Business owners are easily seduced by a rocking resume. We often get emails from entrepreneurs with subject lines like, “What about this resume?” They are fascinated by the skill sets and experience jumping off the page.
Impressed and intrigued, I picked up the phone and called the potential superstar for simple R&D. Within four minutes, it’s an immediate “Hell no.” Actually, “Oh hell no.” She had the personality of a cinder block. She was lacking vibrancy, empathy and compassion. Her mindset was one of victimization. Yes, I knew all this in four minutes.
And this is without even knowing what position they are thinking of for this person, and without even knowing the details of the job description.
We recently placed a SUPERSTAR for a small business in Maine. When I sent her the resumes for the position, the attorney said to me, “Molly, I do not want to waste my time meeting with Veronica; her resume is less than impressive. I am curious how she possibly made the cut to get in front of me?”
My response: “Trust the process and meet with her.”
She called my cellphone immediately after. “I have no idea how she made your cut or why you would even call her solely based on her resume, but I must have her,” the attorney said. “She is now the standard for every employee I hire going forward.” By the way, it’s Veronica’s sixth week and I still get emails from the attorney saying things like, “I still don’t know why you called her, but thank you. She is amazing. I finally feel like someone has my back and I can let go and focus on the business and attorney work!”
The skills that are on the paper are entirely irrelevant until you get clear on the human side of hiring.
When you make the leap of faith to hire your first employee, it’s just about the scariest thing a solopreneur can do. You want a guarantee that this is an asset versus a liability. You want a guarantee that this person is going to make it more than 30 days. But hires don’t come with guarantees. More often than not, you don’t get the superstar you needed, so you turn to the mindset that “It’s hard to find good people.”
You don’t want good people. You want GREAT, SUPERSTAR, batteries-included people. And guess what?
There are hundreds (thousands if you live in the Houston, TX area) of really, really GREAT resumes out there.
And there are a lot of really, really GREAT people out there waiting to work very, very intentionally for you. But typically they are overlooked because most business owners and recruiters are seduced by the resume.
So how do you get the “I know EXACTLY how to do it” people?
If you are deeply curious to learn:
1. How to write a compelling ad that attracts healthy candidates with the mindset, core values and emotional intelligence, and one that weeds out the weak;
2. What to look for in a resume that screams “I know EXACTLY how to do it” and eliminates the “I need a job and will be asking you for a raise before the end of the year” candidates;
3. How to conduct empowering face/face interviews that create dialog to get to the fundamentals of their motivating factors, mindset, missions and values.
And if you’re struggling with building an empowering team with an unwavering intolerance for “I don’t know how,” click here to schedule a FREE 30-minute call to see where we can support you with your next hire.
