Recruiting top talent for your organization, especially for those hard-to-fill positions, starts with giving yourself the right foundations to help you first identify top talent for the roles you want to fill.
In this chapter, we will cover simple shifts and changes you can make to improve your recruiting process. We’ve rounded up five “panel of experts” to bring you the latest in what’s working now for others when it comes to identifying top talent for your building products and commercial construction companies.
Embrace a Top Talent Mindset
Mindset Shift #1: Top leaders must be actively involved
Jerry Bernhart shares: “Top leaders must be actively involved in hiring decisions.”
“There are many companies I know where Vice-Presidents never interview manager-level candidates. At companies where talent is truly a high priority, senior executives get involved by interviewing finalists and voicing their opinions, but they leave the final hiring decisions to the immediate supervisors. This helps ensure that the talent standard is being applied, and it sends a message to department heads that top management is setting the drumbeat.
Leaders must instill a talent mindset in the organization. As a leader, it is your job to demonstrate this mindset through your actions and behavior. Every meeting of department heads and every meeting with clients is an opportunity to talk about this new talent mindset. When was the last time you held a staff meeting for the express purpose of brainstorming new ideas for attracting talent?”
Mindset Shift #2: Display the correct attributes as a leader
Dan Holstein shares: “to have great people, you have to become a great leader.”
In his video: Attracting ‘A Players’, Dan states that many business owners complain about their staff and lament that they can’t find good people; whereas you should be asking yourself: what attributes should I be displaying as a leader that would make this amazing person want to go above and beyond for me and my company?
Watch Full Episode Below:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5HIxsLVmA_8
Create A-Player Profiles
What to include in candidate profiles:
The Hire Talent shares what your hiring team members must have: “Your candidate profile is essentially a list of qualities, characteristics, or past achievements that you want in a candidate.”
“Creating a candidate profile is a highly-structured process. It means defining exactly what you want in a job candidate. With me so far? The end result should be a refined chart of four columns. Very professional, indeed.
Your columns are labeled in order of importance, with the first column indicating your “Must-Have” traits to the last column listing your “Absolutely Not” traits and everything else in between. Reducing candidates for jobs using this profile can help save time as well as money for a company. Certain qualities that will not mesh with staff or company culture. These can often be seen in a resume or an applicant’s social media accounts.
Nailing down a candidate profile can be an extremely important step in the hiring process. Each role will have a different profile in terms of qualifications and desired characteristics. For example, a company will want an applicant to be data-driven if working in the finance department. The same company might not look at a data-driven person being a good match for a creative position. Specific questions can be formulated for each job role or applicant by using a scorecard for various desired characteristics.”
Why create A-Player profiles?
Heather Bates shares about A-Player profiles: “they’re a critical part of sourcing ideal candidates, and getting them wrong can make your job much more difficult.”
More reasons why:
- It helps with job descriptions
- Improves sourcing strategy
- Leads to better outcomes
Develop Specific Actionable Evaluation Criteria
Sam Molony suggests: “One of the best ways to set an employee up for success is to be clear about expectations from day one.”
“And by writing down the specifics around how you’ll evaluate their performance, you’ll be better equipped to share your expectations early on in their tenure.
When creating this, it helps to imagine that you’re performing a performance review. You may have a standard set of questions that you use for other employees. Use this as a starting point, but be sure to cross-reference it with the specific duties for this position so you have a distinct set of evaluation criteria.”
Summary
Identifying top talent is key to keeping your building products or commercial construction company competitive.
Fortunately, by shifting your mindset and being specific on what type of candidate is right for each of your roles, you’ll increase the effectiveness of your recruiting process and identify top talent easier.
In the next chapter, you’ll learn about behavioral interviewing, and how you can use it to more effectively screen your candidates and truly find the best person for the job.
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