Find people who fit
Identifying the right people starts with a background check.
“First of all, we have a great belief that past success is a predicator of future success,” says Davis, who begins his search by reviewing a student’s college career. “Somebody in college, at 22 years old, it’s very difficult to predict what they’re going to do. But we look at their prior track record.”
The first general indicator is grade point average; Davis looks for B or better. But that shouldn’t be the only thing you consider.
Look for outside involvements: social groups, extracurricular activities, jobs, etc.
“Something other than just going to school,” Davis says.
You don’t have to narrow your search to candidates with prior knowledge and experience, especially when you’re using young students as your pool.
“We don’t necessarily look for anybody with prior print experience,” he says. “We believe we can get someone who is bright, enthusiastic, energetic and we can teach them the printing business.”
Focus on work ethic and other ways they’ve already set themselves apart that match what you expect from employees.
“You have to judge and base it on prior history,” he says. “What has been their success through high school, college and gotten them to where they are now? Did they work hard in college? Did they have outside activities? Did they have a job? What did they do to distinguish themselves in their college career? I think that’s the best indicator of what they’re going to do once they join your company.”
Davis wants candidates who have shown they are eager, aggressive, hardworking achievers who yearn to succeed — not lazy students who want an 8-to-5 day and a paycheck. Separating the good candidates from the lazy ones can start with their responses to basic questions like why they want to join your company.
“If their answer is, ‘You have good pay and benefits and I need a job,’ that’s probably not going to be very interesting to us,” he says. “But if the answer is, ‘I see this as a great opportunity to have a long-term career, and I think I could be very successful. Here’s why I’ve been successful in the past, and I think I can be successful here,’ then we’d be interested in that person.”
Of course, you also have to be clear about what the job entails to make sure both sides are in sync.
“We tell them about the company, how we train them, our expectations of them,” Davis says. “So nothing is new when they come on board.”
Explain both what you expect of the candidates and what they can expect. Davis shares stories of 26-year-old company presidents who have zoomed through the program and risen to the top.
Students can also go online for in-depth descriptions and videos of the Leadership Development Program through first-person perspectives of current students and successful graduates. The “Day in the Life” section shares employees’ blogs to show an average day’s duties in several positions. One employee who has only been in the program for a month shares a day of inking press rollers and attending a production meeting to review every job in the plant. Another new employee, still in sales training, blogs about a morning presentation for combining CGX’s print and online capabilities, the daily hour of cold calls and happy hour with a top client.
“They know what our expectations are coming into the company, and hopefully they know what the opportunities are coming into the company,” Davis says.
Through that, he hopes to find employees who will make the best fit.
“Anybody we hire out of college we think has the potential to be a company president,” Davis says. “Or we don’t hire them.”
