We are doubling our staff right now. Sales people, customer service account managers, administrative support. Hiring is the worst – the amount of time it takes, the expense and of course the frequency with which a great process produces an unsustainable hire. I have hired thousands of people over my career and I can claim a success rate only a tiny bit higher than the national average. I have made a few lessons law for us at Hunt Big Sales:
- Avoid “projects” – There is a temptation to hire people with potential rather than proven talent. The price is better and then you can develop them your own way, right? Not as a small company. You need real producers from day one.
- Forget “market rate” compensation – If you are a growing company, you need to set your sights on real contributors and pay for it. One “great hire” will out perform two good hires.
- Take the time – I’m always in a rush when it comes to hiring. That’s like going to the grocery store hungry. It’s better to go with multiple interviews.
- Standardize – Currently, this is our biggest mistake. If you want to get good at something, then you standardize and modify from the standard as you learn. Right now, we are making up our questions for each interview as we are meeting with the candidate. We are going to move to a template approach so that all of the members of the hiring team can get better with experience.
On average, turnover of new hires within 18 months is in excess of 40% across the country. It’s worth the investment to get better.
