AMBASSADOR UPDATES
TJ’s advice on the challenges and market changes relevant to SME construction companies searching for talent on the West Coast.
Frequency: every month or two.
Let me tell you a story about your perfect interview. It’s a short and simple story. You make it look easy. That is how you nail the interview.
Quality and speed matter to good hiring. Go slow enough to know the candidate well but fast enough another competitor can’t seize the initiative.
“I can’t go back to yesterday – because I was a different person then” Lewis Carroll New clients and candidates often ask us why we bother running references. It’s a fair question. Many experiences with references are shallow and unhelpful. The stereotype is that nice things are said by people expected to say nice things. […]
This is a story about a well-meaning and successful company that hires a great candidate, but is surprised and disappointed to see the hire fail. THEY WERE QUALIFIED, SO WHAT HAPPENED? Busy teams are rightly thrilled to hire experienced people familiar with their industry challenges. But it’s easy to assume because these people are experienced […]
What are your expectations for success when you hire someone? Do you feel relieved and enthusiastic? Does the wary probationary period start? Is the path for success in your organization (performance expectations) immediately clear to them or do they need to prove they can figure out your system on their own? Do they need to […]
The “Recruiterproof Companies” series articulates the characteristics which make a company attract and retain good people while being tough to recruit from. I’m here to tell you innovative companies are tough to recruit from and easy to recruit to. It’s one of the five traits recruiter-proof companies have. Innovative companies are attractive to candidates. Being […]
Often we talk with people frustrated by micromanagement. It’s a common source of employee turnover and quite costly to naive employers. It’s easy to confuse who is causing the micro-management. THERE ARE TWO POTENTIALS THAT ARE OFTEN CONFLATED. The first cause is that the leader does not have the ability to trust their employees as […]
“We do not learn from experience… we learn from reflecting on experience.” ― John Dewey You or your team hired someone who failed. They may not have had the skills, character, personality, or perspective that the position required. It’s easy to write the failure off completely to the candidate, setting yourself up to make your […]
Predictions are a far cry from prophecy. This is what we estimate from what we see in an ultracompetitive and malnourished hiring environment. But I’ll guarantee one of these will prove true.
The term “It’s just business” is confusing. Should business relationships and personal relationships stay separate? Is it okay then to behave in a different manner than one would towards their personal relationships? Are these the same people who say not to do business with friends or family? If one cannot do happy productive business with […]
