Who Am I Going to Hire Next?

That’s what I focus on...every day. While there are a lot of distractions (many of them good), there’s nothing more important to me than hiring the right people. So, I always reserve time for this task no matter what. When I’m not interviewing prospects, I’m working on improving and preserving the culture that attracts them.

Back to hiring the right people. You hear this all the time...our secret is we hire the “right” people. I’ll define it further...I hire artists. Artists are people who are capable of and interested in producing more than the required tasks. They give you what Seth Godin terms...emotional labor. These are the people that will make your company alive with stories that spread...make you remarkable.

So, here’s what I focus on when I hire...precisely in this order.

1. Are they aligned with your culture?
2. Can I fulfill their dreams? (I figure if they’re going to give me their heart and soul, I should give them more than a paycheck)
3. Are they competent?

This approach has worked for me for quite some time. Realizing there’s a lot that goes into each of those three items, the point here is that the technical part of the evaluation comes last...it’s the least important, at least in the sort of work we do.

I encourage you to worry less about the next big idea, how to change your product or how to market it. All of those things will sort themselves out quite nicely if you make hiring artists and preserving culture your first priorities.

I just finished taping this as a segment in my Art in Hospitality series...will be up soon.

Recruiting Changes When...

you have a compelling story and a loyal tribe of raving fans. At this stage, you don t post ads on HCareers and hope for a good bite. Instead, you do what Sasha does at Acumen. You let your audience spread the word and impose a deadline taking advantage of the principle of excess demand over limited supply.

Your goal is to go from push to pull.

Separate Yourself

Sure...you could send a resume. But, why not separate yourself and start a conversation in the process?

Who Are You?

The first thing you should figure out about a new employee is not what they can do...but rather who they are.

Most employer-employee failures happen as a result of culture misalignment, not the inability to do "the job". So, ask yourself why job descriptions are largely task oriented, why interviews focus so much on experience and why we spend so much time showing someone how to do it. Instead, spend more time getting to know what makes someone tick, understanding their world view and what their dreams are...this is the stuff that counts in the end.

Resumes are dead...

at least the traditional, one dimensional Word doc is. If you're still using this approach...shame, shame. Try something like this instead...you'll have a much better chance to get noticed.

Hospitality Hiring

Do your recruitment and hiring practices tell your hospitality story? Is it quickly apparent to an outsider that this isn’t just another job? If so, how? If not, why not?

Do you need to announce (post) job openings in the same place everyone else does? Why?

Does your culture and reputation attract the best prospects on it’s own?

Do you actively build relationships in the hives where your best prospects live/work/learn/play?

Which way to you lean with these practices?

• Application Process/Paperwork vs. In-Person/Conversation
• Resume/Q&A vs. Prospect led Presentation
• HCareers/Monster vs. Hive Immersion

Hiring for hospitality is much harder than posting a job and hoping applicants find you. It takes months, perhaps years of cultivation and nurturing of the right audiences.

Interview Questions I Use to Make People Think

If you're hiring for personality, these are important questions to ask. In no particular order...

1. What are you looking to do next, and why?
2. What type of people (team) do you want to be with and why?
   
3. What would you like to learn?
   
4. Where do you want to live and why?
5. What are you an expert on? What are you the best at?
6. What is the worst decision you ever made?
7. Describe your most remarkable project/achievement.
8. How did you move your last organization forward? What did you do to move those around you forward?
9. Imagine you had your own business...what would you do to improve service, improve morale, improve the bottom line, etc.?
10.  Describe a challenging problem you have helped solve.
11. Describe a problem you foresaw, and how you helped avoid it.

I use these with all levels of jobs, from front line to senior management. As you can imagine, I receive all sorts of answers...none of them wrong. But, in the end, I know more about what makes a person tick, how they will fit in and whether or not they can help us move forward.

Hint...if you're submitting a cover letter/CV, do something remarkable and incorporate the answers into your presentation. You might just get noticed.

Let me know if you have some to add.