When Hiring is Overwhelming with Karima Gulick of Innovent Law

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. 
    • 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..

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.
• 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