Have flexible people. We’ve either hired or cultivated people who have an understanding of business. Part of our corporate culture and our mission statement is all about having the pride and respect for this business as if it were their own.
Look for people who are asking the right questions in the interview process, who ask what-if questions or they ask specifics, and the details of the job aren’t as relevant to them as the opportunities and the mindset and the culture of the job. Look for people who have a level of ambition, who aren’t going to be satisfied doing the same thing for years and years.
I want somebody who needs to be challenged and wants to make more next year than they did this year and wants a great opportunity and wants to work in an entrepreneurial environment. We’re a bobbing and weaving company because we are privately held and we are entrepreneurial in nature. I spell all of that out in an interview, and I give them all kinds of examples and [ask], ‘How would you feel if this happened and this happened.’ Based on their answers and their interest and excitement over that kind of environment, those are usually the people we go after.
Find someone who fits your corporate culture and your philosophy and you see as someone with some long-term aspirations that fit within your job model. That is the better fit than someone whose skills are good and applicable but maybe, apples to apples, is maybe 70 percent of what you need but 100 percent of a culture fit versus the opposite. From a retention standpoint, the culture and the fit is so much more important than whether they’re as proficient or at the top of their game from certain specific skills requirements.
Look at people’s past bosses. I’ve found that people’s first real job out of college or their first real professional job in their field, the job, the environment and their manager has just an unbelievable effect on them, on who they are ultimately as a business worker. It’s amazing how influential it is. If you talk to someone who’s been working for 12 years, and you evaluate their management style when you want to put them in management, you can always track that style back, good or bad, to what their first real job manager was like. From an interviewing process, I ask a lot of questions and try to delve into that a little bit because I’ve found that it’s very applicable as to what they’re going to be like 10 or 20 years down the road.
How to reach: firstPRO Inc., (404) 252-9422 or www.firstproinc.com