5 Tips for Finding Top Talent in 2011
Start a referral bonus program for your employees—a good one. Chances are, they’re only going to refer the best to you. Trust them, otherwise why would you have hired them?
• Work with a recruiter. I’m not saying you have to hire someone found by one, although I’m not against it. If for no other reason, a recruiter dedicated to your industry is going to know what’s going on out there. In fact, a good one is as good as it gets for information. They can tell who’s doing what, what’s working and what’s not. Over the years, I was probably instrumental in selling over $5 million in prepress equipment through my recommendations and insight.
• Check references. If there is only one thing you do when you hire someone—do this. I don’t even care if you meet the person. Just find out if they are who they say they are and can do the things they say they can do. And don’t tell me references are illegal and nobody will give you one. I hear that all the time. In 15 years, out of thousands of reference calls, only once—yes once—was my request turned down.
And please don’t rely on a reference from human resource managers. Their job first and foremost is gatekeeping. Name rank and serial number is about all you’re going get...if you’re lucky. Plus, they didn’t work next to your candidate anyway. How are they going to know what exactly they did and how well they did it.
In the future, I’m going to write a piece entirely on reference checks and the type of questions to ask. Look out for it.
Just a few things to keep in mind when you’re building your team for 2011. Good luck.
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