Situation: There is no secret that hiring is more challenging now than it was two years ago. A CEO is finding it difficult to attract and bring in the right talent to achieve her growth objectives. What are others doing to bring in new talent, especially high performers who will help to bring in new accounts and work with key customers to develop new business. How do you beef up talent to drive the company?
Advice from the CEOs:
- What has worked best for others?
- Hired low and developed home grown talent. This means building the capacity to train new talent to meet the company’s needs.
- This may not produce entrepreneurs like the company’s founders but can produce solid performers.
- Some sectors are by nature risk averse. Individuals are not dollar driven as much as by security with an acceptable salary. Good candidates who are hungry for growth are more likely to be found outside of these sectors.
- How do you hire to match the company’s objective?
- The objective is rapid growth – the mold of the original founders who were risk-taking entrepreneurs atypical of the sector.
- Look for candidates who are driven by growth. The right candidate will jump at the opportunity to take a $5M book of business and grow it to $10-15M in 3 years with appropriate corporate support and compensation.
- What has been tried or investigated in the past?
- Looked for successful smaller businesses similar to the company as possible acquisitions. The challenge was that the people running these companies liked their independence and didn’t want a boss.
- Looked at individuals from corporate backgrounds in the same sector. Some worked, some didn’t. Frequently, these people were not entrepreneurs or builders.
- Talk to private equity companies. Ask who they have bought or sold in this space. Gather names of drop-in CEOs and key staff who turned companies around and did well.
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