Hire people who believe what you believe
In the microcosm of Humboldt County, there are all sorts of professional opportunities at hand. Even with our current economy, many job seekers are still on the prowl and numerous businesses are still hiring, in fact, smart companies are always hiring when they meet a good candidate.
But what are employers looking for?
Peter Schutz, the former CEO of Porsche, said, “Hire for character, train for skill.”
This concept needs to be front and center for both employers and those looking for work. Finding a job candidate that is a good fit for your company is perhaps the greatest challenge for any business. Discovering that perfect balance of skill, personality, and attitude, can feel like looking for a needle in a haystack.
It is wise to take a step back and identify what you can train and what are the “X” factors that can’t be trained, like motivation, a positive outlook and chutzpah.
The author and speaker Simon Sinek takes this to the next level by saying, “Hire people who believe what you believe.”
When you have someone who truly believes in the mission of your company or organization, then you have someone willing to go the extra distance to achieve success. They are no longer working for a paycheck; they are committed to the very soul of the organization. Ideally, this person also needs to be excited to learn the next tasks and explore new approaches, since innovation will be an essential part of taking your company to the next level and pioneering a way forward.
A new team member in your organization should bring new energy, new ideas and a new perspective …and here is the tough part. You need to let go a bit and unleash that newness on your company. Both to encourage your new team member but also to open the eyes of the established staff.
As an example, we recently hired a new marketing person at Sun Valley Floral Farms, a few years out of Cal Poly, and he has brought fresh social media and marketing excitement to our organization. One of the most awesome results is the response from our sales team, some of whom have been here for 25 years saying, “Wow! Who is doing our Instagram? I like that!”
This energy is intangible and the response from the whole team when you have a new dynamic and skilled person brings the entire team up. Reinforcing the idea that the best way to honor your exceptional team is to surround them with more outstanding individuals.
This works in the other direction as well. If we keep a subpar team member, we are doing a disservice to our team members that are remarkable.
Hiring new talent can be a long and arduous process, but when you find someone that believes what you believe, you get the corresponding joy of having found that needle in the haystack.