Steve Preda, a Business Growth Strategist with Summit OS, wrote an intriguing article about building a Leadership team. He mentioned three reasons why acquiring talent is difficult for SMBs.

1.     SMBs don’t have the budget to pay competitively.

2.     SMB companies are not as attractive to top talent as big companies.

3.     Attracting top people in mid-career status is difficult.

I agree on all three points. Compensation is always a factor. Competition is intense for top talent. And, finding experienced people ready to jump ship is challenging.

Searching for a perfect candidate when facing the three obstacles mentioned above can turn a search into a very long, frustrating and expensive endeavor.

Unfortunately, superstar candidates don’t grow on trees, ready to be picked whenever your company wants them.

To be successful when hiring, small businesses may need to adjust their high expectations on what type of candidate is acceptable. Finding a Unicorn that fits compensation, location, industry, culture and many additional criteria may be unrealistic.

If you can not afford to “buy” top talent and pay top dollar, then perhaps it is best to “build” talent. Yet, training and developing talent can be a long arduous process and not a feat that all companies are ready to tackle.

We have been addressing these issues with clients for many years. Yet acceptance Competing for talent against large companies that offer larger salaries and benefits is challenging. Lack of career progression within small businesses is another knock-out.

Sometimes, clients will accept our early recommendations to adjust expectations, particularly with compensation. Other times, they need to see the lack of quality candidates in their desired comp range before accepting reality. And many are surprised and disappointed when their top choice doesn’t accept their offer.

Yes, recruiting is difficult for small businesses. Yet hiring talent is a necessary step to manage and grow a business effectively. As frustrating as it may be, hiring good people who have the ability to step up to your expectations in time may be the answer.

Feel free to reach out to us if you need help achieving recruiting results.

Ann Clifford

clifford@safarisolutions.com

My guess is that many people would choose technology. Maybe some cool tech stuff like a new laptop, a new smartphone, wireless keyboard or maybe some cool AI software to supercharge your new devices. Yet would these items be a wiser investment than investing in people?

Let’s face it, we are suckers for tangible items. We love to play with new things. It’s cool and fun. Investing in people (hiring and onboarding) is an intangible investment and therefore difficult to see the ROI. We humans prefer a sure thing, so it is logical that we may opt for tangible cool tech stuff.

If hiring people seems daunting or just simply less fun, could some of the following conditions be holding you back from choosing people over technology?

1) Self-Limiting Beliefs:

Perhaps you believe that the person you want to hire doesn’t exist? Or maybe you know they exist, but don’t believe that you can attract the right person due to compensation or other factors? Perhaps you have been burned a few times and have given up trying to fill a key position. These self-limiting beliefs may be holding you back from reaching an important business goal.

2) No instant gratification:

When we buy stuff, we instantly feel good at least for a little while until we want to purchase another gadget to satisfy our need for gratification. Hiring people does not give us an immediate rush. We may be thankful to have the task off our to-do list, yet with no immediate reward, our hunger for contentment is not satisfied.

3) Time & Money:

Do you make hiring decisions that are best for you as the manager instead of what is best for the company? Hiring people requires money and your time and could even create challenges as you train and onboard a new hire. Avoiding stress is a likely aversion to reaching business goals.

Hiring is not an exact science and there is no perfect hire. Accepting rather than resisting the challenges of recruiting and hiring people will help you move forward. Implementing a strategic hiring process will also help you increase the chance you will achieve the results you desire.

If you are ready to step up to the challenge of starting a search that you may be avoiding, give us a call at 317-578-1310 for a complimentary discussion on strategies to effectively recruit people.

Learn more about how to hire top talent!

Current job opportunities with our clients!
https://jobs.safarisolutions.com/

clifford@safarisolutions.com
317-578-1310

These perfect candidates have multiple diverse skills and experience that are essentially impossible to find in one person. Or, at best, it is difficult to find a person who is good at all the diverse skills required.

In the real practical world and often due to budgetary reasons, many businesses need to hire people with specific skills and experience that are not synergistic. An example is hiring a Sales Manager that manages a small sales team AND is also responsible for individual sales production. This taps into conflicting behaviors . . . mentor & coach salespeople AND excel in selling. It is difficult to be great at both, so one of these skills may suffer results.

Here are three adverse effects to your hiring initiative that may occur while in the hunt for a Purple Squirrel.

1.     Long, costly hiring processes – Not uncommon that a search for a Purple Squirrel may last a long time. After spending a lot of money in a frustrating hiring process, companies eventually realize their job criteria and expectations may need to be revised to align with the reality of the current candidate marketplace.

2.     Positions go unfilled – If positions are critical to the growth of your company, having unfilled positions can be costly in terms of lost revenue or reduced productivity due to unmet company goals.

3.     Pressure on existing staff – If unfilled positions push extra work to other staff members, turnover could occur due to stress, burnout or resentment. And, depending on the job, there could also be lost opportunity costs, particularly for sales-related roles.

If your expectations exceed marketplace reality, consider the following actions to avoid searching for a needle in a haystack.

·        Adjust criteria to focus on the most important responsibilities of the job

·       Split a job into two roles when the current role has two competing skill sets

·        Raise the compensation package to match current market demands

·        Expand search outside your industry or consider remote workers

Setting realistic search criteria at the start of your next hiring initiative will save you time, money and frustration.

If you would like to improve your hiring results, give us a call at 317-578-1310 for a complimentary discussion on strategies to effectively recruit people with blended skill sets.

Learn more about how to hire top talent!

Current job opportunities with our clients!
https://jobs.safarisolutions.com

clifford@safarisolutions.com
317-578-1310

Increase your odds of making a good hire by avoiding the following mishaps.

1. Failure to define the position: If you don’t know what needs to be accomplished, how are you going to find the right person to do it?

• Identify the top 4-5 key job responsibilities that are most essential to the position. Ask yourself, “What do you want the person to do and what skills, behaviors or experience do they need to have to be successful at doing these tasks.”
• Set clear performance metrics to measure the employee’s success. Ask yourself, “How will I know if the individual has accomplished the key job responsibilities?”

2. Failure to write a compelling job ad: Candidates like to envision themselves in the job. Write the job posting from the perspective of “What’s in it for them?” Postings that attract top performers effectively answer the following questions:

• What will I do?
• Whom will I work with”
• What will I learn?
• What will I accomplish?
• What will I earn?

3. Failure to source wide and deep: An effective search strategy includes a robust job board strategy and direct recruiting of passive candidates.

• Post on multiple job boards with keyword optimization.
• Effectively implement pay/click strategies.
• Research employed (passive) candidates
• Conduct multiple outreaches to targeted candidates.

4. Failure to screen candidates thoroughly.

Make educated hiring decisions by digging deep with thorough evaluations. And objective opinions from an outside advisor can help you avoid hiring based on the “likeability” factor.

• Conduct prescreen online questionnaires, phone interviews and office interviews.
• Check references and run background check
• Perform behavioral assessments.

5. Failure to treat candidates as customers.

First impressions are important. A relationship begins the first time an employee communicates with your company as an applicant.

• Respond promptly to candidate inquiries.
• Don’t oversell the position or the company. 
• Communicate desired job performance objectives.

If you have a hiring need, give us a call at 317-578-1310 for a complimentary discussion on strategies to effectively recruit top performing talent.

Learn more about how to hire top talent!

Current job opportunities with our clients!
https://jobs.safarisolutions.com
clifford@safarisolutions.com
317-578-1310

BUY Talent: Buying talent is a plug and play approach where a company acquires experienced talent from outside the organization. It generally entails recruiting an individual who can step in immediately and deliver results. Prior demonstrated experience, industry experience and/or product knowledge are key criteria in buying talent. Yet, buying talent comes with a price tag that many smaller companies are not able to financially afford.

BUILD Talent: Building talent is a common approach that entails training and developing current team members or hiring junior candidates who can learn and grow into the job. This strategy is generally used when there is ample time to train and/or when compensation budgets are limited. Building talent is most effective when a company offers career growth potential. Managerial time to support the growth is generally needed.

Both strategies, Buy and Build, are an investment in people. Buying talent may provide a quicker return on the investment while building talent is a longer-term investment. The position, industry, compensation, timing, and other factors may influence which strategy is best. A combination of both strategies may be the winning ticket to an effective team expansion.

If you need guidance on how to expand your company with talented professionals, give us a call at 317-578-1301.

Learn more about how to hire talent for a growing business.

Current job opportunities with our clients!
https://jobs.safarisolutions.com
clifford@safarisolutions.com
317-578-1310

Yet, how can business owners and sales managers reliably determine if a sales candidate is driven?

Fortunately, there is a solution!

The assessment tool we use for hiring sales professionals is ideal at identifying DRIVE which is the primary attribute of top sales performers. This assessment tool, SalesDrive, asks questions specifically about the sales reps’ attitude and behaviors in their current sales environment which provide clearer results than general assessment questions.

Keep in mind that there are many assessments tools in the marketplace, unfortunately, most are not sales specific. If an assessment tool can be used for all positions by asking the same questions, then it is not sales specific. DISC, Predictive Index, PXT Select, Kolbe, Culture Index and many more are simply universal assessment tools that can be used for all positions. Although these assessments tools are outstanding at identifying communication style and other behavioral attributes and interests, they fail to reliably identify Sales Hunters.   

To ensure your next sales hire is a Sales Hunter, incorporate the SalesDrive assessment in your recruiting process. Internally driven people know how to set goals, develop a sales plan to achieve the goals, and are disciplined to execute the sales plan. Key essentials for sales success.

Safari offers this valuable assessment tool in our SalesScore recruiting process. Yet, we can help you with your own sales recruiting initiatives as these assessments can be purchased individually.

If you would like to assess your current sales team or assess sales candidates in an upcoming search, give us a call at 317-578-1310 or email us.

And if you would like to test your own level of DRIVE, take a complimentary assessment.

Take a Test DRIVE!

Learn more about how to hire Sales Hunters.

Current job opportunities with our clients!
https://jobs.safarisolutions.com
clifford@safarisolutions.com
317-578-1310

An accepted offer is your goal if you believe your top candidate has the skills and attitude that brings value to your company. Yet, how do you achieve this?

Experienced professionals in competitive industries know their value and with the plethora of online compensation data, candidates are prepared to negotiate. 

Hiring managers need to be prepared to negotiate, too.

Three strategies to ensure success in making a job offer:

1. Expect to negotiate: Make a competitive salary offer in line with the candidate’s expectations. Low ball offers could immediately turn off the candidate and set a bad tone for negotiations. 

2. Negotiate without emotional attachment: There is nothing wrong with a candidate trying to advance themselves financially, so don’t take it personally.

3. Be flexible: If a candidate negotiates for more salary, benefits, or vacation, look for ways to meet them halfway. If the cost of what they are asking for is less than the cost of restarting the hiring process, consider granting their request.

Your offers need to be competitive in the marketplace. Making an offer is not a competition to determine who is the best negotiator. Best to find a win-win for both sides.

A rejected offer is a possible sign you are paying below market. If an offer is rejected due to compensation, you have three options . . . 1) pay more than you expected, 2) hire a candidate with less experience, or 3) redesign the role so key responsibilities match the pay scale you are willing to pay.

If you need help in setting a realistic comp range for your next hiring initiative, give us a call at 317-578-1310 (w) or 317-413-4221 (m).

Learn more about how to set realistic compensation range for your next hiring initiative.

Reach out if you need help with your next recruiting initiative!

And learn how we recently helped a client hire 5 Project Managers!

Current job opportunities with our clients!
https://jobs.safarisolutions.com
clifford@safarisolutions.com
317-578-1310