I had the pleasure of attending Dave Ramsey’s EntreLeadership class in Charleston, South Carolina last week. The event helped me in many areas as a small business owner and this week I’m highlighting a few of the important lessons I learned during the event. One of those key lessons is hiring the right people for your team. In the book “Good to Great” by Jim Collins, he explains how important it is to not only have the right people on the bus, but to make sure they’re on the right seat on the bus as well. Ramsey went into great detail about the interview process and how crucial it is to hire the right people for the job in the first place. One of the reasons for this is that turnover is expensive in lost productivity and in lowered morale for the rest of your team.
Right from the beginning, Ramsey says you should be specific about the type of person you are looking for and what the position pays. He says it’s a big waste of everyone’s time when you’re not upfront about compensation. He also says what you’re selling is not a job, but an opportunity to do something that matters. In any position, you should be able to find a reason why it is important work.
The interview process is key for finding the right people for your team. Initially, interviews should be no longer than 30 minutes and you should let the interviewee do most of the talking. Here are Ramsey’s 12 steps for making sure you get the right person for the position:
1. Pray
2. Define the job in written form
3. Review the resume
4. Have them take a personality test
5. Determine if you like them
6. Find out if they’re passionate about it- do they light up when talking about this position?
7. Talk about compensation and benefits
8. Review their personal budget to make sure that they could live on what you plan to pay them
9. Follow up with references
10. “Interview” their spouse, take them out to dinner
11. Review company and personal mission statements
12. Put them on a 90 day probation
Once hired, if the person doesn’t perform to your expectations figure out if it’s an education problem, a character issue, of if they’re lazy. Give them more grace because that is what you would want and remember that incompetence isn’t evil– we’re all incompetent at something.