Hiring For Success

Hiring for success is an easy answer for every business problem. When difficulty and challenges arise, we simply go back to the simple truth that if we hired the right candidate, we could solve all of our problems. Sounds so simple.

I am a believer that culture is everything. When I state culture, I focus on a strong culture that drives the right behaviors and values. Bad culture can and will cause division and will affect results in a negative way. So strong culture is a priority and should be a goal of every organization, but how is this accomplished?

I do a lot of coaching on managing millennials as some organizations struggle with some of the millennial myths in this area. However, I find that organizations that have a high success in managing millennials have a strong culture that all workforce groups appreciate and strive in. Why? Because the leadership that have the strong skills in managing millennials are the ones that over communicate, demonstrate transparency, and explain the “why” behind execution and tasks. These are high on a millennial’s priority list but all other workforce groups appreciate them as well.

One example I describe is when I was contacted by an organization that was growing and going through a transformation. They believed millennials would be a good fit for their growth, but they did not know why they were having difficulty attacking millennials to apply. Over the phone I did a quick exercise.

1. I looked at their website and could not find their Mission Statement anywhere. I explained that a Mission Statement is an organizations reason for existence, and this is important in the mindset of a millennial.
2. I next looked for their Values & Principles which I did find on page 3 of their website. I further advised them to make those more prominent as the values of an organizations are what your employees are expected to live and demonstrate every day. This is also particularly important to millennials, high up in their order of importance.
3. I looked at the hiring ad, and like most companies hiring ads they listed the job role and description. I then suggested they change the add to look like this:

XYZ Company is now hiring! Our Mission Statement is ……………, and our values in which we live by are ,,,,,,,,,,,, We have an opportunity for this role (list role & description). If you believe you are a match please apply!

This demonstrates before you even hire anyone that strong culture is important to your organization, which you further demonstrate through the hiring process, and on day one of employment. This is a great example on how improving your message to attract millennials benefits all workforce groups, as they appreciate strong culture too and thrive in this environment. In my book The Millennial Factor: 10-Steps To Managing Millennials To Success, we demonstrate a hiring process that works for everyone, not just millennials, but the process does hit on the important factors that millennials appreciate.

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