It’s not enough today for businesses to simply find good employees. That’s not difficult to do at all. What you’re looking for, if you want to make waves in your industry and outshine your competitors, are rock star employees who can take your business so much further than you’ve ever imagined before. But finding these rare beasts of industry can feel more like mission impossible than a simple talent search.
That is, of course, unless you adopt some of the following tactics as part of your search for employees who will not only be motivated to do remarkable things for your business, but who will inspire others in your organization to achieve more as well. Consider these tactics as part of your next talent search to find employees who will raise the bar for your entire organization.
Look for Employees Who Think Outside of Their Job Descriptions
Some of the saddest words to hear in the work place are “That’s not in my job description.” It’s an indication that the person is not interested in expanding boundaries, improving skills, or being part of the team. Even if the person has stellar skills and a great personality, if he or she isn’t willing to go above and beyond, when called for, to get the job done, then you have an employee who is only out for him or herself and not someone who is dedicated to your organization.
Choose the Right Person – Rather than Focusing on a Specific Skillset
Success magazine reports that Southwest Airlines has an effective motto when it comes to hiring personnel for their organization: “Hire for attitude, train for skill.” Skills can be taught. Quite easily in many cases. Attitudes are much harder to change. Look for employees that are coachable, emotionally intelligent, and motivated so you can feel confident that you’re getting the best people.
Look for Leadership Qualities
People who follow good leads often make good employees. When you’re looking to raise the bar for your business, though, you need to focus your search on people who will make excellent leaders.
Hire People with Something to Prove
Forbes recommends hiring people who have a chip on their shoulder. What you’re really looking for is an employee who has a deep motivation to succeed. It might be someone who struggled academically but still managed to graduate, or someone who had to work exceptionally hard to even get to, or someone with a past he or she is striving to overcome. These motivations can become driving forces that propel the right person into stellar success in life and take your company along for the ride.
Identify Traits Stellar Employees in Your Organization have in Common
Look at your leaders and top performers and study them in comparison to other employees who are good employees, but not the standout leaders you wish all employees could be. Identify the traits that set them apart – the key differences between the two of them, and make those characteristics primary elements you look for when hiring new employees. Entrepreneur.com recommends having “success profile” that will help you identify your ideal employee – these characteristics need to be included within that profile.
Keeping Outstanding Employees in Place
The next step, of course, is keeping the standout employees you have. There are a few things you can do that will make your business a far more attractive place for them to work. Keep these things in mind when making decisions within your organization to increase employee engagement, reduce employee turnover, and offer motivation for employees throughout your organization.
Recognize Employee Accomplishments
Some employees are self-motivated. Others need accolades and recognition toaccomplish more for your business. Regardless,
people need to feel appreciated when they’ve made a concentrated effort to accomplish things for your business. Consider verbal praise, plaques and awards, gift certificates, and even raises to thank your employees for their contributions to your business.
Offering workshops, classes, and even educational assistance to employees who want to improve their skills, advance their degrees, or improve themselves is a huge incentive to keep people not only working hard for your business, but loyal to your organization once they’ve developed these new skills and obtained this new knowledge.
Promote from Within
People love to know that they can do better if they work hard enough and strive to do so. Offer merit based promotions within your organization so that your employees know there are opportunities to advance. They will feel as though you are loyal to them and the good employees, the ones you want to keep around, will be motivated to work even harder to accomplish their own goals for advancement within your organization.
Hiring great people is a goal every organization and hiring manager has. Unfortunately, it is sometimes difficult to see the forest for the trees when you’re in the process of hiring because you’re so focused on matching certain skills that you forget to focus on finding the right people to fill these roles within your organization. These ideas will help you hire and retain the people that will make your organization thrive.
{{cta(‘b91117b5-f8ec-4446-bdc8-eaa58110bb61’)}}