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/1huddle/
YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/user/SalesHuddleAcademy
Author of the #1 bestseller: Not Our Job: How College has Destroyed a Generation of Workers and How to Fix it (Amazon)
This show is proudly sponsored by Criteria Crop: https://www.criteriacorp.com/
Thursday Apr 22, 2021
Thursday Apr 22, 2021
It is very possible to share the same core values, yet differ in our religious or political views. This, we must understand when hiring new people.
Now you might be thinking something like “we have a really harmonious team and we don't want someone who will be bringing their strong political, religious or social agenda”. Then build the practice into your corporate values and let it blossom throughout the company.
After all, we are all servants to the “business”. And what is good for the business is innovation, diversity and growth. All of which are fueled by proper value alignment.
Our guest today: Bianca Lager, President of Social Intelligence Corp.
By driving the vision for Social Intelligence to provide productive, ethical and innovative solutions, she has spent her time working closely with Fortune 500 companies and non-profits alike to create safe and discrimination-free workplaces.
Bianca obtained an MBA from Pepperdine University with a concentration in Dispute Resolution and is a LinkedIn Learning Instructor. She is an expert in consumer reporting, focused on online risk for human resources.
Today we discuss:
- Valid reasons not to hire based on a person’s social profile
- How to properly use a social media background check to limit your company liability
What are the challenges with conducting a social media background check
- Violating privacy rights by doing it yourself
- Fed and state laws regarding politics in the workplace
- Whose standards are you using
- Is it related to business outcomes
- Is it fair to the person or the company
- Context is key
Why is this important to the company?
- Disqualification based on personal views does not lead to better business outcomes and could be discriminatory
- Culture fit -
- Diverse teams
- Or single mindset
- Business suffers
- Code of conduct standards
- Avoid someone who is disruptive to the business
- Limits the success of the company
- Who are we or What are we not?
- What is hate speech - how do we define and document that?
Rick’s Nuggets
- Difference in opinion among people who can communicate (agree to disagree) produce magical results
- unintended consequences
How do we implement a proper social media check? Do NOW!
- Review laws in your jurisdiction/jurisdiction of your employees
- Create a policy
- Risk - what is actionable
- Definition of what is acceptable code of conduct
- Stay away from protected class information
- Age, race, sex, religion, political affiliation
- 3rd party solution - defines content and behavior appropriately and consistently
- Violence:
- Intolerance:
- Criminal activity (drugs / stealing):
- Sexually explicit:
- Well documented and legally vetted business related behavior
- Fbi, Anti-Def, SPLC
- Actionable
- Legally defensible position
Rick’s Nuggets
- Preparation is key for everyone that you invite into your organization.
-
- Let your Values policy be known to everyone
- Crystal clarity from the minute they are engaged in the interview process
- Hire for value alignment first
Key Takeaways -Value:
- Formalize your social media screening approach
- Create a simple, 2-3 sentence social media policy based on a basic code of conduct
- Document and stay consistent (Documentation + consistency + policy = Actionable)
Links:
SI Podcast Offer - receive a free sample report along with discounted pricing offer
LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/biancacalhounlager/
Websites: https://www.socialintel.com/
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/socialintelligencecorp/
Twitter: https://twitter.com/socialintelco
Twitter: https://twitter.com/BiancaLager
Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/socialintelco/
This show is proudly sponsored by Criteria Crop: https://www.criteriacorp.com/
Thursday Mar 25, 2021
Thursday Mar 25, 2021
If hiring right is so critical to the organization, why is interviewing the one action that is entirely left up to chance? It has been my experience that virtually zero small companies invest in training their people how to interview.
This was the experience of an extremely successful executive, Jeff. Who at the C-level had only attended a one hour session of interview training in his whole career…. 10 years ago.
It is assumed that most leaders already know how to interview but the truth is that they don't. Most of us know how to talk skills and look for likable traits. But the process is riddled with bias and assumptions. Missing the evidence that is so critical in hiring the strongest person for the role.
Our guest today: Adam Stonehocker, Head of Sales at Gemini
Adam is the head of Sales at Gemini, a data visualization company that helps executives make key decisions involving their most important asset, their people. He has led sales teams for Peek, Google, Twitter, Pandora Radio, and AdRoll, EBay.
Adam has hired over 500 salespeople throughout his career and trained his leaders to interview with purpose.
Today we discuss:
- Why you need to invest in training your people how to interview
- How to train your people to interview effectively
There is a belief that there is no right way to interview and in the end it all comes down to “trusting your gut” and pulling the trigger... So wrong in every way!
Why don't companies invest in interview training?
- Attrition was 20% per month with poor hiring
- Team only hit 85% of goal for the year
- Culture was terrible
- Top performers said “your hiring anyone who can breathe”
Why is this important to the company?
- Without recognition & change top performers would have left
- Interview team has no idea how to identify the right people,
- You have to get the right people on the bus
- Upper management not happy
- Costs a lot of money when you have a leaky bucket
Rick’s Nuggets
- Every company should prioritize training everyone who interviews for the company
- Systems put in place maximize productivity & efficiency of your employees
How do we solve the problem?
- Identifying core values & culture that you want to hire for
- Make sure everyone is on the same page
- Hiring managers, recruiters,
- Structuring the Interview guide
- Gauging the competencies in the interview guide
- Coachable: Role play exercise to implement feedback from prior interviewer
- Training
- Values we’re looking for
- Interview guide gauges those values or competencies
- Role playing with each other
- Using the interview guide as a script
- Feedback loop and discussion from the group
- Reps/future managers take part in calibration and interviews
- Quarterly calibration
- Continually updating the interview guide
- Have your needs changed?
- Are there questions that aren’t pulling the right competency
- Problem questions that most people stumble on?
- Feel of the interview, is it intense or laid back and fun? Your interview feel should match your culture
Rick’s Nuggets
- Write behavioral questions that uncover evidence to support your company values
- Write follow up questions for deeper digging
- Assign to each team member
- Role play
- Practice makes proficient
- How did that work?
Key Takeaways :
- Define your values/culture
-
- Everyone on the same page, looking for the right types of talent
- Only then can you ABR (Always Be Recruiting)
- Structure your interview guide to gauge value competencies
- Set up quarterly calibrations to refine interview guide, interview skills,
- This is where your team continually sharpens the saw,
- Feedback loop on interview process
Links:
LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/adamstonehocker/
Websites: https://gogemini.com/
This show is proudly sponsored by Criteria Crop: https://www.criteriacorp.com/
Friday Feb 12, 2021
Friday Feb 12, 2021
Think what you may about the military but the truth is they hire better than you!
They developed and refined a process that, over time, has ultimately uncovered those individuals who exemplify the core values that are critical to the success of the organization and the mission.
A strong commitment to We, before Me! …which is what your company needs
Today is about lessons learned from Special Forces that you can apply to your company, to ensure that you are hiring the people who also share your company's core values.
Our guests today: Michael Sarraille, Founder & CEO of EF Overwatch, & George Randle, managing partner at EF Overwatch & Head of Global Talent Acquisition of Forcepoint.
Mike Sarraille is a former Recon Marine and retired US Navy SEAL officer with twenty years of experience in Special Operations, including the elite Joint Special Operations Command.
George Randle is a former US Army officer, and Vice President of Global Talent Acquisition at Forcepoint, a human-centric cybersecurity company. George has more than two decades of experience in talent acquisition at Fortune 100 and Fortune 1000 firms.
Today we discuss:
- Why it is critical for values to align with the mission
- How to Model Military Special Forces in Hiring Talent
Can we all agree almost every core business problem can be traced back to a people problems?
Knowing this, why do we set ourselves up for failure by hiring the wrong people?
Challenge today?
- Companies are terrible at hiring
- Not the best leading recruiting
- Actions don't reflect people importance
- Wrong people leading people
Why is this important to the company?
- If you don't achieve strategic competitive advantage over people, you will fail
- Weak HR function- CEO’s need to empower HR to breed success
- Every business function starts with people
- Costs are 213-1500% for a senior executive bad hire
- Direct cost- 2-15x the person's salary ($3400 per every 10k in salary)
- Indirect cost- disengaged employees
- Run out your A-players
Rick’s Nuggets
- Disengaged employees are easier to pluck out of your company when leadership is compromised
How do we deploy into your company?
- Focus in talent management solutions
- Talent diagnostics
- Leading in talent management first
- Starts at the top
- Investing into your people
- Constant Training (less than 1% of companies do this)
Key Takeaways:
- Look in the mirror
- Treating your human capital as discipline, rigor & focus as you do on your financial?
Links:
LinkedIn:
https://www.linkedin.com/in/michaelsarraillemba/
https://www.linkedin.com/in/georgelrandle/
Websites:
Facebook:
https://www.facebook.com/efoverwatch/
https://www.facebook.com/talentwargroup/
Twitter:
https://twitter.com/MJSarraille
https://twitter.com/EfOverwatch
https://twitter.com/talentwargroup
Instagram:
https://www.instagram.com/efoverwatch/
https://www.instagram.com/talentwargroup/
This show is proudly sponsored by Criteria Crop: https://www.criteriacorp.com/
Thursday Dec 17, 2020
Thursday Dec 17, 2020
Skills can be learned, but who a person is, is what determines a successful hire. This all comes down to core value alignment with the organization.
Shared values create a much tighter bond and a more engaged team member.
The correct answer is rarely hiring for skills. So consider alternative hiring initiatives like an apprenticeship program designed to purely foster career growth.
Our guest today: Nicholas Wyman, President of IWSI America
Nicholas is an international expert, particularly zero-ing in on CTE education, apprenticeship and training models in the US, UK, Germany, Switzerland and Australia. Wyman writes opinion pieces for Forbes, Quartz and Fortune, appearances on National Public Radio, he has notched top education writer on LinkedIn.
Today we discuss:
- Why an apprenticeship program might be the key to unprecedented company growth
- 6 step process to build a program at your company
Challenge today?
- Can't find people with the skills they need
- Employers need to do more to train people
- Design an apprenticeship program or internship model needs to be turned upside down
- Misconception that because a lot of
- Young people who have not been able to get a start
- Displaced people who need a fresh start
Why is this important to the company?
- Skills gap has gotten wider
- Economic uncertainty
- Global economic changes
- Impact of new govt coming in
- We will not be returning to normal
- Need to really look at your talent strategy
Rick’s Nuggets
- Apprenticeships for those in career transition- modern elders
How do we build an apprenticeship program into your company?
Six Step Plan:
1 - Identify the apprenticeable occupations
2 - Form a team to run the program
- Internal team- leadership support
- Identify coaches / mentors
3 - External partners
- Deliver Training has to be structured
- Training provider
- State funding assistance
4 - Define training goals & Wage schedules
5 - Marketing & Recruitment of the program
- Brand it & give identity
6 - Develop an ongoing evaluation process
Rick’s Nuggets
- Develop everything around your true corporate values
- Interview process that uncovers evidence to support the hire
Key Takeaways:
- Broadening your view on who you might employ - broader than diversity, disability - more women (women and youth disproportionately impacted by Covid)
- Get people engaged- lost generation of young people
- Take a long range view to skills development
- Rock solid, top down support- can not be just another training initiative
Guest Links:
LinkedIn: Nicholas Wyman
Website: IWSI America
Twitter: @nicholas_wyman
This show is proudly sponsored by Criteria Corp
Thursday Dec 10, 2020
Hiring 250 Remote Employees in 2 Weeks with Brock Blake of Lendio
Thursday Dec 10, 2020
Thursday Dec 10, 2020
Imagine having to staff 250 roles... just as many companies were laying off and scrambling to get their PPP loans approved.
Our guest today had 2 weeks to hire 250 people to handle the demand for PPP loans and is here to share his story.
Our guest today: Brock Blake, Co-Founder & CEO of Lendio
Brock spent the last nine years developing technology to get loans to more people, more quickly, and more efficiently than traditional lenders. Under his leadership, Lendio grew to be the largest online marketplace for small business loans in America. So when the coronavirus pandemic struck, he knew he was in a unique position to make a difference.
Today we discuss:
- Creative ways to bulk hire in a short period of time
- The hiring system to be able to crush a lot of hires in a very short time
Challenge today?
- We had committed to [a company] that we would hire 25+ of their people on a temporary basis to help with PPP and then they would return to their employment. It was a win/win. The painful part was realizing the people we hired through them were not skilled in computer software and systems. We ended up keeping only 8-9 people from [Company] which put us behind in getting resources to meet the demands we had.
- Being told “we are good, no more hires” next day “Let’s get 150 hired by next Monday” and we crushed those goals
Why is this important to the company?
- Getting to the bottom of the barrel in terms of Temp to hire resources for the last group that we hired. The incentive to stay home instead of work because of the unemployment benefits had kept a lot of people from applying for work. So those that were applying by the end of our hiring process were not the most employable people. The number of wage garnishments, failed background checks, etc. was much higher for this last group than our overall hiring experience.
- Having the opportunity to extend offers to people during the pandemic. Some people were experiencing the worst few weeks of their lives and were overcome with joy when they received offers. Truly an awesome experience!
- Candidates crying on the phone with us when we offered them the position because they were so grateful to be able to provide for their families or be helping w/PPP
How do we build a quick hiring structure into your company?
- Bulk interview process
- One interview, Decision
- Creating SOPs and generic equipment setup/login instructions - Getting 200+ new hires setup and logged into equipment was a massive undertaking. Staying up until 2 am helping new hires set up their computers for the next morning
- Trying to run new hire orientation with 50+ people in a Zoom meeting who have never used Zoom or their equipment before. No understanding of the mute button.
- Guy falling asleep for 2 hours during training. Snoring.
- Being responsible for retrieving equipment; traveling to unknown places (I’m from out of state), former TMs not cooperating, equipment not being left where they say it would be, thoughts of getting Covid from equipment boxes, equipment not being packed up properly and left outside in garbage bags.
- Cops involved (one emergency contact saying that the temp was MISSING and that us reporting her equipment as stolen might help the authorities find her!) - 4 total police reports
- One person saying “If you want your stuff back, come and get it. And BTW I have COVID”
- Driving all over the state
- Condition that equipment was returned in (garbage bags, shoe boxes, etc.)
- Russ and Kimberly stories of tracking down equipment after terminations
Rick’s Nuggets
- Do not get rid of your hiring process to rapid hire
- Scale the number of interviews
- Train 2-3 interview teams to allow scale
- Assigned interview questions
- Back to back video interviews
- Be aware if interviewer fatigue
Key Takeaways:
- Have a process in place
- Don't cut corners on culture fit, screening
- Get creative
Guest Links:
LinkedIn: Brock Blake
Twitter: BrockBlake
Instagram: Lendio
This show is proudly sponsored by Criteria Corp
Friday Sep 18, 2020
Friday Sep 18, 2020
Our guests today: Anne-Marie & Chuck Lerch, Co-Founder & CXO’s of HI Tech Hui
Chuck heads up Cybersecurity. been the CIO and CTO at numerous companies with great emphasis on security. His passion for secure networks is what led him to his love and vision to bring cybersecurity solutions to the Hawaiian islands.
Anne Marie is the CXO & Head of Counting Beans. Her love for business strategy and technology is what inspired her to start a consulting company in Hawaii. She specializes in project management for software development projects.
Today we discuss:
- Why it is important to secure your at home workforce
- Steps to take to mitigate the risk of being hacked
What are the security risks we are experiencing today with a remote workforce?
- Cyber crime is up over 650%
- Most office workers are working from home
- Companies and workers are ill equipped from a
- Culture Impact
- Technology Impact
- Depression
- Kids at home at same time
- Workers are can be less productive and not pay attention to what they are doing
Why is this important to the company?
- Money Loss
- Vendor hacks
- Moral Issues
- Productivity Issues
- Management Issues
- Home Issues
How do we secure our remote workforce?
- First we need to answer some questions and create a plan with our vCISO’s, CTO’s and Project Managers
- Understand what is at stake
- A hack can cost you millions of dollars!
- Depends on Company Budget and Industry
- HITRUST?
- CMMC
- NCUA, FFIEC -
- Healthcare ?
- Business with the Federal Government
- Banking
- Gap Assessment
- What are the weaknesses
- Corporate policies must align with security policies
- Cybersecurity hygiene
- Passwords -every login needs to have a different password!
- Remediation
- MFA- multi factor authentication
- Education & Monitoring
Key Takeaways:
- Implement education - security training, be aware so you don't get jacked
- Multifactor
- Securing the cloud infrastructure . secure the endpoints (computers) - configure against shady sites
- Monitor traffic
Guest Contacts:
Websites: HI Tech Hui, LLC or Cyberuptive
Friday May 22, 2020
How to Manage Remote Teams with Shiran Yaroslavsky of Cassiopeia Tech
Friday May 22, 2020
Friday May 22, 2020
A remote workforce has proven to be challenging to a lot of companies who have traditionally run operations from a centralized location. Aside from the technical issues (ie:security and connectivity) productivity, engagement and mental health become more difficult to manage. Today we take a dive into how we can utilize policies, tools and data to create a more engaged remote workforce.
Our guest today: Shiran Yaroslavsky, Co-Founder & CEO of Cassiopeia Tech
A startup that empowers managers that lead fully or partially remote teams to maximize workplace experience. Our solution delivers actionable insights to boost team collaboration, belonging, and mental health by analyzing communications patterns (not content) within and among teams. Shiran is an expert in all things related to data driven products and people analytics and was featured in 2019 Forbes 30 Under30 list.
In this episode we cover
- The problems of managing a remote workforce
- Providing direction on how to fix it
What are the remote work challenges are companies facing today?
- 77% Managers feel it is harder for them to manage their team remotely
- Don't have visibility, water cooler talk
- Creating a sense of belonging becomes more difficult (more than third were affected)
- Needs not being met.
- Need more empathy (fear, uncertainty) (36% of employees would like their managers to be more empathetic to their challenges at home to improve their work experience.).
- Lead with an open approach
- Be more sensitive to employees’ needs and how we interact.
Why is this important?
- Managers need to constantly asses the team pulse
- Remote teams are the future (GitLab report. 86% of respondents believe remote is the future)
- New skills and tools that help to adapt to the new environment
- Challenge with surveys
- People are fearing for their job
Rick’s Input
- Leaders must adapt, or parish
- Changes operational efficiency and the need for more hands on management
- Cuts the need for layers of management
What needs to happen for a company to be successful in managing a remote workforce?
There are 3 main domains companies should adjust in order to be successful in managing remote teams:
- Establish Remote Work policies & culture that are suitable for remote work. There are 3 things we need to pay attention to.
- Rules - We need to establish new rules for gaining clarity
Will we pay people for overtime if they work off-hours? How do we manage security and passwords? - Norms - When do we email, text, or message people? Are cameras always on for online meetings? How do we run and manage meetings?
- Design our broader company DNA -
- Rules - We need to establish new rules for gaining clarity
- How do we communicate when we aren’t satisfied with something? How can we stay connected while working remotely?
Establishing the right culture will help us to foster trust - Training for managers
- My interview with Amy Cappellanti-Wolf. Today the new leader is more about empathy. It’s still about driving for results but in a more collaborative way. Much more listening and a lot more guiding rather than directing.
The new leader also needs to be more flexible and innovative to adapt to the new challenges as the world is changing very fast. - Training can help to gain these new skills.
- My interview with Amy Cappellanti-Wolf. Today the new leader is more about empathy. It’s still about driving for results but in a more collaborative way. Much more listening and a lot more guiding rather than directing.
- Tools needed
- Working remotely is not just working from the office only with Zoom. Working remotely creates new challenges for leaders. According to our data - 77% of managers indicate it’s harder for them to manage their team remotely. There is a workplace experience gap that technology can help in closing.
- Team Insights tools.
It is more challenging to use Surveys for feedback tools (employees are busy and insecure while as a manager you need fast real-time insights to act on).
- Team Insights tools.
- Communication shifted to online - people analytics can empower remote managers.
- Examples from Cassiopeia - We analyze communication patterns to provide actionable insights to improve collaboration, belonging and mental health.
- For example - create a healthy workday balance. Experience of new employees
-
- Communication platforms (zoom, Slack etc)
- Collaboration tools - to share documents, thoughts, goals.
Rick’s Nuggets
- Your policies need to start with your interview process and carry through to onboarding and tenure. Not just when the person is already working for you
- Implement the same management tools in the hiring process. It provides a real life picture of how you work.
Key Takeaways:
- Be Aware of the workplace experience gap created by the shift to remote work
- Design the right policies and company culture to allow your company to prosper while working remotely.
- Use the right tools to boost your teams’ collaboration, communication, and employee experience.
Thursday Feb 27, 2020
Thursday Feb 27, 2020
The value of being able to directly text or call a person you are needing to recruit for your company is staggering. Want people to give you the opportunity to recruit them? Then you need to contact them where they will respond. Hint: It is not through email or LinkedIn.
Today’s Quote:
"Our greatest weakness lies in giving up. The most certain way to succeed is always to try just one more time." - Thomas Edison
I’m Rick Girard and welcome to the Hire Power Radio Show. Our mission is to help Entrepreneurs and hiring managers to avoid costly hiring mistakes by identifying a specific problem and provide proven solutions to enable you to WIN the right hire. We share insights from top-performing rebel entrepreneurs, disruptors & industry experts.
Like our guest today: Shafiur Rahman, Founder & CEO of Chatterworks
Shafiur has been the right-hand to founders and has built out the operational infrastructure for several companies, including Airbus Aerial, Specright and Connectifier ( acquired by LinkedIn February 2016) . He has extensive experience driving the day-to-day and long term requirements to ramp up a successful, high-growth startup.
Shafiur’s new startup helps you reach potential hires with their personal contact information!
Today we are going to discuss
- Why direct contact is critical to your recruiting efforts
- What contact information is most important
- How to find the contact information of the people you need to hire
- Typical scenario - What most do… industry best practices
Why do we need to find people's contact information when hiring?
- Low likelihood of response rate through the LinkedIn platform.
- Most people are not daily or even weekly on LinkedIn
- Passive people are not logging on at all
- People respond to Text directly. Much more than email.
- Limited to what LinkedIn offers/shows
- Have to work under their platform
What data is most useful
- Social intelligence
- Personal phone, email
Rick’s Input
- Text messaging has the highest response rate
- Open & Response rates
- 45% SMS, 8% email response rates
- 98% of texts are read, compared to 20% email
- Text messages has a 750% response rate over email
How do we find contact information?
- Hire a PI
- Background Check companies
- Build your own tech stack
- Piece together the various social platforms and cross reference data
- Your own personal aggregation
- Super labor intensive
- Can waste 30-45 minutes on just one person.
- Can still not get their direct contact information
Aggregate contact information?
- Build crawlers
- Buy public data
- Find tools
- Only gives you listed information, like home phone, no email
- If you want cell phone info, you have to pay for it
- Whitepages.com
- ZoomInfo - just business data
- spokeo
- ChatterWorks
- Swordfish
Key Takeaways:
- First identify who it is you want to hire
- Then get there personal contact information
- Where people respond the most, like start with text messaging
- 3rd- have my messaging down to ensure I’m touching people the right way. Not selling them, how can you help them in a career, how your job solves there problems.
Friday Jan 03, 2020
Hiring People Who Are Outside Your Comfort Zone! with Aaron Elder of Crelate
Friday Jan 03, 2020
Friday Jan 03, 2020
It is all too common to look for the person who brings the skills you deem necessary for your role. But the person who brings all the skills may not be the best person in the role. There are a lot of people who are in adjacent industries or sitting on the sidelines who are open to an opportunity like yours.
What does it take to find great people? Looking past the skills for evidence of success that will be transferable to your company. As we all know, past performance is a key indicator of future performance.
Today’s Quote:
“Take a chance! All life is a chance. The man who goes farthest is generally the one who is willing to do and dare.”
- Dale Carnegie
Our guest today: Aaron Elder, Co-Founder & CEO of Crelate
Aaron is a serial entrepreneur with 4 successful products, 3 companies and 2 exits under his belt. He is a designer, turned coder, turned CTO, turned CEO who is passionate about creating products people love and make the world better.
Crelate exists to help businesses continuously align people with opportunities. Aaron has a passion for taking a chance on people who are changing careers - giving people a shot
Today we discuss:
- Hiring outside the norm to combat the talent shortage
- a recipe to successfully hire
Solution to the talent shortage
- Taking an age blind approach
- Considering the skills level
- Not just a blind hire
Challenges?
- Casting a wider net- seeing through things
- Opening the holes in the net
- Look past skills to the ancillary skills
- Career shows you as a non-fact (switching careers-coming in as a jr person). Measure people based on risk rather than
- A propensity for learning new things, being innovative and growing, you will probably be able to bring that to the table
Issue of Compensation
- Is a pay cut really realistic? Taking a shot
- Until you talk to them, you don’t really know.
- *** Training and investment need to be real. The organization needs to be all in on people development
Rick’s input
- Look for transferable skills
- Adjacent industries
- Evidence of success
How do we fix it?
- Finding the people who are performers and not just seat fillers
- indicator of career changes,
- Tenacity & grit, raw materials
- Look for evidence of past success
- Hide Easter egg’s in the job post.
- Questionnaires
- Invest in Recruiters- matchmakers
- Have more conversations with people and look past the resume
- Internal training programs
- The long game is the only solution he knows.
- Short term road bumps but long term it is an investment in an approach.
- Be self-aware of the game
- optimize for the long game (bring investors on board)
- Looking to solve a long term problem - at least a 2-year problem
- Education & training which require intense focus and investment upfront.
- Benefit? -the path for retention, earned loyalty, path for mutual benefit
- If you are not growing, you will have a hard time keeping people who want to be growing
- Take more chances on people who do not have ALL the skills
- Creating training, review process that career ladder, reviews, culture for people to enjoy
- Invest in systems to automate points 1 & 2 more possible
Key Takeaways:
- Solve the talent gap/shortage by being able to take chances on people, give them a chance to tell their story and see if it fits. Look past skills to underlying achievements, velocity, grit, etc.
- Invest in the long haul - internal learning, time, training, the culture of personal growth and achievement.
- Do what you can to make #1 and #2 more efficient. That means the right tools and processes that fit those goals. Not work against them.
Thursday Aug 22, 2019
Thursday Aug 22, 2019
We are talking today about the importance of keeping your people informed about what hiring is taking place and allowing your people to become brand ambassadors!
The benefits of keeping your people informed are tremendous as employee referrals harness the highest ROI. Reduce time to hire (55%), Cost of Hire ($3k), improve the quality of hire by 88% and increase retention @45% (after two years).
This all starts with continually marketing internally first, then expanding outward!
Today’s Quote:
"Internal marketing is probably much more important than external marketing. That's even more true today than it's ever been."
- Tom Stewart
Guest Bio:
Angelo Ponzi is the Founder & President of The Ponzi Group. He is a marketing and branding strategist that works with small to middle-market companies as their fractional Chief Marketing Officer in defining market opportunities, developing competitive profiles, audience personas, brand realignment, and strategies, to strategic, integrated marketing plans that help businesses compete in an ever-changing marketplace.
He focuses on three strategic pillars for success: Insights, Brand, and Plan to develop effective and efficient programs for building enduring brands and sustainable business growth.
Angelo is also the host of the radio show/Podcast, Business Growth Café.
Show Highlights:
- Employment Marketing
- What is it? Why is it important
- How to Structure a solid marketing campaign
What is Employment Marketing?
- Promotion of the company’s mission, values, products/services to its own employees
Why is it important?
- Improve employee engagement
Problem
What are the challenges facing today
- In most companies, this is non-existant
- Marketing is left up to recruiting
- When it comes to marketing, companies focus externally and do not educate everyone internally.
- Internal marketing
- Creating brand ambassadors for hiring
- Everyone has a role in marketing, and need to get involved in what is happening. Get everyone to embrace what they are doing.
- Huge risk of alienating potential hires because they do not know how to market the company. Internal communication, internal operations, functionality
- Avoid potential issues
Who’s responsibility is it?
- C-suite & Marketing
- Recruiting
Rick’s Input:
- Internal referrals are your strongest source of talent
- Informed employees are continually on the lookout
- Required Talent Acquisition & Marketing collaboration
- Cultivate a referral program
- Brand messages reached 561% further when shared by employees vs the same messages shared via official brand social channels (Source: MSLGroup)
- Content shared by employees receives 8x more engagement than content shared by brand channels
Ingredients for good candidate Experience
- How to deploy an internal marketing program
- Set up a monthly meeting- internal chat or social platform to
- Get information to everyone
- Make the messaging visible as possible
- Internal email
- Exposure to marketing materials
- Educate employees on how the work they do fits into the overall business to build a better understanding of their contributions.
Steps for executing a plan - Process
- Conduct an internal survey to better understand the level of knowledge
- Develop an internal marketing plan, similar as you would for external marketing
- Empower an individual to be the internal marketing champion...not just an additional duty, but true responsibility with KPI’s
Rick’s two cents
- Align recruiting & marketing
- Cultivate a referral initiative
- Encourage promotion through social channels (Gamify)
Key Takeaways:
- Incorporate information about the company, markets and brand into the on boarding process
- Update employees at least once a quarter, if not monthly on any changes that can impact their jobs and/or give them the ability to talk about the company beyond their function
- Make sure employees are marketed to first, so they are aware of campaigns prior to the external marketing activities. This builds loyalty and inclusiveness among the staff.
Thursday Jun 20, 2019
Dr Deena Brown: The Hiring Power of Relationship Capital! Or You’ve Been Cat-fished
Thursday Jun 20, 2019
Thursday Jun 20, 2019
Offers do not get turned down because of the MONEY… They are turned down because you failed to Understand who the person is and then demonstrate a mutual alignment of career & personal goals to your organization.
The Truth is People turn you down because of the lack of care!
Today’s Quote:
"Truth is, I'll never know all there is to know about you just as you will never know all there is to know about me. Humans are by nature too complicated to be understood fully. So, we can choose either to approach our fellow human beings with suspicion or to approach them with an open mind, a dash of optimism and a great deal of candor." - Tom Hanks
Guest Bio:
Dr. Deena C. Brown is the founder and CEO of DC Brown International, a leadership and growth company created to pioneer innovative strategies that transform organizations into culturally diverse ecosystems.
Dr. Brown’s trademark C3 Blueprint for Success provides a strategic roadmap for organizational leaders to communicate and connect across a multi-generational workforce. Dr. Brown’s body of work includes identifying and remediating leadership gaps that are barriers to innovation and growth.
After identifying a significant deficit of women in key leadership roles, Dr. Brown founded The Leadhershift Movement. The Leadhershift Movement is designed to help women shift the way they think about themselves as women and how they develop and respond as leaders. The Leadhershift Movement provides a safe-space for professional women to get clear about their Why, confident about the What, and consistent about the How.
Show Highlights:
- Our approach
- How we humanize the process to gain greater engagement
- Process to Engage
Approach to talent
What is the problem?
- Ignoring the root of hiring. The human factor, the relationship capital
- Mindset
- Ignore the obvious
- Organizational view- transaction
- We need to fill the hole
- Disconnect on the level of importance for the person they are hiring.
- Simple things are ignored…
- Dealing with a new population of employees that are looking for more than just a paycheck
Why Offers are really Accepted or Turned Down
- We lie
- Arrogance & Ignorance
Rick’s Input
Our approach is Selfish
- We have become conditioned to believe that the company is the PRIZE
- Not the case in this market
- Positioning is a one size fits all …. Centered around perks & benefits
- Listen to understand, not to respond
Solutions
- Being aware
- transparent
What have we done about this?
- Training
- Using the data to support the discussion
- Awareness
- Brought to the attention & proper training
- Learning to remove ignorance
- Identify the gaps (pain)
- Education shift in mindset
The 3 C’s
- Clarity in Vision, Mission, and Organizational Values that paint a clear picture for potential hires.
- Consciousness about what today's workforce values such as authenticity and relatability which is more influential than a paycheck.
- Consistency in regards to expectations and responsibilities of your workforce.
Rick’s Contribution
- Engagement starts before the hire is made
- Too much focus on the money & perks
- What a person desires is far more powerful
Key Takeaways:
- Care about the Human relationship
- Having clear values … are you who you say you are
- Provide growth opportunities to augment or improve a person’s life
Thursday Apr 18, 2019
David Ferguson: Do Personality Assessments Create Lazy Interviews?
Thursday Apr 18, 2019
Thursday Apr 18, 2019
Do personality assessment tests really work? We are going to discuss the why, when & how to give assessment tests. Personally, I am not a big fan because they do nothing to develop the human connection which is so important in today’s hiring landscape.
Today’s Quote:
"Body language and tone of voice - not words - are our most powerful assessment tools." - Christopher Voss
Guest Bio:
Founder and original software developer, David Ferguson, was born into a manufacturing family by virtue of his father, the owner/operator of a fabrication job shop that still operates today. Now, with over 25 years of experience working in and writing software for the fabrication industry, David is considered an expert in the job shop arena. A sought-after speaker, he has consulted with numerous manufacturing companies around the globe, guiding them to become more efficient and cost-effective.
In the early 80’s, David created and sold his first computer program, Arrow Data Systems, a CAD/CAM system for the Apple IIe computer. During this time, he observed his father coming home late each night, only to begin the estimating process for his shop. David saw an opportunity to automate the estimating process using technology. As a result, the “Quote It” estimating package was born, becoming one of the leading sheet metal estimating packages in the world. Shortly thereafter, wanting to expand its capabilities, David developed the FabriTRAK Production Control Package. Over the years, it had been licensed to both METALSOFT and Amada America.
By the end of 2007, David had regained control of all FabriTRAK licensing agreements, completely re-wrote its production control offering, creating MIE Trak Pro. MIE Trak Pro is a state-of-the-art ERP system ideally suited to manufacturing businesses. It was designed to accommodate most production cycles and optimize the capabilities of repetitive, custom, quick-turn, and mixed mode operations. To launch his newly optimized program, he partnered with Don Clutter and founded MIE Solutions.
Since its inception, MIE Solutions has grown over 500 percent. In addition to North American sales and support locations, MIE Solutions operates offices in Australia, Mexico, New Zealand, South Africa, and the United Kingdom.
Show Highlights:
- Are personality assessments worth the time?
- What are the true results you can expect
Problem
- Personality Assessment Tests - Why should they be given
- Measuring against what you are looking for in a person.
- personality, Based on traits they think will be successful.
- Screening tool
- Do they damage the personal connection?
- Cultivate the transactional relationship?
- Create a lazy interview process?
- What if you are wrong about the traits?
- Judge against the company values?
Rick’s Input
- Assessments are not an identification tool
- The best tool is still a conversation
- Assessments are Transactional
- If used too early in the process, kills the human connection
- Personality traits do not ensure a successful hire
- Great to tell you how to manage after they have been hired!
Solutions
- Order in which tests should be given & Why?
- When should tests be given
- For skills, onsite after talking to a live human and engaged
- For personality, at the end.
- How should they be given
PXT test - cultural fit
Provides more confidence in the hire.
- Felt confident in a hire even though the personal side was not as clear
- Additive to what they feel they can do
- Flags people who give contradictory answers
Willingness to take the extra step has really amplified the level of quality and the people they hired
Results for David’s company
- Lower attrition
- Better employee treatment based on their understanding of the individuals
- Management tools for the tenure of the employee
- The exam is essentially the behavioral test?
Rick’s Input
- To Judge against a cultural fit, you must know your corporate values first!
- HUGE mistake - when company’s use it too early in the interview process.
- Must have a person emotionally engaged first
Key Takeaways:
- The assessment is just another tool in your arsenal
- If you are not comfortable with it, don't hire the person (rash decision)
- Don’t be rushed. Hiring is not an emergency
Thursday Mar 28, 2019
Mark Angel: How to Hire, Build Process & Lead in a Distributed Startup
Thursday Mar 28, 2019
Thursday Mar 28, 2019
What are the biggest challenges in building a distributed team as a startup? Today we discuss how to Hire, build process and lead in a distributed model. We will learn that uncovering the right people hinges on the Individual's desire and their emotional intelligence.
Today’s Quote:
“Completing one another is more important than competing with one another." - John C. Maxwell
Show Guest:
Mark Angel is the CEO and Co-founder of Amira Learning, the company reinventing learning to read with AI. Amira is a rapidly growing, venture-funded startup bringing the first intelligent reading assistant into K-3 classrooms.
Mark formerly served as Chief Technology Officer at Renaissance Learning, where he led the R&D organization and worked on the two most successful reading apps in the United States – Accelerated Reader and STAR. He has worked for 30 years in the Silicon Valley as a CEO, CTO and General Manager for innovators in the realm of Artificial Intelligence and Natural Language Processing (Ernst & Young, Nuance, KANA Software).
Mr. Angel is the founder of three successful start-ups. He is a chief inventor on more than 10 patents in the areas of search.
Episode Highlights:
- The Story of the Challenges faced when building a distributed company
- 3 biggest issues you struggled with
- Tools & solutions that worked best for your team
Problem:
Challenges in Hiring a Distributed Team:
- Hire for the distributed model
- Learn to screen for people who are truly able to function in a distributed environment
- People not really self-aware.
- Build process around the distributed model;
- Challenge: creating infrastructure and culture of behavior to help people to collaborate
- Choices in tooling that turned out to be wrong
- Have to "servant-lead" for the distributed model.
What issues have we struggled with around hiring?
- Where they will Thrive!
- People are not self-aware around work mode…
- The focus seems to be around the technologies they want to use or the comp they want.
Discuss the Model
- Need to put the issue up front before people get excited about the rest of the story and fool themselves and consequently us
Core Values alignment
- We need to be conscious that some folks like talking/collaborating and for others, it’s not the most pleasant part of the day. We aren't going to change a leopard’s spots.
Creating a situation where there is a balance of work and not having too many meetings. Keeping people in a place where they are getting constructive work behavior. Getting that work done but also helping others to get the work done. People are happiest when you find the “groove”.
Rick’s Challenges
- An issue of Upfront Expectations alignment
- Continually ask “Why”
Solutions
What have we done about this?
- Put this issue front & center in the interviewing process
- Getting out of the skills-based mindset.
- Screening - needed to find people who are able to cope with the nature of the model.
- Intentional about the need for people who are wired to work in a distributed environment.
- -talk about the distributed issue up front.
- Hired a recruiting expert
- Learned to screen for being at least somewhat "outgoing" and "opinionated"
- "Servant-leadership" for the distributed model.
How do we manage work?
Baking collaboration into everyday environment. Tools like google suite/slack/zoom/github/atlassian -- basically emphasis is on creating the norms around the tools. Understand when they should be using the tools
- Slack, Zoom, Gmail suite, Google docs works really well, hangouts did not for them.
- tools around design thinking.
- Set of heuristics and norms around the tools.
Allow people Flexibility
What went right & wrong in the process?
- right -- took a "team experiment" approach
- right -- recognized they needed help & hired an expert
- wrong -- didn’t push hard enough to create norms
Rick’s first step
- Take the time to understand a person’s desires before you “Pitch” the company
- People will tell you what they want. You just have to ask.
- "If you could design your ideal company, what would that look like for you?"
- A company where you will Thrive!
Key Takeaways:
- Hire people who are self-aware - Hire for EQ & cultural fit first
- Experiment with popular tools to find the tools that “best fit" for your team
- Recognize you are fighting human nature and hire to overcome
Wednesday Mar 20, 2019
Special Event: Brian Frankel from TiECon SoCal
Wednesday Mar 20, 2019
Wednesday Mar 20, 2019
Brian Frankel, Marketing Consultant of Ignite.Consulting, TiE Charter Member, and Founder, of Mentor Matchmaker
Thursday Mar 07, 2019
Tevis Trower: Re-Humanizing the Interview Process By Shifting Our Language
Thursday Mar 07, 2019
Thursday Mar 07, 2019
We don't hire for human competency but for skill set. Our language is inhuman in spite of the very real experience of working with HUMANS. People want Connection and Authentic Interaction. We need to understand What makes you, you?
Today’s Quote:
“Learn everything humanly possible about everyone you do business with." -Harvey Mackay (Swim with the Sharks)
Show Guest:
CEO of Balance Integration Corporation | Advocate for Corporate Culture & Employee Engagement
Tevis Trower is a pioneer in optimizing corporate cultures. Heralded in bestselling Megatrends 2010 as “corporate mindfulness guru for the new millennium”, Tevis has assisted powerful organizations ranging from Disney to Morgan Stanley in optimizing their most precious assets: human beings. She has created and facilitated global executive immersions for prestigious organizations including Harvard Business Review Events, Young Presidents Organization, PWC, Bloomberg LP, Viacom, Google and The Economist on issues including mindfulness, executive lifestyle, personal mastery, innovation, and the role of consciousness in creating radical success.
You can find profiles and expert advice from Tevis featured in respected media outlets including Forbes, Fortune, BusinessWeek, Glamour, YogaJournal, CIO, Pink, RealSimple, Crain’s, New York Post, Financial Times, WWD, New York Observer, MSNBC, FoxBusiness, NY1 and Martha Stewart. As NYU Faculty teaching Business Creativity & Personal Mastery, Tevis has also served as worklife expert to WebMD and Huffington Post. Tevis lives what she teaches spending time in NYC, Montauk and Woodstock, enjoying surfing, snowboarding and entertaining friends at home with her dachshund, Ruby.
Episode highlights:
- Why it is important to re-humanize your hiring process
- Changing the mindset by shifting the language
- The formula for a successful shift
Problem:
Why is this important?
- Because we focus upon skill development to get into the roles we aspire to, we buy into the notion that work and life are separate. But the reality is that we are only one person, one being.
- Through this buy-in to self-abnegation, we leave ourselves out of the workplace and all but guarantee to burn out and disillusionment. When we approach interviewing that way, we’re bound to forget that the person across from us is first and foremost a human being.
- Impostor syndrome of the interviewers (hiring managers!)
- IS-is there a place for me here? Everyone feels a little like a fake/fraud.
- Myth: This person is only as good as their resume.
- Truth: Most of the best people, have the worst resumes
Mindset
- Creating a corporate culture happens one conversation at a time. Talking about what you are passionate about, what matters to you.
- Work is home
- It is a demand market.
- * we forget we are hiring a human being… not filling a seat.
- Bring an entire life into the company
Rick’s Thoughts
- Stay away from “stinkin thinkin” - Transactional thought
- Judging people based on a piece of paper
- Restructuring the recruiting department to touch those who apply
Solutions:
By shifting the language we begin to shift the mindset.
Changing the language - humanize
- What does it mean to be human at your company?
- Don’t talk headcount, filling a seat
- life count, heart count.
- Talk about finding the “right new colleague”
- Not filling a seat or role, rounding out our community
- Shift to human terms
The breadth and depth of this person.
- Talk about the eulogy and not the resume
- Think of everyone in terms of a peer
- Values -
- The framework is in the questions, not the answers
If the adage is that people leave managers, not companies, they probably refuse offers from managers as well. Foster a culture that supports the value for success. Are they Google-ly? And what happens when being googly becomes a weakness? Homogeneity can be a downfall.
Rick's Plan
Cut out words like “candidate”, Job Description, industry terms
Key Take Away:
- Tune into your own Humanity
- Humanize the language
- Slow down the interview process to give more room & space
Thursday Feb 28, 2019
Thursday Feb 28, 2019
Before you hire, you need a clear understanding of what you need and Why. What is required needs to be focused on the work that needs to be accomplished. And that’s Why it helps to prioritize the level of importance.
The most crucial part of the recruiting process is understanding why this is really needed. It is often overlooked.
Today’s Quote:
"There are no secrets to success. It is the result of preparation, hard work, and learning from failure." -Colin Powell
Show Guest:
Greg Toroosian has spent the best part of a decade recruiting for technical positions across software, IT, and hardware verticals. He also has experience building non-technical teams including finance, marketing, business strategy, legal and operations. His career started in the UK as an agency recruiter working with companies in various industries and at different growth stages. He’s currently the Director of Talent Acquisition at sweetgreen where he oversees the team that manages all corporate hiring for technical and non-technical teams. sweetgreen is set to grow rapidly this year due to their focus on technology and the recent large round of investment they received.
Episode highlights:
- Defining what is needed and why
- Our Methods for defining and prioritizing your roles
Problem:
- Hiring managers don’t really know what they need
- Understand the gap, skillsets, and planning for growth
- I need another one of this person
- Job description we used last time
- Factoring in lead time to make the hire and then bring someone up to speed.
- Realistic Timelines
- Inefficient time spent on the wrong people because the hiring manager is really not
- Sitting down and outlining the work that needs to get done
- Prioritizing the work
- Setting performance benchmarks
Solutions:
Focus on the What and then the Why
- Greg’s Intake Process to define the What & Why - Request Greg's Intake Form: andrea@stridesearch.com
- Prioritization: is this really needed?
- What will the person be doing?
- How will that add value here?
- How is the work being done right now? (light bulb of urgency)
- Forward-thinking- hiring ahead of the plan
- Hire toward the body of work
Rick's Input:
- Write down the actual work that needs to be done with a timeline
- Define the expectations by setting at least 3 Performance metrics for the first 90 days
- The Problems that need to be solved help to gain emotional buy-in
- Tie the work to Growth - Impact
Key Take Aways:
- People are attracted to the problems you solve
- For hiring managers: Upfront time spent configuring the process and fleshing out then real need is crucial to a successful, smooth and efficient process. Give your recruiting partner adequate time, think through the real need and purpose of the role, and be clear on what the success criteria is.
- For recruiters: Know that this is where you can add a lot of value as a partner. Be confident in the questions you ask, be inquisitive, think about what you need to align on and focus on unearthing that information. This document and the information it contains will be what you refer back to throughout the process to make sure you’re on the right path and to push back when necessary.
Thursday Feb 14, 2019
Chris Russell: Better Ways to Post & Pray Your Job Descriptions to Life
Thursday Feb 14, 2019
Thursday Feb 14, 2019
"Post and Pray" yields mediocre results and yet It is the go-to method for most companies, especially startups. Look, dating apps have evolved so let's take a page from them and figure out creative ways to attract talent. After all, your companies success or failure hinges on it!
Today’s Quote:
"Pleasure in the job puts perfection in the work." - Aristotle
Show Guest:
Chris Russell is the Managing Director of RecTech Media. He is a digital recruiting expert. He began his career as a job board owner where he first learned the craft of attracting talent online. He's also a former corporate recruiter with real-world experience in the recruitment process and technology implementation.
As as a recruiting technology/marketing consultant he advises both employers and vendors on how to attract candidates or clients. He frequently blogs on the news site, RecruitingHeadlines.com, podcasts a weekly show called “RecTech” and conducts live video training on recruitment marketing tools and tactics at RecTechLive.com.
Episode highlights:
- Why you should look at approaching job postings differently
- The best ways to market your opportunities
- Tools available to help you automate the process
Let’s talk about the approach almost all companies take
- Write “job descriptions” (wish lists)
- Do Not copy old ones!
- Post on job boards
- Farm the Job boards
- Passively work employee referrals
The Job Description Format
- -short 300 words or less - According to Linkedin?
- Employer value proposition
- Q&A job descriptions
- Video
- Cybersn.com
- Harry joiner - long form job
Rick’s Format:
- Build your job descriptions around uncovering a Career Wound
- Build in Performance Metrics! - Let people know how they will be evaluated in their first 90 days
Tools to Use
- Ripl- social media video slideshows
- Buffer, deliverance, smarterqueue
- Legend.im- turns text into animation gif
- clipomac
Where & How to Post
- Indeed- biggest board out there. - active candidate pool
- Linkedin-
- Facebook job board-blue-collar, hear
- Google for jobs - Take advantage of all the free avenues
- Take an Omnichannel approach- you need to be on all the channels. Be where your candidates are and continuously add content
- Automate the flow of content out.
- Be resourceful - text or email creative pictures (you next to a whiteboard with the person’s name written on it)
- Angelist?
- **Pushing out to facebook, twitter & LinkedIn. Video gets the most engagement and exposure
- Times to post 4-6 pm at night FB- 3 pm on Wednesday
Key Take-Aways
- Go Short or Go Long!
- Re-format your job descriptions to Attract people! Define the % of time spent on tasks as well as performance metrics
- Market your jobs by taking an omnichannel approach
- Get Creative & use Tools to automate getting out your message
Thursday Jan 31, 2019
Shannon Johnson: Having the Right Mindset to Get Hired
Thursday Jan 31, 2019
Thursday Jan 31, 2019
A great hire happens when Career & Hiring objectives are in alignment.
Now more than ever, people want to feel whole in their careers and personal development has taken the lead in the decision-making process. Today we are going to look at hiring from the Interviewee’s perspective.
Today’s Quote:
"The things that bring you the greatest joy are in alignment with your purpose" - Jack Canfield
Show Guest:
As a Success Mentor, Shannon Johnson's passion for people has been the common denominator of her success throughout her 25 year career in corporate America. Today she is founder of her company, Stand Out and Get Hired, inc...taking one of her most successful achievements in launching best-in-class products to market, to now, launching the most exciting product of all...our future leaders.
Shannon worked for leading Fortune 500 companies in the retail, staffing, and pharmaceutical industries. Holding positions in marketing, management and sales, she has always been attracted to innovation and addicted to influencing others to think differently and get better every day.
Her mission is to inspire ambitious, driven, college students to take action in preparing to embark on their careers where they will thrive. She knows that Everything is possible when you believe in YOU FIRST & take action!
Episode highlights:
- How to hire & get hired in the right role
- The 3 pillars to “Stand Out & Get Hired”
Mindset
- Getting your game plan together to successfully get hired
- Settling for a “job”
- How do you get the interview first?
Preparation
- Not performing at 100% in an interview kills your confidence
- Interviewing burns people out, then you lose momentum
- Emphasis on the Resume- important but not
- The resume is really a screening tool for the company!
Why is this important
- Being sold on the Mission!
- Bring your value and strengths to life
- Mastering the skill of interviewing
- Prepare for what will happen
- Practice- mock interviews
- Put your “Game face” on
How does a person/company stand out to make the right decision
- Know your values
- Your Why
- Target what you Desire
- Take Action
Shannon’s plan
- Building your Brand
- Expert in You… values, vision, strength building
- Strength dashboard- strength finder assessment
- Grow your quality network
- Linkedin network, utilizing, leveraging and maximizing relationships that already exist
- Sharpen your Interview Skills
- Skills to beat your competition
- Fundamentals: approach the opportunity, preparation (dress, execution)
- Interviewing is a behavioral test. (highlight stories around 10 different behaviors)
- Practice, follow up (stand out and be memorable)
- Be relentless with follow up!
Rick’s Input
- Identify target companies (no spray and pray)
- Utilize Linkedin, Separate yourself from the pack (rise above)
- Be pleasantly persistent & ask for the Interview
Key Take Aways
- Align with your purpose
- Take action to beat your competition
- Self Awareness, Grow your Quality Network, Sharpen your Interview Skills
Thursday Jan 24, 2019
Katie Weber: Evaluating Your Team to Get the Right People in the Right Seats
Thursday Jan 24, 2019
Thursday Jan 24, 2019
Today we are talking about Workforce Planning and our goal is to provide Clarity of what is really needed vs. what you think you want. Evaluating Your Internal Team and Your Mission is crucial to get the right people in the right seats at your company!
Today’s Quote:
"Never look back unless you are planning to go that way." - Henry David Thoreau
Show Guest:
Katie Weber, Founder & CEO of KMW Recruitment Consulting, a recruitment and coaching firm specializing in high-growth and transition scenarios for small to mid-size companies. With nearly 20 years of diverse recruitment experience, Katie has worked around the world with early stage start-ups to Global Fortune 500s. She now utilizes that experience to quickly assess recruitment challenges, recommend and implement best practices, and find creative solutions ranging from engaged search to plug and play recruitment teams for her clients. She has developed a Recruiting Search Framework with supporting tools that facilitates organizational communication, reinforces recruitment branding, eliminates bias, and attracts the right talent. With the addition of High Performance & Career Coaching, she ensures that the candidates she places change the game with levels of confidence, employee engagement, productivity and influence that are off the charts. Her hires are often the company's best hires and top performers. The company motto is: It's not just about filling a position, it's about fueling your mission!
Katie serves on the Advisory Board for London-based start-up, Grad DNA, holds a BA in Psychology from Elizabethtown College, and has a coaching certification from High Performance Institute. She is available for speaking engagements or workshops and will be a speaker at the April ERE Recruiting Conference in San Diego.
Episode highlights:
- What happens when you don't plan?
- Where to start
- How to implement your hiring plan
Why is it important?
- Run Lean- Instagram sold for $1B to Facebook with just 13 employees (2013)
- Cost of a Bad Hire
- Kills Morale, productivity
- Disengagement is contagious
Planning & Kicking off your hiring plans for 2019
-
- Evaluating the Mission
- Defining what needs to be accomplished
- Think about leadership first.
- Evaluate the team that is already in place (workforce planning)
- Budget & Timeline
- The volume of positions needed to be filled, vs lack of internal leadership to manage them- open headcount before leadership.
- Evaluating the Mission
- Invest in hiring / promoting strong leaders
-
- To chose the right recruiting strategy (partner, in-house recruiter)
Define who “We” are and Who we need
- First Who, Then What - Jim Collins
- Dare to Go From "Good to Great" - “First the people, then the direction”
- Get the Right people on the bus, In the Right seats
- Get the Wrong people off the bus
Evaluating your internal team
-
- Cultural fit (Values, Attitude, Mission Ownership)
- Education & Training required
- Provide resources
- Work Performance
- Current
- Growth
- Accomplishments- Recognize even the small wins
- Fulfillment- breeds engagement > Increased Productivity
Employment Branding/Messaging
- Define the 3 things that are most important to them in terms of the job search
- (open leadership) for greater collaboration
- Top 3 trait alignment
- What does that mean
- Usually describing a company challenge
- Transparency
Take Aways
- Evaluate your mission, evaluate your people
- Over communicate everything!
- Fit people into your Company and not your Job
Friday Dec 28, 2018
Brenan German Part Deux: Overcoming Your # 1 Hiring Failure for 2019
Friday Dec 28, 2018
Friday Dec 28, 2018
The One change you must make for 2019. Overcoming hiring failures. Spoiler Alert: it is your Interview Process… 1950 called and they want their process back!
Today’s Quote:
"I can't change the direction of the wind, but I can adjust my sails to always reach my destination." -Jimmy Dean
Show highlights:
- Divulge the secret of an effective interview
- Halos & Horns
- Layout our interview structure
Up front, What is the secret to an effective Interview?
- Process
- Alignment
- Engagement
Halo’s & Horns
- Bias, Conclusions & Assumptions
- Your attitude determines your altitude
- Gut decisions
- Coin flip methodology
Effective Interview Structure
Brenan’s Format
- Plan
- Build
- Decision
- Scoring methodology
- Practice
Rick’s Format
- Structure (Organized, Timed, real time feedback)
- Pre-determined questions
- Give & Receive Feedback
Differentiate your company by closing the process with Everyone you decide not to move forward with!
Brenan German is Founder and President at Bright Talent Resources, Inc., a boutique Human Resources Advisory, Project Management, Training, and Recruiting Services firm.
As lead consultant, Brenan acts as an advisor to organizations wanting to re-engineer or develop a high performing, measureable, technology enabled, human resources function. Brenan has over 20 years of hands-on Human Resources leadership experience developing intelligent and successful talent management functions within some of the country’s most respected and well-known companies such as The Gallup Organization, Edwards Lifesciences, and Black & Decker. Brenan’s particular expertise involves the alignment of talent management strategies to business goals, and the implementation of systems and processes to reach measureable objectives, demonstrating clearly the bottom line impact expected of strategic Human Resources programs.
A graduate of the University of California, Irvine, Brenan is an active participant in a number of organizations: Chair of the Orange County Employment Managers Association (OCEMA), Founding Board Member of the Talent Acquisition Group of San Diego (TAGSD), Member of the Society of Human Resources Management (SHRM), and Advisor to Sigma Pi International Educational Foundation.
Thursday Dec 13, 2018
Charles Antis: Discovering Your Company's Purpose
Thursday Dec 13, 2018
Thursday Dec 13, 2018
It’s all about Purpose... Why? Because if your model exists just to make money, you won’t be relevant anymore. What is your companies purpose? Today we are going to help you discover your purpose and share ways to build purpose into to your hiring process.
Today’s Quote:
“When you're surrounded by people who share a passionate commitment around a common purpose, anything is possible.” - Howard Schultz
Show highlights:
- Discovering your purpose
- Getting others to rally around your company’s purpose (super power)
- How to hire Purpose-driven people
Let’s start by talking about how you discovered your companies purpose
- Origin Story:
- Reason to exist other than making money
- you have to have a Why
- “We exist to keep families safe and dry” - Antis purpose
Why is it important to have a purpose?
- The purpose of a company is to make money!
- Involved in changing people’s lives
- Benefits of Purpose
- Retention
- Increased productivity
Hiring with Purpose
- Have a reason why
- Getting others to buy in
- Knowing your “Why” and building it from the inside out.
- Helping employees discover their “Superpowers”
Tribal leadership- when the culture goes wrong. survival
Demonstrating that as a leader, you are there to serve them
Interviewing for Purpose
- Messaging
- Clear and consistent with how the leaders lead
- Interview
- Core values alignment
- Hire for alignment over skills
- Discovery of superpowers in the interview
Results
- 20% culture lift in a month- gift card that they can donate to a cause that is near and dear. To someone who did
- Retain 93%
- Melt away silos builds a stronger bond between individuals and departments
Charles Antis, Founder & CEO of Antis Roofing & Waterproofing is a well-respected and widely known roofing expert, entrepreneur and humanitarian. Charles began his career as a roofing professional in 1984. Since then, he has become one of the most trusted names in the Southern California roofing industry, as well as an inspirational business leader championing social corporate responsibility.
Charles has been the recipient of many prestigious awards over the years and was recently honored with the 2017 US Chamber of Commerce Foundation Corporate Citizen Award, Small and Mid-Size Business. In 2017, he was also named as National Philanthropy Day Honoree, Outstanding Corporation or Business, Mid-Size; the Civic 50 Orange County Honoree; and received the top honor with the CNA Insurance/National Roofing Contractors Association (CAN/NRCA) Community Involvement Award.
Thursday Oct 25, 2018
Sherry Benjamins: Build a Strategic Plan to Avoid Costly Hiring Mistakes
Thursday Oct 25, 2018
Thursday Oct 25, 2018
Do you and your company have a strategic hiring plan? If you are like most companies, you don’t. Today we are going to help shift your model from a reactive to a proactive hiring model and change your world!
Today's Quote:
“Everyone chooses how to approach life. If you're proactive, you focus on preparing. If you're reactive, you end up focusing on repairing.”
― John C. Maxwell
Show highlights:
- Why you hire poorly
- A structure to build a strategic hiring plan
The problems with a reactive hiring process (why you can't hire):
-
- Transactional
- Paying too much for people
- Not solving a problem
- Your company is just a paycheck
- High failure rate
- 67% of people earning $100K+ plan to make a job change in the next 12 months.
- Companies in React mode all the time
- Forecasting recruiting like you forecast your finances
Creating a Strategic Plan for Talent
Five elements you must have to develop a solid strategic plan:
- 1) Define your value agenda –
- what is the source of value in your business? Is it in operations
- How you structure the teams,
- Where the highest value resources are in the organization?
- How are you dealing with automation, big data, AI, innovation, customer satisfaction.
- 2) What is your leadership agenda?
- Do you have the right people in the highest impact roles
- 3) Strategic priorities –
- what is the hottest priority for success given where the value will be most critical?
- Does the leadership team agree on these?
- 4) A Winning culture – with this focus, is everyone ready and believing and behaving in what it takes to win?
- Energy required – where is the energy and if there are “vampires” sucking the energy from the team, truly evaluate the pay off or drain
- 5) Road map
- Specific & Actionable… Need to get some early wins
- Send a message to the organization
- Accountability & results
Ricks Input:
- Know who you are- Company values
- Break down the work that needs to be accomplished & timeline
- Establish Performance metrics 90/180 day
- Establish Interviewing strategy and process
- -Closing the hiring managers and candidates for mutual success
Sherry Benjamins has over 25 years of experience in business management, HR, consulting services and helping companies solve for their talent challenges. Her expertise is helping clients shift from the old model of reacting to talent needs to starting a new conversation that is forward looking and focused on adding value to their business.
Sherry is the President of S.Benjamins & Company. Her company does three things; they find management talent for their clients, they help clients create a strategic talent plan and lastly, she brings talent together in quarterly executive learning sessions. Her experience includes work in the HR corporate world, P&L leadership of a regional career services firm, and founder of her own firm for the past 21 years. She has an MBA from Pepperdine and speaks frequently to new MBA graduates about the world of work today.
Thursday Sep 20, 2018
Shawn Andrews: What Is Emotional Intelligence And How Is It Relevant To Hiring?
Thursday Sep 20, 2018
Thursday Sep 20, 2018
Why should we care about Emotional Intelligence when building a company today? People with high EQ, work better with others, manage customers more effectively and cultivate an accepting company culture.
Today's Quote:
“Emotion is more powerful than logic” - Albert Einstein
Show Guest:
Dr. Shawn Andrews is a keynote speaker, organizational consultant, and the founder and CEO of Andrews Research International. She serves as adjunct professor at Pepperdine Graziadio Business School, where she teaches courses on Organizational Behavior, Women in Leadership, Diversity in Organizations, and Leadership and Ethics. She was the 2017 Diversity & Inclusion columnist for Training Industry Magazine, and is the author of the book, The Power of Perception: Leadership, Emotional Intelligence, and the Gender Divide (Amazon.com)
Episode highlights:
-
- EQ, What is it?
- How to you get it?
- Incorporate into your hiring
What is EQ?
Set of emotional and social skills that collectively establish how well we:
- Perceive and express ourselves
- Develop and maintain social relationships
- Cope with challenges, manage stress and make decisions
- Use emotional information to guide our thinking and action
- Managing emotions
- Manage stress
- Overcome obstacles
- Inspire toward collective goals
- Self perception, Self expression, interpersonal, decision making, Stress Management
- Tied into core company values
Why is it Important?
- Low Emotional Intelligence breeds bad cultures
- “Hire hard, manage easy”
What if you don’t have EQ? How do you get it?
- Get EQ assessment
- Read a book
EQ for different roles:
Leadership:
- Interpersonal relationships
- Assertiveness
- Self-awareness
Sales:
- Self-actualization
- Assertiveness
- Happiness
Marketing / Creative:
- Optimism
- Reality testing
- Independence
Customer Service:
- Stress tolerance
- Assertiveness
- Happiness
Product Development /Manufacturing:
- Flexibility
- Problem solving
- Independence
Interviewing for EQ
- Behavioral Interviewing
- Comfortable candidate- feel conversational, warm & informal
- Start: difficult challenge that was solved, commend… then go granular
- “Hire hard, manage easy”
- Deep reference checking
- Evidence of low & high EQ behaviors
Thursday Sep 13, 2018
Darrell Gurney: Breaking Bad, Career And Hiring Habits!
Thursday Sep 13, 2018
Thursday Sep 13, 2018
Why is it that we put more thought into lunch choices than we do our career or hiring decisions?
Today we are going to discuss the top three bad habits that both candidates and companies do throughout the hiring process that kill their ability to make a smart decision.
Today's Quote:
“To change habits, we must study the habits of successful role models.” – Jack Canfield
Show Guest:
Darrell Gurney is a career expert, executive coach and authority in supporting people through successful transitions. He brings back the power of social connection by teaching professionals that you’re simply one face-to-face relationship away from your dream job life.
He is the author of the Amazon bestseller “Never Apply for a Job Again: Break the Rules, Cut the Line, Beat the Rest."
As founder of both CareerGuy.com and TheBackForty.com, Darrell’s motto for both career and life is, as Frank Sinatra sings, “the best is yet to come, and won’t it be fine!”
Episode highlights:
- The top 3 bad habits we need to stop right now!
- Why these habits are so detrimental
- Good habits to replace the bad
Hiring bad habits from both sides:
Darrell’s top 3:
- 1. Looking to see what jobs are available & Going through the front door by applying for open positions.
- Take charge of their career path vs be at the effect
- Get out of your box: the house, the computer screen, the phone, and get in front of people.
- 80% of all jobs are filled before they are ever advertised by the people in the know bringing in the people they know
- 2. Failing to develop relationships beyond the job search process.
- Never submerge in your job or your life. Get out, be making connections, be talking to people about your interests and passions
- 3. Not treating yourself like a business
- Realize that you have your own business, and you always have -- you simply lease out your employable assets
- A business owner is always concerned first and foremost about two measures: ROI (Return on Investment) and ROE (Return on Equity). You want to similarly always watch, manage and monitor your own Return on Individuality and Return on Effort.
Rick’s top 3:
- Winging it-
- company values -clueless
- Not clear on what the business needs
- Work that needs to be accomplished
- Listening!
- Interview Process
- Not clearly defined
- Following the pack -
- Accepting the Status quo
- Testing people before engaging
- Transactional relationship
- Not understanding the person across from you
- Focus on skills
- Protective of the culture
Why are these habits bad?
- How can you get where you are going when you don’t know where you are?
How do we fix these habits?
- Winging it- not clear on what the business needs
- Build preparation time into your schedule
- Define what the business needs (not your wants) and who you need to take you there
- Interview Process
- Structured, Organized, Timed & Purpose Driven
- Get to the Truth!
- Transactional relationship
- Heal the person’s wound with your opportunity
Thursday Sep 06, 2018
Thursday Sep 06, 2018
Founders need to build the cultural foundation before building the product! Building the right team is more important than just any team.
Today's Quote:
“Alone we can do so little; together we can do so much” ― Helen Keller
Show highlights:
- The importance of taking the time to select the right team
- Recognizing the team challenges
- How to set the right foundation for building a great team
Challenges we see with teams:
- What you really need in a team...Taking anyone is not the right thing to do
- Hiring anyone or for skills dramatically increases the likelihood of failure.
- Founder need to develop their muscles to make smart hiring decisions
- The foundation- transparency & culture
- Purpose- What's in it for me?
- How and who makes decisions?
- Most importantly, How does the team solve problems?
- Develop the EQ to have the difficult conversations
Framework for Building the Right Team from the Beginning:
- Establish mission, vision & values (as a team)
- Communication standards
- Foster transparency
- Business Model Canvas (product driven)
- Establish process
- Define who you are BEFORE you make your first hire
- Only hire people who mirror your core values and align with your vision
- Great things often come out of conflict
Takeaways:
- Culture first
- Transparency
- Hire people who will take you where you want to go
Melinda Kim is the Executive Director, co-founder of PeopleSpaceOC, an incubator and workspace located in Irvine, Ca. She is a proven executive/entrepreneur who facilitates collaboration and innovation between developers and business entrepreneurs from around the world.
Aside from her responsibilities, Melinda is also a Startup Weekend Facilitator and NASA Space Apps Lead. She specialize in Statistics Driven Product Analysis, Business Strategy, Growth, Community and Social impact.
Thursday Aug 30, 2018
Chris Dyer: How to Analyze and Hire For Your Company Culture
Thursday Aug 30, 2018
Thursday Aug 30, 2018
Culture has a profound impact on company performance, often there is a disconnect between what management thinks the culture is and how your people perceive the culture. Most business leaders don't understand it so they are disconnected from their people. What is your culture?
Today's Quote:
“There’s no magic formula for great company culture. The key is just to treat your staff how you would like to be treated.”
– Richard Branson, Founder, Virgin Group
Show Guest:
Chris Dyer is a recognized performance expert. Constantly intrigued by what makes some businesses and individuals more successful than others, Chris has dedicated years of research to uncovering what drives productivity and profits. As a sought-after speaker and consultant, Chris works with leading organizations to help them transform their cultures to boost performance and gain an even greater edge in the marketplace. A certified SCRUM Master, Chris is highly adept at helping teams work through obstacles and find solutions quickly and effectively. He leverages this experience in all aspects of his work.
Chris is the author of The Power of Company Culture, which was released in 2018 (Amazon.com). He is also the Founder and CEO of PeopleG2, a background check company that has appeared on the Inc. 5000 list of the Fastest Growing Companies.
A passionate talent management enthusiast, Chris is the host of TalentTalk, a popular business podcast that features interviews with top executives about their strategies for hiring and promoting talent.
Chris strongly believes in community involvement, and he is active with a number of organizations. He regularly serves as a judge at entrepreneurial showcases and contests, such as Miller Lite Tap the Future. Additionally, he runs two book clubs for Senior Level and HR Professionals in Southern California. Chris also serves on the board of Working Wardrobes, a non-profit organization that empowers people who are overcoming difficult challenges, such as abuse or homelessness, to confidently enter the workforce and achieve self-sufficiency.
In his free time, Chris enjoys traveling with his wife and kids, and playing live music with his band. He resides in Orange County, California.
Episode highlights:
- Explaining what culture is
- How to analyze your culture
- How to attract the “right” people to your organization
What is culture?
- Corporate culture refers to the beliefs and behaviors that determine how a company's employees and management interact and handle outside business transactions. Often, corporate culture is implied, not expressly defined, and develops organically over time from the cumulative traits of the people the company hires.
- 7 pillars of culture:
- ****Transparency- the most important element of a GREAT culture
- *Positivity
- Listening,
- **Recognition
- Uniqueness
- Mistakes
- *Measurements terrible decisions are made because of lack of data
- The Weinstein Company vs. General Motors
- Every company has a culture, good or bad
Ways to analyze your company culture:
- Great team (according to Google)
- Determine what makes a success, what equals a failure and how do you deal with conflict
- Employee Survey -one question a week! Will impact the results
- How is the CEO messing up your job?
- Open your eyes!
- There is nothing wrong with having a bad culture (just hire accordingly)
Changing your culture:
- Exposing to the 7 pillars
- *Transparency- more you give the better off things are going to be. Holding information breeds bad ideas.
- *Recognition
- *Positivity
- Weekly improvement with a weekly survey
Embracing your culture:
- If you have a harsh culture, hire harsh people
- Plenty of successful companies with harsh cultures (Weinstein, Wall Street, *Kraft, sears, Xerox, Forever21 -Huffington Post
- Own it
- Amazon - Nice but intense, side of intense
- Not all cultures need to be serendipitous - They need to be honest
- Hire for fit into your culture
Thursday Aug 09, 2018
Thursday Aug 09, 2018
Don't underestimate the power of giving and receiving feedback in the interview process. Feedback helps your company improve your hiring process and it provides a positive “candidate experience” for the interviewee!
Today's Quote:
“Feedback is the breakfast of champions.” – Ken Blanchard (one minute manager books)
Show highlights:
-
- The Whys’ of interview feedback
- Giving & receiving feedback
- Provide the tools to create feedback channels into your Interview process
You must first have an interview process:
- Feedback is process improvement
- Candidate Experience
- Time management &
- Candidate Attraction
Feedback Challenges:
- Don't have it - Go get it!
- Have it but not sure how to deliver it
- Companies not required to provide feedback
- Legality of feedback - fear of litigation
- Fear of Discrimination lawsuit
- Not everyone can accept feedback - low EQ
- CASE STUDY: 70% of companies do not provide unselected job applicants with any feedback
- Make feedback a constant throughout the process- give & receive
- Is there any reason why you would not hire me
- Is there any reason why you would not accept an offer with our company
*Mystery creates distrust
What you can and cannot give as feedback:
- Skills
- Problem solving abilities
- Interview Preparation
- Alignment with Cultural/Values
- Evidence based feedback
- Discriminatory in nature
- Your too Old
- Never give a woman feedback that she is not assertive enough
- Body odor
Aaron’s process for giving & receiving feedback:
- Balanced
- Build in feedback time (10 minutes after the interview has ended)
- Feedback based on competency - bullet points, not short stories
Rick’s process for giving & receiving feedback:
- Feedback starts at the first contact (gauge ability to give/receive feedback)
- discuss concerns & fit between career & company goals
- Ask Questions:
- What are your thoughts?
- How do you feel about that?
- Why is that important?
- Assign a facilitator of Feedback
- Ie: recruiter or admin
- Provide something constructive
- Give & Get feedback in Real Time -interview wrap up
How to professionally release a person from the process:
- Call Them!
- A 5-10 minute phone call to ensure a positive image of your company.
- Be specific. Facts without any value judgment.
- Help people to learn. Focus on improvement & help them to find the right fit
- Be empathetic.
The candidate experience: Integrity & Transparency in the hiring process creates less likelihood of a lawsuit, especially when you leave the door open.
Erin Wilson is the Co-Founder & Talent Engineer of Hirepool, Inc. He has personally interviewed more than 10,000 job seekers. Erin has helped build a company that exited for $640M, and just released a consumer Interview preparation software product (Hirepool.io) being used by job seekers around the world.
Friday Aug 03, 2018
Friday Aug 03, 2018
Today we are talking about the chemistry of your team! Look, you can have the greatest product in the world but without a strong team chemistry, your company will ultimately fail.
Today's Quote:
"Skills are Cheap. Chemistry is expensive" ― Mal Pancoast
Show highlights:
- Why chemistry is so important
- How to Monitor your team chemistry
- What to do to encourage or change the chemistry
Elements of good team chemistry:
- Constructive Chemistry
- *Good chemistry, Your brains produce more Oxytocin, which is the hormone that helps us feel more connected to other people. Higher levels of Oxytocin produce more pleasure, deeper trust, and stronger intimacy.
Warning signs of bad chemistry:
- Destructive Chemistry
- Identify bad chemistry early on… disrespectful, not being productive, dropping the ball, personal issues.
- Adding value or afraid of adding value
- Lieing, false information or not saying anything.
- Personal Issues- ie: How do you deal with someone involved with drugs? (JC’s Story)
Monitoring your chemistry:
- Proactive, Honest
- Best Monitor: Praise is the most important element of a team. People will give more because they feel valued
- checks and balances, always questioning
Interviewing to uncover chemistry:
- Understanding Yourself & Your business needs…. Vision - opposing working styles
- How to identify in the interview - Wound, Desire, Accomplishment
- Best job in vetting people. Honesty is not that common. People can turn in a heartbeat
- Optimistic pessimism
- Behavioral Questions - Evidence & Knockouts!
Ways to omit bad chemistry:
- Communicate
- Identify & change with minimum impact to the organization
- Hire slow, fire quickly
J.C. Ruffalo joined the OCTANe OC team in June 2014 and is the Director of LaunchPad SBDC and Investor Relations. JC Mentor's hundreds of companies each year and has assisted LaunchPad companies to achieve over $750 million in capital infusion and, as a result, create over 3,500 new jobs in Southern California.
Prior to Octane, JC co-founded a small startup (Double Splash Media), which was involved with email marketing. He also worked for LKQ, a large corporation that is the world’s largest supplier of automotive replacement parts, as a buyer and general manager.