Hiring Success 101: The Secret to Finding Top Talent

The secret to a successful business lies within its core of employees loyal to their employer and business brand. Actually, this is no secret. Research has shown for decades that the leading companies in America create a company culture, where people are treated with respect and consideration at all times – maximizing employee loyalty and work ethics.

The current unemployment climate provides American business with a wealth of resumes and highly qualified workers eager to perform. The savvy business owners will focus on defining and positioning their company as preferred employers – employers personally involved by showing unfailing respect for all who work for them, and setting high performance standards through example.

Recruiting Employees for the New Millennium

Successful strategies for recruitment of top-level applicants lie within the willingness of business leaders to analyze future labor market demographics, and re-structure business culture to reflect the future work-force.

An unprecedented shift is projected by the National Association of State Auditors, Comptrollers and Treasurers (NASACT). According to a recent study, the number of young workers replacing those over the age of 55 will decrease dramatically by the year 2012. For the first time in U.S. history, one in six workers is over the age of 55, but the 25 – 34 demographic has already shrunk by nearly 9 percent.

Finding and Keeping High Quality Employees

The following is valuable advice for creating a desirable company culture:

1. Respect Your Employees.
   
   Allow your “big company body” to have a “small company soul”. Sysco is a classic big-business example of the power of respect, infusing all of its employees – from truck drivers to salespeople – with a sense of entrepreneurial ownership in their own company.
   
   Entrepreneurial employees are energized and engaged because they are encouraged to have a sense of customer-ownership, to be held accountable for results and to share in the rewards of those results. They enjoy autonomy and feel respected and rewarded for their efforts.
   
   
2. Maximize the Best Employees
   
   Researchers have proven that placing employees in positions of great influence is the foremost way to maximize your best employees.
   
   When David Grissen, executive vice-president of Marriott’s eastern region met with his managers, they decided to create the “Front and Center” hiring initiative. Realizing the enormous impact front desk employees have on hotel guests, this new hiring procedure brought together every eastern region manager to improve the company’s programs in recruiting, selection and orientation for front desk positions.
   
   Potential employees for front desk positions must undergo a minimum of four interviews and attain a high score on a standardized evaluation metric.
   
   
3. Engage in the Hiring Process and Assess Emotional IntelligenceWhy allow disconnect in the hiring process of your company’s core by disengaging from hiring and recruiting employees? This is your business culture, your company and your leadership – do not sanction hiring choices to another employee.
   
   Use assessments of cognitive and social abilities that comprise a future employee’s emotional intelligence. This EI (emotional intelligence) evaluation is a strong indicator of how well an applicant will mesh with your organization.
   
   
4. Stay Flexible
   
   Be willing to move an employee into another area of your company, capitalizing on their strengths and experiences. Ultimately, any employee who is a good fit for the company culture, but who is not being utilized in the best way possible will eventually be lured by a company that understands their talents and gifts. It is rare to find employees who fit organizationally.

Out Performing Any and All Competition

Successful American companies reaffirm the American entrepreneurial spirit without engaging in financial manipulation or playing accounting games. A great “people company” consists of loyal employees performing consistently at high levels of excellence.

Awareness of what your company actually is – loyal people who dedicate most of their breathing hours in your employ – is the “secret” of thriving American businesses who out perform any and all global competition!