Attracting the best people to come work for your company will take some strategy: strong employer branding, a great job candidate experience through the recruitment cycle, and good pay and benefits to seal the deal.
However you also need a strategy that works to your advantage – finding job candidates with the right characteristics that lead to a high performing culture. This has much more to do with soft skills than experience.
To improve your recruitment process, add these three elements to ensure you are attracting the right talent to take your company forward.
- Recruit high potentials, not rock stars.
Your approach should involve assessing potential talent you can develop and groom for succession. They have the right soft skills that ensure success long-term – resilience, initiative, entrepreneurial spirit, integrity, and being able to adapt to change and new challenges. This is who you want to grow into new roles when the company takes unexpected turns. They’re not “rock stars” because rock stars know their value and may be looking for the next gig when the grass turns greener on the other side of the fence. When you farm you own talent and grow them to realise their potential, they become loyal, committed, and motivated rock stars for you.
- Recruit for diversity.
Great leaders know they can’t succeed on their own and will surround themselves with a team composing of differing strengths, expressions, ideas, personalities, and viewpoints. In recruiting people who respect and value the differences of others, collaboration increases as team members are free to share and debate ideas. Such diverse talent will take the burden off of leaders and actually make them better in the long run.
- Recruit for integrity.
Warren Buffett said a few years ago when he said: “You’re looking for three things, generally, in a person: intelligence, energy, and integrity. And if they don’t have the last one, don’t even bother with the first two.” When you recruit people with integrity, it makes it hard to question that person. They exercise good judgment and trust is quickly gained, especially with those they are working and collaborating with. Colleagues see each other as dependable and accountable for their actions in a culture of integrity.
