After at least 20 years of experience, I am so excited to share what I know about this topic! So many people get stuck in the fact that they don’t know the same amount as those around them, they don’t have the same degree, or they don’t have the same life experiences. Don’t get hung up on that! Instead, focus on the value of what you offer, or what the members of your team can offer instead of the skills or degrees they hold.
I’ll give you an example. I was talking to a client recently who works in the restaurant industry, he was lamenting about issues he was having with staffing. His employees from the front of the house to the back weren’t fitting. When we dug deeper into their hiring process I found out that the first question that was asked in their interviewing process was always “do you have any restaurant experience?” If the answer was no then the interview was basically over. When I pressed why this was the case the only thing he could come up with was, “because we are hiring for a restaurant.”
The thing is, this shouldn’t be the case. Just because a person hasn’t worked in the restaurant industry and doesn’t have the waitressing experience, doesn’t mean you should completely discount them. It’s because of this mindset that companies are hiring the wrong people. Guys! You can always teach the skills! Do you know what you can’t teach? Values, you can’t teach culture, you can’t teach work ethic, but, you can teach skills. That is the key to this whole thing. My client, they were looking for these concrete skills for someone to have, but what the people that kept showing up, didn’t have the core values and the work ethic that they were looking for. Which, is a HUGE part of the culture in this business!
I realized that my client needed some help and that most people probably need help with hiring the right people. So, I came up with three things that you as a business owner need to do to attract the perfect hire.
First, Go back to what the core values of your business are. Furthermore, what are your core values as the business owner? In other words, what is important to the business? Is it knowledge, is it integrity, is it consistency, is it creativity, is it having fun? I mean, what does that look like to you?
Once you establish that, move on to step two, your vision. What is the vision that you have for the business, and for the team? What are the strengths that you have, and what your current team has? What are you looking to accomplish, what is your goal? When you focus on what you already have and you can see your vision, it is easy to see what you or your team is missing. In other words, if you needed to go somewhere, but you don’t have an exact address it is going to be hard to get there.
Here is the thing though, you aren’t looking at the hard skills like baking, accounting, or waitressing; you’re looking for the soft skills Are they a go-getter, are they a self-starter, are they goal-oriented, are they detail-oriented, are they task-oriented? More importantly, how do those soft skills fit into your vision and core values?
I know what you’re thinking, how do I know my interviewee has these soft skills? One of the things that you can do is run people through some different personality tests, or tests to really figure out the soft skills that a particular person has. Remember you are trying to figure out how they fit into the role and the vision that you have for the posted position. I have four good examples of these personality tests, they are ones that I have used and found value in, so you know they are good!
One is, How To Fascinate by Sally Hogshead. This is a newer one that I’ve been introduced to, but it really helps to kind of pull out what is important to somebody, and what their strengths are from a personality standpoint, and how they will fit together in different roles. Personally, I’m a catalyst within the Fascinate Program. I have passion, and innovation, and creativity or, out of the box thinking. I am not detail-oriented, I can be, but that’s not one of my big giant strengths. I wouldn’t want to be working on spreadsheets all day, basically, okay? By focusing on what lights my fire, you can see how I would be able to help best within your organization. The second one is the Strengths Finder and this is the same kind of thing. Pulling out what a person’s strengths are. You know, what are they super good at?
The third one is one that we used to use all the time when I was working in corporate. It’s called the DiSC Profile. It’s an acronym. The D stands for Dominant. I is Inspirational. S is steadiness. C is Conscientious. Each of these people brings a particular strength to a team. On this Profile, I am a high D, but super high basically this means I am a people person, I’m an empath and love people. My husband is a high S. He is so even-keeled, and he is like the buffer for everybody. My C, my detail orientated-ness is kind of super lower, which used to drive my boss nuts, my old boss, because his C was like way off the charts, like up in outer space off the charts. I was completely opposite.
Then, the fourth one is Myers Briggs. This is something I was actually introduced to two years ago from one of my mentors. The same kind of thing, it really digs into are you more of a thinker, or are you more of a feeler, okay? Do you think things, like a scientist, or are you more of a feel where you go with your gut? Are you more detailed, or are you somebody who is definitely more out of the box thinking, creative? Are you an introvert, do you draw your energy off of being around tons of people, or do you need that alone time to reflect and kind of come back to the center?
The key is to apply these tools and information to your core values and goals. This is what I did with my client, we looked at these values and goals and then focus on what you definitely want, someone who really wants to learn. Not just about the food on the menu, but about the experience, about the culture, about the background of the business, why it was started, and then understand what goes into each dish, and why things are the way that they are.
When you look at all of these things together, the hard skills, the soft skills, the person as a whole and what they can do for your team and your vision you are going to end up with a much more rounded team, and a clearer goal to reach.
If you enjoyed this episode and in some way it inspired you to start taking action, I’d love to hear about it and know your biggest takeaway. Send me a DM on Instagram @theresacantley and let me know what your favorite part was.
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If there is a topic you would love me to talk about or a question you may have send it to us at theresa@theresacantley.com and we’ll feature it on one of our future episodes.
LINKS:
Episode 26 – Are you a CEO or are you Being Your Own Boss? (and the difference between the two)
Episode 25 – 3 Key Reasons Why People are Successful in Local Business
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