Growing Family Business
Hire People Whose Attitude Stands Out

By Marcus Miller, LEAPJob
Family businesses often encounter a need for business expertise outside the family circle.  Recruiting and retaining non-family personnel is a challenging period of growth for family-run businesses often critical to future successes.

Hiring the best person is more than just filling a position with the right skill set and competencies, rather it is about acquiring the right people that will make a difference for your business. Every employee adds value, but the loftier goal is to find people who multiply their value as they integrate into your organization.

Some entrepreneurs hire based on a position’s technical requirements and hope the new employee will bring with them the right attitudes and traits for building the organization. The ideal hiring process starts with evaluating whether the candidate has the attitude and passion that is connected to your corporate culture, team environment and values.

Hiring managers who take control of the process get the outcomes they want. They know the attitudes they are looking for, and they don’t compromise. A clear sign of an improperly aligned hiring process is the manager who reviews a set of resumes and says, “I will know whom to hire when I see it.” The better approach is to determine up front the right job profile of skills and attitudes required for today and for the future. By starting the selection process with resumes to determine the skills needed, the manager has abdicated the opportunity of making hiring a strategic priority.

People with great attitudes add a competitive advantage to your company. These people not only bring the skills, but they also bring passion and positive energy. Passionate people stand out in many ways, they are the candidates that are energized, excited and are engaged in their job.  People with great attitude typically read books for personal advancement or do voluntary overtime, and grab onto new opportunities for career advancement. They are on fire about their work.

Employees are the marketers of your business. They speak and interact with your customers, suppliers and their fellow employees. Through your employees you build your culture for tomorrow, which means your employees must share your values and vision. Jim Collins, author of Good to Great, says the first step in building a great company is to get the right people onto the bus. The biggest difference between a good company and a great one is in the quality of its talent.

Build the habits to hire passionate people. The recruiting process should reflect the spirit of your organization in an up front and visible approach. The candidates that you are trying to attract to your company have many options and realistically they are focused on building their career versus just getting a job. In the interview, help the candidates understand your corporate culture and how they can build their career and fulfill their personal mission. Interviewing is a two-way street so engage the prospective employee and let them see how their career could unfold.

In the final analysis hiring non-family personnel is a challenge that can be met with a well-defined business process. The message is to hire people for their attitudes and recruit them for their skills to let you build a strong and vibrant company.

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Marcus Miller (Marcus.Miller@LEAPJob.com) is the President of LEAPJob www.leapjob.com a family enterprise. LEAPJob is a recruiting and consulting firm and helps companies build great sales teams. You can reach Marcus at 905.281.3090, Ext. 21.