I get to run a small company. Really we have some brilliant people so I am coach and cheerleader but they really run the show. While definitely not as cool as Google, we have a really good thing going. And I get asked a lot how we hire. So I wanted to take a moment to comment on that. Our philosophy is
“Set a clear vision. Hire good people based on integrity, attitude and
intelligence. Train the heck out of them. Let them run.”
Lots of things trip folks up in the interview process. No conspiracy. Just, to be blunt, laziness at times. Examples?
Did they read about the company? Bother to notice some of our clients? Read any of our freely available training material? And… oh, I don’t know…. do they BLOG or at least READ BLOGS? Seriously though, I interview people all of the time who don’t even know I blog never mind that I am on flickr. And they regularly walk in not knowing that we are the creators of the Tendenci software.
Perhaps this is just me venting. Maybe this post is so the next time
someone doesn’t execute on the basic fundamentals of winning for our clients, that I can
link them a blog post.
Bonus round – these are four articles that all new hires have to read. Books later, but these are a great start.
Great post! As the owner of a marketing and PR firm, I’m amazed how few candidates do “market research” prior to interviewing with us. It’s crazy! If a candidate can’t bother to Google my name, read about our company and do some basic research then I know they won’t proactively do the same for our clients.
Posted on March 13, 2007 at 6:23 pm.
I think candidates think that we should think “this was a small item so I could not bother, but if it were a big item I would have more initiative”. In my experience those who obsess over the small items ARE the ones who also do the best with large items. Like taking care of clients.
Now if I could just get them to read “Getting Things Done” prior to starting….
Posted on March 14, 2007 at 8:08 am.