David Comar didn’t think it could ever happen to him. He recently was looking to hire an employee at Genesis Direct and was completely charmed by the candidate’s personality during a job interview and decided to make the hire.
It turned out to be a mistake — one that Comar hopes he never makes again.
“I’m a little more careful than I was a year-and-a-half ago, and I’m making sure I get a lot more specific,” says Comar, co-founder, co-owner and principal at the private direct marketing company. “At least now I’ll be able to give a better reading on intent and effort and not just someone that speaks well.”
Comar, who also holds the title of vice president, has not changed his tune on the importance of personality and energy. In fact, he wants people who can fit in to the 110-employee company’s high-energy culture. The challenge is to assess the skills, assess the energy and make a good decision on whether to hire a person or not.
Smart Business spoke with Comar about how putting your best foot forward can help you find the right people.
Show your spirit. Folks respect me and respect the leadership of the company. We don’t demand it. They see how hard we work for our clients. They see we’re in the fray. It’s not some direction coming down from on high. It’s someone who is working directly with the client on an ongoing basis and getting the feedback they need to put together the correct programs.
It’s busy. There’s not a lot of downtime. Because of that, folks get involved. We set up good systems, we’re consistent with our message, and we have the right teams in place. Responsibilities are very clear and very measurable about whether folks are doing the job they need to do.
Share spirit with job candidates. Take a step back and ask what makes your company attractive either for a new client or for a new employee. You’re not selling your company; you’re creating a value proposition. It’s a value proposition for your client, and it’s a value proposition for your employee.
If the employees feels there is positive energy, a vision and a plan and all of this has been presented to them and people know where they’re going and there is some level of ongoing growth, hopefully, the employer can show that.
Make sure they talk to the folks of the company who share that same level of positive feel that I would as the owner of the company.
If you’re not able to hire the right employees, I don’t think you’re representing your company the right way. Let’s say the next day you were shutting down your company. Where would you want to go work? Obviously, you worked for someone at some point. Why did you work there? What companies did you feel best about and what did you do?
Employees need to understand their contribution to the company is well-represented in the actual job description. It’s not just, ‘Hey, we need an account manager.’ They need to know that their position is important.