Who you surround yourself with in your business probably matters more than anything else when it comes to starting a business. You need people who will stand by your side, even when the going gets tough. If they won’t, and they don’t love what you’re doing, then it’s probably best if they find another job.
Mark Zuckerberg, the founder, and CEO of Facebook, says that nobody builds a business alone. Instead, they rely on the help of dozens, possibly hundreds, of other people to get the job done. As such, he says, you’ll need to build a team. But how?
Here we’re going to look at some of the ways that the best entrepreneurs cheat to hire the best people to their organizations.
Hire People Who Are Modest
Many entrepreneurs recommend hiring people who are smarter than you are. That’s good advice. But according to Koel Thomae, the founder of a yogurt company, you also need to hire people who are modest and who are able to work well in an entrepreneurial environment. People in your organization need to be humble, particularly at the start and do the work that they might otherwise consider to be “below them.”
Arrogance is something that you can do without in your business. Arrogant people, Thomae says, are often hiding their own insecurities, and these can come undone if your company goes through a crisis period where their job is threatened.
Hire People With Positive Vibes
People will usually say exactly what you want to hear at interview. That’s why, according to to the CEO of Treeline Treenut Cheese, you have to ask tangential questions – things which aren’t directly related to the problems you want solved. It’s when you go off the beaten track and ask unexpected questions that you really get to know a personality.
Become an expert in reading body language. You’ll soon pick up on the subtle cues telling you whether somebody relaying a story thinks that it’s true or not. Look out for signs when body language matches what’s being said. If it doesn’t, then you could have a dishonest candidate on your hands.
Ask A Lot Of “Why” Questions
When kids are growing up, they want to know as much about the world as possible. As a result, they ask a lot of “why” questions, often in a long series which leaves their parents exasperated.
According to John Kelly, the CEO of a coaching company, entrepreneurs need to do the same, but perhaps in a slightly less annoying way. He says that he always asks candidates for jobs at his company why they decided to come and apply for a job with him. He then proceeds to ask why they chose a particular college and why they decided to leave their old job.
Asking why questions is something that helps entrepreneurs understand the deeper motivations of the candidates they interview. It’s a good way of figuring out whether a new employee is a good match for the company culture and everything that the firm stands for.
Find Out If Candidates Can Handle Uncomfortable Situations
Interviews that are on rails and headed to a particular destination never really challenge candidates. Instead, they’re predictable and ensure that candidates stay in their comfort zone. Often candidates are able to lie their way through the process and come out of the other side with a job offer.
This is one of the reasons why many entrepreneurs use a procurement agency. They want to be able to find people with a proven track record and who are able to deal with unfamiliar situations. How candidates react to a particular situation outside of their comfort zone tells entrepreneurs a lot about their ability to do the job well.
When interviewing candidates, it’s a great idea to play devil’s advocate. Take something that they’ve designed or created and get them to prove that it’s the best way to do it, even if it already seems really good. This way you get to find out whether there are any weaknesses and whether they can defend their work on the fly.
Always Hire People Who Are Smarter Than You
Entrepreneurs like to feel that their leadership of a company is justified by the fact that they are smarter and more insightful than everybody else. As a result, when a super smart person comes along, they feel threatened and don’t offer them a position. The CEO of FUBU, however, takes a different tack. He always employs people who are smarter than him in certain areas, because this is what benefits his company.
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