Research shows that A-Class Managers hire A+ guys.

B-Class Managers hire C-class employees,

C-Class managers hire D-Class employees.

The net result is that A-class managers make their company a company of giants, which can lead to sustained growth.
On the other hand B and C-class managers, who are insecure, make their company a company of dwarfs and drive their companies to dust.

Customers come first- Wrong.
Tomorrow’s business reality is that only two things will drive success- innovation and people.
If you have good and happy employees – your customers will be taken care of.

Good employees build better brands.

If you are a start–up or an SME-spend maximum time in the recruitment process.
This will make or break your company.
Your recruitment mindset defines the future of your company.

How to avoid hiring morons?

God likes morons because he made so many of them.
The biggest challenge for small business is in hiring good people and retaining them.
The real trick is to avoid hiring morons.
Here are some sure shot ways:

1. Don’t look at candidate’s CV.
   If you ignore my advice and still look at it, you will realise that an average candidate is almost qualified to replace Bill Gates. (After all, candidate himself has crafted the CV)

   Try to find some unusual things in his career, some breaks-something that makes him stand apart from the crowd.

   Remember, you are looking for winners and winners do not follow a straight line.

2. Go for the attitude, not the skills.

   You can teach skills to a giraffe-but a great positive attitude can make a huge difference.

   Once, I hired a drummer from the nightclub as a salesman in Delhi, and he broke all the sales records in his territory.

   You are an average of five people you meet.

   Attitude is contagious- it spreads to the rest of the team.

   Employees with great attitude will make your team

3. Extra –curricular Activities

   Give 50 % weight age to candidate’s extra-curricular activities.

   Find about his hobbies; his interest in sports, music or any other passion.

   Does he read books? What kind of friends he has?

   A well- rounded candidate with good social skills will be 3 times more productive than a University topper, who may be a complete bozo.

4. Get a woman’s perspective
   For some unexplained reason, I believe that woman have a sixth sense in judging people

   Hence, I always take their opinion.

   If possible, get a woman on the interview panel.

My own litmus test. For any important position, either I will ask a woman employee to give her opinion or I call the candidate to come over and have dinner with my family.
This way, I normally avoid hiring morons.

Why Good People Will Not Work For You?

I have a huge problem.

Being in a consulting business, my clients are also start-ups, who want to build big brands.

All of them want to hire bright and talented people, who can take their business to the moon.

Somehow, it doesn’t work like that.

The truth is that nobody good wants to join a small or a start-

up business.

Unless, you can compensate them in terms of better salary, bonuses, better environment.

The truth is that the market has changed, expectations have changed. Opportunities have changed.

The truth is that candidates do not want to work for mediocre and un-exciting companies.

The annual Business Today People Strong survey to find the “best companies to work for” threw some surprises.
It discovered that employee focus is shifting to softer, intangible elements.
Companies are understanding this reality and bringing in innovative changes to hire and retain top talent.

• Google empowers employees to create impact with their work.
  It supports a culture based on ideas, not hierarchy.
  Providing free lunch and massages are fringe benefits only.

• Accenture spends nearly $ 1.0 billion (Rs 6,500 cr) on professional development of employees annually.

• Amazon encourages employees to evolve innovative solutions to any issue customers face.

• Facebook grants a four-month paid leave on becoming a parent (to both men and women)

• Reliance Industries (RIL) has adopted an open office culture to provide a supportive environment to its employees.

• Tata Motors provide a comfortable working environment for women. The company provides six-month maternity leave, work-from-home options and 3-12 months sabbatical. The plants have crèches.

• ITC keeps its employees motivated by employee centric policies like offering stock options and accommodations to its managers.
  It also rotates its managers across business segments to give them different exposure.

When large and successful companies are bending backwards to hire and retain talent-what happens to start-up or small companies.

Do they have a chance to get good people?

Today’s candidate is demanding and impatient.

Candidates “pre-shop” the companies, before they enter the interview room.
Thanks to the Internet, they know everything about you, your company and your culture before they enter your gate.

This generation is not worried about long term- they want instant gratification.

Hence, every company needs to market itself aggressively to attract good talent.

Don’t worry about selling your product. That can come later on. If you can manage to hire a good team- they will sell the product anyway.

So, what should a start-up or a small company do to hire good people?
There are some basic guidelines:

1. Double your manpower budget-
   Please accept the fact that good people will not join you from good companies unless you pay them more than what good companies are paying them.
   You have to compensate them for the risk involved in joining a smaller company.

2. Make a good web-site much before you need it
   A good web- site is your first touch point or a calling card. Every good candidate would see it and make an impression about your company.
   Most of the companies develop the website much after the products have been launched.

3. Be visible on digital space.
   As per the research, your potential employee would be spending more than 4 hours per day in front of the computer. They will see your LinkedIn or Facebook profile before they come for the interview.
   Do you have an impressive LinkedIn or Facebook profile?

4. Provide an exciting working environment.
   To attract and retain good employees, companies are making office environment exciting and fun-filled.Companies like apple, Google and Zomato have created visually appealing offices.
   Companies are also providing facilities like, 5-day week; cafeteria, gyms, flexi-hours, maternity leave, holiday homes etc.
   Can you think of some new innovative idea, which will excite your employees?

5. Hire better people
   Have the courage to hire people better than you are.
   You shall never regret it.

The final word- if you have good and happy employees-your customers will be taken care of anyway.               

“Good employees build better brands”.

The post How to recruit the best Talent? appeared first on Neeti Brand Accelerator.