Why are some people so damn interesting?
10 Steps to Better Recruitment
Making better recruitment decisions shouldn’t be left to chance.
I always say you never truly know how a new team member is going to work out until after they start. But you can use some proven tactics and processes that reduce the risk of a bad hire.
In this post, I share ten steps to increase your chances of making the right hiring decision.
1. Scope the role. List the Top 5 Key Priorities for the role over the next year. Draft a Position Description. Set the Total Remuneration Package (TRP). The TRP is inclusive of salary, superannuation, benefits, and bonuses. Note any further background requirements and commentary on the role up front. Share this information with the recruitment team.
2. Decide on the recruitment process and commit to it. Who is responsible for recruiting the position? Are you outsourcing to a recruiter or conducting recruitment in-house? Set a budget for recruitment costs such as advertising and recruitment agency fees. How many candidates should be shortlisted? Who will attend the interviews? How many interviews will you conduct? What are the interview questions and process? Create a timeline from commencement to appointment.
3. Remember to ask your network. There are often hidden candidates outside of the traditional recruitment process. Email your network to ask if they have anyone they suggest that may be suitable. Post on social media, in particular LinkedIn. Post the job on your website.
4. Invite your team to take part. Ask your existing team members for help. Invite them to introduce candidates from their networks. Consider offering a cash incentive or gift, should a candidate introduced by a team member be hired. Beyond incentives, remember to praise them personally and in front of the team.
5. Map out your interview process. Don’t ask closed questions in interviews that need just ‘yes’ or ‘no’ answers. Ask candidates to draw on specific examples in the past where they have dealt with a situation, or demonstrated a required attribute, for the role. Consider inviting key team members to the final interview to get peer assessment on the candidate’s cultural fit.
6. Conduct thorough reference-checks. This should seem obvious but is often overlooked or rushed. A powerful final question to the referee is “Is there anything else I should know about this candidate before making a hiring decision?”
7. Lock in the right candidate as soon as possible. Don’t let paperwork or background details hold you back from making a verbal offer to a preferred candidate. If you have the right candidate in front of you, you’ve completed the recruitment process and agreed to make the hire – make them a verbal offer. Get an answer from them now or offer the night or weekend to think about it. Just try and get a verbal ‘yes’ from them. Great candidates generally get multiple job offers and aren’t on the market for too long. So snap them up. Afterwards, get the required paperwork and communication attended to.
8. Document and conduct an induction process. Draft an induction process that outlines what happens on a new team member’s first day and in the weeks following commencement. Educate your team on the induction process. Ensure that the induction process is followed.
9. Use the probation period to assess suitability. A pet hate of mine is seeing businesses hire new staff only to allow the probation to lapse without reviewing performance. Use the probation period to track the new team member’s performance. Raise issues and provide feedback throughout. Request feedback from the new team member. Sometimes a tough decision to not extend the role past probation must be made, resulting in the staff member’s termination. This may be a preferred course of action rather than accepting unsatisfactory performance, a potential unfair dismissal claim or an industrial relations dispute later.
10. Manage the team member post-probation. For staff that continue on as employees post-probation, ensure that you continue to manage them. Hire, induction and probation are just the beginning. The real job of optimizing performance begins with operational management and staff reviews. Commit to scheduling and conducting these important meetings and reviews in advance.
I really want you to start creating sustainable success in your business and life. Simply check out my FAQs videos HERE on what business owners most commonly ask about sustainable business success. If they help you, simply sign up and get the other 20x videos free.
Claim your Giveaways now, find out what the Fourth Moon is and reach your goals sooner!
Cheers, Darren K Bourke
20 Tips to Winning in Family Business
How to create a Pitch that Rocks - The "You Know How" Pitch
What’s your pitch?
Your pitch is your answer to “So what do you do?” - That magic question posed to you when introduced to someone at a seminar, networking event or social gathering.
And you want it to be great. Right?
To help you craft your perfect pitch, here is a refreshing take on how to create a pitch that rocks and doesn’t send your audience running for the exits.
Let’s look at some pitch approaches.
The Nametag Pitch
“What do you do?
“I’m a Business Coach”.
“Oh that’s interesting.”
Doesn’t work. There is no pitch. You are not memorable and your answer doesn’t lead to a secondary question or pique curiosity.
The Rambling Pitch
“What do you do?”
“I help people with their businesses. I work on their management, marketing, financials, personnel, leadership, systems and so much more. I love working with people because people are so great. I also love businesses and am fascinated by how each one works”…….. and so on ad nauseam.
“Excuse me. I need to go to the toilet”.
They never return.
Doesn’t work because you have adopted a machine gun approach and your pitch lacks focus and clarity. They stopped listening half way through and couldn’t comprehend, let alone remember, your message.
The Elevator Pitch
“What do you do?”
“I help business owners optimize the four P’s – profit, productivity, people and performance”
“That sounds interesting. How do you that?”
This is better. The pitch is clearer, more memorable and elicits a secondary question.
The ‘You Know How’ Pitch
Never say the unutterable. It makes your tongue feel icky and you suffer heartburn.
Introducing the “You Know How Pitch”.
Pitch #1
“You know how most businesses just float along and never achieve the success they should?”
“Well what I do is help small and medium businesses optimize what I call the four P’s – profit, productivity, people and performance”.
“In fact, I work together with clients to devise and document a concise strategy that drives and rewards the team, converts customers into loyal fans and creates fantastic wealth and lifestyle outcomes for the owners.”
Pitch #2
“You know how some skinny guys feel terrible about their bodies and wouldn’t be caught dead in a gym?”
“Well what I do is train 18 to 25 year old skinny males in private with a guarantee they’ll put on at least 10kg of muscle mass in 6 months”.
“In fact, I’m working with two guys in your neighborhood at the moment."
See how more compelling these two pitches are?
The “You Know How” Pitch is conversational and flows. It tells a story and sets the scene.
You can imagine your listener nodding and asking further questions when you finish.
You can imagine your listener walking away with your card and remembering what you do.
They may even contact you again or refer potential clients.
This is the power of the “You Know How Pitch”.
Now I want you to draft your “You Know How Pitch”.
Don’t worry. It will seem weird at the start. But craft it and play with it.
Once you have created it, I want you to trial it through road-testing it with listeners.
What’s the worst thing that can happen?
Through road-testing it with listeners, you can assess their reaction through body language and follow-up questions.
Based on this analysis, you can then make tweaks to your “You Know How Pitch” to enhance it.
In time, you will nail it and have the Perfect Pitch.
I’d love to hear your “You Know How Pitch” so please add a comment.
I really want you to start creating sustainable success in your business and life. Simply check out my FAQs videos HERE on what business owners most commonly ask about sustainable business success. If they help you, simply sign up and get the other 20x videos free.
Claim your Giveaways now, find out what the Fourth Moon is and reach your goals sooner!
Cheers, Darren K Bourke
Saying No leads to greater Happiness
The Retirement Fallacy
When you have worked until you are very old, you are allowed to retire. When you retire, you get to stop working and are expected to do very little.
The notion seems to be that you have done your bit, so we don’t expect you to participate or produce anything now.
How dumb is the notion of traditional retirement?
An extract from The Fourth Moon below outlines The Retirement Fallacy.
"Retirement is a fallacy to me because if we control our own destiny, why do we have to stop doing the things we love. We are living longer, medical science keeps us healthier longer into life and technology allows us to be part of a global village no matter where we are in the world."
"Individuals who reach the Fourth Moon develop relationships and interests long before they grow old. The leverage offered on the Fourth Moon provides the time and environment to create other pursuits outside of your core business."
"On the Fourth Moon, there is no such thing as stereotypical retirement. Business owners might sell their business, but engage themselves purposefully in many other activities long into old age. The recognition that retirement is a fallacy, keeps them vital and engaged in life. Fourth Moon thinking contributes to longevity."
Don’t wait for ‘one day’ or ‘when I retire’. Start developing hobbies and interests now.
Leverage your time to free up hours to learn, nurture and harvest knowledge around your passions
Invest in these activities now so that when you choose to slow down or life throws you a curve ball, you have already developed a diverse range of relationships and activities.
Establish these long in advance of old age.
Don’t be the business owner on the ‘life deferral plan’ with plans to take up these interests ‘one day’. Or the business owner intending to nurture key relationships when they’re ‘not so busy’.
Now is the time.
Close your eyes.
Imagine you are 65 years old and have just retired. You have not developed hobbies, interests and relationships over time. You accept traditional retirement and each day plays out exactly the same. You lack a true sense of purpose. In virtual solitude your world shrinks around you. You seem to age five years for every one year. Life is boring, morbid and repetitive.
Now close your eyes again.
You don’t retire. You continue to be engaged in activities. You sit on your company Board. You act for your chosen charity of many years. You play sport still – albeit slower and less-skillfully. You have a rich and diverse group of friends who you see often. You have hobbies which you get lost in. You return to destinations that feel like a second home. You also seek out new destinations as a grey nomad.
Now open your eyes.
Make a choice.
Retirement is a fallacy.
To learn more sustainable success strategies, you can buy The Fourth Moon here or my online coaching program Fourth Moon Mastery here
I really want you to start creating sustainable success in your business and life. Simply check out my FAQs videos HERE on what business owners most commonly ask about sustainable business success. If they help you, simply sign up and get the other 20x videos free.
Claim your Giveaways now, find out what the Fourth Moon is and reach your goals sooner!
Cheers, Darren K Bourke