One of the great challenges of client-facing work is finding people who have the perfect mix of expertise, credentials, and culture-fit. It can be an arduous process and requires more than just a list of job interview questions pulled from Google.
Often, it’s more about gut instinct during an interview than the overall “on paper” pedigree of an applicant. It takes time as a manager to hone that instinct and understand how someone will realistically fit into a growing team.
To avoid high turnover rates, ensure you land the perfect hire for the role, and preserve healthy, holistic team growth, there are several steps you should consider.
Know Your Culture and Your Needs
Each company is unique, and team composition depends on current staff, management style, and the nature of the work you do. There is no cut and dry list for finding the perfect candidate. You should always build one unique to your department.
How do you do this? To start, spend some time evaluating your company culture and the attitudes and work styles which gel best within your existing team. Some things to consider are:
- What’s missing? What does your team need to be more successful?
- What type of personality is the right fit?
- What values are most important to your company?
- What factors do you consider most valuable in candidate attitude.
Resume contents and interview question responses can help to narrow the field, but in the end, the perfect candidate is someone you sense will fit into the team from day one; diving into the work and embodying the values that your company holds highest.
Integrating New Hires with Your Team
The second part of finding and onboarding a world class team is ensuring you provide a pathway to success. All too often, companies throw brand new hires into the deep end, focusing immediately on day-to-day responsibilities but neglecting any broader context. Without a “big picture” new employees may not fully understand what your company actually does, or what their role within it fully means.
Taking time to teach new hires not just about their job duties, but about the company, its departments, and the reason everyone is there, can not only better engage them and reduce turnover, but help them do a better job. Some things to consider include:
- Start at the Top – Spend the first week introducing new employees to the company from the top down. Introduce them to your founders and executives when possible. Sit them down with each department to better illustrate what the company does and how each team works together to achieve those goals. More than anything, show them they belong to something that matters and make them feel welcome.
- Train within Context – Provide context for everything you teach. Even a seasoned pro from the market research industry will need to understand what makes your company different and unique, how they fit into the greater whole, and why they do what they do.
With the right top-down approach for each new hire, your staff will better understand what they are doing and why they are doing it. Routine training for day-to-day job responsibilities will then make more sense and flow much more smoothly.
Building a World Class Team
Finding and hiring the best talent will always be a challenge for management. But with the right approach to evaluating personality and culture fit alongside credentials, and introducing your new team members to the company and its purpose, you can ensure better fits that last longer. With world class talent in place and a strong support structure, you can focus on what you do best: providing excellent service to your clients.
Want to learn more about getting top shelf results in hiring and managing your team? Watch the full webinar replay of “The Top Shelf Experience: An Innovative Twist on an Old Fashioned” on our YouTube Channel.
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