Human Resources – The ultimate throttle on your businesses is determined by the quality of the people that you are able to attract and keep.
“I’ve been blessed to find people who are smarter than I am, and they help me to execute the vision I have.” – Russell Simmons (Founder of Def Jam, Def Comedy Jam, Phat Farm, revered as one of the founders of Hip Hop)
To build a great company you are going to have to attract great people to work with you and GREAT PEOPLE WILL ONLY BE ATTRACTED TO GREAT BIG VISIONS. Mentally marinate on that for a second… Great people will only be attracted to GREAT BIG VISIONS. What is your vision? Is your vision capable of inspiring others to join forces with you? When I started my wedding entertainment business, it was just me. That’s all it was, it was just me. Me and myself and I. Why in their right minds would anyone want to come and work for me when I was 19? Why would anyone follow a 19 year old anywhere? When you start talking about finances, you start talking about how people feed their families and you start talking about how people provide for their families. When you start talking about business and finances, you start talking about the leading cause of divorce. My friend, here is the brutal truth and reality. Nobody is going to want to join forces with you unless you have a big vision, an unbelievable reputation, uncompromising standards and the best work ethic around. If you don’t have those things, you might as well stop reading because people have other opportunities they can pursue and they are not going to waste their time on someone who has a small vision, a poor reputation, poor standards and a crappy work ethic.
However, since you bought this book, we can assume that you are a person people would follow. And since you are a person people would follow, let me describe for you the 6 qualities you are looking for in your people. Remember, you can train nearly any great person how to do any skill, but you can’t train any great talent how to be a great person. Hire personality, train the skill.
1) Great attitude – Does the job applicant possess alacrity (a brisk and cheerful readiness)? Are they trainable? Are they excited about life and are they enthusiastic about coming to work everyday?
2) Expectations – Does the job applicant have a big vision for their own personal life or are they just happy to be alive? Are they aiming high with their life? Does this person expect to be a millionaire someday? Are they are shooting star or are they a bottom feeder?
3) Edge – Can this job applicant make the right decision even when it irritates the mediocre minds around them? Does this person value getting the sale and getting the deal done more than being well-liked by everyone? If your candidate can’t do this, they are not right for business. But, they can always get a job at a petting zoo.
4) Energy – Is this person capable of bringing passion to their job everyday? Will this person show up ready to go everyday or does this person wake up just moments before they are supposed to be at work? Does this person have the ability to stay fired up, or this person going to require you to reset them all the time like an old school egg-timer?
5) Execution – Does this new recruit have the ability to get things done? Will this person use some MacGyver technology if needed to get things done, or will this person be great at making excuses. Will this person just “figure it out” or will this person ask, “how do I use Google? What should I type in?”
6) Energize – Will this person energize those around them on the job or will they suck their life like a leach of business? Will this person act like the Joe Montana or Tom Brady of your office? Will this person set the standard and hold themselves and other people accountable to meeting your expectations or will this person say, “it’s not my job to inspire everybody else.”
The Job Interview:
If you are going to have a productive hiring and firing process, you are going to have to develop a standard format for your job interviewing. Just like a good comedian, a good performer or anything performance “that is done masterfully” your job interview must be done the same every time. You must not be random in the way you interview your candidates. During your interview should follow the following outline every time:
1) Collect the Crap – Each state has its different rules, but make sure you comply with them. Don’t lose everything you have worked for just because you’re acting dumb. Get this stuff filled out!
A. Make an application, or use a state provided form to have your candidate officially apply for your job. You want to make sure that you do collect the following pieces of information from every human you decide to hire:
1. Legal name
2. 2 phone numbers
3. Email address
4. Home address
5. Mailing address
6. 5 personal references
7. Social security number
8. Criminal history disclosure
9. Signed employee agreement (stating how you hire and fire)
10. Their 5 year goals
11. Their 1 year goals
12. Their education history / background
13. Their job history / career history / resume
B. Make sure you collect the physical documentation you need.
1. Get a copy of their driver’s license.
2. Get a copy of another form of identification.
1) Rapport – Get the candidate to like and trust you
A. Script out questions you will use to find common ground with the candidate.
B. Example: “Tell me what you have been doing for the past year?” “Tell me about your educational background and what you like doing when you are not working?”
2) Needs – Find out about the candidates life goals
A. Script out the questions you will use to determine the candidates life goals.
B. Example, “Where do you see yourself in 5 years?” “Tell me your life goals for and how you see this company helping you achieve them.”
3) Benefits – Let the candidate hear your vision, your passion and benefits of joining your team
A. Script out the benefits you will use every time to explain what your company’s BIG VISION IS, how your team is going to achieve it and why your company would be a great place to work.
B. Example, “At DJ Connection we are going to open up a wedding mall in every major market in the country over the next 10 years. We started in a dorm room, and have averaged a 20% annual growth rate since that point. We have grown because we have a BIG VISION, uncompromising standards and great team of devoted people who are willing to work hard to turn this BIG VISION into a BIG REALITY that pays them BIG PAY CHECKS.”
4) Call to Action – Make sure that every interview ends with an appropriate call to action
A. Script out the call to action that you will use every time at the end of your interviews.
B. Example, “Well Ice Cold Andre 3000, did you have any additional questions for me? Well here is our next step. We are going to need for you to shadow one of our top DJs to a show this week so that we can see if you will be a good fit for our team. We have super-high standards, and so we want to make sure that you are the kind of guy that would wow our customers. Do you want to shadow a show on Friday or Saturday?
To make it in business, you are going to have to be able to attract customers and people to work with you. The people in this world that organize large amounts of labor for the achievement of a common objective will make uncommon and HUGE SUMS of money. The people in this world that don’t like people and who cannot organize large amounts of labor for the achievement of a common objective are destined to work for those who can. Decide right now that you will be person who likes people and who is up to the challenge of hiring, inspiring and managing large numbers of humans! You can do it!
**Hiring people that have great attitudes and great expectations for their lives is absolutely critical to your success, however it is very hard to find these people if you don’t know how to systematically do this. If you need help creating “help wanted” advertisements , Facebook posts and other effective recruitment tools, do not hesitate to call us today. Unfortunately en route to winning the U.S. Small Business Administrative “Entrepreneur of the Year Award” and countless other honors, we discovered nearly every ineffective employee recruiting strategy out there. Save yourself the time. Be a pirate not a pioneer. If you need help, call us today at (918) 851-0102 or contact us via our website at www.MakeYourLifeEpic.com.
