Hiring for Growth
In scalable businesses, there is an overwhelming need for an organization to add employees quickly to drive the business forward. Hiring in this context is very different than hiring someone into a small business or an established large business, because the employees you hire will fundamentally shape the organization as it rapidly grows!
A company is a sum of its parts. No group can maximize its effectiveness in isolation as well as it can when working together, so how does a company recruit employees that work as one well-oiled machine even as it experiences growing pains?
The hiring process is a difficult one, and relies on more than just the “gut feeling” and intuition learned from any given amount of management experience. Quantifiable scoresheets, intensive interviews, and a deep involvement and openness to other team member's opinions can help create strong teams dedicated employees.
Developing a company is about having the right team with the right attitudes. Hiring committees should strive to find potential recruits that possess drive, enthusiasm and responsibility, as well as team-oriented mindsets. In order to uncover said attributes, interviews should be centered around these questions:
Is the candidate genuinely interested and invested in the company’s growth?
Are they a “we” person? Meaning, do they act as both a leader and team player, appreciative and aware of the importance of the work done by others?
Do they have a high internal locus of control? Do they take responsibility for their mistakes and work to improve upon them?
How does the current team react to the potential new hire? Do they believe that they will be a cohesive member in the company’s already established culture?
If employers can identify team members that embody these standards are more likely to be productive, reduce turnover rates and lessen the expense that follows.
Creating a strong team is only half the battle. From there, a company must work to create an environment that fosters the talent they worked so hard to enlist in order to retain it. Companies should offer amenities that allow employees to work in a supportive surroundings that value their inputs and ideas, as well as aim both challenge and nurture their employees. These can be basic ways of helping the team focus on their goals. They incentivize workers to stay on task as well as encourage loyalty to the company.
References: https://medium.com/swlh/why-we-have-22-hour-interviews-5661d2a9f458
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