Get the right people
Your business won’t get anywhere without having quality people in place. You not only have to hire the best people, but you also have to know what you’re looking for in both job skills and personal characteristics.
“We start off by saying, ‘What’s the ideal profile of this person?’” Gummer says. “List all that out, and then as we interview people, compare what the traits and qualities of that particular person is compared to our template or profile, and make sure there’s a good fit here.”
If it’s a job that somebody has already been in, you can use that person’s traits — or lack thereof — to guide you in forming that list, but if it’s a new position, lean on your colleagues to help you develop the list.
“Start with a job description so you know what you want,” he says. “Then you have to go through and identify what are the educational experiences, the business experiences, maybe the life experiences that are good for a person to be successful in that job.”
While the job skills may change between positions, some of the values that Gummer is looking for do not. For example, because Comerica has been around for 160 years and in Texas for 20, he wants people who want to be with the organization for a long time. Comerica also has a commitment to serving the community, so he also looks for people who care about that. Focusing on your organization’s values will ensure that you get someone who meshes well with your business.
Once you know what you’re looking for in a candidate, then you can begin searching for the right person.
“Another thing that’s real important to understand is academic achievement does not assure business success,” Gummer says. “By that, I mean you can be very smart and well-educated, but do you really have what it takes to be successful?”
Instead of focusing on where people went to school or what they achieved while they were there, Gummer follows the GE method of evaluating people on four E’s: energy, enthusiasm, edge and execution.
“Those are four things that you don’t necessarily get in your education, but you have to evaluate that on the people that you’re interviewing if you want to pick people who will be successful,” he says.
But first, you have to check candidates out on paper first.
“First thing you do is study and evaluate the resume of the person,” he says. “If they’ve had a lot of jobs over a short period of time without good reason, there may be a question there.”
He also looks for signs of community involvement, such as charity work or church activities, on their resumes.
“Are people involved in the community and the nonprofit world and have they provided leadership in that area?” Gummer says. “I think that’s a tell-tale sign of what kind of person you may be getting.”
Once you’ve found some people who look good on paper, then bring them in for interviews.
“Have more than one interview,” Gummer says. “I don’t know how you can evaluate somebody and make a decision based on one one-hour interview. I think having interviews in multiple venues is important.”
He says the type of venue isn’t as important as recognizing the need to get to other venues aside from your office.
“From the office to a cup of coffee someplace, to whatever else might fit in, there’s nothing special about a particular place, but I think getting off-site is important,” he says. “It tends to relax everybody a little bit more.”
As you’re meeting with people, then it’s important to ask questions that get to the heart of those values and skills you made on the list. If you had any red flags, such as the multiple jobs in a short time frame, you need to drill down into those, as well. One way to do that is to ask them very broad, personal questions.
“You just got to ask that person to share their life story and the challenges that they’ve met and they’ve overcome,” Gummer says.
Taking this approach ensures that you get people that fit well with both your job description and your organization as a whole.
“Know what your values are, and then ask the questions around those values,” Gummer says. “Clearly, as much as we’ve tried to put science behind the hiring, there’s an art to it, and that art is identifying all the right questions and getting the answers that you think are appropriate and spending enough time so you think the person is sincere.”
