Best Hiring Tips From America’s #1 Business Coach

Marshall Marination Business Coach Moment: Indicators for Candidates

When you conduct group interviews for six companies with around 10 people per group interview every week like we have, you begin to see business coach trends in the people who are applying for your open positions.

• The first thing to understand is that not everybody who says they will show up, actually shows up. It is incredible to me that only about 30% of people applying for a position at your company have the ability and drive to show up at a specific place at a specific time. The first time you have a no-show it will feel harsh, but start your group interview ON TIME and say to anyone who shows up late, “Hey, no worries, but we’ve already started and it wouldn’t make sense to only evaluate you on half of an interview. This is why we hold these interviews every week, to accommodate schedules and allow time for planning. Shoot me an email and we’ll reschedule you for next week.” Ninety percent of the time, these people will never email and you will have avoided hiring a chronically late employee. The 10% of people who will email you are usually honest and diligent people who had real issues arise on the date of the original interview, who aren’t persistently late, and who will sincerely appreciate a second chance.
• Maybe this is a personal business coach OCD issue here, but if you cannot capitalize your name on a resume, email signature, or file name, how can you honestly expect to be taken seriously? Your name is the single most important part of your identity. Lack of attention to detail in this area is often indicative of a pattern of lapses in other areas. Look for applicants who exhibit at least this level of attention to detail.
• Look for applicants and candidates who sincerely engage with you during the interview. This includes taking notes, making eye contact, and not interjecting unsolicited personal asides.
• This may go without saying, but for my own sanity I’m going to include it in this list of business coach suggestions: Look for people who do not talk your ear off. William Shakespeare said, “Brevity is the soul of wit.” Old Bill was right. Look for candidates who do not monopolize the time in the interview talking about irrelevant issues.
• Take note of who is dressed to impress. If a candidate cannot show up professionally dressed when they’re trying to land the job, they certainly won’t step up their game once they’re actually on your payroll.

6.7 – Schedule Time for Candidates You Like to Shadow Your Team Before Calling References

If you like a few of the candidates you interviewed, that is great; however, statistics show that person you like may not impress you so much once they start doing the job. CBS News featured an article written by Rich Russakoff and Mary Goodman called “Employee Theft: Are You Blind to It?” This article revealed that the U.S. Chamber of Commerce estimates that 75% of employees steal from the workplace and that most do so repeatedly. CNBC also published a disturbing article written by Cindy Perman titled, “Employees Behaving Badly: Vampires and Gossips,” stating that 43% of human resources managers said the number one reason a new employee didn’t work out was because he or she couldn’t accept feedback. My friend, the sad fact is that most people you interview will not work out. You want to find out who will not work out as soon as possible, before investing the time and money needed to pay for formal background checks and verify references.

Mystic Statistic: “The average cost of a bad hiring decision can equal 30% of the individual’s first-year potential earnings.” -US Department of Labor

6.8 – Business Coach Hall of Fame Advice: The Shadowing Process Almost Always Confirms or Denies Job Candidates within the First Four Hours

Now I am going to explain how the shadowing process works. After you conduct enough group or individual interviews to lose a little faith in humanity, you may also have found a few people whom you believe might be the “perfect fit.” The next step is to schedule them to shadow you or one of your top performers at the workplace. The candidate should be instructed to dress in appropriate work attire and act as if they already have the job. Explain to them that this process is designed so that both you and they can see if this opportunity is a great fit for you both.

During this shadowing process, approximately 50% of the candidates you initially liked will show themselves to be crazy, dishonest, drunk, or uncoachable. The other half will show themselves to be hirable. This is why we complete the shadowing process before checking references and investing in professional background checks.

Create Shadow Process Outline that provides goals and details for how the shadow process occurs

6.9 – Background Checks and References

Once you have found a candidate you really like, it is now time to conduct a professional background check and call their references. I can’t explain to you how important this is. I recommend using GoodHire.com because they have low cost options, they have an easy to access online portal, and you can purchase one background check at a time.

Visit www.GoodHire.com to check the backgrounds of potential candidates

7.1 – Step 2: Hire

Once you have selected the candidate you believe is going to be the best fit, you’ll want to hire this person as soon as possible. When you bring a new person onto your team, it is very important that you use a formal, new employee Onboarding Checklist, an Employee Handbook, and a Job Skills Mastery Checklist.

To access templates for all of these business coach documents, visit:

www.thrive15.com/EmployeeOnboardingChecklist

www.Thrive15.com/EmployeeHandbook

www.Thrive15.com/JobSkillsMasteryChecklist

You must be very intentional about your new employee’s experience their first 72 hours on the job. Having worked with thousands of companies, I can say that most employers have terrible, uninspiring and disorganized onboarding processes. My friend, these first 72 hours will absolutely make or break an employee’s relationship with your company. Forbes featured an article written by Carmine Gallo titled, “70% of Your Employees Hate Their Jobs.” This article referenced a Gallup survey that showed that 71% of workers hate their jobs. The majority of the employees’ dislike for their jobs stems from a general dislike of their boss. My friend, in order to successfully hire and retain employees, you must embrace the fact that in today’s world, management is truly mentorship. You must inspire those you hire or they will not want to do what is required.

“When you are in a senior leadership position you must be an inspirational leader and not just an administrator if you want to get the results which are possible with a team of inspired followers. So many top leaders today are just administrators who focus on doing things instead of inspiring people.” -Lee Cockerell (A man who managed 40,000 cast members as Executive VP of Operations at Walt Disney World Resort)

[1] Run a background check on a new hire

[2] Create an Employee Onboarding Checklist

[3] Create an Employee Handbook

[4] Create a Job Skills Mastery Checklist that outlines all of the skills to be learned at the company

[5] Inspire new hire within the first 72 hours of being on the job