How to Recruit Great Talent

"If you hire only those people you understand, the company will never get people better than you are. Always remember that you often find outstanding people among those you don't particularly like." -- Soichiro Honda

The single best thing you can do for your practice is to recruit great talent to "play" on your T.E.A.M.. Having smart, ambitious, and hardworking people under your leadership will make your work easier, more productive, and more profitable.

As time goes on, good people get better but great people become superstars. In a surprisingly short amount of time, two or three great Players on your T.E.A.M. can upgrade your entire practice enabling you to become the brand of choice in your marketplace..

It's not easy to recruit top talent, but it's well worth the time and effort that it takes. Here are the four most important things I've learned about how to do it:

1. Make the commitment. Anything worth doing is worth doing well. You can't expect to hire great people if you spend just a few hours working on it. I don't like interviewing, and I'm always impatient to hire the first decent person who comes along. That's a deadly combination.

2. Look for the right things. Intelligence is important, but I'd list it third on my list of things to look for. The two most important things to look for are attitude and aptitude. You can't train someone to have a delightful attitude and personality. Hire cheerleaders and fire sourpusses.

3. Flee flaws. Generally speaking, you'll see a T.E.A.M. candidate at his or her best when you interview him or her. If you notice something that seems "wrong," don't ignore it -- especially if it concerns qualities that are important for the position. When it comes to interviewing, I've found that personal quirks are like the tip of an iceberg -- what you see on the surface is a very small part of what you will have to deal with later.

4. Don't worry too much about specific experience. Of all the qualities that are important to look for in finding a great Player for your T.E.A.M., specific experience is not very high on my list. Yes, it's good to know that the person you hire can do the technical work from day one -- but on day seven or day fourteen, you'll wish you had opted for the better, though perhaps untried and unproven, Prospex.

Finally, you must be continuously recruiting for new T.E.A.M. Players, even when you do not have a position available. Create a "job bank" folder for each position on your T.E.A.M. and collect resume from potential candidates. If you need to replace someone on the T.E.A.M. or need to expand your T.E.A.M., you can retrieve your "job bank" folder and call in the Prospex for a group interview!

And, naturally, along the way, you may just find someone that is better for the T.E.A.M. than a current Player. Yes, it always a good policy to field the best talent possible, whenever possible, even when you need to make a change on your T.E.A.M.

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