Five Keys for Hiring Greatness

For a business leader or an entrepreneur hiring even her first few team members, there is nothing that will accelerate that business like a great hire, and nothing that will derail that business like a bad hire. A large corporation can afford bad hires here and there, but a smaller business cannot. Over my career, I have hired, led, managed and fired hundreds of people, and that has led me to these Five Keys for Hiring Greatness, listed in order of importance. For each key, I’ve also included a question for you to ask prospective employees during their interview.

Key #1: Cultural Fit

Your oganization’s culture is how you and anyone you hire live out your business. It is what you value. People who share your cultural values become ambassadors for you and your business. People who don’t share your culture are hazards to you, your organization and your customers. This is the most important aspect of hiring well, and critical the smaller your organization.

If you are in a company that has written values, start there and then take a few minutes to add other attributes not there. For example, some organizations value and promote aggressive people — but that’s not a value they’d write down next to honesty. However, for you to hire well, you need to be clear on what really is and is not valued in your organization.

If you are leading a company, whether ten thousand people or just you, but you don’t have your cultural norms written, it’s time to do an unofficial inventory. Take thirty minutes now and write down the qualities that you believe you personally have and that you want anyone in the organization to have, and then identify the five you feel are most important. These are your cultural values.

When you are interviewing someone for any position, you want a potential hire’s values to incorporate all of your cultural values. If, as mentioned above, aggressiveness is a value but you hire someone who is laid-back, you will be doing them and yourself a disservice. Hire someone who is a match for your organization.

Your culture is what you personally value.

Interview Question: Can you tell me what values you think are most important in a business you work with, and how do you live them out in your personal life? (Note, do not share yours before asking this question. Spend time here, and have them provide specific details on how each of their values shape their everyday life. If their values don’t include all of yours, wrap up the interview and let them go.)

Key #2: Helpful Attitude

Hire someone who understands that they are on your team to help you be more successful, and that includes a whatever-it-takes attitude. Make it clear that while you may be looking to solve a problem today, what you’re really looking for is someone to do whatever is needed to help solve any problem tomorrow. Helpful people make you more effective. Especially in a small organization, you can’t afford someone who won’t pitch in because “that’s not what they were hired to do”. Don’t consider that you are hiring a social media manager or a bookkeeper or a sales person. You are hiring a full-on problem solver.

People with a whatever-it-takes attitude are gold.

Interview Question: Do you prefer to have one skill area that you can study and become an expert at, or do you prefer to have some knowledge of a lot of different skills? (Note that if the person prefers having one skill area, wrap the interview up and let them move on. The person is not for you.)

Key #3: Curiosity

A person with curiosity will develop interesting and insightful questions, usually about how or why things are. They will also solve problems themselves without needing you to show them how to Google for an answer. Curious people make you efficient for two reasons: They cause you to think about problems in new ways and challenge assumptions; and, they are self-starters and self-motivators. All organizations need people who are curious about a lot of things.

People who are self-motivated and ask interesting questions will move your business forward.

Interview Question: What questions do you have either about me or about my business? (If they don’t have questions, wrap up the interview and let them go. Not a good fit for you.)

Key #4: Strategic Thinking

You want someone who is thinking ahead with you and for you, looking for opportunities to grow your business. These people can grow with you and take on more responsibility as your business grows. These are the people who ask a lot of questions starting with “What if?” Having someone on your team to “what if” with you is a great benefit, and it is necessary for early hires. They are never satisfied with the status quo, they are ambitious and they want to see your business and their career grow. One possible downside is that they can be challenging, especially since you are the final decision-maker.

A staff filled with people asking “what if” will give your bottom line a boost.

Interview Question: Given what you know about my business, what do you think could be the next opportunities for growth? (Look for “what if” questions here. If the person has no ideas or questions, thank them but don’t hire them now. Your first several hires need this quality.)

Key #5: Skills and Skills Development

Notice that skill is the fifth of the keys and the least important. Nearly any skill can be learned, so someone who fits the other categories but doesn’t have all the skills you need will be a much stronger hire than someone with all the skills but not a match for the other key areas. Trust me, you would rather hire someone who fits the first four keys and have that person learn how to do something on the job. You will get much farther, faster. Often, the more skilled a person is, the narrower they think and the less valuable they are in strategic thinking discussions or in overall helpfulness. They get their stuff done but that’s where it stops. In an interview, do not spend time talking about their specific skills as they have listed it all on their resume. However, you do want to understand how they would react to something new or different.

Nearly every skill can be learned, so hire for attitude.

Interview Question: If I asked you to learn a new program or system, how would you approach this? (Note that you want a person who is interested and excited about the prospect of learning something new. If they don’t appear to be, thank them and let them leave.)

Exception to this rule — If you have a specific time deadline (“I need to have this code fixed by Thursday”), then hire for the skill on a contract-only basis for as short a time as possible.

BONUS #1: Listen To Your Gut

If you interview someone and they seem to fit all of the Five Keys of Hiring Greatness but you still are hesitant, listen to your instincts and don’t hire them. It may mean you need to keep looking, but keep looking.

BONUS #2: Do Not Hire Friends

If you want to be in business with friends, start a new business with them or have them join your board of directors or advisors. But when you hire someone for your team, you want your focus to be about whether they make you more successful or not. Your business is not about having a group of people you like, although you will like them if they match the Five Keys of Hiring Greatness. Your business is about making you and your business more successful. Keep your friends, see your friends, enjoy your friends. But do not hire your friends. It confuses your focus. Consider this: Nearly every hire you make will at some point leave your business — either their choice or your choice. Would your friendship survive that?

If you use these keys, you will hire a great team. What keys do you think I’ve missed?

M.L. Sadler has led in financial services organizations and non-profits in a career spanning more than three decades and has picked up a thing or two.