Hiring top talent is not cheap nor a simple process.
Not only will you need to put time and thought into the job listing, the recruitment, and the interview process, but also you’ll need to be ready with competitive compensation and benefits. Additionally, you’ll need to think about how you will be able to advance the new hire’s career.
So why bother?
So happy you asked! (OK, maybe you didn’t – but I’m willing to bet I’ve at least roused your curiosity, or you wouldn’t still be reading.)
“Why bother?” is best answered by people who have seen firsthand the power of hiring top talent and how it has shaped and built their organizations. For the first part of this series, I’d like to focus on Steve Jobs. He triumphed through adversity and left a legacy that stands apart from the ordinary. Love or hate Apple®, there’s no denying the company is a powerhouse and has provided consistent cutting-edge technology to consumers for years. How? What is the secret recipe? The answer, according to Jobs is this, “The secret of my success is that we have gone to exceptional lengths to hire the best people in the world”.
Hiring, done well or poorly, affects company culture to company profits and everything in between. Jobs knew this, and acted accordingly. Now, with a global pandemic – it is simply not the time for hiring mistakes. The volume of work alone often creates unreasonable pressures for those trying to fill a vacancy, and the temptation to try shortcuts is tantalizing. For example, consider that the average job opening attracted 250+ resumes – before COVID-19 (Glassdoor). Add in the restrictions associated with COVID-19, and you have people re-thinking the entire hiring process. But remember that a person who built one of the most robustly successful business entities in the world said that hiring was the key to success.
There was no compromise in the hiring process on the talents and qualifications required to be a part of the team. Steve Jobs believed that hiring was the most important thing he did. He managed all of the hirings for his team, never delegating it. He personally interviewed over 5,000 applicants during his career. Another philosophy attributed to Jobs by former Apple senior VP Jay Elliot is as follows:
“I noticed that the dynamic range between what an average person could accomplish and what the best person could accomplish was 50 or 100 to 1. Given that, you’re well advised to go after the cream of the cream … A small team of A+ players can run circles around a giant team of B and C players.”
The High Impact Manager® training program includes an entire module on the importance of Hiring Top Talent – and the Goal of Transformative Leadership Development™ is to share the lessons learned by some of the top organizations in the world to help your organization grow and reach its full potential. Consider the possibilities of having your team focus on hiring the A+ players, and take a look at what the High Impact Manager® curriculum could do for your team.
