Hire the right people
Olsen is looking for employees who fit in to a performance-based environment that, as the company performs better, the employees get better rewards.
“If someone overachieves, someone achieves and someone underachieves, they will all be rewarded differently,” he says. “That’s a performance-based culture. People sometimes don’t like that culture. They shouldn’t be in this company. But people that like that kind of culture, then it becomes contagious, and the overall company benefits.”
To find the people that best fit in to your company’s culture, he says you can investigate within the company to find the groups that have had a high rate of employee success. If one group is full of successful employees and their retention rate is great, you should go talk to that group and find out what they are doing right.
Olsen also finds referrals from people whom you trust are a good way to go when hiring.
“Use your customers and use your employees,” he says. “Your customers and employees who are the most interested in you having the best people are a great resource.”
It’s always helpful to go off a trusted reference when hiring someone, rather than just looking at a resume.
“As long as you have a high degree of confidence in the reference as the source,” he says.
When Olsen was a hiring manager, he would tell someone that the first meeting he or she was going to have would be about 15 or 20 minutes. Olsen did this so neither he nor the individual would waste time if the two didn’t hit it off.
“But, it could go for two hours, that 15- or 20-minute interview,” he says.
If Olsen is impressed in the first meeting, he then wants to see that individual again and he wants a couple of other people to see that same person.
“Then the third time I see them, if they didn’t get better from the first time, I have to do an analysis because they have to get better each time I see them.”
Overall, Olsen doesn’t see any difference between hiring people for a company that is looking to grow or one that is content with its success. In both instances, you are going to look for the employees who can benefit your company.
“You are looking for competent, capable people that fit the operating environment and the cultural environment in the company,” he says.