Hire Power Radio Show

Melinda Kim: Select Your Founding Team For Your Business Like You Would A Marriage. Only When Your Values Are In Aligned Will It Stop The Breakup!

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.

 

Chris Dyer: How to Analyze and Hire For Your Company Culture

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

 

 

Matt Charney: “Me Too” Messaging Does Not Attract People to Join Your Company

It all comes down to your messaging in everything from your job descriptions to how you contact people. Today we are tackling this issue!

Today's Quote:

"Words empty as the wind, are best left unsaid" -Homer

The problems with messaging, specific to recruiting

• Hard part is getting a response
• How to not be boring
• *** Messaging.
• Pure copyrighting... translating HR speak into people speak
• Getting your message right
• Job Descriptions are taken from compensation documents - messaging is not getting people to convert
  • why?
• Positioning
  • zig when everyone else zags. learning agility.
• Move in the opposite direction
• Key is getting someone to opt in to communication.
• Client: the two most effective searches were billboards & radio.
• Another was linkedin.

Framework for fixing your messaging

• Marketing perspective
• Turn hr speak to plain English.
• Targeted messaging.  *** 1 shot to attract a person.
  • crafting 121 communications.
  • Headline & lead matter most... read the first 140 characters.
• Topic header- Twitter
• Text messaging - sms automation tools!
• Use of Humor
• ***Opening a wound
• Performance metrics
• The actual content of the work (Uniqueness)
• Call to Action
• Pick up the phone and call- differentiator!
• Managed perception on both side
• Tools: Spokeo, Icims, text recruit
• Takeaway- volume is not a good thing.
  • Talent trends are real

Matt Charney is the Executive Editor and Partner for Recruiting Daily and the Chief Content Officer at Allegis Global Solutions, the largest staffing and recruiting firm in North America. Matt focuses on the intersection of human capital and technology; his blog, Snark Attack, was named one of the top 20 business blogs in the world by WordPress, and his work has appeared in publications such as The Wall Street Journal, Wired.com, The Harvard Business Review, Outsourcing Magazine, HR Magazine.

 

Lori Torres - Diligence and Vetting are Critical in Building an Outstanding Company

Invest the time to really get to know the people you are going to hire. Especially in the beginning stages of your company. Be picky! Your companies success hinges on your ability to hire people who will help push the car uphill. Do not let your need to hire override the fit for both parties.

Today's Quote:

"Chaos is inherent in all compounded things. Strive on with diligence." 

-Buddha

Show highlights

• • Experience hiring at the early stages
  • Hiring challenges as you grow
  • Provide solutions for hiring through the various stages

Your experience when you first started hiring & received the funding, what happened next?

• Hard to hire- Keys: networking & due diligence
• First 60-70 people came from referrals
• Plan out company needs
• Build, cultivate and maintain a candidate pipeline
• Utilize your Referral network

The challenges you faced

• Attraction in a tight job market
• Company’s mission vs. $$
• Think in a bigger way
• Ignoring people’s bias
• Ways to measure ownership in an interview
  • needed big thinkers & doers
• Desperation takes over & bad hires result
• Your need overwhelms your reason sometimes
• Hired a person hastily, due to desperate need and it was not a good fit for either party. 

Start with your Core Company Values

• Why these values?
• Integrity
• Comradery
• Customer Centric
• Relentless
• Solution finders
• Knowing & Living your company values!

Interview process:

• Garnering accurate information! -The Truth! 
• Interview process:
• Interview tools for vetting-
  • culture index
• Interview- multiple times, 3+ interviews-* test endurance  … up to 5 people interviews - own agenda.
• Due diligence & vetting
  • Checking references!
  • Backdoor references
• Leading people down the path
  • Betterment of both parties -healing a wound
• Preparation for the desired outcome

 Take Aways

• Use outside resources to hire
• Ask for help... people are willing help you!
• Believe in and listen to your Gut
• Planning for the desired outcome
• Hiring is not a sprint, it is a marathonResult of proper veting is a great company

Lori A. Torres is the founder and 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.

Erin Wilson: The Power of Feedback in Your interview Process Stops Ghosting and Glass Door Fears

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.  

J.C. Ruffalo: Team Chemistry Either Attracts or Repels Investors, Customers and Top Talent

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.

Hank Levine: Gamifying Your Entire Organization - Accounting Needs to Have Fun Too!

 According to Wikipedia, Gamification is the application of game-design elements and game principles in non-game contexts. Gamification commonly employs gamedesign elements to improve user engagement, organizational productivity, employee recruitment and evaluation, and more.

We are all used to being gamefied. In fact, our lives have been programmed to do things based on reward. Everything from our GPA to buying a new iPhone pulls from principles of Gamification.  A lot of Companies Gamify pieces of the organization, mainly those associated with revenue.  It is not commonly implemented throughout the whole organization, especially the operational side of the organization. Full organizational gamification has increased employee engagement by 92% and productivity is hitting record strides!

Today's Quote:

“The Game gives you a Purpose. The Real Game is, to Find a Purpose.”

― Vineet Raj Kapoor

Show highlights:

• Discuss the benefits of gamification to your business
• What's needed to gamify your company?
• The structure to implement gamification into your company

Why did your company decide to gamify?

• Our lives are gamified
• Isn't gamification a form of behavioral modification or conditioning?
• Skinner’s Radical Behaviorism or Pavlovian response
• Benefits to the company?

The gamification you use at iPlace. How does it work?

• Launchpad
• Customer, Employee & Company goals
• *Launchpad: each person earns a star each week for successfully completing tasks. Each week mini performance review- Agile sprint?
• 40 stars = pay raise, 120 stars promotion.

Why does gamification work in terms of Engagement?

• Build a culture of performance and healthy competition
• UNDERPERFORMERS CAN NOT HIDE
• Put management on auto pilot. Unscheduled leaves have declined over 93% since they have eliminated by escalations (they and all of team loses stars)
• Sets expectations up front

Hank Levine is the President and CEO of iPlace USA, which is widely regarded as the highest quality company providing professionally managed sourcing and recruiting services for US-based companies from India. Over the past twelve years, he has helped over 240 American companies establish offshore recruiting operations.

Hank spearheaded the development of a very innovative “company operations system” based on gamification. He was the keynote speaker last May at the StaffingTec conference where he spoke about how progressive companies are using gamification to scale their operations, align company and client goals, improve the health and wellness of their employees, and even eliminate performance reviews.

Dane Petchul: College Debt Is Hindering Your Ability To Hire the Strongest Talent!

 Student loan debt is certainly a major issue and yet it is not often addressed in the hiring process. Some would argue that the overwhelming pressure to start paying back the loan often results in a person making the wrong career decision out of necessity. Companies could do more to alleviate some of that pain by targeting talent out of their specific industry and creating benefits or incentives to help with this burden.

“When you get in debt you become a slave.” - Andrew Jackson

Show highlights:

• The effect student loans have on career choices
• How companies might capitalize on debt to help attract talent

Ways in which an individual can reduce the amount of student loan debt:

• Planning
• Cost reduction programs
• Hidden gems of free money?

What are the inherent challenges related to student loan debt:

• Default on the loan -7 million people are in default
• Limits ability to get a job- ie:govt related
• License suspension -nursing, teachers, lawyers, realtors emergency technicians
• Shackled to what you hate to pay the bills

When people make poor career choices because of necessity it impacts the company that they join. The regret over poor job choice does not only impact the employee but the employer as well. Job regret leads to:

• Apathy
• Low motivation
• Poor employee performance
• Spend work time searching for other employment

How might companies be able to attract the right people by helping to alleviate the student loan debt wound?

• benefits
• Recruit people from outside industries (look outside the box)- accomplishment based hiring
• Opportunity
• Provide an avenue
• Look at the debt as an opportunity to provide performance incentives to offset the debt

Dane Petchul is the Founder and President of Oracle College Planning. With a long history of helping people with their retirement in the finance world, Dane shifted the focus to help families – parents and children – identify the best path to take for a financially responsible college experience..

Dane committed himself to helping families carefully protect their life-savings from soaring college costs while ensuring that a proper financial pathway would be in place so that students wouldn’t be saddled in debt after graduating. Therefore enabling them to make better career decisions.

 

Anita Kanti: Abolish the Resume!

 A majority of the most talented people have terrible resumes. Why? Because they are busy making things happen!

Companies miss out on great people because they never make it past the resume screen. Automating the process and screening for buzzwords is just not an effective tool for finding the right people for your business. We are in the people business when we recruit. So, pick up the phone and judge based on your conversation and not the resume.

Today's Quote:

"Insanity is knowing that what you're doing is completely idiotic, but still, somehow, you just can't stop it."

- Elizabeth Wurtzel

Show highlights:

• Positive points of resumes
• Everything wrong with a resume
• Alternate solutions to resumes - solve the resume black hole

What resumes are good for:

• Contact information
• Career History
• The “white space”

What is wrong with the resume:

• Keyword dependent -wrong keywords or no keywords
• Designed to match with wish list of skills
• Too heavily relied upon in the interview process
• People lie

 Alternate options to a resume:

• Video clips
• Video talent snapshot (resume) - Why is this a good idea?
• -discrimination bias?
• - how can a 1 minute video give you an accurate picture?
• AI
• Actual assessment - conversation
• Wound, Desire, Accomplishment

Effective use of a resume and how to identify great people:

• Just a tool, not a wall
• A  guide to formulate skills based questions - Transferable skills

Anita Kanti is the Executive Talent Manager of Huawei Technologises. She is a global business partner and senior manager supporting executive leadership deliverables' for leadership talent acquisition needs for the US and China marketplace.

As both a motivational life coach and strategic talent manager, Anita Kanti offers progressive solutions to help her company and clients optimize their strengths and create a pathway of success. Anita is a proven expert in  talent recruitment, both in leading corporations such as Broadcom Inc., and United Healthcare, as well as building a company of her own, Anita K Solutions. Anita K has combined her expertise in talent development and leadership with her training in motivational techniques to create a unique and effective life coaching philosophy.

 

Brenda Diederichs: Public Sector Versus Private Sector - What's the Sexier Career Option? Startups, Pay Attention!

Public sector VS private sector!  We put on the gloves in an epic showdown of today's episode, to settle the differences and find out the better career option. Let's see who will come out victorious!

The 3 rounds for the undisputed championship:

• Round 1: Brenda - bashes up the logic behind joining a startup
• Round 2: Rick - negatives of the public sector
• Round 3: Each counter the punches from their opponent

Round 1: Why do you think it is silly to work for a startup?

• No career security
• Lack of stability

Round 2: Cons of working for the public sector (federal, state, county, city)

• Slow moving
• Not entrepreneurial, Doesn’t attract the strongest people
• Clamored with politics and red tape
• Ability to innovate severely limited
• Mediocre Pay / No Stock Options
• Not sexy… at all (unless you are an officer or firefighter)

Round 3: Counter Punches! Closing argument Evidence 

• Pace
• Innovation
• Career Growth
• Challenging
• Compensation & Benefits
• Attractiveness- to attract talented people
• Engagement- the perception of each worker 
• Brenda’s Knock out Punch! *Interview Process -  You probably do NOT have an effective process! 

Brenda Diederichs has been serving as the Chief Human Resources Officer for the County of Orange since June 2016. Brenda began her HR career at San Bernardino County, while earning her BA in Political Science, from California State Polytechnic University Pomona. She next worked for the Southern California Rapid Transit District for 10 years in both HR and Labor Relations. While there she earned a law degree from Loyola Law School.

Brenda went on to practice labor and employment law providing and serve as the labor and employment law department chair for two major public law firms for 10 years, before returning to public service as the Executive Officer for Labor and Employment, Human Resources and Training for the Los Angeles County Metropolitan Transportation Authority. She opened her own law firm in 2007, which she operated until returning to public service in 2014 as the Human Resources Director for the City of Riverside. 

Meredith Fish: Transforming Your Leaders Into Talent Magnets

As an Entrepreneur or business leader, it is crucial in this market, to brand yourself to attract talented people! One company is developing their managers to become thought leaders and influencers. A fantastic example of how your company can increase engagement and retention.  Making your company safe from guys like me!

 Show highlights:

• Your journey @ Alteryx
• Why it is important to brand yourself as a hiring manager
• How to make yourself attractive to talented people

What were the challenges you faced when you joined Alteryx?

• Lack of candidate flow, people not responding
• Low awareness
• Lack of engagement felt it was a TA problem not a business problem
• Did not know what to do with people when they had them in for the interview
• Managers not involved in the hiring process, not engaged, not sharing, not networking- not taking an active role in hiring & attracting
• Disjointed

Internal/organizational solutions:

• Candidate flow- posted jobs to get recognition
• Ownership of glass door
• Updated LinkedIn recruiter page, moved careers on the website to show the importance of careers
• Open houses- the Wrong time of day. First one bombed. Changed to a networking event for developers- Huge success- resulted in 6 hires.

Leadership alignment. Making yourself attractive to the talented people you NEED to hire!

• Start by listening! Demonstrate high EQ
• Helped to understand through education & enablement that TA is a joint effort.
• Marketing yourself

• • Leveraging networks, networking as a tool for talent attraction & career development
  • Communicate: Linkedin & employee referrals- let everyone know
  • Develop a Thought leader mentality- sharing content, pictures of the team in a team meeting, sharing ideas, etc.
  • Personal Brand- thinking broadly about the needs of the company, not just their roles.

 Career Focus:

• Own your career development, 20 minutes a week to share interesting content, pictures, write new content.
• Elevate those around you to achieve more!
• Partnership with other thought leaders- both parties are interviewing each other. Successful managers connect people.

Strong Process:

• Tight interview plan, no overlapping questions, interview team prepped, own and respect the process.
• Structured, Timed & Impressive

Meredith Fish is the Global Director of Talent Management for Alteryx, Inc (NYSE: AYX). With over 15 years of Human Resources experience, Meredith has worked in a variety of industries and organizations including retail, finance, real estate, and information technology companies. She has the proven ability to build strong relationships and obtain organizational results. Meredith is an approachable and effective leader who motivates employees to maximize productivity. Her areas of expertise are Talent Acquisition, learning, and development and employee relations.

Mark James: Preparing for Your Interview is the Key to Winning a Great Hire!

Today’s show is all about Preparation! Preparation is the first step in conducting an effective Interview. Both interviewer and interviewee parties need to be prepared. Just showing up without an idea of where you are going is the quickest way to lose an opportunity. An Interview without Preparation is really just PreparationH! In this episode we stressed the importance of preparation and how it needs to happen.

Show Guest:

Mark James is the Founder and President of Hire Consulting Services and the author of his new book, “Keys to the C Suite”. (Amazon.com) Mark is a Certified Personnel Consultant and has been providing executive career transition coaching and executive search consulting services for over 20 years. He is also a Certified Partner with the Predictive Index suite of behavior assessments. Mark coaches executives in career transition on a daily basis which makes him an expert in today's topic.

Episode highlights:

• Interviewee/candidate preparation
• Hiring manager preparation
• Provide a process for how each party needs to prepare

 Why is it important to prepare for an interview?

• Preparation puts you in the right MINDSET … sets the tone, eliminates surprises
• Set proper objective - get the offer/make the hire
• Being prepared = being impressive- demonstrates success

 Interviewee:

• Research the company to determine something that the company may not know themselves
• Not prepared to tell their story
• Ask for the interview schedule & format

 Hiring Manager (company):

• Research the person
• Knowing what needs to be accomplished
• Prepare your interview team

 The dangers of not preparing for the interview:

• Wasted time, frustration
• Inaccurate picture of who you really are
• Lose the person
• Increase the likelihood of making a bad decision

 How to best prepare to get hired:

• Self-assessment, presenting yourself, researching the company
• Research company
• Ask targeted questions
• Know how to showcase your accomplishments to make them relevant to the company mission
• Proactive

 Best preparation practices to attract the right talent:

• Schedule time to prepare - assuming all else has been covered
• Review assessment notes, LinkedIn profile, social channels, resume- look for commonalities, interests &  data points to cover
• Prepare interview team- provide targeted behavioral questions

Look for cultural fit, evidence of success & transferable skills:

• Performance Metrics- what needs to be accomplished
• Have a plan: Connect the dots- competitive advantage
• Give & receive feedback -in real time

 

Event Interview: Maryam Rofougaran From Octane OC's Technology Innovation Forum

Maryam Rofougaran, Co-CEO/COO & Founder, Movandi Panel member on the topic of the Anatomy of Success.

Nicole Arvizu: Human Resources VS. Recruiting. Who Will Come Out Victorious

We are putting on the gloves in an epic showdown today. Answering the age-old question of Why we can't just get along. 

3 rounds for the undisputed Podcast championship:

• Round 1: What Human Resources dislikes about Talent Acquisition
• Round 2: Recruiting issues with HR
• Round 3: Solutions to get the two working together 

Round 1: Issues that HR has with Recruiting

• Fixing problems or adding to the problem
• Spray & Pray
• Transactional
• Low hanging fruit
• Clear expectations of what is acceptable
• Understanding our business

Round 2: Recruiting perception of HR

• HR doesn't really understand or care about hiring
• Relationship with Hiring manager(s)
• No understanding of the Job description

Failure to Communicate:

• Blame game
• Market conditions (low unemployment)

Round 3: Working effectively together

• Control
• Restructuring HR bonus structure (cost per hire)
• Separating responsibilities
• Trust
• Structure

Nicole Arvizu is the Chief Human Resources & Compliance Officer for MeriCal, Inc. She is a very progressive and disruptive HR leader! Nicole is a change Agent who joined Merical in January 2017 and has done an amazing job of transforming the organization to bring in HR as a business partner rather than an administrative arm.

She loves to geek out with her quest for scientific knowledge and is also a surfer!

Event Interview:Paul Pickle From Octane OC's Technology Innovation Forum

Paul Pickle, Former President & COO, of Microsemi & MC of Octane OC's 2018 Technology Innovation Forum. We discussed the future of Semiconductor and whats on the horizon. 

 

Event Interview: Ryan Permeh From Octane OC's Technology Innovation Forum

Ryan Permeh, Co-Founder & Chief Scientist of Cylance!  I had the pleasure to sit down with Ryan for a quick interview at Octane OC's Technology Innovation Forum Event. He shared some great Insight on Leveraging the Cybersecurity hub in SoCal.

Tom Chaparro: How To Pick The Best Search Partner For You And Your Company (a somewhat biased perspective)

Picking the right recruiter partner is not easy. Today’s episode is all about the different options available and how to find a search firm who has your company’s best interest at heart. Start by establishing the following.

Show highlights:

• Defining & understanding your company - values, culture, & plan
• Expectations of your team, company goals, needs
• How to evaluate a search firm and chose the one that best fits with your organization

Begin with the root of where we should start. As a company, who are we?

• Company’s core values
• Culture
• Plan for success

Understanding your Company’s “Needs” and defining expectations:

• Needs vs. Wants - your company needs trump ego
• Speed vs. quality
• Recruiting mentality Driver vs. Order Taker

Determining the best type of search for your specific needs:

• Staffing
• Contingency
• Retained
• In House

How to pick the right recruiting partner:

• Process
• Cultural & Business understanding
• passion

Tom Chaparro is the Executive Vice President and General Manager of The Newport Group - Executive Search Consultants.

As EVP & GM, Tom is responsible for firm-wide management of day-to-day operations and quality control, as well as providing leadership and training to managers and staff.

Mr. Chaparro combines deep, hands-on expertise in a variety of verticals, with an uncanny business insight for the international marketplaces in which his business partners operate. With proven executive search experience, and an unmatched knowledge of the real estate development, construction and oil & gas industries

Lynn Taylor: Is It Possible To Transform Underperformers Into A-Players Just By Changing Seats? Spoiler Alert…...Yes!

On Average 20% of your company provides 80% of your value. Which poses the following questions that we covered on today's show:

• How many A&B players would you need to produce 100% of the productivity generated now
• If everyone in the company were A&B players what would be the capacity?
• Solutions to transform and/or hire top performers

On Average how many people at a company are A players?

• 20% produce 80% of the work…
• Startup should be flipped

Can we transform people by just moving them to a different seat? How?

• Aligning passion & growth

Why is important to shift people to a different seat rather than letting them go?

• Shows commitment to people in company and doesn't downgrade the morale of the company

If everyone in the company were A&B players what would be the capacity?

• Increase ROI by 300-400% with the same people every time. Just moved people in the right position.
• Most people are in the wrong seat

How do we transform current under performers into A players? 

• Job description process: be able to show what is really needed in each role
• What needs to be accomplished and when it needs to be done
• Growth, Attitude & Passion
• Clear statement about the most important contribution will the person make and how much $ does that turn into with an A-player.
• Prioritize responsibilities & percent of time doing each tasks.
• Where are they, what do they have as tools, & the biggest task (4-5 kinds of tasks) of everyday-functioning at the task level
• Type of communication- break down (telephone, data)
• Who I am matched with these areas- deliver core value energy
• Weave CVI and detail the How

Lynn Taylor is the President and CEO of Taylor Protocols, Inc.  He is a business optimization expert in the areas of human capital, C-level performance, executive coaching and organization design.  Lynn is a creator of the Core Values Index (CVI), the only assessment to identify the unchanging human characteristics that dictate future job performance and align these with the responsibilities of a given role for guaranteed success.

Lynn stakes his company and his reputation around his “right person, right job” mission. He has performed more than 200 successful turnaround projects over the past 20 years.

Ron Herrera: Benefits Strategy For Attraction And Retention. Thoughtfully Crafted To The Demographic Of Who Your Company Is Attracting

Is your benefits strategy the right one to land great people? Highlights discussed on the show: 

• How Benefits drive Retention
• Effective vs. Ineffective benefits
• How Benefits can help land Talent

How benefits drive retention

• Hard for employees to leave when employers demonstrate the value. Employee feels like they can not get as good of a package somewhere else.
• Total compensation statements- powerful tool

What benefits are Effective? Ineffective?

• What people expect & at what level?
• Strategy for different company sizes
• Botique benefits- pet insurance, Financial well being.

How do benefits help land talent?

• Reduces days to fill
• Impact cost to hire associate
• Strong release pitcher role.
• Medical needs

Ron Herrera is Vice President of Consulting Services with the Precept Group, a national employee benefits consulting firm and insurance brokerage.  Precept offers a variety of services including health and welfare consulting, health management programs, benefits administration and technology, retirement plan services and more.

Ron partners with employers across the United States to reduce healthcare expenditures and stimulate organizational culture.  Prior to joining Precept, Ron led Human Resources operations in Vice President and Director roles with multiple healthcare organizations.  

Check out the Blog on the Stride Search, Inc site for the supplementary “show recap” article with detailed takeaways/insights from the interview.

Richard Franzi:Unintended Consequences Of A Poor Hiring Process

Bad hires are the negative effect of a unstructured hiring practice and will manifest itself in the performance of your company. So how do you minimize the risk of bad hires? A hiring structure needs to be in place to drastically increase the chances of making a great hire.

Show Guest:

Rick Franzi is the Founder & CEO of Critical Mass for Business. He is the author of the best selling book “Killing Cats, Leads to Rats” -Mitigating the unintended consequences of Business Decisions.(Amazon.com)

Rick currently chairs CEO Peer Groups® throughout Los Angeles and Orange County, CA through his partnership with Renaissance Executive Forums.  He is the host of Critical Mass Radio Show & Podcast here on OC Talk Radio.

He is a nationally recognized thought leader on the power of peer learning for CEOs and business executives. Rick's work has been featured in national media forums such as Forbes & Inc.com

Topics covered in “unintended consequences”:

• Symptoms
• Diagnosis: the disease is not Hiring with a process
• Secure Model for Hiring
• Prescription

What are the symptoms (issues)?

• Company’s hire for Skills
• Winging it
• Asking the wrong questions
• Down hiring

The diagnosis: disease is not having a hiring process. Why?

• Repels great talent (unstructured is unimpressive)
• Unstructured interview (only a 6% chance of making the correct hire)
• Bad hire will infect 30% of the people around that person - drop in performance

Prescription/solution - implementing the SECURE Model  

• S stands for slow down the decision-making process.
• E stands for expand your knowledge.
• C stands for clarify the desired outcome.
• U stands for unify the team
• R stands for retain control of the process.
• E stands for ensure you stay outcome focused.

Check out the Blog on the Stride Search, Inc site for the supplementary “show recap” article with detailed takeaways/insights from the interview.

Ville Houttu: Maximizing Transparency And Trust. This Bold Step Thrust One Company Toward Massive Success!

True transparency maximizes trust and enables a company to thrive! Vincit promotes proactive leadership and a bottom up leadership approach. The results: a rediculously successful business with no attrition and incredible engagement and productivity. 

Episode highlights:

• True Transparency- what it looks like to a company that is thriving
• Proactive leadership
• How this structure attracts outstanding people!

Explain what transparency looks like in you company

• Publish Salaries openly- colleagues nominate for raises. Twice a year
• Satisfaction guarantee for new employees. Pay people to leave within first two months
• Eliminated middle management
• Company credit card

How does transparency Maximize Trust?

• Bottom to top approach to leadership - focus on listening and reacting. Leadership as a service- created a platform. LaaS
• Increase Management workload? - lowers load because you are not predicting situations to handle situations. Individualize the model. People end up managing themselves

Transfer into your hiring process?

• What do they do in hiring?
• Screening to eliminate the mediocrity? they test interviews in teamwork based situations.
• Look for collaboration, skills and cultural fit. Have to be able ask questions, “having dialog”

Results?

• Attrition
• Engagement
• Productivity

Ville Houttu is the Founder and CEO of Vincit California, Inc. Previously, he helped to take it public in Nasdaq First North marketplace. After the IPO, Ville moved to California to start Vincit’s local subsidiary. During the first year of operations he built a team of 20 developers in Irvine and acquired OC’s hottest digital branding agency, XTOPOLY. The team operates in Irvine and Palo Alto, where they help companies such as Logitech and Yamaha to develop their mobile apps and digital services.

Ville is passionate about creating lean working environments and scaling operations without creating policies. He is also one of the few Ironman triathletes who plays steel guitar on several albums on Spotify.

 Check out the Blog on the Stride Search, Inc site for the supplementary “show recap” article with detailed takeaways/insights from the interview.

Chris Steely: Unconscious Bias And How To Eliminate It From The Hiring Process

We all have unconcious bias. It is important to recognize and identify them, especially in the workplace.  When we acknowledge these biases, then they can be  eliminated in the interview process, creating smarter hires for your business.

Episode highlights:

• What Unconscious bias is
• How to acknowledge it
• Eliminate it from the hiring process

What is Unconscious Bias?

• Relative to gender, race, age
• We all judge but the key is not to pass judgement until…
• Unconscious (or implicit) biases are learned stereotypes that are automatic, unintentional, deeply ingrained, universal, and able to influence behavior

How do we recognize and identify our bias?

• EQ, Self Awareness
• Roots

The value of Bias in the workplace

• Diversity in thinking
• Leverage Enlightenment

How do we Eliminate Unconscious bias from the interview process?

• Understand the value around bias in the workplace
• Harvard Business Review:
• Seek to understand- “Organizational conversation”,
• Job descriptions- perception words, gendered words-balance:”build and create”
• Blind resume review- ignore the name
• Accomplishment focus
• Structure Interviews
• Value fit
• Diversity goals

Chris Steely is the Managing Director of GPS Business Group. He is a transformational business leader, author, trainer, and business coach, who has trained thousands of business leaders worldwide on how to refine and apply optimal capabilities to their business.  Chris focuses on delivering business effectiveness services to clients across the globe. He’s co-authored two books, and has been featured as a business expert on countless international stages.

Check out the Blog on the Stride Search, Inc site for the supplementary “show recap” article with detailed takeaways/insights from the interview.

Nick Livingston: Improving Communication For The Interview Process Will Increase The Likelihood Of Making A Great Hire!

Insights on Proper Interview Communication and the ways to incorporate them effectively for the Hiring Process:

• What are the broken issues in the Interview communication
• Fix the crucial areas 
• Utilize Solutions and Tools that are available to enhance communication and overall candidate experience

With all the technology & tools available, Why is this still a problem today?

• We try really hard to take out the human element from the process
• Lost art
• Transactional

Where the challenges lie

• Recruiter & Interviewee
• Recruiter & hiring manager
• Interviewee & hiring manager

Forms of Communication & Issues

• Video interviewing vs phone interviewing, Video cons: implicit bias
• Chatbots- engagement /screening tool
• Text messages

How do we make interview communications effective?

• Recruiter & Interviewee
• Recruiter & hiring manager

Tools

• Interview Data/Evidence
• Remember your Conversations
• Reduce misinterpretation and bias
• Remove redundant interview steps
• Other Tools:videos, Chatbots
• Technical tests
• Take home tests

Nick Livingston is CEO of Honeit Software. He has been scaling recruiting teams and companies in San Francisco and New York City for 15 years. Nick started his career as a technology headhunter in NYC. After a successful IPO at TubeMogul (now Adobe) while attending business school at UC Berkeley, he co-founded Honeit Software to rethink interview communication and simplify the hiring process. At MTV, Nick was the Recruiting Director responsible for digital media and interactive technology talent. Nick worked at HR Technology companies Taleo and NextSource. He received his MBA from Berkeley, with BS in Applied Mathematics.  

Check out the Blog on the Stride Search, Inc site for the supplementary “show recap” article with detailed takeaways/insights from the interview.

 

Todd Raphael:Hiring Practices That Are Driving Great People Away From Your Company!

Companies complain that they can’t find people yet they do a lot of alienating of potential hires through their actions. Identifying and fixing what drives people away in each stage of the interview process, looking at data of where the best hires are produced, and learning the trends in the Industry will increase the pool of better candidates for your business.

Episode highlights:

• What drives candidates away?
• How do we fix these issues

What drives people away?

• Job description- selfish, not engaging,
• First contact - too selling job focused
• Interview - prepared, structured, Format
• Follow up process

Hurdles in Applicant tracking systems/Interview process

• Tests
• Missing human connection

Job boards are getting less traction  

• Evolution of video interviews & ai… matching
• Candidate experience- cannot do @ scale
• Automated process & gaming

Look at your data. Where are the best hires produced?

• Changing the mix of were you recruit.  *do the opposite of what you are doing now!
• Job ads- alienating people….need to Engage people, *contact & follow up
• Blind resumes?  *eliminate bias
• Messaging- party environment
• Getting past bias

What needs to be fixed?

• Job description
• First contact
• Interview
• Follow up process

 Trends in the Industry

• What’s working & What’s not

Todd Raphael manages global publications and conferences for ERE Media, a global community of recruiters and others in the talent field. He has appeared on Sirius XM, VoiceAmerica.com, Wall Street Journal, Time, Forbes, and more.

Todd was named DevSkiller's 2016 "50 Most Game-Changing Influencers In Recruitment." Named Glassdoor's "2015 HR & Recruiting Thought Leaders" and HR Examiner's "Top 100 Influencers" list in employment/human resources and its top 25 Online Influencers.

He was listed on Mike Vangel of TMP's "60 Or So True Influencers In Social+Mobile Media and/or Recruitment."

Check out the Blog on the Stride Search, Inc site for the supplementary “show recap” article with detailed takeaways/insights from the interview.

Special Episode: Brenda Diederichs And Hilda Gracia From Orange County's Largest Mixer Discussing The Ways County Of Orange Creates Growth Path For Their Employees

Brenda Diedrichs, Chief Human Resource Officer and Hilda Gracia, Employee Relations Analyst of County of Orange

Special Episode: Ryan Logan From Orange County's Largest Mixer Sharing His Expertise On Succession Planning For Your Company

Ryan Logan, Certified Financial Planner & CEO of RAL Financial & Insurance Services

Special Episode: Tom Hobbs From Orange County's Largest Mixer On How To Build A Sales Organization

Tom Hobbs is the Founder and CEO of Atlas Commercial Cleaning LLC

Leisa Reid: The 3 Keys To Transformation For Yourself And Your Business!

 The 3 keys to transformation and how to apply them for success:

-Understanding of yourself (past)

-Awareness (present)

-Compelling vision (future)

Leisa Reid is a presenter with Productive Learning, a boutique personal growth company founded in 1992, and has trained thousands of people on the power of the mindset. After 20+ years of Management, Sales and Executive Leadership, Leisa dedicated her life to assisting others invest in their personal development. Why? Because she personally experienced the powerful results as a client of Productive Learning. She loved the company so much she joined them in the pursuit of living an extraordinary life.

Leisa is also the Author of the book “Manage to Success: A Guide to Cultivating Happy & Productive Employees” (Amazon.com)

Check out the Blog on the Stride Search, Inc site for the supplementary “show recap” article with detailed takeaways/insights from the interview.

Ken Schmitt: Building Your Talent Bench. How To Develop Strategies For Planning, Building Pipeline And Developing Relationships With A-Players!

It is important to have a proactive talent strategy when planning and building your pipeline for your hiring process. Know when and how to tap into the pipeline. Developing a solid foundation, always recruiting by using your referral resources, and utilizing the tools and changes that companies can make promotes successful hiring searches.

Show Guest: 

Ken Schmitt grew up in an entrepreneurial household with a father who was a Jack in the Box franchisee for 25 years, and a mother who left the accounting world to become a real estate agent.  After spending 9 years working for a local boutique firm and one of the world's largest Executive Search firms, Heidrick & Struggles, he launched TurningPoint Executive Search in 2007. The past two Years, TurningPoint has been ranked one of the Top 150 Fastest Growing Private Companies in San Diego (SDBJ).

Ken is also the Founder and CEO of the Sales & Marketing Leadership Alliance (SMLA), and the annual Sales & Marketing Leader of the Year Awards (SMLYs). Ken is a thought leader in executive search and takes a high touch, concierge-style approach to placing first class talent. Which makes him the perfect guest for today’s topic! He is the Author of LinkedIn Hiring Secrets for Sales and Marketing Leaders.  (Amazon.com)

Episode highlights:

• The importance of a proactive talent strategy
• Building your pipeline
• When & How to tap into the pipeline

The Why… Process is Reactive

• Starting at Ground zero (Avoid reinventing the wheel with each new search)
• Pre plan questions
• Organize- time, pace, resume/profile

Foundation -  Developing The Plan

• Proactive mindset
• Always be recruiting (ABC….)
• Consistent message, not being transactional
• Look at recruiting as a revenue generating or sales process.

Building the pipeline. Always be Recruiting

• Employee referrals
• Industry leaders
• Top performers

Tools & Tweaks that companies can make to succeed

• Simple spreadsheet on excel
• Poor job of mining their own data.
• Someone owning the process.
• Employee referral program- on going notification

 

Check out the Blog on the Stride Search, Inc site for the supplementary “show recap” article with detailed takeaways/insights from the interview.

Hicham Semaan of Tech Coast Angels: Metamorphosis From Solopreneur To Entrepreneur

What is needed to attract investors, the importance of a team, and how to enagage the right people for your company.  Develope a plan that will scale. Hire the needed technical, marketing and leadership expertise to raise capital and to build the business.

Episode Highlights:

• What is needed to attract an investor
• The importance of the team
• How to attract and scale your team

The Foundation -  What really needs to be in place to attract seed round investment?

• Pick up 1-2 key customers with a working prototype
• Seed round: Have team, some customers, some revenue, working model. & need funds.

What is typically the right scenario for a TCA investor?

• TCA- a 20-40% small percentage are open for execution delivery role.
• *Understanding, awareness & belief

What is the biggest hurdles you see from entrepreneurs?

• Giving up equity is often the big issue.
• Angel members open to teaming up as a co-founder.

Building the Team - How do we attract the right person?

• Resources
• How to scale a team. Long term engagement, needs of the business.
• Operator, needs to give up “control”.
• Use advisors to vet talent, first reluctant to bring in the help.

Scale

• When to start?
• Evaluation & Planning
• Analogy of championship sports teams- key pieces of the puzzle but not all the right pieces at the right team.

Hicham Semaan is an experienced CEO, GM, senior executive, angel investor, senior, and board member to CEOs, management teams, private equity, startup companies. He is a respected leader with strong vision, value creation, turn around, and acquisition expertise, and has successfully grown and exited businesses. Hicham is considered an expert in the technology, education, and real estate industries and has been a featured speaker at several industry events.

He is the newly elected Tech Coast Angels-Orange County President and has received the “Excellence in Entrepreneurship Award” from the OCBJ and was recently named “New Investor of the Year” by Tech Coast Angels.

Check out the Blog on the Stride Search, Inc site for the supplementary “show recap” article with detailed takeaways/insights from the interview.

Deborah Kantor: How To Treat People In The Interview Process. An Interview Is A Two Way Street. You Need To Sell The Person As Well As Them Selling You

All interviewees should be treated with the same positive hiring experience, rather they be an active or passive job seeker. When you eliminate pre-judging and biases, build rapport, and follow up with your candidates, it creates positive results: brings the truth, leads to referrals, and produces positive reviews.  

Episode highlights:

• How to treat all candidates
• Contact & Feedback
• Results

What is a Active job seeker vs. a Passive job seeker?

Why do we treat an active job seeker and a passive job seeker differently? What are companies missing?

• Eliminate: Pre judging & Bias
• The Resume… laziness by not calling. Leads to referrals if not a fit.

Why no feedback when I apply to an ad?

• Eliminate: Pre-judging & Bias

Act as if you are the candidate… Process for relationship building.

• Looking for value in the conversation.
• Follow through… set timeline, being considerate

Results

• The truth
• Referrals
• Positive feedback (Glassdoor)

Deborah Kantor is the President of Kantor Sales Associates. She has mentored and trained countless sales professionals in her four-decade-long sales career path. Deborah has been a student in every aspect of the sales cycle, from prospecting to close, and in the building of trusted partner relationships along the way.  She has been a top performer in the staffing and real estate industries prior to her current coaching/training business. Beyond the sales skills necessary to open doors, Deborah is passionate about knowing how to present VALUE PROPOSITION, and communicate the WHY.

Check out the Blog on the Stride Search, Inc site for the supplementary “show recap” article with detailed takeaways/insights from the interview.

Scott Kuethen: Structure Your Interview For Success! Plan, Prepare And Execute A Process That Gets To The Truth Of Who The Person Is Across The Table From You

What should a proper Interview Structure should look like, how to Prepare and Plan the candidates for the Interview, and the right way to Execute the interview process. Having the right hiring structure will audition the interviewee for the company's cultural fit and determine those that may or may not be congruent to your organization's core values.

Episode highlights:

• What a proper Interview Structure should look like
• Preparing & Planning for the Interview
• How to Execute an outstanding interview process

The Foundation - How should an interview be Structured?

• Timed with a person leading the process
• 3-5 individuals, auditioning for cultural fit

Preparation

• Pre plan questions
• Organize- time, pace, resume/profile

What does an interview plan look like?

• Share the plan with the candidate before hand

Executing the Interview

• Alleviate the pressure … keep congruent with your environment
• Conversational
• Knock out questions
• Testing & digging
• Wrap up… set timeline

Checking References & Referrals

• Challenge the white space

Scott Kuethen is the CEO at Amtec, Inc., a professional recruiting organization specializing in placing professionals in Contract and Regular-Full-Time positions with companies ranging from small entrepreneurial start-ups to the fortune 100. He is an avid teacher, and writer in the areas of talent acquisition and selection, organizational planning, and business management. Scott’s life purpose is helping people find meaning in their work.

In his spare time, Scott enjoys photography, SCUBA diving, swimming, drone flying, and other activities that keep him young-minded.

Check out the Blog on the Stride Search, Inc site for the supplementary “show recap” article with detailed takeaways/insights from the interview.

 

 

Jordan Ritter!: Hire For The 3 C’s In Your Company! Culture, Capacity For Mastery, And Craft

A 5x tech entrepreneur and his unique approach to hiring great people for his  companies, using the 3 C’s: Culture, Capacity for Mastery, and Craft. Utilizing this interview methodology can take your company from good to great!

Episode highlights:

• What the 3 C’s are?
• Apply this methodology to your hiring for your company

A really unique approach to hiring, the 3 C’s

• Culture: Values- evolution of culture, Ethos (montrose), Traits
• Capacity - critical thinking & problem solving skills
• Craft- skills (not defined by)

How to apply this methodology

• Narrative arc interview
• White space interview

Jordan Ritter is an accomplished entrepreneur and technologist, having co-founded several companies including music company Napster, messaging security platform Cloudmark, labor-as-a-service platform CloudCrowd and most recently, personal digital search engine Atlas Informatics. He also served as the CTO of entertainment company Columbia Music Entertainment, as well as fan interaction platform Zivity.  Jordan is also a regular open-source contributor, having authored free software commonly included in modern Linux distributions as well as Windows software licensed by Microsoft.  Several of his projects have been featured in well-known publications and books, and incorporated into University-level curricula.

His works have won numerous nominations and awards spanning across Comdex, DEMO, SIIA, PC World, PC Magazine, and WIRED. Jordan speaks at technology conferences around the world on topics ranging across entrepreneurism, startup culture, AI, computer and messaging security, and the music industry.

Check out the Blog on the Stride Search, Inc site for the supplementary “show recap” article with detailed takeaways/insights from the interview.

Jean Latu: Fractional Leadership As A Viable Option In Building Your Business!

The benefits of fractional help in your organization. Fractional work can bring important value while companies are experiencing change, such as a new leadership, merger and acquisition, or a resignation. Knowing when and how to engage a fractional person will provide the solutions needed for your company.

Episode highlights:

• What is Fractional  - High end Temps!
• When & how to engage fractional help

Jean Latu is the Founder & CEO of Ingenio Solutions, a consulting firm focused on accounting and finance. She leads a talented team of experts in finance and accounting who work with clients to solve problems, create efficiencies, and improve the bottom line.

Jean has worked on projects for companies like CarrAmerica, Coldwell Banker, and Marriott as a consultant.  She joined Jefferson Well as a Director of Finance Operations and led their finance and accounting practice. She grew the practice to 40 consultants from 5 and increased annual revenues to $10M from $1M in 3 years.

Check out the Blog on the Stride Search, Inc site for the supplementary “show recap” article with detailed takeaways/insights from the interview.

Robert Curtis: Using Analytics And Behavioral Models To Attract And Retain Great Talent!

How to use analytics tools to first understand the role you are needing to fill. The importance of placing the right language to attract the right person to your job description. We share a format to make your company stand above the pack in impressing and engaging passive talent!

Robert Curtis is the Founder and CEO of Alpha Quantix, a leading provider of people analytics, metrics, performance solutions, and consulting and training. Alpha Quantix is a certified partner with Predictive Index. Robert actively engages business owners and senior management, both direct to management and jointly with industry-specific consultants, in a variety of capacities focused on: hiring the best people, developing employee engagement and delivering employee performance, and generally shaping organizational culture to help companies be the best they can be.

Check out the Blog on the Stride Search, Inc site for the supplementary “show recap” article with detailed takeaways/insights from the interview.

 

Brian Andersen: Gamification! Improve Employee Engagement, Provide Better Customer Interaction, And Enhance Productivity In Your Company

Gamification is leading by using the best ideas from games. Companies are using loyalty programs and behavioral economics to drive performance and engagement in their employees. Gamification in the workplace has been around for a long time but what's new is the introduction of tools, technologies, design disciplines and frameworks that are allowing us to do gamification in the workplace in a more scalable and repeatable way. 

Brian Andersen is Founder and CEO of Telecomprehensive Solutions, a telecommunications & technology brokerage headquartered in Orange County. Brian is a keynote speaker and Chair of the Business & Workforce Development Committee for the Greater Irvine Chamber of Commerce.  He leads Business Attraction & Retention efforts to unify our local Startup Ecosystem, connect business & provide education to empower Orange County's Workforce and other strategic Economic Development initiatives. In addition, He also serves on the Advisory Council for the Southern California Hospice Foundation.

Check out the Blog on the Stride Search, Inc site for the supplementary “show recap” article with detailed takeaways/insights from the interview.

Stephanie Paul: Communicate Your Message. The Keys To Crafting An Effective Presentation!

Ineffective communicators can shut down an audience in seconds! Especially with nervous, outdated or too technical presentation styles. This translates throughout your business and can definitely kill your ability to raise funding and hire top talent.  

Stephanie Paul is the Founder and CEO of Stephanie Paul, Inc.. Stephanie has an expertise in Working with people who have a significant message that needs to be inspirationally transferred to a variety of audiences. Helping clients get away from "Selling" to Storytelling and turn facts and figures in to "Edutainment". All this with a professional, entertaining, funny and unique style of coaching. Her clients have FUN while being coached ultimately learning how to communicate on a deeper more connected and entertaining level. Bringing a new refreshing air to the culture of the traditional corporate "Bored Room".

From an international background as an actress and a comedienne, including producing and directing Stephanie Paul has combined her knowledge and experience with writing, acting, presentation and production for both on camera and the speakers stage, to bring the “Mastery of the Message” to her clients. Executive Producer and Co-Organizer of TEDx Mission Viejo 2016, Official TEDx Orange Coast Presentation & Connection Coach 2014, 2015, and Official TEDx - Kish (Iran) Presentation & Connection Coach April 2015/16.

Check out the Blog on the Stride Search, Inc site for the supplementary “show recap” article with detailed takeaways/insights from the interview.

Robert Yonowitz: Bad Job Descriptions Breed Bad Hires! Success In Building An Outstanding Organization And Mitigating Legal Risk Starts With The Quality Of Your Job Description

It is imperative to have comprehensive job descriptions! Robert Yonowitz and I discuss why this is important and how they are used in the workplace. Lawsuit prevention, ADA accommodation, Performance Reviews and disciplinary action are the cornerstones of why.  Learn the components of an effective "defensive driving" job description and a description that attracts top talent!

Bob Yonowitz is a partner in the Irvine office of the national law firm of Fisher Phillips, one of the oldest and largest firms in the country practicing exclusively in labor and employment law representing management.  Prior to practicing law, he also worked for the United States Senate Judiciary Committee Subcommittee on Courts. Yonowitz has proven expertise in many aspects of labor and employment law including litigating harassment, discrimination, retaliation, wrongful termination and wage hour class action claims, drafting key executive employment agreements and incentive compensation plans. Robert developed and is the co-chair of the firm’s nation-wide Unfair Competition and Trade Secrets Practice Group and has published numerous chapters, articles and lectures on the benefits of arbitration, drafting employee agreements, and prevention of employee theft of trade secrets.  

He is a member of the California Bar, and the Labor and Employment Law Section of the American Bar Association.

Check out the Blog on the Stride Search, Inc site for the supplementary “show recap” article with detailed takeaways/insights from the interview.

Rodney Burris: Prioritize And Hire For EQ Over IQ! Mastering The Identification Of Emotional Intelligence In The Hiring Process

Emotional Intelligence, or EI, describes an ability or capacity to perceive, assess, and manage the emotions of one's self, and of others. Our EQ, or Emotional Quotient, is how one measures Emotional Intelligence. EQ is the Motivation, Empathy, Self Awareness, Self Regulation, and  Social Skills. Emotions have the potential to get in the way of our most important business and personal relationships. But understanding the importance of EQ and having an in-depth process in place to evaluate each component, will  uncover the truth and reveal any red flags of your candidates, preventing a hiring mistake for your company. 

Rodney Burris is the President, COO and Co-Founder of Care Partners at Home. Founded in July 20, 2016, Care Partners At Home and its parent company, Post-Acute Care Partners Inc., was a career-long vision of Rodney's, a healthcare leader looking to turn his personal stories of caregiving and love into a completely different approach. His professional philosophy focuses on compassion and love, yet is built on a foundation of skilled associates with true expertise, delivering exceptional care.

Over the past 15 years, Rodney has had the opportunity to serve as a leader in Regional, Executive and Board Member roles across a spectrum of Healthcare organizations.  These ventures have spanned from large corporate structures to small start-up companies. His intensity, drive and passion to care for others is a derivative from playing the role of “patient” many times throughout life.  These events have inspired Rodney to build high performance teams that desire to broaden their positive impact through creation and innovation.

Check out the Blog on the Stride Search, Inc site for the supplementary “show recap” article with detailed takeaways/insights from the interview.

Craig Cooke: Knock Out Startup Pains By Learning How To Properly Evaluate The People You Are Looking To Hire!

How do you REALLY discover if the person you are trying to hire is competent? Great incites shared by today's guest to avoid this major hiring mistakes that those before you have made. Besides having a Hiring Plan in place, providing in-depth evalution of your candidates, and implementing the right questions, will help hire the right people for your company. 

Craig Cooke brings more than 20 years of interactive, marketing and management experience to Rhythm. As CEO, Craig drives the direction of the company through his vision, strategic planning and execution. He is actively involved in marketing initiatives, research and development, business development, vendor selection and strategic partner development. He also participates in hiring and producing high-quality solutions that deliver true value to clients. Craig takes a consultative approach to problem solving with clients. Essentially, he believes in helping people, delivering quality, demanding excellence and being accountable.

Craig’s leadership has driven Rhythm to be recognized as a fastest growing private company for five years in a row by Inc 5000, Orange County Business Journal, as well as a “Top Places to Work” in Orange County by OC Register and Orange County Business Journal.

 Check out the Blog on the Stride Search, Inc site for the supplementary “show recap” article with detailed takeaways/insights from the interview.

 

Karl Hardesty: Feel The BURN! Burn Rate Management At Various Stages Of A Company's Life Cycle!

It is pertinent for companies to manage properly the rate of their spending through the varies stages of the business life cycle.  Each level of growth, development/seed, startup, growth, expansion, and maturity has its monetary and talent challenges. But incorporating specific plan of expectations at each stage, hiring and delegating experts, and monitoring the burn rate accurately will encourage growth and success of your business without breaking the bank.

Karl Hardesty is the CEO and Founder of Hardesty LLC, a national executive services firm providing both executive search services and on-demand executives to companies.  The Hardesty firm has built their reputation in the CFO space based upon their rapid deployment of experienced financial management resources through interim and project based engagements.  Hardesty also specialized in other C-Suite rolls including CEO, COO, CIO and VP of HR.

Hardesty has grown rapidly since its inception in 2011, making Orange County’s Fastest Growing Company list for 2014 and 2015.  The firm and it’s affiliates currently have offices in 10 major markets in the US.

Check out the Blog on the Stride Search, Inc site for the supplementary “show recap” article with detailed takeaways/insights from the interview.

Paul David: Start Caring About Your People! Watch Your Business Thrive!

To build an outstanding Company, you need to start caring about your people. That is to listen, understand them and achieve mutual loyalty. Caring about your employees can be incorporated through Leadership, Investing time to get know the person at the Interview Process, having an Interview Structure with Behavioral Questions, and focusing on Engagement and Growth. When you really appreciate your employees, it transfers to your customers and the business!

Paul David is the founder and CEO of Identified Talent Solutions, an Irvine, California-based recruitment and human resource consulting firm. Paul has been featured in numerous business publications, and his firm was named one of the "Fastest Growing Private Companies” by the Orange County Business Journal and listed on the “Inc. 500” by Inc. Magazine as part of its annual list of “America’s Fastest Growing Private Companies.”

Check out the Blog on the Stride Search, Inc site for the supplementary “show recap” article with detailed takeaways/insights from the interview.

Dr. Deena Brown: Eliminate The Complaints About The Millennials! Learn To Properly Engage Talent To Elevate Into Valuable Employees!

There are two types of engagement, before the hire and while employed. Recruiting is not about you or your needs anymore. The proper engagement in the recruiting process is focusing on work life balance, social consciousness, benefits… opportunity for growth. 

To retain talent once you have a person as an employee, you need to build the right cutlure by providing growth, communication, and having a Purpose, Intention, and Execution process in place.

Deena Brown is an Executive Director and certified speaker, coach, and trainer with The John Maxwell Team. She is an international best-selling author, The A-Z Guide to Mindful Leadership (Amazon.com) and has been featured on ABC, NBC, CBS, and Fox as a highly sought keynote speaker, business and leadership growth expert.

She is affectionately known as The Millennial Whisperer. Her clients have identified her as The Catalyst because she makes Shift Happen. She is the founder of the Millennial Leadership Institute that provides leadership development and lifestyle coaching to Millennials. Her signature C3LeadershipTM Program helps professionals have more Clarity, Confidence, and Consistency by teaching how to Communicate with Influence, Connect Authentically, and Collaborate Strategically.

Dr. Brown’s expertise helps organizations and individuals build a clear path to significance that bridges their philosophy, vision, mission, and goals to their optimal organizational identity.

Check out Blog A and Blog B on the Stride Search, Inc site for the supplementary “show recap” article with detailed takeaways/insights from the interview.

Scott Krawitz: The Trials And Tribulations Of Finding The Right Technical Leader For Your Company

It is important to have a strong technical leader for the success of your company. Entrepreneurs often make the mistake of bringing in the wrong type of person. Today we discussed best options for technical leader for your business.How do you get a strong leader to join your company? You need to know what a strong technical leader looks like and have a plan of action to make sure the right ingredients are present in a person to ensure their success.

Scott Krawitz is the Founder and CEO of People Driven Solutions (PDSI), a technology services firm specializing in fractional technology leadership, curated technology solutions, along with talent acquisition and retention. For over 20+ years, Scott has consulted executives and lead teams through all project phases from strategic planning, analysis, design, and development to implementation, iterative improvement and ongoing support. Industries served include: Financial Services, Healthcare, Software, Retail, Business Services, Legal, and Education Technology. 

In addition, Scott passionately serves on the Technology Advisory Board of the National Foundation for Autism Research supporting a software quality assurance training program. His greatest satisfaction is creating a win-win situation orchestrating the hiring of graduates.

Check out the Blog on the Stride Search, Inc site for the supplementary “show recap” article with detailed takeaways/insights from the interview.

 

Karen Bajanov: Two Major Changes In California Law That Will Impact Your Interviewing Process In 2018!

As of January an employer can no longer ask a person's salary history. They also can not ask about any form of compenstion and benefits. This includes 3rd party recruiters and reference checks. Companies with 5 or more employees will also be required to Ban the Box on job applications. This means that the criminal history section will be omitted and can no longer be asked during the interview process.

With over 15 years in the “People Business”, Karen Bajanov is a seasoned Human Resource Compliance Specialist. After graduating from Cal State Los Angeles with a degree in Health and Human Services, Karen began her career as Director of HR for a major corporation that had over 500 employees. 

While in the corporate environment, Karen realized that small and medium businesses had a real need for human resource solutions in order to grow and protect their business. After 13 years as the Director of Human Resources with a corporate firm, she began KEB Business Consultants. KEB Business Consultants now serves small and medium businesses, across a variety of industries, with all of their human resource, talent management and benefits administration requirements.

Check out the Blog on the Stride Search, Inc site for the supplementary “show recap” article with detailed takeaways/insights from the interview.

Ash Kumra & John Reed of Youngry: The Secret To Creating A Movement Around Your Company!

If you can find a purpose for your company above and beyond just making money… You will ignite passion in your Influencers & Advocates.

YOUNGRY™ - an united community of entrepreneurs that hustle, profit, expand, and inspire with original content, events, and e-commerce.

Ash Kumra, CEO and Co-Founder is an award winning entrepreneur, author, speaker and syndicated radio show host. He has been recognized by the White House and President Obama as one of the top 100 entrepreneurs in the country under 30.

He is the author of book series "Confessions from an Entrepreneur" (Volume 1) & (Volume 2) (Amazon.com), spoken to over 10,000 people on entrepreneurship, over 100 articles and conducted over 1000 interviews with business mavens, entrepreneurs and celebrities.

John Reed is the COO of Youngry.

Check out the Blog on the Stride Search, Inc site for the supplementary “show recap” article with detailed takeaways/insights from the interview.

Dalip Jaggi: Investing In Your People Above And Beyond The Standard!

We learned about a company that was truly built by: Valuing people more than anything else. Invested in people first. Foster education first, allowing room for growth. Doesn't cut corners and gives benefits freely. He caters to the company and is big on creating value for company and clients.

Dalip Jaggi has been recognized as a young entrepreneur, an active soul who is always looking to do more and do better. He is the founder of the respectable brand and digital agency, Devise Interactive. Inventor, he co-founded the world’s first smart shower device, EvaDrop Smart Shower and an interactive kiosk for brick-and-mortar shops, Fraxtion. He co-founded Forge54, a non-profit, that hosts a  54-hour hackathon weekend to provide a marketing makeover to one non-profit every year. Dalip enjoys spending time with his family and friends, playing chess or even the saxophone, and snowboarding.

Check out the Blog on the Stride Search, Inc site for the supplementary “show recap” article with detailed takeaways/insights from the interview.

 

Rod Swartwood: Human Capital Return On Investment! HCROI

Most companies look to HR for Compliance and today we take a look at how Human Resources can positively affect profit rather than holding down costs. 

Rod Swartwood is the Founder and President of HR Prime, a full-service HR consultancy specializing in the strategic and tactical creation of best-in-class talent management practices and world-beating teams.  From HRIS roles with government agencies in the early days of LAN based business computing through his strategic HR leadership roles at startups and Fortune 300 companies. His 26 years of practical HR leadership in a wide variety of verticals, coupled with his degrees in organizational psychology and business give him the unique opportunity to guide both young organizations and established entities to greater productivity and profits.  

Check out the Blog on the Stride Search, Inc site for the supplementary “show recap” article with detailed takeaways/insights from the interview. 

Robert Davis: Investor Adoption And What To Do When You Are The Root Of Your Hiring Challenges!

This is a bit different of an approach to investing where the investor takes a much more active advisory role in the company and is often adopted into the leadership team. Hiring challenge- How to solve your issues when the root of the issues is YOU! Focus not on what you want but what the company needs.

Robert Davis grew up here in HB , started in Aerospace, to a snowboard manufacturing , Thermal Snowboards. Thermal snowboards made products for companies like 5150 & Joyride. The company was acquired in 1995 by RIDE, a publicly traded Company and then obtained by k2.  At that point, Robert was the VP of Operations.  In 1997 Robert left and started Avid Ink. He effectively built the company from one employee to over 250 and $24 mil in revenue.  This all from a 25k loan from his family! He successfully exited the company in 2015.

Today,  He is Founder and CEO of both Y7 Collective and his newly acquired company, Communities For Cause, a mobile app that works with local merchants and allows the merchants to give money to specific non profits chosen by the user. He is also Member of Tech Coast Angels, Orange County &  OCTANe's Launch Pad Panel.

Check out the Blog on the Stride Search, Inc site for the supplementary “show recap” article with detailed takeaways/insights from the interview.

Peter Polydor: The Importance Of A Strong Team When Shopping To Investors!

One of the most critical elements to being funded is the team who are leading the charge. Know your weaknesses and have a plan to fill those gaps! Be honest in your approach and realistic in how your company will grow.

Points covered:

• - Importance of a strong team
• - Having a Plan & When to Pivot
• - Strategy for how and when to engage a recruiter
• - Position your team to be attractive to investors

Peter Polydor is the CEO and Founder of ERGO Capital and the startup accelerator Ergo Accel. In 2014, he founded the Eureka Building, a three-acre startup and tech community based in Irvine, California, designed to foster innovation and house entrepreneurs. The site is home to over 30 companies ranging from startup to a large public company. Peter sits on the Boards as well as Advisory Boards of a number of portfolio companies and startups. Further to his work at ERGO, Peter is a Professor of Practice at the University of Wales, is a Charter Member of the Canadian C100, recipient of the Greek 40 Under 40 award and the Power 30 Under 30 award. He received his BA from Occidental College and his MBA from the University of Oxford, Said Business School.

Check out the Blog on the Stride Search, Inc site for the supplementary “show recap” article with detailed takeaways/insights from the interview.