Attract, engage and retain the best candidates – It all starts with the interview and creating the right impression.
Honesty and integrity are really important here. If you are a start up with little to no foundations or if your business is stuck, going backwards or on its knees, no matter what state it is in, honesty must prevail here.
When you are really keen on someone have you ever noticed yourself overselling the opportunity your business has to offer? That you find that you are ignoring the red flags, or skirting around them?
It is important that you dig deep into your applicant’s background. You know what the limitations of your business set up, having someone who has unique needs and requirements for you to accommodate may be a hinderance rather than a help for your business to grow. All said and done here, they must align with the business values and culture.
Qualifications on paper are no longer enough to determine a person’s ‘fit’ for a job. Look closely at your skill set or any star performers you have either worked with or have working for you and those at the other end of the scale – what are the common characteristics of each? Start drilling down into ‘people fit’ by identifying the behaviours needed to perform each role and assess job holders against those criteria. If their working style is not consistent with requirements, you might find that they are much better suited to another role in the team or somewhere else in the organisation. Be brave in redeploying people according to their strengths and you can transform underlying dissatisfaction into new drive and recovered commitment.
As much as a job holder must behaviourally fit a role, their happiness also depends on how well they work with direct colleagues. This is nothing new, but what many managers and business owner still lack is the ability to really dig deep into team composition. Is the team playing to each person’s strengths? Where is their potential conflict? Relationships are just as impactful inside the workplace as at home, so unresolved disputes within a team are a recipe for disaster, whether that means rapid employee churn or infectious decline in morale and productivity. By identifying existing and potential problem areas, you can begin to tackle the issue and implement coping strategies so that any conflict becomes constructive rather than destructive
TOP TIP – Do not bend your business out of shape to accommodate one person, as this sets a precedence for all to want to follow suit. Working from home and flexi hours are usually the contenders that upset the equilibrium of a peaceful working environment. If you do it for one, you need to be open to doing it for all.
