Being a startup entrepreneur is a struggle.  As some of you know, I recently joined the ranks of a startup founder. In November we launched Intertru and boy, my world has moved to light speed to a totally new dimension. It has become ridiculously exciting! But there is one huge challenge… maintaining operational discipline.  My struggle comes from the need to put out fires and execute critical projects outside of my expertise. Making it difficult to stay disciplined in a workflow cadence that produces results.   Today we are going to key in on 10 Disciplines that you can implement today in your life to produce consistent results to the benefit of your company growth! Guest Bio: Gino Wickman is the Author of Traction & founder of EOS Worldwide, an organization that helps tens of thousands of businesses implement EOS with the aid of an international team of almost 600 professional and certified EOS Implementers and online support. There are over 180,000 companies using the EOS tools worldwide. Today Gino focuses on helping entrepreneurs and leaders maximize their freedom, creativity, and Impact through his books: Entrepreneurial Leap, Rocket Fuel, The EOS Life, and The 10 Disciplines for Managing And Maximizing Your Energy. TODAY WE DISCUSS: What are the 10 disciplines  Discuss the most relevant to startup entrepreneurs PROBLEM:  Discipline We are all balls of energy – some burn bright, some don’t You are racehorses (entrepreneurs/leaders) – harness energy Don’t have to motivate/teach basics – eat, sleep, exercise, work ethic Each stands on its own, fully customizable Fast, simple and powerful Challenge? 10-year thinking Take time off Know thyself Be still Know your 100% Say no…often Don’t do $25 an hour work Prepare every night Put everything in one place 10. Be humble How do we solve the problem?  10-year thinking Shift your mind from short-term thinking, to thinking in 10-year timeframes Every decision is a 10-year decision/thinking, not a goal Sam Cupp – 10-year business cycle When you do – time slows, a peace comes over you, make better decisions and get there faster Quote “Overestimate one year…” Les Brown “Good Decade” Shifts energy Action – write date 10 years from now, write age, write goalOther things are ok Now think about everything you are doing today See it every night Say no…often Say no to everything that doesn’t fit in the first 5 disciplines Warren Buffett quote/”No! No!” “…physical discomfort/guilt…” – Essentialism, Greg McKeown Eat a worm? If it doesn’t fit with the first 5 disciplines – say no Turn to person – say “No!” Action – say no to something in the next 7 days/cancel an appointment Prepare every night: Before your head hits the pillow every night, document the next day’s plan Go to bed knowing exactly tomorrow Sleep better Spontaneous – BS, come one, if you’re running a company, you don’t have the luxury Subconscious does the work Wake up with ideas/solutions Get more done As opposed to waking up and figuring it out Use any technology – I use a legal pad Action – do it tonight Put everything in one place Pick the one place you will capture every idea, commitment, thought, action item and promise Let people down/chaos/sticky notes The legal pad Throughout the day write down your commitments, promises, ideas, to-do’s Compartmentalize all at the end of the day Action – pick your “one place” and do it tomorrow Guest Links: LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/ginowickman/ Website: https://ginowickman.com/ Download a free copy of the 10 Disciplines eBook Visit the10disciplines.com to learn more Read a 10 Disciplines article written by Gino Contact Gino: gino@eosworldwide.com (248) 672-1192 Host Links:  LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/rick-girard-07722/ Company: https://www.stridesearch.com/ Podcast: https://www.hirepowerradio.com YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCeEJm9RoCfu8y7AJpaxkxqQ Authored:  "Healing Career Wounds"  https://amzn.to/3tGbtre Startup: www.intertru.ai HireOS® inquiry: rick@stridesearch.com Show Sponsor: www.stridesearch.com www.intertru.ai

We all understand the concept of right person, right seat. But as the company grows the demands of each seat change. What is required from zero to $5 Million will most likely shift on your journey to $10 million in revenue.  So hiring ahead of that curve becomes the biggest challenge.  It is important that, in the earliest stages of the company, everyone in the organization identifies as a “builder”. Builders are the people who have a deep desire to problem-solve issues that have not even become identified and create systems from scratch.  As the business grows, the need for “improvers” becomes critical as they are the people who can scale to each milestone and beyond. Guest Bio: Dean Stoecker is the co-founder and Executive Chairman of the Board. Dean founded Alteryx in 1997 and led the company as CEO through October 2020, achieving solid organic growth, and a successful IPO in March 2017. Dean’s leadership and motivational skills, along with his ability to create, communicate, and realize a vision, were a driving force behind the company’s 20+ year success.  Dean serves as advisor to entrepreneurs, is an active philanthropist, and is passionate about humanizing the world of data science and analytics, which is evident in the company’s culture, extensive resources for continued education, and efforts to influence social change. TODAY WE DISCUSS Right person, right seat, right stage How to ensure you have the right person at every growth stage PROBLEM: Preparation for changing out key employees at different levels@ $10mil, $25mil,  Get great alignment with the teams Strategically & tactically- align strategy with tactics Don't be afraid to switch your teams Challenge? Alignment between strategy & tactics People have different ideas about what we need to do as a company Knockdown, drag-outs about who we wanted to be when we grow upKPI’s for each department People knowing why they were building things Why is this important to the company? People need to be rowing in the same direction First hires need to be 9’s 9’s will never work for 6’s  Rick’s Nuggets: All about Positioning Value alignment, builder, passion for the mission SOLUTION: How do we solve the problem?  Predicated on growth rates Team of 5 did a million in the first year  Understanding if they are willing to accept tasks that they never signed up for Focus on the next milestone Build teams that can get you there Keep your 9’s Risk/Reward profile needs to match yours Play any position then go deep Legacy of promoting  Leadership is about how many leaders you create Invest in training Who has the best skills at the cheapest price that can last you the longest  Biggest worry, Middle management Take stock of your own skill sets Andre Geim- “grazing shallow” Fall in love and go deep Risk reward profile  You want someone who can play any position then goes deep Longevity - meandered from generalist to specialist Risk reward profile needs to match yours Rick’s Nuggets: The first team It’s all about positioning Really desire what you are (ie: ground-level startup with no money) Key Takeaways that the Audience can plug into their business today! (Value): Make sure you have a time that provides strategic and tactical alignment(first 6 years) Be prepared to swap out the team many times. The team that got you to $5mil won't get you to $20m. Be aware of your markers Guest Links: LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/dean-stoecker/ Company: https://www.alteryx.com/ Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/alteryx Twitter: https://twitter.com/alteryx Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/alteryx/ Other: https://www.siteminder.com/ Host Links:  LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/rick-girard-07722/ Company: https://www.stridesearch.com/ Podcast: https://www.hirepowerradio.com YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCeEJm9RoCfu8y7AJpaxkxqQ Authored:  "Healing Career Wounds"  https://amzn.to/3tGbtre Startup: www.intertru.ai HireOS® inquiry: rick@stridesearch.com Show Sponsor: www.stridesearch.com www.intertru.ai

Over the past few years talent has been scarce. And when talent is scarce, fear leads hiring decisions. We don't want to lose (what we perceive to be) “good people”, so we shortcut the interview process.  Here's the thing, our perceptions are often wrong.  Our gut is often wrong. And it is wrong because the data we input is either assumed or circumstantial. Resulting in marginal hiring that hurts your business.  So, what if every person that you hired thrived in your company? What would be the ROI if you operated at a hiring success rate over the 90th percentile? It would be pretty f-ing amazing, right? A crucial part of why we get hiring wrong too often is that we don't invest the time to adequately vet people before we bring them in for an interview. This starts with your first call (phone screen). We miss the opportunity to gather true data as to whether a person is positioned well for the organization and their level of performance.  That's right, positioning and performance.  The most crucial data that help you understand alignment before wasting anyone’s time in a formal interview process.  Evidence that is not present on a resume.  Guest Bio: Payman Taei is the Founder of Visme, an all-in-one visual communication platform, and Co-Founder of Respona the link-building for SaaS and Agencies to improve google rankings.  Payman is an avid technologist who loves new trends and tries to keep up with the ever-evolving internet. His background in Biology has led him to truly believe in the art of evolution. Everything changes in time. You either follow or create new trends or you will be left behind.  TODAY WE DISCUSS: The challenges in today's pre-vetting of talent How to properly vet people before they enter your interview process HIRING STORY: Hired a marketing person, a person who was known. Went on a whim and made the hire without involving  Assumed that because the person worked for a certain company the person must be good Knew within a 45-day window, the wrong hire Missed clues: a bit of fluff, selling themselves more. Claimed to have done a lot. Exaggerations Marketers commonly take a lot of credit for a lot of company success My post:  https://www.linkedin.com/feed/update/urn:li:activity:6999061564083380225/  PROBLEM: Pre-vetting people before they come in for an interview Challenge? 100’s of resumes. More does not mean better Select a handful of people who are worth the time to interview Most of the roles the CEO is still involved with Create an efficient system without automation (Smaller companies) Highest quality with the least friction as possible Why is this important to the company? Made some bad hires Time is a premium  personality /cultural fit & skills We Sacrifice lower experience for a better cultural fit Rick’s Nuggets: Judgement should not be made on a resume but on the phone screen/Discovery Call. Great resumes don't equal great people High performers are busy making an impact  Great interviewers have had a lot of practice.  Understand Pain, Desire & Impact How do we solve the problem?  Pick the needle from the haystack Prequalification process The application itself Manner in which the resume is submitted -spammer or researched Passionate - learn and know about the company Not job hopping Interested because of a,b & c  Large pool of referrals HR interview Personality & brief technical experience Going through the resume and understanding career history.  Gut check - authentic, a nice person, compassionate & caring, wanting to make a difference,  Technical interview (2 step) Projects, role on projects Tech stack, where are you comfortable, specific technical questions Deep dive into the technical experience with the team lead Decision Yes- move into reference check 30, 60, 90 day review cycle on kpi and goals Rick’s Nuggets: Operate from a position of abundance Discovery call Positioning Does the person have a good reason to make a move Does the person truly desire what your company is offering Impact  High performers become passionate about what they have done Dig into the “HOW” and “WHY” to gather evidence Go deeper than 2 layers down to find the TRUTH  Key Takeaways that the Audience can plug into their business today! (Value): Eliminate the noise Trust your intuition- What’s the gut feeling? does everything seems to check?  Group Decision: How does everyone feel about the person- team assessment Guest Links: LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/paymantaei/ Company: https://www.visme.co/ LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/company/visme/ Twitter: https://twitter.com/vismeapp Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/vismeapp/ Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/vismeapp YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/c/VismeApp Host Links:  LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/rick-girard-07722/ Company: https://www.stridesearch.com/ Podcast: https://www.hirepowerradio.com YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCeEJm9RoCfu8y7AJpaxkxqQ Authored:  "Healing Career Wounds"  https://amzn.to/3tGbtre Startup: www.intertru.ai HireOS® inquiry: rick@stridesearch.com Show Sponsor: www.stridesearch.com www.intertru.ai

Let’s talk about building an advisory board. I think we would all agree that having strong advisors and mentors in your corner brings huge benefits to every organization. Not just as sound advice in making business decisions but also providing introductions and bringing credibility to the business.  So when is the right time to build your advisory board? As soon as you find the right people who will help. This means before you hire your first employees.  Building an advisory board, much like building company values, is often an activity to do later. But guess what, later is too late! It is like pouring a foundation after the house has been built.  Investing the time to build a board before things get too crazy, is the smartest way to ensure that the decisions you make are solid enough to bring the business to it’s full potential. Guest Bio: Coco Brown is the Founder and CEO of The Athena Alliance. Athena has helped thousands of leaders grow and advance in their executive careers, and has brought over 400 women to corporate boards from growth stage private companies to name brand public companies.  Coco has personally worked with hundreds of top leaders, CEOs and boards to evolve modern leadership. She’s served on ten commercial and non-profit boards and advisory boards, and has led two notable companies (Taos, acquired by IBM, and now Athena).  She is part of Nasdaq's Governance Insights Council, and is often called on to share guidance to the evolving focus and breadth of responsibility within the Modern Boardroom. TODAY WE DISCUSS: When to build your board of advisors How to leverage your advisors through investment cycles Challenge? Not having the right board in place when the company gets to funding Not building a structure, cadence  End up with a board that is forced on you.  Not being as strategic as you can be.  In a formal advisory capacity Why is this important to the company? If your are not thinking early about this, when funding comes you may not have a strong pool of potential independents for your board Becomes feeder for the formal board Need to balance the power of the board Even without that - maybe you never need a formal fiduciary board beyond the core founder/owners. But not having an ecosystem of advisors around you limits the competitive advantage you get by consulting outside your employee base.  Rick’s Nuggets Making decisions on your own, Gut without data How do we solve the problem?  Mindset Most of us oriented around the team under - the team we are building You need to orient as well to the team around you Framework -How the team evolves over time Close connections that best approximate the roles you will need to build Lesser known to you, but better known publicly - pool of people to draw on  Formalized - work on issues of the business together over time, in a rhythm/ cadence Structure - Individual relationships Experts who are honest with you Think tank - bench for something formal in the future: Mixed group Diverse  Formal Advisory to Board Mimic your C-Suite to get ahead of where you are now Give you choices Networking Beyond your usual network Who are the experts Groups like Athena ;) Rick’s Nuggets: Identify “Who”Dream team Reach out- Go for it! Cold call or gain an introduction Ask for help Formalize the relationship quickly Key Takeaways that the Audience can plug into their business today! (Value): Think beyond your internal team Build in advance of your needs Consider the competitive advantage Guest Links: LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/cocobrown/ Company: https://athenaalliance.com/ LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/company/the-athena-alliance/ Twitter: https://twitter.com/CocoBrown1020 Twitter: https://twitter.com/athenaalliance Host Links:  LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/rick-girard-07722/ Company: https://www.stridesearch.com/ Podcast: https://www.hirepowerradio.com YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCeEJm9RoCfu8y7AJpaxkxqQ Authored:  "Healing Career Wounds"  https://amzn.to/3tGbtre Startup: www.intertru.ai HireOS® inquiry: rick@stridesearch.com Show Sponsor: www.stridesearch.com www.intertru.ai

What are the common characteristics of every successful person at your company? Think of those characteristics and write them down as standard operating procedures. This is critically important because when we operate under the same frequency, pace, and purpose… growth happens. But this can change instantly when a new person is added to the team.  Too often we hastily add a person to the mix without understanding how they really operate on a daily basis. Assuming that they will be the answer to all of our current challenges because of the skills they are bringing to the table.  There is nothing more critical to hiring success than aligning people first, and skills second. This means investing the time to dig deeper into your interview process. Understanding not just what a person accomplished but the details of exactly how it was done and why it was approached in that manner. Guest Bio:  Allan Jones is at the helm of Bambee, a new type of business built on the innovative premise that every small business should have a dedicated HR Manager. This concept was derived from Jones’ previous experiences working with—and growing up around—small business owners. In 2021, Goldman Sachs celebrated Allan Jones as one of the 100 Most Intriguing Entrepreneurs at its Builders + Innovators Summit. For three years running, Forbes has named Bambee a top startup employer in the U.S., and in 2022 it announced Bambee as a Top 5 Company in Los Angeles. TODAY WE DISCUSS Understanding your company's unique characteristics How to implement critical characteristics into your interviewing & hiring process Challenge? Getting people who fit a special suite of characteristics Infinite characteristics that are valuable How do you narrow it down to 8? Being honest about who you are Characteristics of leadership values Mastery of communication Broad outcome objectivity: don't care where the right answer comes from Urgency & greatness in tandem Separate leadership & team values High potency friction Hired leader that doesn't fit, Courage to make a change Scoring system & scorecard Why is this important to the company? Looking at blemishes before celebrating wins Continuous loop of how can we be better Continuous improvement is just part o the game 200+ employees  Not afraid to say “not every person is right for the company” Companies are Olympic sports teams, not govt service agencies Rick’s Nuggets: How people operate within your company Core values drive the operating characteristics Adding a player to the game, not an ass to a seat How do we solve the problem?  Identify that the problem exists Building leadership personas Hired multiple executives and 50% did not work out Right after fundraising Practices did not scale CEO can not make hiring decisions for the company  He is not the only sign-off anymore.  Interview Structure Hiring committees  Only leaders sit on the committee Master of communication Cliff notes version of who you are personally & professionally Go to the resume Listening skills along with speaking Eliminated Leadership savior complex Problems would be solved by our next hire Company already had great people Never let a problem go unowned Realization that already had an A+ executive team From savior to draft pick 90% success rate Rick’s Nuggets: Values drive characteristics Interviewing processStructured & designed to gather evidence to support the correct decision Assign interview questions for people alignment Follow up with what & how questions  Key Takeaways that the Audience can plug into their business today! (Value): Offsite with sr leadership & build leadership personas’ As a founder ask yourself “ your unique role in the hiring failure” Set up screening committees Make sure you are aligned Guest Links: LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/allandjones/ Company: https://www.bambee.com/ LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/company/bambee/ Twitter: https://twitter.com/TheAllanJones Twitter: https://twitter.com/BambeeHQ Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/bambeeHQ/ YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rzJhkTm7baY&t=1s Host Links:  LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/rick-girard-07722/ Company: https://www.stridesearch.com/ Podcast: https://www.hirepowerradio.com YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCeEJm9RoCfu8y7AJpaxkxqQ Authored:  "Healing Career Wounds"  https://amzn.to/3tGbtre Startup: www.intertru.ai HireOS® inquiry: rick@stridesearch.com Show Sponsor: www.stridesearch.com www.intertru.ai

Let’s talk about performance metrics for a minute.   Do you have performance metrics drawn out for every person before they are hired? Are they clear on the expectations for the first 90 days of employment?  If not, you are setting people up for failure because expectations are never in alignment. We're going to leave it to you to “figure it out”.  Then we scratch our heads when the person fails, wondering what we missed in the interview.  What was missed was the work on defining the role and writing down the company’s expectations of what needed to be accomplished by the individual in the first 90-120 days of employment.  I have discovered that companies who just “wing it” have a much higher offer turn-down rate and employee failure rate than companies that invest the time to clearly define what success looks like.  Look this is not “too hard” because you don't know what will happen in the next few months of the business. If it is too hard, maybe you are in the wrong business. Guest Bio: Kurt Davis is a technology entrepreneur and author.  The first 20 years of his career were spent between Silicon Valley and Asia, working with technology startups in finance and business development roles.  Kurt is now focused on Biteline (a startup marketplace for dental professionals) & Recently published a book called Navigate to the Lighthouse: A Silicon Valley Guide to Executing Global Deals. TODAY WE DISCUSS: Performance metrics How to clearly define metrics  Challenge? The company is not successful because of people not knowing Gate of allocation of resourcesDeep analysis  Gut & instinct drive the decisions Distrust the gut …. Until it is the last variable The team cannot hide now that we are under the microscope Setting expectations:The work is going to be hard Leadership needs to communicate Why is this important to the company? Need to get it right the first time Want people to trust the strategy and thought process  Need people to come on board the thinking & the strategyGetting people behind the way of thinking Rick’s Nuggets: Not sure how to clearly define the metrics  Out of the scope of their expertise Dont have the time Not sure We’ll let them tell us Hiring failures start with your preparation (or lack thereof) How do we solve the problem?  Look at the problem (analysis) Clearly define what you want each person to achieve Clear about what you are investing against Very clear on what you need each person to get done Do they fit the culture, values Measure twice, cut once Can the person get it done Resume checks off Fit value wise Deep details  Look at the work, ask for deliverables Working exercise Rick’s Nuggets: First Week, First 30, 60 & 90 days Have deliverables at each milestonePresent to the team your findings on X Prepare a plan for Y Deliver first version of Z Put them in your Job descriptionHere’s what you will be held accountable for in your first 30 days Key Takeaways that the Audience can plug into their business today! (Value): Take the time to do your homework. Do your strategy, planning. Know exactly what that person is going to do in the first 90 days.  Guest Links: LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/kurtdavis1/ Twitter: https://twitter.com/KurtDavisNew Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/kdalive/ Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/kdalivetravel/ YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/user/kudavis Book:  https://www.amazon.com/Navigate-Lighthouse-Silicon-Valley-Executing/dp/1544530331 Host Links:  LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/rick-girard-07722/ Company: https://www.stridesearch.com/ Podcast: https://www.hirepowerradio.com YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCeEJm9RoCfu8y7AJpaxkxqQ Authored: "Healing Career Wounds"  https://amzn.to/3tGbtre Startup: www.intertru.ai HireOS® inquiry: rick@stridesearch.com Show Sponsor: www.stridesearch.com www.intertru.ai

“People don't buy what you do, they buy why you do it”. - Simon Sinek How does this translate to your hiring? The simple answer is that your company's WHY is the one thing that differentiates whether a person joins for the paycheck or something bigger. Because it is important to them.  It is the WIIFM (what's in it for me) Right person, right seat needs to happen, every time. Your company depends on it! When we hire solely for skills. We experience the Wrong person, Right seat more than 51% of the time.  When we hire for values first, and skills second, it moves us closer to a 75% success rate of Right Person, Right Seat.  In addition, when we are in alignment with the “WHY”, the probability of successful hiring skyrockets over the 95 percentile.  This is how everyone wins. Right person, right seat every time. Guest Bio: Ted Bradshaw is an Expert EOS Implementer™ & Community Leader at EOS Worldwide.  He served as an executive with Xerox and IBM, then left the Fortune 500 world to explore the thrills of entrepreneurship.  What he found was a long string of success that looked great on the surface. But underneath it all, he felt anxious, exhausted, and stressed, chasing money wherever it led and wondering why he never felt fulfilled. Along his journey, Ted gained valuable insight into how a person can achieve fulfillment in all aspects of life and he shares those insights with his best-selling book, Stop Chasing Squirrels. Today, Ted lives his passion in helping others find theirs. A leading proponent of the Entrepreneurial Operating System®, Ted is a speaker, author, Expert EOS Implementer™, and the Community Leader for EOS Worldwide TODAY WE DISCUSS The importance of aligning WHY  How to hire the person that aligns most with your WHY Challenge? Organizations need to change their frame Purpose alignment Company helps the person achieve their purpose Right people, right seat Understanding how to develop or bring in people to scale How does the mission complement their people  Not selling on the company purpose Employee’s mission/purpose Rick’s Nuggets: Core values are the foundation of your company WHY Values drive purpose (WHY) & mission Align with values, adopt the why as your own  Align with purpose but not the values? Passionate about the “work”  Disruptive to the organization Operate in a manner that is counter-productive to the rest of the organization? Wrong person, right seat How do we solve the problem?  Clear on Core Values Mission to mars exercise Culture of the organization  Founder or exec team often generates Jim Collins - Built to Last This is the definition of right person for the company Right people on the bus Hard look a the company mission Look through the lens of the employee Why does this matter to them Understanding the employees purpose Leaders need to understand their why first Help theme to get there Or find it Rick’s Nuggets: Core Values Define what they mean in terms of how we operate, make decisions and treat others Measurables to avoid being subjective  Getting to the WHY Attract & repel people “Everything we do is to help entrepreneurs to build the strongest companies. Starting with the roots of effective interviewing to hire the strongest people” Proactive Interviewing Listen first   Why open? What is desired (positioning) Candidate ownership of the process  (do they WANT it?) “What would you like to do?” “What value would you get from moving forward?” Working session (Capacity to do the work) Real-life working scenario  Solving a real problem Understanding:  technical skills, problem-solving abilities, communication style, presentation skills, team interaction, passion for the work Key Takeaways that the Audience can plug into their business today! (Value): Look at your own personal purpose. Ist it aligned with the company purpose Ask leaders what their purpose is and how does it align with the company Guest Links: LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/tedbradshaw/ Website: https://www.tedbradshaw.com/ LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/company/pura-vida-coaching/ Twitter: https://twitter.com/ted_bradshaw?s=20&t=Ol9g6VgvRaF9UWRV0EpOpw Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/tedbradshawco/ Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/tedbradshawco Host Links:  LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/rick-girard-07722/ Company: https://www.stridesearch.com/ Podcast: https://www.hirepowerradio.com YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCeEJm9RoCfu8y7AJpaxkxqQ Authored:  "Healing Career Wounds"  https://amzn.to/3tGbtre HireOS inquiry: rick@stridesearch.com Show Sponsors: www.stridesearch.com www.intertru.ai

Referrals are most often your most potent source of talent for your organization.  So investor referrals must be the holy grail of all referrals. After all, there is a vested interest in your company's success so why shouldn't the referrals be outstanding?  Here’s the thing to consider. Yes, these referrals are gold but it is dangerous to assume that this person will automatically thrive in your unique company.  We cannot forgo a formal interview process based on a strong voucher from a trusted source.  The only way we discover if they will in fact thrive, is to be diligent in the interview process to really understand if the person desires the value your organization brings to the table. .  The decision needs to be made through evidence and buy-in rather than confirmation bias and assumptions.  Guest Bio: Robert Whalen is the Co-founder and CEO of PTO Exchange, the first benefits platform that allows employees to self-direct the value of their unused paid time off for other needs and causes.  He is a serial entrepreneur that has over 25 years selling and developing software and hardware products for the world. Under his leadership, Rob and his co-founder, Todd Lucas led PTO Exchange to  “Cool Vendor of the year” by Gartner in 2017 and awarded “Awesome New Technologies" at the Health and Benefits Leadership Conference in 2018. TODAY WE DISCUSS: Investor referrals: The value & challenges  The importance of proper diligence in your interview process for referrals HIRING STORY: When we first started the business with 4 founders, 2 of us were working on the project constantly and the other 2 were not putting in the time so prior to vesting we bought the other two out.  We had to do this to keep a clean up the cap table so that we could raise capital.   Going through this process we realized having that right person at the right time joining the company is really important.   So we put a simple process in place What the company needs or needs to know in our case. 3 things we are looking to have them accomplish - alignment 3 interviews at minimum Gut check - (culture, willingness to learn) Reference checks PROBLEM: Challenge? When you raise capital you hope those investors will bring value and relationships.  But investors aren’t there day in and day out managing the business and they sometimes associate a person's success at another of their other companies to the value that individual could bring to yours Most of the time the investors' relationships are with the other executives and most of the time you aren’t looking for a high paid person.  An example is when we were hiring a VP of Sales as a small company. VC wanted them to hire a particular person  Expensive No skin in the game Not a known entity to you - getting dirty Not the highest paying company Get to do things they wouldn't be able to do at a large company Mission-driven people - passionate about the mission Do they care about what we do Why is this important to the company? People have to fit in with the culture They are a large % of the population  They need to be able to learn, be curious,  and take on responsibility Rick’s Nuggets: Value in referrals  Cannot rush or fast track the process. Work within your timeline  No skipping steps How do we solve the problem?  Knowing when to say no to the investor This is sometimes tough to do when they are looking to help your business and they don’t see their input being considered When people try and help you,  you need to understand that those suggestions or introductions come with emotions attached. Having a process that to hiring helps facilitate your decisions and reasoning. Which helps take the emotions out of the decision In an early-stage company where you might not have the money or benefits to attract the top-top tier individuals. we look for those candidates who are trying to grow into the role.  Candidates that have the experience but do not have the title and maybe they are looking to have more responsibility because that comes with being in a small/agile company. They have the ability to solve problems and are open to new ways of thinking. Look for the hidden value in the person The individual needs to have the willingness to learn and take on responsibility  Finding the intangibles that they can bring to the team. Usually this is in comes from their personal experiences and not their career experiences Personality fit We look for candidates that have similar passions but different problem-solving skills  This brings diversity in developing our company’s ability to be more agile when confronted with roadblocks. Rick’s Nuggets: Values fit firstDoes the person operate to the expectations of the rest of the organization? Key Takeaways that the Audience can plug into their business today! (Value): Create a process - simple is best but a process that works for the size of your company. I have made great hires and bad hires.  The difference in those decisions was not following the process and being in a hurry to fill the role. Taking things slowly, stepping back, and following a process would have shed light on what later became an issue.  Culture fit is the most important piece.   I have a rule of thumb.When making a big purchase, walk away and reflect on how this purchase is going to impact your life.  Because making a wrong purchase can have a very negative impact on you.  I have found the same rule applies when hiring employees. Guest Links: LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/rob-whalen-1287077/ Company: https://www.ptoexchange.com/ LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/company/pto/ Twitter: https://twitter.com/ptoexchange Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/ptoexchange Blog: https://www.ptoexchange.com/blog Host Links:  LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/rick-girard-07722/ Company: https://www.stridesearch.com/ Podcast: https://www.hirepowerradio.com YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCeEJm9RoCfu8y7AJpaxkxqQ Authored:  "Healing Career Wounds"  https://amzn.to/3tGbtre Startup: www.intertru.ai HireOS® inquiry: rick@stridesearch.com Show Sponsor: www.stridesearch.com www.intertru.ai

How often have you hired the right person for the wrong seat?  Here’s how that happens.  A person is identified and it is assumed that because of their background that they crush it for you. After all, they are already doing it for someone else. Perfect logic, right? Nope! The reason this logic is so dangerous for your company is that current skills are just a small part of success. As we have all experienced, by going above and beyond to land that “rockstar” from a name brand company. Only to have them crash and burn within the first 90 days.  To avoid this dilemma in the future, we simply need to understand the person’s desires and level of accomplishment first. Interviewing to understand, not to sell. This produces much stronger evidence to predict of success of your new hire in your unique business.  Guest Bio: Tom Brunskill is the co-founder and CEO of Forage which is changing the world of career discovery and skill building.  Before moving to San Francisco, Tom was a corporate lawyer at a multinational law firm in Australia. It was during his own career journey that Tom discovered that an education and a degree doesn’t necessarily translate to knowing how to do a specific job role. He also realized just how inequitable the education-to-workforce pathway is.  After observing the unfair advantage those with access to connections or educational opportunities had, Tom made it his mission to provide anyone the ability to learn skills through virtual job simulations produced by the world’s top companies,  By breaking down barriers to gaining workplace-specific skills. Tom hopes to level the opportunity playing field and empower anyone to pursue their dream career. TODAY WE DISCUSS Why your company might be the wrong seat for the right candidate How to avoid wrong seat hires HIRING STORY This isn’t a story about a hire we did make, but a hire we wanted to make and didn’t pull off. We were building out our leadership team between our Series A and Series B. Obviously in an early-stage company, getting the right leaders into your organization is crucial. Leaders in early-stage environments have a disproportionate influence on the ultimate success or demise of a company so the stakes are high. On this particular search for this VP role, I was finding it really tough. It was the middle of 2021 when start-ups were sitting on a record amount of capital and there was a real pinch finding exceptional talent... Challenge? Too many people end up in the wrong seats.  Education on what the roles look like Gap between the candidate's perspective and what the role really is Realistic depiction of what it is like to work in the company Attract the right people Le  Companies use the wrong signals when they hire Schools, companies Don't predict future success Why is this important to the company? High attrition 73% failure rate SHRM reports that the cost of replacing an employee is approximately 33% of that employee’s salary  But that’s just the direct cost of having to find and replace that employee. It doesn’t take into account the indirect costs of a disengaged, non-aligned workforce. My broader take is that recruitment processes traditionally focus on getting bums on seats rather than the right bums on the right seats. Until you figure out how to design a process that gets the right people into the right roles for the long-term, employers will continue losing millions in direct costs and lost productivity.  Rick’s Nuggets: What a person desires needs to be discovered in the 1st conversation! Do they get it, want it, and have the capacity to do it How do we solve the problem?  Educate the candidate pipeline The recruitment process has typically worked as a ‘hire then train’ model. I believe that in an age of software employers should be training their candidates first then hiring. And this needs to start at the top of the funnel.  This is a great model for both candidates and employers. If you take the time to educate your candidate pipeline on who your company actually is and what the roles truly entail, you are going to attract the right type of candidates rather than a large pool of applicants who have no real idea whether they truly want to work for you or not.  Volume has become the enemy of quality. Too many HR tech companies and employers have focused on removing friction from the recruitment process in the pursuit of getting the maximum number of candidates. That’s dumb. I would argue that it’s actually far better to introduce positive friction - and education or a ‘try before you buy’ model is a great example of positive friction.  What does education actually look like? What are your values? Who are your people? What are you building? And why? What does this specific role look like?  Be authentic and realistic. Don’t sell a candidate a lemon otherwise you will end up with lemons. You don’t want your hires to turn up on day 1 and realize they’ve signed up to something which didn’t fit their expectations. Employers and candidates don’t win in that situation.  The other great consequence of spending time educating your candidate pipeline is that you’re more likely to attract candidates from broad and diverse audiences.  Better hiring signals: So educating your candidate pipeline is the first crucial step towards getting the right person into the right seat. But then you have to look at the hiring signals you are using to hire candidates. My view is employers do a very poor job of what hiring signals they use to make a hire. I do a lot of work in early-talent recruitment where employers over-index your GPA, what school you went to, and other signals which statistically just don’t correlate to long-term success in a role. If they were indicative of success, you wouldn’t see 70% attrition.  But even in start-up land I see this happen and I have fallen into the trap of this myself. The classic hiring signal trap in start-up land is over-indexing where someone was an early employee at a successful company. You will often hear a founder say ‘We just hired employee no #25 from Salesforce’. I have found out the hard way that the connection between being an early employee of a successful company and going to be a great hire at your company is tenuous at best.  One of the most underrated hiring signals, especially for more junior employees, is intent. Does the candidate exhibit demonstrable intent that they are deeply interested in your work, your people, your values and your brand? My bet is that if you truly vetted for intent during the recruitment process, 9 out of 10 hires you made would become exceptional hires. And compared to the mean, that’s a pretty good strike rate.  Simulations / case studies: So you’ve educated your candidate pipeline and vetted that candidate pool using better hiring signals. What’s the final step? I strongly believe in the use of simulations or case studies during the recruitment process.  When you get down to your final few candidates, you want to give them an opportunity to road test working with your team and the problems your company is focused on solving. And vice versa, you want to be able to see the candidate in action before you commit to hiring them. This is undoubtedly the most interesting and illuminating part of any recruitment process. Understanding the way a candidate thinks, communicates, builds in a live setting can’t be replicated. It’s obviously crucially important for the employer to see them in action, but equally important for the candidate to see their new potential team and company in action. So any great case study or simulation requires active participation from both sides. Rick’s Nuggets ValuesOwn who you are & your environment  Does the candidate “get” your values. If not, let them go Evidence over “feel”  Train interviewers to extract evidence to support their decisions  Discovery call & Interview  Record and document the data Desire it Does the person want what you offer Is there value in your opportunity for the individual? Does the candidate recognize and feed back the value  “ What's in it for me” Key Takeaways that the Audience can plug into their business today! (Value): Educate your candidate pipeline. Figure out how you can adopt a ‘train then hire’ model so that you’re attracting high-intent candidates who truly want to work at your company.  Look for better hiring signals. Stop and think about whether the signals you are currently using truly connect to long-term success. Instead of pedigree, college, GPA, who they know, look for signals such as motivation, demonstrable intent and true capability. Use case studies and simulations for your very best candidates. It’s a super illuminating exercise for both you and the candidate to figure out if you are truly a good match. Guest Links: LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/tombrunskill/ Company: http://www.theforage.com/ LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/company/theforage/ Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/theforage1 Twitter: https://twitter.com/theforage_ Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/theforage_/ Host Links:  LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/rick-girard-07722/ Company: https://www.stridesearch.com/ Podcast: https://www.hirepowerradio.com YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCeEJm9RoCfu8y7AJpaxkxqQ Authored:  "Healing Career Wounds"  https://amzn.to/3tGbtre Startup: www.intertru.ai HireOS® inquiry: rick@stridesearch.com Show Sponsor: www.stridesearch.com www.intertru.ai

Amazon’s leadership principles (Core Values) have been the most critical element in their unprecedented success. Value alignment first, and skills second. So why is this not a standard practice among all up-and-coming startups?  The reason I believe is that leaders then become accountable for their actions when they misbehave.  Without values, it is easy to hide. It is easy to rationalize bad decisions and easier to deflect blame when the shit hits the fan. This is why 9 out of 10 startups fail. Without the right people, your company will not be able to execute.  And the right people are attracted to more than just money. They want growth, structure, and purpose.  When your company demonstrates that none of these elements are present, the A-players run!  And what you are left with are the people who are willing to take the job.  Guest Bio: Steve Anderson is the CEO of Catalyit. He has spent decades shaping the insurance industry through a deeper understanding of emerging technologies and how businesses today can best integrate and leverage them.  Steve is a sought-after speaker and influencer. He is also the author of the widely-anticipated book The Bezos Letters, where he reveals 14 principles for business growth based on the ideas and patterns that emerged when he examined Jeff Bezos’ 21 annual letters to Amazon shareholders.  TODAY WE DISCUSS: Balancing need with patience to get the right hire How to put the right structure in place to land them HIRING STORY: Hired an operations manager, who seemed like a good fit. Terminated after 3 months. Hired too fast! Pressure to move fast from start to offer in 3 days. The person already had an offer. He didn't follow his own advice.   Challenge? Balance need with hiring the right person Miscasting a hire Don't hire when you rushed to fill a position The interview process is not intentional.  Not having a hiring process, hiring questions (winging it) Rick’s Nuggets:  Problem: Pacing is determined by the candidateClue that the person just needs the money Mitigated by disclosing your hiring process & timeline  Intention: purpose of the interview? How do we solve the problem?  Structure Have a good job description Have a good hiring & interview process Intentional interviews Amazon  Will you admire this person?  Will this person raise the average level of effectiveness of the group  Along what dimension might this person be a superstar Don't cave into the pressure  Candidate pressure Own need pressure Find short term solutions while the interview process is moving along Be willing to fire fast Not fully committing or fully focused Not understanding urgency  Rick’s Nuggets: Evidence trumps assumptions Pacing determined by the process, not the person No need to fire, when you have hired the strongest person Key Takeaways that the Audience can plug into their business today! (Value): Process is key to success Need a place to start - Use Amazon’s hiring questions Culture fit might be more important than skills.  Guest Links: LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/stevetn/ Personal: https://thebezosletters.com/ Company: https://catalyit.com/ LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/company/catalyit/ Twitter: https://twitter.com/SteveTN Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/SteveAndersonNetwork/ Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/steveanderson/ Host Links:  LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/rick-girard-07722/ Company: https://www.stridesearch.com/ Podcast: https://www.hirepowerradio.com YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCeEJm9RoCfu8y7AJpaxkxqQ Authored:  "Healing Career Wounds"  https://amzn.to/3tGbtre Startup: www.intertru.ai HireOS™ inquiry: rick@stridesearch.com Show Sponsor: www.intertru.ai www.stridesearch.com

There is nothing more disappointing than a hire that does not work out. Especially when the person hired was someone you were convinced, would be a great hire! Conventional wisdom says “hire slow, fire fast” but this almost never happens. Because we are too concerned with filling the role fast. Triaging our pain. Maybe if we really hired slowly, the interview would produce much stronger results. To break the hire, fire cycle we must ignore our assumptions about the person's resume and start by gathering evidence. Evidence that supports a proper decision that ensures a successful hire. Guest Bio:  Jason Sherman is a successful innovator, award-winning filmmaker, published author, tech startup expert, and the co-founder of the video friendship app Spinnr. Jason’s methodologies on entrepreneurship and data-driven decisions are his main source of education for those he helps worldwide.  His startup book Strap on your Boots is the culmination of his life’s work to help other entrepreneurs succeed with a podcast of the same name, and is the focus of a class he created called Startup Essentials.  Jason is fluent in Spanish, is a classically trained violinist, and was a featured speaker on FOX’s Emmy award-winning Futurist TV Show: Xploration Earth 2050. TODAY WE DISCUSS: Breaking the hire, fire cycle Challenge? Finding people who are excited about the company vs just looking for a job Care about being part of something where your creative input matter Just there for the paycheck Uninterested, unenthusiastic, easy remote work paycheck A lot of time onboarding Time differences Why is this important to the company? Bad hires impede growth Rick’s Nuggets: Positioning  Time How do we solve the problem?  Finding the excited people in the interviewInstall the app, try it out, and tell us what they think Give feedback website & social media content Smiling happy Have questions about the business Not focusing on payment/ paycheck Excited to learn they can earn stock options Ownership Get through the process to find the 4 people who worked  What to do before the interview Share pitch deck to understand the company mission Have everything ready in a package for onboarding What have you done; share your work Filming content event Content creation hiring day Gig hiring Rick’s Nuggets; Positioning Get it, want it, capacity to do it Do they really desire what you offer? A, B, or C player? Don't be the destination for a JOB (ie: paycheck) Interview with purpose Get to the truth Not sell  Interview design Truth fast Empowered decision-making - Keep your people productive Evidence trumps gut Key Takeaways that the Audience can plug into their business today! (Value): Finding the excited people who want to do what you do. Fully read & understand what your business is. Come with questions Don't discount onsite parties to hire people. Compensate people who show up Guest Links: LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/jasonsherman76/ Personal: https://jasonsherman.org Company: https://spinnr.app/ LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/company/appspinnr Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/appspinnr Twitter: https://twitter.com/spinnr_app Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/spinnr_app Host Links: LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/rick-girard-07722/ Company: https://www.stridesearch.com/ Podcast: https://www.hirepowerradio.com YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCeEJm9RoCfu8y7AJpaxkxqQ Authored:  "Healing Career Wounds"  https://amzn.to/3tGbtre Startup: www.intertru.ai HireOS inquiry: rick@stridesearch.com Show Sponsor: www.stridesearch.com

Every interview that happens in your company needs to have a purpose.  There is a specific purpose for the phone screen, which is positioning & quality of the individual.  The onsite interview’s purpose, does this person align with our company values and finally, the skills interview’s purpose is to determine if the person has the capacity to thrive in the role.  Too often the directive is given to “have a conversation to find out if you would like to work with this person”.  And it is in this non-structured format that bias and discrimination fester because the interviewers don’t understand the interview’s purpose. Guest Bio: Robert Hudock founded Hudock Employment Law Group in 2015 to deliver tailored legal services to California companies that thrive in vibrant, creative work environments. His clients are often companies looking at new markets and competitive opportunities, that want to recruit the best talent available while avoiding distracting workplace issues or lawsuits.  Robert is also a competitive triathlete, which requires careful planning, attention to detail, and dedication. He uses those characteristics in his professional life for his client's benefit.   TODAY WE DISCUSS: Employment law issues in the hiring process you may not know–but should. Challenge? The 3 most common recruiting and hiring functions in which employment-related issues can arise are: (1) job posting/advertisement, (2) interviewing, and (3) assessing fitness for a position (e.g., any criminal history, drug screening, physical capabilities, psychological health).  California’s anti-discrimination laws explicitly apply not only to employees and termination of employment, but also to applicants and “refusing to hire” based on a characteristic protected under the applicable antidiscrimination laws (e.g., age, disability, gender, race, etc.).   Why is this important to the company? Consider a scenario where your company spends significant time and resources on employment law compliance and protecting itself from lawsuits, only to be subject to an employment-related claim that could have been prevented but for a gap in general knowledge and available preventative strategies relating to recruiting and hiring.  Today we’re going to introduce you to the topic and some possible preventive measures.   How do we solve the problem?  Interviewing: any non-job-related inquiry that "expresses, directly or indirectly, any limitation, specification, or discrimination as to” any protected characteristic is prohibitedCommon implicated categories: age, disability, national origin Some examples may surprise you - you may have been asked such questions and you answered without a second thought, the questions are relatively common, or are common topics of conversation: SUBJECT ACCEPTABLE  UNACCEPTABLE Age Virtually nothing - but allowed when law requires it Birth date Date of attendance or completion of school Any question, the answer to which may have information indirectly revealing or suggesting that applicant is 40 or over (e.g., “how old are your children?”) National Origin   Inquiries re verification of legal right to work in US Where born (applicant or applicant’s relatives) Where applicant grew up Applicant’s nationality or nationalities (e.g., Polish, Iraqi, Mexican)    Marital Status/Family  Virtually nothing Whether applicant is married Whether applicant has children; or number or ages of children Religion Statements re regular days, hours, or shifts of the position Applicant’s availability to work on specific days or during specific hours (could reveal religion if unique religious days or times are observed)  Can be anything relating to religious creed (all aspects of religious belief, observance, and practice, including religious dress and grooming practices)   Identify and define, BEFORE interviewing, any legal justification for discriminating with respect to a protected category As with job postings, antidiscrimination law does not categorically preclude any and all inquiries into matters relating to protected categories, or lawful discrimination. For example: AGE: When a law specifically requires a certain age for job, or requires keeping records re employees’ ages or related information RELIGION: When an inquiry directly or indirectly relates to any religious belief or practice does not have any “exclusionary effect”  DISABILITY: An inquiry re physical capabilities legitimately related to ability to perform an essential job function Proper education and training of all interviewers How to respond when applicant volunteers information Let’s say an interviewer and interviewee are discussing where the interviewee obtained his/her undergraduate degree  The interviewee, making friendly conversation, says tongue-in-cheek: “...that’s hard to remember for an old guy like me, but I’ll never forget these seemingly endless stairs going up to where I met with my “Campus Christians” group.  It was like running a marathon once a month because of my knee injury” → just that short aside references three protected categories (age, religion, and disability) In these types of circumstances, the interviewer should (1) steer the discussion away from references to any protected category, and (2) and at some point identify the company’s commitment to equal opportunity E.g., “Interesting.  That story makes me think about how this company supports equal opportunity and has a strong policy against discrimination.”  Let’s move on to your work experience.”  Rick’s Nuggets: Teach your people the purpose of each stage What data are they expected to gather during the conversation  Provide a script to each person Behavioral interviews Tell me about a time when… How did that work? Walk me through that… What steps did you take…  Key Takeaways that the Audience can plug into their business today! (Value): Develop job descriptions and use them as a foundation for interviews; this can help interviewers remain focused on job qualifications and duties Education/training of anyone who will be conducting an interview; e.g., covering the topics we’ve been discussing today Guest Links: LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/hudockemploymentlaw/ Company: https://hudockemploymentlaw.com/ Host Links:  LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/rick-girard-07722/ Company: https://www.stridesearch.com/ Podcast: https://www.hirepowerradio.com YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCeEJm9RoCfu8y7AJpaxkxqQ Authored:  "Healing Career Wounds"  https://amzn.to/3tGbtre HireOS inquiry: rick@stridesearch.com  |  www.intertru.ai Show Sponsor: www.stridesearch.com

Do you ever wonder why only a small percentage of people respond to your recruiting emails?  The answer is that there is nothing in it for them.  Especially if the person you are trying to recruit is already working.  Let’s be honest, selling people on what we NEED only attracts people who are actively looking, and 99% of messages all sound the same!  Here's why we are great… What we need… What we offer… Skills you must have…  Ending with the hurdles you have to leap, to talk to us To gain higher response rates, and attract the people you need to respond, we must first change our positioning. Starting with answering the question, “what’s in it for them” above and beyond just a paycheck. Guest Bio: Dustin Riechmann, owner of Simple Success Coaching, is a strategic marketing coach who helps mission-driven entrepreneurs rapidly increase profits and massively grow their network using a Partnership Marketing System. TODAY WE DISCUSS: Recruiting messaging How to write a solid cold email Challenge? Low response rates to outreach Viewed as a spammer Ineffective or confusing communication Why is this important to the company? Effects reputation Need communication to grow Every missed communication opportunity costs money Lost opportunity Rick’s Nuggets No value, no response How do we solve the problem?  Perfect Pitch Email This template has proven to be highly effective at getting positive replies from potential partners in a single cold-pitch email.  It consists of 5 key components: Direct email address Hunter.io, Chatterworks, Swordfish Social media profiles, Google search Bypass gatekeepers Avoid filters Curious subject line Something Personal (reference an episode number for a podcast) Job is to get someone to open the email From field matters Sample: dog poop Relational Anchors (beginning)  Not a random weirdo from the internet Find the point(s) you have in common Demonstrate you’re familiar with their work/interests/passions Flatter them! Clear Win for the Person You’re Pitching (middle)  Demonstrate how you will add value to them Compelling bullet point summary Eyes may go here first so make it super interesting Clear Ask (end)  Call-to-action that’s an easy yes “Are you interested?” Simple signature with a single link to your site Rick’s Nuggets Craft messaging toward the people that won't normally respond Target the top 10% Subject Line Subject: Real quick or How’s my Telepathy? Opener Thought-provoking, laugh or cry I know you have been eagerly anticipating my email but just received your telepathic message so I apologize for taking so long to get back to you ;-).  Acknowledge the Pain  (Pain) Reason to not ignore “I understand you are pretty good at your job but your talents in XXXX (personalize) may be a bit underappreciated (or underutilized, under-challenged, or over-managed)  in your current role. Obviously, I am not sure about your situation but I wanted to find out if you are open to hearing about a situation that could provide more impact on you both personally & professionally.” Call to Action (Benefit loaded) I'm here to listen….  “The signals I received from you were strong and I get your urgency. We should talk as I may be able to help alleviate your pain! Let me know your availability for a quick phone conversation this afternoon. If the timing is off, please respond “Not Interested” so that I do not fill up your Inbox with additional messages. (- for LinkedIn) I look forward to your response.” Key Takeaways that the Audience can plug into their business today! (Value): How to craft compelling emails that get an 80% response rate when sent to “cold” prospects, recruits or partners. Guest Links: LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/dustinriechmann/ Company: https://simplesuccesscoaching.com/ Host Links: LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/rick-girard-07722/ Company: https://www.stridesearch.com/ Podcast: https://www.hirepowerradio.com YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCeEJm9RoCfu8y7AJpaxkxqQ Authored:  "Healing Career Wounds"  https://amzn.to/3tGbtre HireOS inquiries: rick@stridesearch.com Show Sponsor: www.stridesearch.com

It has been decided that we want to hire a person who made it through our interview process. Yay! Now we invest the time to have the “offer conversation” about what it is going to take for you to join us. Eagerly, we present our case, discuss our benefits & perks, and divulge our rationale behind what we would like to pay our hot new employee.  The only problem is, that having this conversation now, is too late.    When the stakes are low, people are the most open and truthful. And the stakes are lowest at the beginning of the relationship. The first conversation is the most important time to have the offer discussion.  Before the interview even happens! Today we’re going to discuss: The 3 most common offer mistakes  How to remedy them for offer acceptance Challenges today? Gathering information too late The end of the interaction is the worst place to start developing the relationship with the person Candidates feel like they are being sold- which they are “Now that I passed your tests, you want to know me better”  Candidate is now totally focused on the money Highest offer blinders Offers based on general assumptions  Shallow focused interview I've demonstrated I can do what you need One sized-fits-all Offer acceptance Shop your offer to other suitors Time to think about the offer means: I don't believe what you are trying to sell me! Why is this important to the company? Excessive interviewing & offer turndowns are a tremendous waste of time How do we solve the problem?  Gathering information too late  Discovery call - First Contact Understanding the Pain, Desire (Positioning) Legitimate reason to move The type of company the person will thrive in Size, Role, Domain Impact A, B, or C player? Main Criteria for Decision Elements that NEED to be present for an offer acceptance Salary expectations What do you need? Offers based on general assumptions  Everyone likes our benefits Benefits & perks do NOT attract or retain people Allow the individual to share what is important to them Discuss expectations What makes this important to you? Offer Acceptance Feedback Engage in conversation about VALUE Are they sharing with you “why” they would like to join? Pacing Pacing too soon, too slow Only make an offer when there is obvious alignment They tell you: what your company offers is what I desire from my career Verbal acceptance Discuss and agree on terms Address anything that does not fit into desire Start date Formal written offer Autograph  Start onboarding Key Takeaways -Value: Gather information as soon as possible during the Discovery Call. Based on your first conversation, tailor exactly what's going to attract that person into your company to the content they gave you at the Discovery Call. Offer acceptance: make sure you pace it out, continuous feedback throughout the process, and get verbal acceptance first before you extend the written offer. Links: LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/rick-girard-07722/ Company: https://www.stridesearch.com/ Podcast: https://www.stridesearch.com/hire-power-radio Authored:  Healing Career Wounds (Amazon) https://www.amazon.com/dp/B094TL14CD/ref=dp-kindle-redirect?_encoding=UTF8&btkr=1 Startup - Intertru Inc: www.Intertru.ai  Technology: HireOS™  Show Sponsor: www.stridesearch.com

How do you hire people when you have no money?  While this may seem like an impossible task, the truth is that it is not as difficult as you might think. It starts by understanding what is important to the individual. Then connecting their desire your the value of your opportunity.  Compensation comes in a lot of different forms and money is just one piece of the equation. Professional growth, challenging work, strong leadership, mission, purpose, mentorship, and equity are also forms of compensation.  The most powerful form of compensation you can offer is the one thing that is REALLY  important to the individual that you need to hire. William Glass is the Co-Founder & CEO of Ostrich, a financial habit-building app that uses community and social accountability to help people achieve their financial goals.  In addition, William is the host of the Silicon Alley Podcast which focuses on telling entrepreneurs’ stories & learning from their experiences. His background is in software sales leading sales teams at Gartner and opening up a new vertical for an AI startup, Remesh.  In 2014, Will was awarded a Fulbright scholarship through the U.S State Department where he taught English in rural Thailand. Glass has his B.A. in International Relations from Rollins College in Winter Park, FL. Will is originally from Alabama and now resides in Queens, New York. TODAY WE DISCUSS: How to hire strong people without money Outline steps to take to compensate with limited funds Challenge? Not in the financial position to bring someone on full-time. Almost outsourced everything during the pandemic but would’ve spent all of the little money we had.  Both wanted to work together but could not afford a salary Set financial metrics Funding challenge Found someone through referral Why is this important to the company? No other way to build the MVP Rick’s Nuggets: Take your time Really understand a person's desire Does your opportunity fill that desire?  Solution: No code Built using no-code and hacked along the first version of the app Couldn’t do all of the key functions so sought a full-stack dev familiar with the no-code tool Referral Found developer through a referral on the no-code forum. Brought them on to extend the no code version. Liked working together, but after the no code tasks were completed no budget to bring on full-time. Mission aligned and interested in working together. Neither of us is in a financial position to pay a salary nor to not take a salary with 5 kids. Created a unique way to solve both needs. Agreed to bring Stephen our developer on full-time when we were in a position to do so. In the interim: Banking hours Tracked hours worked as a contractor but rather than billing us, he banked them. Those hours are paid back on a revenue share basis. Equity vesting Equity vesting began when the engagement began. Revenue share A small percentage of revenues goes to paying off the banked hours. Triggering mechanism for salary Once the company hit certain financial milestones, Stephen to come on board full-time. Life changed Altered the agreement before hitting financial metrics. Rick’s Nuggets: ResourcefulIdentify people you want to work with Reach out and have conversations  Ooze Value Key Takeaways that the Audience can plug into their business today! (Value): If there is alignment in mission & desire to work together, and you can find creative solutions that meet both the company's and individual’s needs. Ask the tough questionsOnly through strong communication were we able to determine the solution and it meant both parties sharing openly the financial situation. TransparencyTransparent with the financials of the company, runway, and salary from the get-go. Buffer model of transparent salary. Guest Links: LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/williampglass3/ Company: https://getostrich.com/ LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/company/theostrichapp/ Twitter: https://twitter.com/theostrichapp Twitter: https://twitter.com/williampglass Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/theostrichapp Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/theostrichapp/ YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCrPUxyTASwW71P5ahxD5VzQ Host Links:  LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/rick-girard-07722/ Company: https://www.stridesearch.com/ Podcast: https://www.hirepowerradio.com YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCeEJm9RoCfu8y7AJpaxkxqQ Authored:  "Healing Career Wounds"  https://amzn.to/3tGbtre HireOS inquiry: rick@intretru.ai Show Sponsor: www.stridesearch.com

The reason why people think that hiring is “really hard” is because interviews are conducted without a defined set of criteria to which a person is being evaluated.  This especially rings true when interviewing outside your personal competency level. Most often when hiring a CMO or CRO. In order for any interview to be effective, there has to be two components by which a person is being judged. Skills & Value Alignment.  Focusing only on skills may solve your immediate problem but often creates more problems because the person disrupts your culture.  What I have learned is that culture is driven by value alignment. So, understanding how a person aligns with your values in an interview is the most important criteria that needs to be evaluated to make a strong hire. Guest Bio: Matt Blumberg is a technology entrepreneur, business builder, and CEO of Bolster, an on-demand executive talent marketplace that helps accelerate companies’ growth by connecting them with experienced, highly vetted executives.  Matt has been recognized as one of New York’s 100 most influential technology leaders by Business Insider, by Crain’s as one of New York’s Top Entrepreneurs, and by Ernst & Young as an Entrepreneur of the Year finalist.  Before Bolster, Matt built businesses and worked in marketing, consulting, and venture capital. He is the author of Startup CEO, Startup CXO, and Startup Boards. TODAY WE DISCUSS: The challenge of hiring a CMO The playbook to hire a CMO HIRING STORY: Over indexing on culture swinging to resume Balance of cultural fit and competencies Like dating…each one corrects the mistakes of the previous one Over-indexing on culture - “nice” - leave replacement Over-indexing on resume - “Vishnu” and “It/Out” PROBLEM: Challenge? CMO at RP and Defense Against the Dark Arts I had been a CMO CMO is a hard role - expectations are all over the place, function has splintered (chart), marketing can become a dumping ground - french fry problem Marketing to marketers The myth of the playbook and Roth asking for headcount and budget - “plan to overspend and overdeliver” Why is this important to the company? Disruption Cost Time Rick’s Nuggets Positioning Problem Desire your opportunity A, B or C player SOLUTION: How do we solve the problem?  The final playbook that worked for me for hiring CMOs - three “aha” moments Marketing can quickly be consumed by the “French Fry problem” Define the French Fry problem and marketing as a litany of tactics Moving marketing from the tail to the nose - what’s the real role of marketing? Brand and Audience, so start with strategy and ROI Making limited room for French Fries Producing the ability for others in the organization to make their own French Fries The realization that no one person can be the master of all channels Build list of competencies (channels, etc.) Build job roadmap to see how it evolves over time Make sure all critical competencies are covered somehow Focus on making sure the overall machine is optimized The critical nature of building a Leadership pipeline to grow CMOs Focus on making sure the leader is an intellectually curious orchestator Leadership development at the next level down Cross-training of all the channels and elements of the CMO role - orchestration, hiring/leading, ROI focus, customer service corner around French Fries The machine becomes something where the CMO is at the pyramid on top, not holding up an inverted pyramid and hoping it doesn’t topple Rick’s Nuggets Values driven interview Do we operate from the same place? Are you REALLY proactive, rebellious, curious? Skills driven interview (working session) Transferable skills Growth Details  Key Takeaways that the Audience can plug into their business today! (Value): Find that right balance between culture and values fit and technical competency Help your people architect their own career as if it is a jungle gym and not a ladder (a great way to retain people) Guest Links: LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/blumbergmatt/ Company: https://bolster.com/ Resources: https://startupceo.com/ &  Bolster.com LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/company/bolstertalent/ Facebook: /BolsterTalent Twitter: https://twitter.com/bolstertalent Twitter: https://twitter.com/mattblumberg Host Links: LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/rick-girard-07722/ Company: https://www.stridesearch.com/ Podcast: https://www.hirepowerradio.com YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCeEJm9RoCfu8y7AJpaxkxqQ Authored:  "Healing Career Wounds"  https://amzn.to/3tGbtre HireOS inquiry: rick@stridesearch.com Show Sponsor: www.stridesearch.com

Most good hires are a result of luck rather than skill. In fact, I would argue that very few hires are by design.  Throughout my career, I have never met a person who views interviewing and the hiring process as anything more than a chore that they loathe. In fact, the most common reaction to the subject usually results in a huge “uuuggghhhhh” or “I hate hiring”.  We dread the act of interviewing and hiring because it is unstructured and inconsistent and it produces mediocre results.  Here’s the good news: There is an easy fix! When we train our people how to interview it brings purpose to each and every interview question. Giving your people a basis for decision-making that results in extraordinary hiring results. Guest Bio: Karima Gulick is the CEO & principal patent attorney of Innovent Law. She dedicated her career to counseling businesses within the tech and creative communities, combining her passion for engineering and the law. Karima is a polyglot and guides her clients through legal matters in French, English, Arabic, Spanish, and some Italian as well!  She is also the former co-host of the Gen Y Lawyer podcast, a show where she interviewed innovative lawyers shaking things up in the legal industry. Karima is building a next-generation law firm and is here to share her experience. Today We Discuss: The overwhelming hurdles of hiring. How to interview to bring purpose to your interview questions Challenge today? Overwhelmed & stuck in the business The idea of hiring was overwhelming So overwhelmed in my business, that adding one more task to my list, which is hiring to free me up seemed daunting  Having had a bad experience with hiring in the past, it seemed as an even more daunting task No clear strategy on how to go about  interviewing  selecting candidates to interview Finding candidates. I could write what I thought was an amazing post but it might not be read or looked at by the right person Jaded on values because of corporate America Values area words splattered on the wall No one ever explained what the values stood for Never defined what it looked like. Defining what you stand for seems hokie Why is this important to the company? A burned-out and overwhelmed leader is the worst thing that can happen to a company Even if you have the best team, without the right energizing and enthusiastic leadership,   It’s just a matter of time before you stop caring, and the rest of your team starts seeing that We all have values,  You have them as an employer Certain things that are intangible Employees have a reason to care. Buy in and bring more energy to the processEmployees have taken more ownership When there is a change in the workforce, the chatter makes it more difficult find a fit. Buying into the negative ideas Rick’s Nuggets Values First Strategy Makes evaluating people easier How do we solve the problem?  Realizing that I was stuck  Knowing that I needed someone to step in and save me from myself Knowing myself, I knew I needed to bring on someone to help I had posted a couple of job posts but I was too exhausted to even call people Then I realized I was making the same mistake as I’ve made before I’m in pain doing all the work, so I pick someone who can do the work But there is so much more - That’s where Rick,  you came in and opened my eyes on the hiring process It’s more than just a post and looking for someone who can do the work Values discussion - being jaded from the corporate world where values were meaningless A fresh new look at values Example: Caring, Competence, Trust Might not mean much to others, can come off as just buzzwords, but with this process, these values came to life.  Holding conversations with candidates looking to learn more about them and their pain points Conducting interviews based on your values Conducting assessments and work sessions to see how you’d work with these people  Reaffirming that I already have great people Believing that you deserve being able to grow the business Allowing the entity to grow Sitting down with intention Mindful & intentional on what you want/ the business needs Clarity on what you are hiring for & why? Being Systematic Bring life into the process - involve others Flexible on terms/needs Having a flow Discovery calls Having a process Behavioral questions to understand if people align with what the company really stands for Informed process The more thorough you are, the better the chances of bringing on the right people. Evolve  Coming up with my own set of questions based on behavior I see around me Tell me about the first thing you do when you come home from a trip.. Rick’s Nuggets Discovery call Values Not aspirational  Team input Working session Key Takeaways that the Audience can plug into their business today! (Value): You don't know what you don't know. Bring on help to allow the business to growIf you’re serious about growing your business, you have to go through this exercise You  can have the best gut feeling in the world, but having a systemized approach and one you can delegate to your team will help you scale. Invest the time to get clarity on what you are looking for Be open to learning new things, including skills outside of your comfort zone. Guest Links: LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/thepatentlady/ Company: https://kgulick.com/ LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/company/innoventlaw/ Twitter: https://twitter.com/thepatentlady/ Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/thepatentlady/ Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/thepatentlawyer/ YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/innoventlaw Host Links: LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/rick-girard-07722/ Company: https://www.stridesearch.com/ Podcast: https://www.hirepowerradio.com YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCeEJm9RoCfu8y7AJpaxkxqQ Authored:  "Healing Career Wounds"  https://amzn.to/3tGbtre HireOS inquiry: rick@stridesearch.com Show Sponsor: www.stridesearch.com

Do company values really matter? They do if you are looking to scale a business.  In order to scale you need the strongest people, but the strongest people don't need you…or your company.  What High performers need is to understand how your company brings value to their world, personally & professionally. And how we bring value through value alignment.  Value alignment is the catalyst for performance and retention. When a person is misaligned with the company values, they underperform and/or leave.  As a startup company, every person who is misaligned is a setback of 3-6 months of productivity.  So, before you hire another person, incorporate your values into the interview to encourage the strongest people to join your company. Giving your business the fuel for success. Guest Bio: Ken Babcock is the Co-founder and CEO of Tango, which allows users to create beautiful step-by-step tutorials of any digital process without the performance art of video recordings.  Ken, along with his co-founders Brian Shultz and Dan Giovacchini, dropped out of Harvard Business School during the pandemic to start the company. Since then, the company has grown to over 150,000 users and 25 full-time team members.   Prior to HBS, Ken spent most of his career in the Bay Area at Uber, where he helped scale launch operations through playbooks and best practices.  TODAY WE DISCUSS: Why building your interview around your values is so important How to build your interview to gain evidence of value alignment Challenge today? Bringing values into the interview process Defining how to show up for an interview Principles of how we evaluate people Training people on how to interview Why is this important to the company? Every hire is important Critical that the process was not shooting ourselves in the foot Great experience brings great people  Rick’s Nuggets Defocus on skills. How do we solve the problem?  Framework for Evaluating for Values Define Your Values Training Defining what a good/bad answer is ▶️ Take Action Avoid indecision and move past points of uncertainty. Value speed. 🚀 Aim High Set uncomfortably ambitious goals. Reject mediocrity. 🌎 Embrace Diversity Bring our true selves to work each day. Seek unique perspectives. 🌱 Leave It Better Be an owner, not a renter. Cultivate a growth mindset. ✨ Customer Love Serve the end user and listen closely. Make magic. 🏆 Team First Winning as a team beats winning alone. Lift up others. Training Develop a recruiting process document Shadowing Hot to operate during an interview Time, opener,  Initial Phone Screen - 30 minutes Purpose: Determine whether a candidate’s experience is relevant to the role. Understand whether the role matches what they hope to do next (scope, career path, salary expectations). 🚀 Aim High. Set uncomfortably ambitious goals. Reject mediocrity. Attributes: Passion, Champion’s mindset, Ambition, Optimism Sample Questions:How do you think this role fits in with your career goals? What are you most proud of in your career? What’s your underlying motivator? What’s your why? Do you think you're ready to make the jump? Hiring Manager Phone Screen - 30 minutes Purpose: Determine whether the candidate would thrive on this team and whether the team would be up-leveled by this candidate 🌱 Leave it Better. Be an owner, not a renter. Strive to improve 1% each day. Attributes: Growth mindset, Humility, Ownership, Feedback-oriented Sample Questions:What are your development areas? How are you working to address them? Tell me about a project that fell short of expectations. What happened and how did you fix it moving forward? Fast forward five years - assume Tango was a great experience. Describe what might have happened. What's a tough piece of feedback you received recently? How are you working on it? Technical Screen - 60 minutes Purpose: Determine whether the candidate can execute in the role at a high level. ▶️ Take Action. Avoid indecision and move past points of uncertainty. Value speed. Attributes: Resourceful, Decisive, Problem-solving, Truth-seeking Sample Questions:How do you approach projects where the scope is overwhelming? Tell me about a time where you had to act on incomplete information. What's the first thing you'd want to do if you started tomorrow? Tell me about a project where your hypothesis turned out to be wrong. Virtual Onsite - 30-45 minutes each 🏆 Team First. Winning as a team beats winning alone. Lift up others. Attributes: Mentorship, Collaboration, Communication, Gratitude Sample Questions:Tell me about a colleague or manager you admire. What qualities do you try to emulate? Tell me about a team dynamic that just wasn't working for you and others. What did you learn from that? What do you need from your team members in order to be successful? How do you pay it forward in and out of the workplace? ✨ Customer Love. Serve the end user and listen closely. Make magic. Attributes: Listening, Perspective-shifting, Humble, Creative Sample Questions:In prior roles, what have you learned about your customers? How do you incorporate the customer’s perspective into your work? Tell me about a time at work you made a mistake. What does it mean to you to deliver an “Aha Moment” to a customer? 🌎 Embrace Diversity. Bring our true selves to work each day. Seek unique perspectives. Attributes: Unique, Conscientious, Self-aware, Inclusive Sample Questions:You've just been notified you have to give a Ted talk in 15 minutes. What's your topic? What have you changed your mind about recently? Tell me about a time at work where you really thrived. What contributed to that? How do you incorporate feedback into your work? Closing Interview - 15-30 minutes Purpose: Sell the candidate on the company’s vision and the quality of the team. Answer any remaining questions. Sample Questions:How did today’s interviews go? What excites you most about the opportunity? What hesitations do you have? What timelines or competing processes should we account for? Are there any other questions I can answer? Answer Quality Rubric Weak Average Strong Fails to directly answer the question Does not articulate role/impact on broader team Lacks a cohesive narrative in communicating responses Poor attitude towards past experiences that failed to meet expectations Questions back to interviewer are exclusively from self-interest  Answers the question, but does not extrapolate beyond situational elements Understands goals and role relative to broader team Thoughtful narrative in responding to questions, but examples lack tangible or sizable results Grateful for past experiences, even if some did not meet expectations Questions back to interviewer include a focus on goals / responsibilities for the role Answers the question and highlights learnings and reflections Deep understanding of personal and team-wide goals and how their role influences outcomes Cohesive narrative in responses with measurable and significant results Reflective on past experiences and finds nuggets of learnings / improvements at each juncture Questions back to interviewer build on the conversation and touch upon company goals   Decision Thumbs up or down Do not require unanimous thumbs up Debrief, revote verdict Rick’s Nuggets 4 to 6 values is all you need Phone screen  Working session Key Takeaways that the Audience can plug into their business today! (Value): Integrate your core values into your hiring process and beyond! (performance management, operating cadence, etc.) For early-stage companies, you need to toe the line of “always be selling” and evaluating candidates Requiring unanimous decisions on candidates can actually force a regression to the mean and avoid taking risks on high-potential candidates.  Guest Links: LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/kenbabcock/ Company: https://www.tango.us/ LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/company/trytango/ Twitter: https://twitter.com/bigredbabz Host Links: LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/rick-girard-07722/ Company: https://www.stridesearch.com/ Podcast: https://www.hirepowerradio.com YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCeEJm9RoCfu8y7AJpaxkxqQ Authored:  "Healing Career Wounds"  https://amzn.to/3tGbtre HireOS inquiry: rick@stridesearch.com  Show Sponsor: www.stridesearch.com

Doom & gloom is the impending economic forecast according to the media. Having flourished through two previous recessions, I have learned to look for the opportunity that comes with the adjustment.  And when it comes to hiring, the opportunities to thrive are bountiful! One trend that I have personally observed throughout the years is that companies like Google & Facebook silently ramped up passive recruiting during those times and were able to come out of the adjustment even stronger. Today I challenge you to recognize the opportunity that lies ahead and to commit to the growth of your people. This can and will only have positive results for them and the business.  Today’s Question: How do you build a stronger company in tough economic times? Today we’re going to discuss: Why it is critical that you continue hiring activity How to hire effectively to increase the productivity & retention of your people Challenge today? Keeping your High performers engaged Your best people are MORE valuable! They will be hunted by your competitors  Hiring stronger people challenges & motivates the people you already have Growth through an economic downturn Look for the opportunity for your people People become fearful and move to more “stable” environments Recruiting remains a reactive activity We only hire when we feel the pain  Hiring happens regardless if you chose to participate Participate  Why is this important to the company? Downturns are opportunities for growth! The people onboard Fuel or Stifle growthFear drives people to make poor decisions Poor decisions kill business Avoid being forced to hire anyone who is willing to accept your role… because they need a job Due to attrition How do we solve the problem?  PerspectiveUnderstand the value of continuously hiringHigher bar, less volume Opportunity to opportunistically hire  Attract people who will elevate performance in the organization  New ideas, new energy Increased Communication to retain your current people Career pathing Know the “What’s in it for me” for every one of your people Planned exits Promote purpose Engaging New People Dedicate 1-2 hours a week Passive talent engagement; NOT RECRUITING Reconnect with past talent Ask for new referrals “Get to know you for the future” Commit to 2 meetings a week with potential hires - Coffee ok Use Discovery Call script Purpose: positioning & value alignment Empower the hire Communicate timeframe and allow the person to be proactive Pull the trigger! Key Takeaways -Value: Proactive hiring: Commit to 1 hour a week to expand your talent network Communication: Recognize the opportunity for your people and the business to thrive Action: When the opportunity arises to hire a high performer, embrace it. Allow the new person to fuel the energy of your team  Host Links: LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/rick-girard-07722/ Company: https://www.stridesearch.com/ Podcast: https://www.stridesearch.com/hire-power-radio Authored:  Healing Career Wounds (Amazon) https://www.amazon.com/dp/B094TL14CD/ref=dp-kindle-redirect?_encoding=UTF8&btkr=1 HireOS inquiry: rick@stridesearch.com Show Sponsor: www.stridesearch.com

We have all become painfully aware that cybercrime is at all-time record highs. Now the bad actors have figured out how to hack your hiring process. Stories have been surfacing about people accepting roles remotely that are different people from the ones attending the interview. Let’s face it, hacking the interview process is probably the easiest way to infiltrate your company and ultimately your data. When the interviewers focus on the skills and do not dig deep enough into the truth about the other person the result can be the opportunity that puts your company in jeopardy. Guest Bio: Becky Wanta is the CTO of Q5id and a highly accomplished global senior executive with more than 30 years of success in applying extensive IT experience to guide companies in a wide variety of industries to achieve their goals.  She has proven her ability to improve market share and profitability while establishing long-term business relations and recruiting and developing cross-functional and high-performing teams.  She has also been profiled by various publications, including Profile magazine and Bloomberg News. She is the holder of two US patents. Today We Discuss: How bad actors can infiltrate your company How to avoid hiring those who can decimate your company Challenge today? Not a guarantee that the person who you are hiring is who they say they are No prevent identity Billions are lost every year because of data breach background check does not guarantee that the person is who they say they are References, credit score,  Remote workforce is giving rise to fake personas & identities Why is this important to the company? Cost the company Millions of dollars The FBI just issued a warning on June 28 about fraudulent candidates applying for WFH positions and using deep fakes to hide their true identity. We can be sure this activity will increase, and we can be sure that these are professional criminals and foreign-state actors who want to hijack a company’s data. (source: https://tinyurl.com/mvsnz7bs) Background checks are often perfunctory, particularly if a candidate has presented well and you really want to hire this person if a person has an apparently clean record, but is a member of a criminal gang or a malicious state actor. Professional criminals are way ahead of you here. Rick’s Nuggets Targeted and focused search Totally negates the issue How do we solve the problem?  Tighten up and expand pre-employment and background check processes to include a proven identity process which includes: Biometrics/personal identifiers that your employees control.  This needs to include liveness checks, biometric and AI-driven models to ensure individuals are who they say they are Government ID checks 15 se Face-to-face live view Be Systematic So, companies need to keep the entrepreneurial spirit alive while building a distributed team, with everyone focused on the product. They must be systematic about finding specific skillsets and finding those skillsets in people who want to work with other people. prove their new employees are not working for someone who wants to break into your IT systems and steal everything they can. The FBI says cybercrime cost in the form of phishing and other scams and data breaches cost US businesses almost $7 billion last year. With more criminal organizations and state actors involved, and now deploying deep fakes, that number could go up exponentially if companies don’t address this problem urgently. (Source: https://tinyurl.com/yc7abcht) CEOs, C-suites, and Boards to implement a program that can combat deep fakes, I’d make sure my Board has at least one person who’s familiar with enterprise-grade security, and I’d make sure I have an A-team Chief Information Security Officer (CISO) on my team. Implement a proven identity method biometrics Rick’s Nuggets Targeted hiring approachIdentify & proactively develop a relationship with the person BEFORE you need to hire them. Referrals!!! Structured Interview processBehavioral InterviewTrain your interviewers! Evidence Values first, skills second BS meter  References Verified Managers only Backdoor company references Decision Making“Hell Yes” or NO Key Takeaways that the Audience can plug into their business today! (Value): Never compromise on finding the best people with the best-fitted skills  Never forget you’re building a product for a specific reason and customer. But never be lax in proving your exciting new employees are who they say they are.   Never be lax in finding out if your new employees are working for a criminal organization or malicious state. Guest Links LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/rebeccawanta/ Company: https://q5id.com/ LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/company/q5id/ Twitter: https://twitter.com/Q5idProvenID Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/provenidentity/ Host Links: LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/rick-girard-07722/ Company: https://www.stridesearch.com/ Podcast: https://www.hirepowerradio.com YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCeEJm9RoCfu8y7AJpaxkxqQ Authored:  "Healing Career Wounds"  https://amzn.to/3tGbtre HireOS inquiry: rick@stridesearch.com Show Sponsor: www.stridesearch.com

Last week I had a conversation with a CEO who thought it was too early to establish core values because his company was only 15 people. His thinking was that things would just change anyway and he would have to do them all over again as the company grows. But here was the ginormous problem: Two of his people recently quit, the last 4 offers he made were turned down and the candidate pipeline was drying up. … And he thought it was about the money. Today, more than ever, people desire to be in alignment with the values of the organization. If they aren’t in alignment, they leave. Here’s the truth: your company has values whether you like it or not. Solidifying your values and making them a decision-making tool can never happen too early and will only fuel company growth. Guest Bio:  Marc Reifenrath is the CEO & Co-founder of Spinutech, a full-service digital marketing agency with 165+ team members across the U.S.  Marc has helped Spinutech grow from a college start-up to one of the premier full-service digital marketing agencies in the country. The secret ingredient? Company values that are truly lived, including a commitment to “Get Better Every Day”.  In that capacity, Marc understands firsthand how critical a company’s culture is to achieving and maintaining success. Today We Discuss: When to implement your company values How to weave them into the fabric of your company Challenge today? Had unwritten core values but were not formalized Had a  miss on 2 or 10 or 20. Talent outweighs the cultural fit Drawn in by talent and weeded out by the environment  2 people hired that within 90 days were gone. Instant misalignment  -realized culture pushed them out  Why is this important to the company? From a hiring perspective, it is a really quick filter Not too aspirational. You have to own what you really are We take too long to make the decision Rick’s Nuggets: Formalization attracts the right people and repels those who do not Notion that you want to attract everyone is WRONG Time!Interviewing kills the production of your team Assumptions, bias & personal motives… oh my! How do we solve the problem?  Leadership team development People who understand the organization Doesn't need to be perfect  Needs to be honest *** needs to be authentic, not aspirational Values need to be actionable We get better every day: better myself, team & clients Work into a daily routine Core values onboarding Slack channel language is communicated Natural part of how they do business Lived every single day Leaders need to show core values in Action! Weekly video “get better every day” In every part of the business Without core values, a lot more problems.  Stronger the core values the more you are prepared for growth Every person who onboards becomes less of an attack Inject DNA into people as quickly as possible Feedback on how to enhance the value Rick’s Nuggets Be realistic about who YOU are Aspirational values are worthless North star for how everyone operates within the organization Build interview questions around core values Evaluate against values Aligned = hire  Build an interview question library Assign interview questions to each interviewer Key Takeaways that the Audience can plug into their business today! (Value): Honest about what your core values are, Lived not aspirational Actionable values -  Stay patient in the hiring process. Don't just put a butt in a seat. Guest Links:  LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/marcreifenrath/ Company: https://www.spinutech.com/ LinkedIn:  https://www.linkedin.com/company/spinutech/ Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/spinutech Twitter: https://twitter.com/spinuser Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/spinutech.llc/ YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/user/spinutech Host Links: LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/rick-girard-07722/ Company: https://www.stridesearch.com/ Podcast: https://www.hirepowerradio.com YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCeEJm9RoCfu8y7AJpaxkxqQ Authored:  "Healing Career Wounds"  https://amzn.to/3tGbtre HireOS inquiry: rick@stridesearch.com Show Sponsor:  www.stridesearch.com

Are Strategy and Systems missing in your hiring process? The answer is most likely “Yes” as 99.9% of entrepreneurs approach hiring as a reactive activity based on a current need. This is dangerous because it perpetuates the transactional mindset that sets you up for failure. Strategy is not about “how do I turn on the funnel”. Strategy is about how you identify, contact & engage with the person who will thrive in your business. This means being able to articulate your value to align with each individual. But, strategy is not enough to get an A-player to join your company. The structure of your interview process is the System that demonstrates excellence within the organization. And excellence is what every high performer strives for in their next company. Guest Bio: Hilmon Sorey is Co-Founder of CoachCRM sales coaching software for managers; Co-Founder of ClozeLoop, a sales strategy, training, and enablement firm with offices in New York, Houston, Silicon Valley, and Johannesburg; Partner in 2.12 Angels as a seed-stage venture capital firm; and author of 8 top-selling books on sales, sales management, and coaching.  He has helped build teams in companies that range from early-stage startups to Salesforce, Box, SurveyMonkey, Bill.com, and some of the fastest-growing companies in the world totaling over $600B in valuation and market cap.   He’s an award-winning trainer who has trained over 15,000 salespeople and over 5,000 executives. He is a sought-after speaker around the globe and a Forbes contributor. Today We Discuss: The 4 S’s: Strategy, Systems, Staff & Skills How to implement the missing pieces into your organization Challenge Today? Ensuring that you are hiring the right people who will have impact Understanding go-to-market strategy in how you hire Strategy and Systems absent in most hiring process How Companies Scale and How to Use Hiring as Competitive Advantage Why is this important to the company? Ask any CEO of a Unicorn what they consider to be their competitive advantage.   They’ll say their people.   Tech eventually equals out, Markets change, Investors are wonderful - but even they invest in people. Rick’s Nuggets Strategy absent: No time to do it Feel it’s not important It’s all bullshit anyways System No time to set up or train The results you get are the fruits of the effort of the work put. How do we solve the problem?  Strategy Understanding GTM strategy Competitive Differentiation (direct, indirect) Winning Zone Messaging and Channels Systems Agile Tech Stack Sales & Marketing Playbooks Feedback Loop and Ecosystem Staff   Sales Strategy Competency Matrix Methodology for Alignment (proof) Culture  Skills Training Coaching Margin Gains Rick’s Nuggets Strategy: Only hire people who align with company values! Learn early Understand YOU first Only meet people who “lean in”  System Interview process Documented, and communicated,  Skills Train your people Key Takeaways that the Audience can plug into their business today! (Value): Focus on Strategy and Systems to create scale.  Hiring is as critical as identifying customers Guest Links LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/hilmonsorey/ Company: https://www.coachcrm.com/ LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/company/coachcrm/ Twitter: https://twitter.com/hilmonsorey Host Links: LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/rick-girard-07722/ Company: https://www.stridesearch.com/ Podcast: https://www.hirepowerradio.com YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCeEJm9RoCfu8y7AJpaxkxqQ Authored:  "Healing Career Wounds"  https://amzn.to/3tGbtre HireOS inquiry: rick@stridesearch.com Show Sponsor:  www.stridesearch.com

Why is the phone screen is the most underutilized tool in hiring today? There is this perception or fear that the person making the call will say the wrong thing and screw up the chances that the person will show up. So the phone screen is treated like a used car sale. Tell people all the great things about our company, gather some basic information and invite the person in to interview.  And because we like them because look good on paper, we assume they will want to work for us. Here’s the truth: High performing people do not want to work for your company based on your sales pitch. What people want is to be understood and to be positioned where they can deliver the greatest impact. How do I get better with phone screens?  Today we’re going to discuss: Why Phone screens (Discovery calls) are critical to hiring A-players The most important question you need answered before you bring ANYONE in for an interview Challenge today? Phone Screen! - Discovery call Often skipped Viewed as a time waster Real time waster is the interview 90% of the people that get interview will position themselves out The most important question: “What are 3 or 4 main criteria you need to see in an opportunity for you to accept an offer with a company” Why is this important to the company? First impression of your company You need people to show up to your interview Understand how to close the person at the end of the proces How do we solve the problem?  Value the Discovery call Prioritize time    Make the decision to call EVERYONE Basic screening eliminates the bottom 10% but also the top 10% A-players often hide  Positioning before skills Pain, Desire & Impact Common info (skills, commute, interviewing, compensation expectations)  Wrap up  Main Criteria Question “3 or 4 main criteria you need to see in an opportunity for you to accept an offer with a company” Confirm if they desire what you offer How you can get me to join your company! Connect the dots Allows them to take ownership They show up, ready to succeed Key Takeaways -Value: Prioritize the phone screen/discovery call Look for alignment of positioning for EVERY person you talk to BEFORE they are brought in for an interview  Let the person ask for the interview Links: LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/rick-girard-07722/ Company: https://www.stridesearch.com/ Podcast: https://www.stridesearch.com/hire-power-radio Authored:  Healing Career Wounds (Amazon) https://www.amazon.com/dp/B094TL14CD/ref=dp-kindle-redirect?_encoding=UTF8&btkr=1 HireOS inquiry: rick@stridesearch.com Show Sponsor: www.stridesearch.com

Two people pop into a room together for an interview. What happens next? No one knows!  This is the eternal mystery that most companies have faced for decades. And the single point of failure in hiring! Because we assume that everyone knows how to interview. But the truth is, they do not as most interviewers have only been trained on what NOT to say. There is no insight as to what is being said, the questions that are asked or personal motives that drive a person’s opinion on a hiring decision.  So today we are going to help to give you insight into how you can gain valuable interviewing data to empower your people to make stronger hiring decisions for your company! Guest Bio: Raphael Danilo is a French entrepreneur and investor based in New York. He's the CEO and founder of Yobs, an Interview Intelligence platform that sits on top of Zoom and the ATS and enables every interviewer to feel prepared and be more efficient in hiring top talent.  Raphael has helped 100+ high-growth organizations up level their recruiting organization with Interview Intelligence through Yobs and Evening Fund, the VC fund he runs on nights and weekends. TODAY WE DISCUSS: The importance of interview intelligence How to gain data to secure accurate hiring decisions Challenge today? Recruiting is incredibility opinion spaced Opinions about what we remember about the conversation Not evidence based High vs low quality question Work about work Labor intensive tasks - ie: interview plan, taking notes Pre-interview  During interview Post interview- scorecard Recruiting teams misaligned Not having a shared view of reality Not offering enough benefits, equity, pto Opinions drive decision rather than data Rick’s Nuggets Interview is riddled with fail Interviewers are not trainedCompany values Bias, assumptions & personal motives To understand how good the person is across the desk How do we solve the problem (solution)?  Capture reality  capture all candidate interactions - across web conferencing, dialers, phone, and email. Invest in interviewer training and coaching  Analyze Interview them and surfaces key moments automatically to...Deliver insights to level-up your organization by better understanding your candidates, your teams and your hiring process. Rick’s Nuggets Interview intelligence  Start with the company values Decision making language throughout the organization Interviewers champions of the values Protectors of realm Everyone buy’s in! Assigned Interview questions Behavioral interview questions  Questions tied to a measurable of the core value Train your interviewers Assumptions allow bias & motives to fester Listening skills - digging under the hood Take diligent notes-  what they said, not what you translated Record & review the conversations Video (zoom, teams, etc…)  Review until you achieve consistent quality data Key Takeaways that the Audience can plug into their business today! (Value): Capture reality- record your calls Invest in coaching/training Reduce bias in process  Guest Links: LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/raphael-danilo-481b41b2/ Company: https://www.yobstech.com/ LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/company/yobs/ Host Links: LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/rick-girard-07722/ Company: https://www.stridesearch.com/ Podcast: https://www.hirepowerradio.com YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCeEJm9RoCfu8y7AJpaxkxqQ Authored:  "Healing Career Wounds"  https://amzn.to/3tGbtre HireOS inquiry: rick@stridesearch.com Show Sponsor: www.stridesearch.com

One big thing that we have learned over the past year is that employers no longer have control over the people they hire. The balance of power has shifted with the majority of people willing to walk away from an opportunity that does not align with their personal beliefs or values.  Many companies are left scratching their heads as to why. So, the thinking has evolved into “it must be the money” so let’s increase compensation & benefits. Hoping this will solve the problem. But it hasn’t. The interviewees today are the one’s making the selection, not the company.  The interviewees are the ones evaluating the company for more than just the paycheck.  And the interviewees are the people who have a lot of options, not the companies. So to get people to choose your company to join you simply need to level the playing field by understanding “what’s in it for them”. Guest Bio: Lee Rubin is the Founder and CEO of Confetti. A platform that helps companies build stronger culture by providing shared experiences for a distributed workplace.  Their holistic tool empowers HR and other team leads to quickly discover, plan and book from a catalog of exclusive experiences that optimize corporate culture and employee’s professional growth.  Lee is a visionary culture leader with a decade of experience in B2B sales. She's one of the world's experts on remote event planning and has built her company from 0 to 60 employees in just 3 years! TODAY WE DISCUSS: What the field really looks like today How to stand out as an employer of choice through your interview process Challenge today? Differentiate the company Higher chance of closing the person Taste of the culture Demonstrating a healthier dynamic Not posting salary to optimized offer Win-win scenario Interests here aren’t aligned obviously (one wants the higher and one wants the lower). I once heard the phrase “Good deals can’t happen with bad people” and have kept hold of it. Brings me back to leveling the playing field…  Why is this important to the company? You don’t want your people to feel under-valued monetarily  People feel respected because they get what they ask for Not over spending on talent We close 80-90% of the people we really want join  Rick’s Nuggets Optimize for remote vs. onsite Authenticity - As you know from your book “healing career wounds” people are literally traumatized from their job and don’t want to make the mistake again of joining a company they don’t like. So how do you get to know them authentically, make them feel comfortable and close the deal better?  How do we solve the problem?  Getting people to feel comfortable Body language, casual talk: friendly  Excited to speak to you! casual conversation Vibe fit Learn about our culture Showing respect One of their core values  2 Minute Intro About you, improvised  Listen for concise,  Pay attention to the time in the presentation Coherent Able to express their resume in the form of a story? What did they learn? brother/sister, primarily professional Assignment Prepared with job posting Each job has a different assignment Core elements of the job Ie: Customer success- create a customer response email Negotiation Negotiate respectfully How much are you “hoping” to make Tap into a person's dreams = context Rick’s Nuggets  Values driven experience Get them to talk first After emotional engagement Key Takeaways that the Audience can plug into their business today! (Value): Optimize for people you want to go through the shit with Optimize for those who share your same values Academia is overrated Loyalty is the #1 currency Confetti Offer: *This special promo expires on July 9th Redeem a $150 discount on your first event by sending an email (see below) to plan@withconfetti.com with the Subject line: HIRE POWER Confetti Discount ---------- Hello! I'm a listener of HIRE POWER and am looking to redeem the exclusive HP150 discount to run my first team building experience with Confetti! I’ve signed up to Confetti with the following email: USEREMAIL. Could you please let me know once the discount has been applied? Thank you! ---------- Guest Links: LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/rubinl/ Company: https://www.withconfetti.com/ LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/company/withconfetti/ Twitter: https://twitter.com/withconfetti Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/withconfetti Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/with_confetti/ Host Links: LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/rick-girard-07722/ Company: https://www.stridesearch.com/ Podcast: https://www.hirepowerradio.com YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCeEJm9RoCfu8y7AJpaxkxqQ Authored:  "Healing Career Wounds"  https://amzn.to/3tGbtre HireOS inquiry: rick@stridesearch.com Show Sponsor: www.stridesearch.com

Do you really need a data scientist for your startup? Throughout my career, I have placed a lot of data scientists at smaller companies. Most of the people placed left within a year of starting with the common feedback that the work didn't warrant having a data scientist. In most cases a data engineer is more than sufficient to build the organization. Sure AI and machine learning may be critical to your business but the question that should be asked before anyone is hired. Guest Bio: Asim Razvi has been focused on Business Intelligence for the last 20 years. He leads the analytics and data strategy for high growth companies.  Asim brings a wide background across Media, Communications and Finance and has built Business Intelligence practices for PwC, Cognizant and Accenture.   Formerly the Head of Education and Research for TDWI where his focus was to rebuild the TDWI brand through alignment with Analytics, Big Data and Cloud thought leadership. TODAY WE DISCUSS: Why to think twice before hiring a data scientist How to hire once a need is established Challenge today? Why hire a data scientist? Hiring company Think they need AI & ML Its a trademark Organization set up for a data scientist Organization  Data maturity Data Scientist Build something valuable  Not a subject matter expert on what the company wants Insights that drive the company Needs to be linked to the business level Why is this important to the company? Knowing when to hire a data scientist Monetize data Most companies don't need data scientists. Data analyst - subject matter expert  Provide the relevance Rick’s Nuggets Not enough challenging work How do we solve the problem?  Focus on data maturity Sophisticated business users Want business user to become information explorer - drill down Power user- pair with analyst Organization Vertical chain Data scientist working in the sweet spot- co-creation feedback loop Readiness assessment How prepared is the organization to hire a data scientist Do I have the “track”? Data engineer on board Hire or use a Tool Data robot  Enable users to become data scientists Predict algorithms that work Hire You don't need a data scientist as a startup Learning - neural net capability Key Takeaways that the Audience can plug into their business today! (Value): Don't hire earlier than you need to Remember you need data for a data scientist to work The Business needs to be mature enough in data to hire the data scientist Make sure there is a career arc for the data scientist to grow in the organization Guest Links: LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/asimrazvi/ Company: https://hydrafacial.com/ Twitter: https://twitter.com/DataAsArt Host Links:  LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/rick-girard-07722/ Company: https://www.stridesearch.com/ Podcast: https://www.hirepowerradio.com YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCeEJm9RoCfu8y7AJpaxkxqQ Authored:  "Healing Career Wounds"  https://amzn.to/3tGbtre HireOS inquiry: rick@stridesearch.com Show Sponsor: www.stridesearch.com

A company founder approached me last week with a problem. He has had a critical role open for the past 6 months and no one has accepted his offer. 5 people had been offered the job and every single person turned it down. When asked why, the founder said, “I did a great job selling each one of them from the beginning so It must have been the money”. Then I asked, “what was it that the person you were trying to hire really desired in their next role. To that his response was “I have no idea”. We get so busy selling that we forget to ask. Interviewing is not about selling. Interviewing is about understanding the truth of what is important to the person on the other side of the table. And understanding is how we avoid turned down offers! Guest Bio: Jeff Wolfe is an energy and cleantech industry leader and serial entrepreneur. He has spent his career creating new solutions in the built environment and clean energy. As CEO of Veloce Energy he is working to accelerate the electrification of everything by creating systems that reduce the cost, time, and complexity of powering EV charging and building electrification. He has been President for the Americas of a global EV charger manufacturer, worked in retail energy and in a multi-national oil company, and designed over a billion dollars of hospitals, laboratories, and other infrastructure.   Today we discuss: Why listening during the interview process produces results How to let candidates lead you to the truth and ultimately the right hiring decision HIRING STORY: Met 4th cofounder through 3rd party  Brought him on over zoom Didn't meet him for 5 months Challenges today? Aggressive employee environment Wages going upLower wages  Can't settle on talent Show people that they want to work for us Communicating mission (Why) Why is this important to the company? Able to hire good people for reasonable compensation Need to find people who want to solve the problems, create the solutions as much as the founders do Rick’s Nuggets People not accepting or leaving - not the $$$ People compelled to align with values, mission & purpose How do we solve the problem?  Let the person tell you what they need Why do people stay - three elements of compensation Money & Benefits A good work environment and good people to work for Good and important work to do. Provide 1 element, good people will stay for 6 months Provide 2 elements and good people will stay for 2 years Provide all 3 and good people will become great people and will stay a long time Create company culture Learn how to communicate it and own it Don't worry about scaring people away Share fact based beliefs - if people do not believe in the problem being solved, or in the solution, they will do a poor job of executing against it Interview  Look for value alignment early. Part of the filtering process What does HR mean Honest relationships Get to a yes/no faster Better yeses and nos Create understanding of the what the fit is Leadership communication Constant reinforcement Whole picture Honest offers No low balling Get people to join rather than be hired Not over-interviewing people Take notes  Different people focus on different aspects, based on their expertise, no one person can really do a complete interview Cumulative thumbs up/down It is partially a gut decision. Don’t ignore the facts, but the gut needs to align. Rick’s Nuggets Values North star for strong team Alignment fuels passion & engagement Interview Interviewing for value alignment Key Takeaways that the Audience can plug into their business today! (Value): Learn to embody and externally express the company culture and mission. Do not be afraid of them Don’t worry about being liked by every candidate. A strong culture and mission will attract the right people, especially in these times Define HR as “honest relationships” Guest Links LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/jeffwolfeenergy/ Company: https://www.veloceenergy.com/ LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/company/veloceenergy/ Twitter: https://twitter.com/JeffWolfeSolar Host Links: LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/rick-girard-07722/ Company: https://www.stridesearch.com/ Podcast: https://www.hirepowerradio.com YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCeEJm9RoCfu8y7AJpaxkxqQ Authored:  "Healing Career Wounds"  https://amzn.to/3tGbtre HireOS inquiry: rick@stridesearch.com Show Sponsor: www.stridesearch.com

A big push for people to return to the office is the argument that spontaneous interaction is critical to the growth of the business. The fear is that people are not communicating and it has hindered innovation. However, let’s look at the number of fully remote companies who have been thriving throughout the past few years. The big differentiator is the structure and setting up interaction channels to foster communication. Mastering the interview has been more challenging as it is often difficult to read nonverbal cues and interactions. As we have grown more comfortable with this method of interviewing, the structure of consistent interview questions has been the single most important element in hiring success. Guest Bio: David Wald is cofounder and CEO of Aclaimant, an insight driven workflow solution for safety and risk management. As CEO, David’s primary focus is driving the company’s vision, identifying and executing strategic partner and customer relationships, and growing the Aclaimant team and investor base. The company has been remote first for the past 8 years! Prior to Aclaimant, David spent time with the Lightbank Venture Capital fund in Chicago on both the investment team, and as an operator and EIR. He was also a management consultant at Bain and Company. David graduated from the Ross School of Business at the University of Michigan, and currently resides in Chicago with his wife and three kids. Today we discuss: What's critical in a remote work/interviewing environment How to fuel communication away from the watercooler Hiring Story: Intro to our top candidate's brother's high school friend…  Series of comedic events Got drenched on the way to the meeting He took the job anyway, now is their department head Challenges today? Artificial collisions- bumping into people in the hall, watercooler conversation across departments In a remote environment there are no collisions that aren’t preplanned Creating a knowledge transfer in a remote environment Zoom is not good for rapid collaboration More than 4 people in a meeting Create feedback loops  People feel disconnected Why is this important to the company? Cant have passive actors in a remote environment I was waiting for…. Proactive collaborators Remote vs scaling Onboarding is challenging remotely  A lot of time spent  Rick’s Nuggets Communication must be fueled by leadership Daily huddles (connection)Not mandatory, but everyone shows up How do we solve the problem?  Tooling: Slack- internal connectivity tool Every team, project & customer have their own room  Sole service purpose in every room- avoid the noise Zoom  candidates , customers & internal Zoom interviews Scientific method Each person testing on different topics Prep the candidates Notion - collaboration tool Documenting every process and keeping it clean True information source & driving everyone to that location Dedicated team connected hours Office hours for every team (meeting) once a week Happy hour, game day, trivia,  Informally stop and chat Team members end up city hopping!  Deliberate information distribution pathways Information needs to get out  Surveying tools, function specific data,  all hands meetings (4-6 weeks) Daily standups Feedback Channel Every manager & director is plugged into the right sequence of events to gather feedback All very deliberate Everyone in the know Rick’s Nuggets Remote (Zoom, Teams) interview  Rules of engagementStart on time, end on time Interviewer questions assignedMust gain evidence to support decision Must take objective notes Clear decision to move forward or releaseNo scorecard Feedback Key Takeaways that the Audience can plug into their business today! (Value): Very deliberate about how you create connectivity Proper tools in place to facilitate Right set of people who want to connect  Guest Links LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/davidawald/ Company: https://www.linkedin.com/company/aclaimant/ LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/company/aclaimant/about/ Twitter: https://twitter.com/DavWald Twitter: https://twitter.com/aclaimant Host Links: LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/rick-girard-07722/ Company: https://www.stridesearch.com/ Podcast: https://www.hirepowerradio.com YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCeEJm9RoCfu8y7AJpaxkxqQ Authored:  "Healing Career Wounds"  https://amzn.to/3tGbtre HireOS inquiry: rick@stridesearch.com Show Sponsor: www.stridesearch.com  

We often hear data on how much bad hire costs you and your company. About 3x the person’s annual salary. But how much did the interview process itself cost? For a startup to make a hire, the company spends about 73 total hours interviewing. With the most significant cost being 30 hours of the production team's combined time. And this is assuming that 6 people make it through a full interview to get to the hire. We have to ask ourselves, can we really afford to lose almost 4 days of productive activity to interview? Roughly $9,855 per role, not including candidate marketing or recruiting fees.  As a small business, the answer is NO! Guest Bio: Rocky Lalvani of Profit Comes First, serves as Chief Profitability Adviser for business owners. He teaches them how to ensure they get paid and make profit a priority! As a certified Profit First Professional he implements Mike Michalowicz's Profit First System.   Rocky started with nothing when his parents immigrated to the United States when he was two years old, and his parents were in their 40's. It was his parents' second time starting over in life as they moved here to experience the American dream.  In spite of a lot of struggles and his mom passing away when Rocky was 7, he has been able to achieve financial and life success. Rocky loves to share his journey and inspire others to achieve their dreams even faster. Today we discuss: Why it is critical to understand what interviewing costs  How to maximize your team's time with structure Challenges today? Employees are the major cost for the business  Employee should provide a return for the business Return of Cost of person (taxes, unemployment)  Inefficiency does not show up anywhere on the p&l Wealth is built on the balance sheet! Why is this important to the company? Costs to the company hiring  Reduces morale Loose customer  Nobody is tracking interview or training costs  Hard costs that are very difficult to figure out As a client- doesn't want to do business with a company that hires wrong (leadership issue) Rick’s Nuggets Team time waste! People who meet the team must be positioned properly Demonstrate strong leadership in protecting time How do we solve the problem?  Mission values purpose This is the step most business owners skip! Or in their head, but no one else knows Hire to it Have to live it Hire in alignment with mission, values, purpose Not who you like Having a interview process Understanding the real cost Bad Hire- Employee does not provide any value Mistakes  Morale for everyone else Lose clients/ client trust Example Costco vs. Sam's Gross profit / Total payroll including taxes For every $1 in payroll returns x$ in gross profit Measure & Know Need to be making at least 2X payroll It all comes back to leadership! We change the accounting formula of Sales - Expenses = Profit to Sales - Profit = Expenses.  This ensures Profit comes first! (PS. It's not about money at all costs, people come before money!) Rick’s Nuggets Values - most important Protect time costs Structure interview Each step is a decision Only progress value aligned, well positioned & accomplished people Decisions must have evidence to back Eliminate uncertaintyAssign interview questions Prepare all for success  Key Takeaways that the Audience can plug into their business today! (Value): Is mission vision purpose written down & do your employees know it? Cost of a bad hire for you? How much profit do your employees bring you? Guest Links LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/rocky-lalvani/ Company: https://profitcomesfirst.com/ LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/company/profit-comes-first/ Twitter: https://twitter.com/rockylalvani Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/richersoul/ Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/richer.soul/?hl=en Blog: http://richersoul.com/ Podcast: https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/profit-answer-man-implementing-the-profit-first-system/id1508245322 Host Links: LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/rick-girard-07722/ Company: https://www.stridesearch.com/ Authored:  "Healing Career Wounds"  https://amzn.to/3tGbtre HireOS inquiry: rick@stridesearch.com Podcast: https://www.hirepowerradio.com YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCeEJm9RoCfu8y7AJpaxkxqQ/featured Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/rick.girard.5 Twitter: https://twitter.com/rick_girard?lang=en Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/rickgirard1/?hl=en Show Sponsor: www.stridesearch.com

Let's face it, a lot of people are BAD at interviewing on both sides of the table.  It is easy to understand that candidates or job seekers are bad for numerous reasons. Being nervous, out of practice, and under pressure to do well because of NEED,  create a large margin for error. For seasoned interviewers, it becomes easier to perform because the person has a lot of practice interviewing. That practice is what eventually makes it easier to land a job.  On the company side, interviewers get a lot of practice asking the same questions as everyone else, but the lack of structure & coordination does very little to uncover evidence to support the decision. The problem with that is that only surface information is gathered and at the end of the day, the hiring decision is made on circumstantial evidence, assumptions, and bias. Guest Bio: Varun Puri is the Founder of Yoodli and an Entrepreneur in Residence at Paul Allen's AI Institute. Yoodli uses AI to help people improve their public speaking and interviewing skills without the pressure of an audience.  Prior to Yoodli, Varun worked on a GoogleX project to bring high speed internet to unconnected regions using invisible lasers. He also ran special projects for Sergey Brin, Google's co-founder.  Today we discuss: Why it is important to practice your interview (or any presentation) How to practice effectively for an interview HIRING STORY: Struggle getting someone to hire him… Now getting people to hire for his startup The key to getting people to bet on you is how you communicate with them PROBLEM: Smart people on both sides of the fence (interviewers and candidates) who miss dream job and miss dream candidate Outcome: Missed hiring on both sides  Hiring managers may not represent companies in the best way Challenges today? Communication skills are an amorphous training concept. No clear way of measuring progress or diagnosing issues (we’re dealing with peoples’ deep insecurities).  We practice in front of the mirror, camera, and stopwatch. Or worse, avoid it altogether Why is this important to the company? Individual:  Land your dream job. Get access to the opportunities you deserve and don’t miss out on them because of how you speak Corporation:  Get your dream candidate  Ensure your team is aligned Help people become more confident communicators and leaders Rick’s Nuggets We don’t set Expectations Allow people to prepare  Makes interviewers seem unimpressive - demonstrate  Unable to  How do we solve the problem?  3 pronged solution needed: Be aware of your biases/ way you communicate Collaborate with your team to ensure you’re all saying the same story Diagnose the issues and work on them Solution: Practice interviewing skills for hiring managers: Be aware of your biases/ way you communicate   Stay on company brand Collaborate with your team to ensure you’re all saying the same story Don’t say the wrong thing (non inclusive language, berate competition) Diagnose the issues and work on them Time stamped feedback Convey energy Practice for candidates Rick’s Nuggets Interview Structure- expectations Repeatable & predictable process Timing and Steps in process Interview question scripts Feedback loop Interview training Documentation habits Interview preparation  How to prepare the candidate How the interviewer prepares Key Takeaways that the Audience can plug into their business today! (Value): Align with your team with a set of interview questions you want to ask and follow up with the Why questions to dig deeper. Conduct the work as a team Watch the post-game highlight reel & critique  Guest Links LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/varun-puri001/ Company: https://www.yoodli.ai/ LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/company/yoodli/ Twitter: https://twitter.com/yoodli Host Links:  LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/rick-girard-07722/ Company: https://www.stridesearch.com/ Podcast: https://www.hirepowerradio.com Authored:  "Healing Career Wounds"  https://amzn.to/3tGbtre HireOS inquiry: rick@stridesearch.com Show Sponsor: www.stridesearch.com

Sometimes an innocent conversation during an interview can have horrific consequences, especially if you end up not hiring a person. The biggest problem every company faces during the hiring process is the interview.  Two people go into a room together for a conversation and no one knows what transpires. Conversations flow and curiosity carries the conversation. As we all know, curiosity killed the cat… and possibly your company. Let’s replace curiosity with consistency. Because the lack of consistency is what breeds unfair interviewing practices by promoting assumptions and cultivating bias. By simply eliminating assumptions & bias from the interview, we can create a process where evidence is gathered that supports the decision. Minimizing your exposure to future litigation. Guest Bio:  Victor Xu is attorney extraordinaire in the Fisher Phillips Irvine office where he represents companies in all aspects of labor and employment litigation, from inception through trial, in state and federal courts throughout California.   Victor also has significant experience in conducting internal investigations into alleged employee/supervisor misconduct, including harassment and discrimination, and has provided recommendations for remedial measures, including preparation of new company policies. Today we discuss: Ways your interview might be harming your company  How to set a process that minimizes potential litigation Challenges today? What gets you in trouble when interviewing Telling people “you are a perfect candidate”  California is pro-plaintiff People grasp on to certain words Having a standard in place where interviewers are not just shooting from the hip in the interview Mitigate risk  What kind of music do you like? Fishing questions Trying to be personal but it is going too far Too much feedback Why is this important to the company? Serial interviewees who doesn't get the job claiming discrimination Going after tech companies Puts handcuffs on the company to settle People catch wind of who was hired Rick’s Nuggets Interviews tend to be shallow and decisions are made on assumptions & bias How do we solve the problem?  Train people to interview and use trained people exclusively Select interview team All people trained  Stick to the interview outline and consider a list of no-go questions. Training limits the liability of what is said/asked (extra layer of protection) Create an interview guide of objective questions Consistent & fair process Questions for everyone & role specific questionsQuestions vetted to mitigate risk Off-handed comments “Your a perfect candidate” “Youthful culture”  Religious assumptions - questions about drinking, etc. “What's your ethnic background?”  Relating to the candidate can get you in trouble Honest response for hiring choice We are going to pass at this time: Thank you for applying, but we have decided to pursue other applicants.  We wish you the best of luck in your future endeavors.  Values cannot be discriminatory, Legitimate business reason- values Information to discloseWe decided to go with another person Rick’s Nuggets Tie your interview questions to values Assign the questions to a specific interview position (ie: interview #1)  Remove opinion from the decision making processScore card ranking - highly subjective Weigh values alignment above skills Evaluate skills based on performance metrics for the role Key Takeaways that the Audience can plug into their business today! (Value): Brewery of the perks that you offer candidates and understand their consequences.  Ensure employees are properly classified even where both sides agree. Train and prepare your team on appropriate interview questions.  Guest Links LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/victor-xu-b43bba25/ Company: https://www.fisherphillips.com/ LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/company/fisher-&-phillips-llp/ Twitter: https://twitter.com/labor_attorneys Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/fisherphillipsllp/ YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCHCDdUXOnEjfOtUYu6OqTxA Host Links: LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/rick-girard-07722/ Company: https://www.stridesearch.com/ Podcast: https://www.hirepowerradio.com Authored:  "Healing Career Wounds"  https://amzn.to/3tGbtre HireOS inquiry: rick@stridesearch.com Show Sponsor: www.stridesearch.com

As a company founder you have A LOT on your plate. So much,  that it is often overwhelming so you scramble to delegate the things you don’t like to do as quickly as possible. At the top of the delegation list is offloading hiring. Today I'm going to challenge you to own your people function for as long as possible because it is so critical to your success!. Last week our guest, Steve Newcomb, exposed his key principles for building successful companies. The most important element in building a successful company is … the foundation. “Do the big things right and then everything becomes exponentially easier”. This means doing the hard things first because if the foundation isn't right, everything else will be more difficult. Getting really good at the things you hate… recruiting, interviewing & hiring, translates into onboarding the strongest people early and builds personal credibility in you as a leader. Today we’re going to discuss: Why you as the founder needs to own hiring as long as possible How to build your foundation to enable your business to grow exponentially easier Challenge today? Founders can't wait to delegate hiring Not good at it Don't want to invest the time to learnROI? Buy into the belief that there is no “Right Way” to hire Don’t believe  Why is this important to the company? To Build a company: Having a founder that is excellent at recruiting makes it easier to succeed Build  a company that matters,  Bonus: something with a mission that’s embedded into the product How do we solve the problem?  The Foundation Pre-determine the Interview questions Assign positions in the interview process Assign interview responsibilities Role play to gain competence throughout the interview The interview Start with the Discovery Call Determine Positioning & Value Positioning: Does what the interviewee desires align with what your organization is? growth? Value: Is this person an A-player?  Evidence of impact that was made in the current role? Step by step  Founder leads recruiting (Steve Newcomb) Communicate expectations to team Shoot for the Moon You can hire a-players Treat everyone like gold Do not waste the team's time with duds.  Team Interviews scripted Easy to gain evidence to support a decision 3-4 questions each person for 45 minutes Hell Yes….. or No Skills Interview Real life problem that will give an accurate experience of how the team will work together to solve problems Prepare candidate for success or failure Get & give feedback Empower people to make the decision at each stage Trust their decisions Let the interviewee provide feedback Key Takeaways -Value: Strong foundation makes everything exponentially easier Own hiring as long as you can Set teams up for success by scripting the interview questions Host Links LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/rick-girard-07722/ Company: https://www.stridesearch.com/ Podcast: https://www.stridesearch.com/hire-power-radio Authored:  Healing Career Wounds (Amazon) https://www.amazon.com/dp/B094TL14CD/ref=dp-kindle-redirect?_encoding=UTF8&btkr=1 HireOS inquiry: rick@stridesearch.com

Let’s talk about why your company is not stacked with A-players. It is not because you cannot afford them. At its root, the reason is narrowed down to one thing, your foundation We tend to think of hiring as an activity rather than an essential function like product or finance or even your pitch deck. So much time is invested into these activities.  Yet, hiring is the most critical component of building a successful business. In fact, most investors' decisions are heavily influenced by the people who are onboard. Solidifying a foundation for hiring requires the same amount of care and work as do the other components of your company. It cannot be outsourced. Hiring needs to be owned by leadership, documented and taught to everyone in the organization.  Foundation is what attracts high performers to want to join your company, not the paycheck. Guest Bio: Steve Newcomb is a product/engineering led serial entrepreneur who has co-founded four successful venture backed mission-driven startups. He’s best known for co-founding Powerset (now Microsoft Bing) and scaling its engineering team, culture, and operations.  He is the author of some of the most fundamental essays on hiring, culture, and scaling engineering teams, including the original “Cult(ure) Creation” and “In Defense of Introverts” Today we discuss: Building a strong hiring foundation How to execute an outstanding interview  Challenges today? Foundation: Do the big things right and then everything becomes exponentially easier Be the valedictorian of Stanford. Do the hard things early Money tier 1 VC Mission Product that represents a true and novel breakthrough Purpose above just flipping the company Oh my god…  Founder that is technical, thought & cultural leader, good @ recruiting  excellent at recruiting- study how to speak to people, how to talk to introverts & inspire them. How to be inspiring.  Have founders that are technical, thought, and culture leaders Have a company that matters, something with a mission that’s embedded  Be a Super A Have a founder that is excellent at recruiting and is a Super A Track everyone who has ever worked for you. Keep in contact A=A, B=C Get the right people in early VPE needs to be a baller!  Why buy silver when you can rent gold Friends that want to be founders- get them to help 3 days a week? Often worth 10 engineers Obvious Yes then there is everything else = automatically hire slower Without this? How to hire good people?  Lie to them & pay them a lot of money Rick’s Nuggets Chad Walters from Powerset Foundation = Structure & Process Structure- steps, timing & interview questions Process - flow of the steps, transition & feedback timing, decision How do we solve the problem?  Principles of doing good interview process. Treat everyone like gold. You interview me Earn your job first Change the power dynamic  De stress Have they done any research to come up with questions Do not negotiate Pay should be at the 50th percentile not pay above market When you have to pay above market the worse your product is Tier one vc firm gives - data  Design for introverts and socially awkward situations Don’t repeat Creative Tactics: Don't work without good fundamentals  Look for “Thank you’s” in IRC/stack overflow Reverse layup- founders reverse lookup on everyone that follows you Already interested in what you have to say. Know who they are Sit down with your A’s Ask who they know, names Release from the social awkwardness of asking their friends Who follows your A’s? Super A’s are how you fire fast Jr engineers Hack reactor- meet everyone and ask ”who is the best engineer is” Kill the weeds Don't need a unanimous vote to say yes If you build trust, they trust you to hire the right people The interview Assign jobs Assign interview responsibilities Founder leads recruiting Do not waste the  team's time with duds.  The highest level Founder/Exec does the filtering so that every candidate that makes it to a full spread interview is a Super A, or an A. Do this well, you build trust, followers. Do this poorly and you deserve to fail. Rick’s Nuggets Purpose is to get to the TRUTH Script the questions Discovery call  Positioning & Impact Value aligned interview Do behaviors align with the values, mission & vision of the business Working session Real life scenario of how the team will work together Solve a real problem Key Takeaways that the Audience can plug into their business today! (Value): If the foundation is right. Everything else becomes easier Spend all your time getting the first people done right Be relentlessly creative Guest Links LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/stevenewcomb/ Blog: https://medium.com/@stevenewcomb Website: http://famous.co/ Twitter: https://twitter.com/stevenewcomb Host Links: LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/rick-girard-07722/ Company: https://www.stridesearch.com/ Podcast: https://www.hirepowerradio.com Authored:  "Healing Career Wounds"  https://amzn.to/3tGbtre HireOS inquiry: rick@stridesearch.com  

Let’s talk about what really draws people to your company… and keeps them there. Trust Trust is what drives better decision making, customer experience and profitability. But trust is not gained after a person starts working for your company. It is established during the interview process. You see, people’s job mindset has evolved over the past few years.  We are being judged throughout the process for clarity, purpose and structural integrity.  Elements that demonstrate that you take your business seriously and are playing to win. When hiring, start with the end in mind. Focus on retention, with the intention of building trust through the experience for maximum engagement & long term growth. Guest Bio: Ville Houttu is the Founder and CEO of Vincit USA. Previously, he helped Vincit Finland to reach 350 employees and make it public on Nasdaq First North marketplace. After the IPO, Ville moved to California to start Vincit’s local subsidiary.  Ville and the company have been recognized by several notable institutions, including 5000 Fastest-Growing Companies in America List. In 2020, he led the company to rank top-50 on the FAST Company’s Best Workplaces for Innovators list. Ville is a known public speaker and his leadership has been featured in several leading publications, including TechCrunch, Forbes, Inc. Magazine, and Entrepreneur.  Today we discuss: Why and how to build trust Concept of the CEO of the Day  Challenges today? title wave of people leaving your companies Don't want to work for people who don't trust them Not looking for dollars & sense anymore People want a culture that fits Let your people build the culture  Why is this important to the company? It builds trust  We are at the end of us telling employees what to do Keeping employees happy, healthy and engaged Make the Inc 5000 list *** how this translates to business!  Up 65% year on year growth over last year How do we solve the problem?  CEO for a day every month How to deploy in your organization Get everyone on board  One person who will be the first CEO of the day Management team needs to step aside Open discussion agreeing to not get involved No approval needed from management It’s your call Decision based on what you feel the people need  The Question: does the decision make the workplace better tomorrow than it is today? Value in engagement far outweighs the cost Goal: helps sales, marketing, operational, engineering Can be a very focused area of improvement Unlimited budget, everyone gets a turn, no one goes twice Here’s how CEO of the Day works: Every month we select one employee to be a CEO for the Day.   He will have an unlimited budget to improve our workplace. Whatever the CEO of the day decides, we all live with. We encourage discussion among colleagues, but I do not weigh in. The CEO will announce his decision in our monthly meeting. After sharing his decision, the CEO selects the next CEO of the Day. All employees will get their turn, but nobody goes twice. Rick’s Nuggets What if someone (me) wants to buy a Ferrari? Key Takeaways that the Audience can plug into their business today! (Value): Join the movement of companies making their employees CEO’s of the Day, and TRUSTING them to build a culture that FITS. Because when you do, you will see that BY TRUSTING your employees you will EARN their trust and LOYALTY in return. And with employees like that, there’s no STOPPING where your business can go.  Guest Links LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/vhouttu/ Company: https://www.linkedin.com/company/vincit-oyj/ LinkedIn: https://www.vincit.fi/en/ Twitter: https://twitter.com/Vincit_Plc Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/VincitOyj Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/vincit_plc/ YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/c/VincitFlix/featured Medium:  https://medium.com/vincit GitHub: https://github.com/Vincit Host Links: LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/rick-girard-07722/ Company: https://www.stridesearch.com/ Podcast: https://www.hirepowerradio.com Authored:  "Healing Career Wounds"  https://amzn.to/3tGbtre HireOS inquiry: rick@stridesearch.com

In 2021 38 million people left their jobs and found new ones. This accounts for 57.3% attrition for US-based companies.  It seems as the trend continues as 4.3 million people quit in January of this year as well. A lot of companies are experiencing turnover today and It makes one wonder, who is winning? The companies that are winning today are those that focus on their people. Focusing on setting systems to enable productivity, fostering personal growth, career-pathing, and quite frankly, listening to what their people want. Gone are the days of providing free snacks and providing a ping pong table. What people want is much deeper now and requires more effort. what are you doing that is improving their lives and professional growth? If you are unwilling to provide it, they’ll just go somewhere else.  Guest Bio: Nicolas Vandenberghe is the co-founder and CEO of Chili Piper, a SaaS platform helping B2B companies double their inbound conversion rates. Since its founding in 2016, the SaaS platform has thrived with a 100% remote work culture.  Nicolas is a four-time serial entrepreneur, in diverse verticals from consumer software to biometrics. He builds his companies under the principles of flexibility, professional growth and communication. Today we discuss: What makes people stay or jump ship How to make your company sticky for retention Challenges today? Great resignation People quit managers Why is this important to the company? Internal promotions keeps people growing Teaching management  Avoid hostility in communication  Non violence communication training Especially applicable to managers Avoid conflict without avoiding disagreements Conflict around the disagreement- NOT GOOD How do we solve the problem?  Flexibility High performers - no barriers Anywhere in the world No schedule requirement (exception) scheduled meetings  Open & accepting of everyone Unlimited vacation schedule *** Professional growth- formailized  Quality of the work focus Okr’s - not kpi’s- Actions to yield to projected outcome  Avoid ultimatums, were expectations correct Hired 3 coaches  Developing a piper plan Getting it out to eht puclic Abolish performance review Proactive  Communication hostility avoidance  Method to rethink your engagements  Training everyone on the book  Rick’s Nuggets Career pathing - Huge retention  Link everything to help- core value Key Takeaways that the Audience can plug into their business today! (Value): Professional development. Work on the foundation Guest Links: LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/nvandenberghe/ Company: http://www.chilipiper.com/ LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/company/chilipiper/ Twitter: https://twitter.com/chilipiper/ Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/TeamChiliPiper/ Host Links: LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/rick-girard-07722/ Company: https://www.stridesearch.com/ Podcast: https://www.hirepowerradio.com Authored:  "Healing Career Wounds"  https://amzn.to/3tGbtre HireOS inquiry: rick@stridesearch.com Show Sponsor: Criteria Corp: https://www.criteriacorp.com/

Today I’d like to start with a question: What if you could 15x your company in 24 months? We all understand that this is virtually impossible as a solopreneur. As delegation creates the space for growth.  It is very possible for you to 15x your business by dedicating yourself to becoming really good at hiring. This starts with changing your attitude. “I hate hiring”, or “I’m not good at hiring” or “I'll delegate this to someone else” will not get you where you want to go. It also sets you and your team up for failure. Today is your wake-up call to embrace getting really good at hiring. Because the lifeblood of Your business is WHO you hire. Guest:  Johnny Robinson is owner of Orange Window Cleaning & Mary & A Mop (Maid Service). During his freshman year of college, Johnny and his best friend Sergio started a window cleaning company by going door to door to small mom and pop businesses. As they continued to pound the pavement, the business started to grow through word of mouth. They started to see the potential for an actual business by building a great reputation, and doubling down on digital marketing.  Fast forward to today, Orange Window Cleaning has AT LEAST doubled every year since starting the business. One key component to this rapid growth has been hiring for performance. Today we discuss: Why it is important change your relationship with hiring Hiring Story Johnny’s Story - employee doing cocaine at the customer's house. Left residue in the bathroom. 2 months of problems ignored. Operated out to the scarcity mindset and kept them.  Confronted and they wouldn’t own up to it. The customer sent pictures. Fired them on the spot. Shifted mindset- take hiring process more seriously Challenges today? Running off emotion over kpi’s Hate hiring! Hiring whoever/ too fastDesperate for people  Hiring family or friends Keeping people too long Why is this important to the company? Hiring is hard Hard to see the problems when you are in the trenches Treat hiring like marketing-Keep the funnel full when you run into problems Rick’s Nuggets: Don't hate hiring if you are good at it Tell yourself- I’m Awesome at hiring  The lifeblood of your business is who you hire How do we solve the problem?  Listen to podcasts related to industryHome Service Expert   Stop taking referrals from the wrong people (c- players)Hired 2 people from one underperformer  Vetting with pre-qualification questions tied to core valuesSituational questions Hired one of their best people this way Always be hiringFunnel full of applicants Run ads - like sales Appointment setter (vetting) and Interviewer -closer  Performance based pay structureIncentive based- review bonus, upsell bonus,  Commission - selling a neighbor Hourly was killing morale  rewarded for hard work Rick’s Nuggets: Hire power radio??  Document & Practice Treat like your pitch deck Internalize and teach Discovery call Key Takeaways that the Audience can plug into their business today! (Value): Performance based pay structure - making sure our employees were aligned with the companies goals - growth ABH - Always be hiring Join a peer group - EO Guest Links: LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/johnny-robinson-a2b632120/ Company: https://orangewindowcleaning.com/ LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/company/orange-window-cleaning/ Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/orange_windowcleaning/ Host Links: LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/rick-girard-07722/ Company: https://www.stridesearch.com/ Podcast: https://www.hirepowerradio.com Authored:  "Healing Career Wounds"  https://amzn.to/3tGbtre HireOS inquiry: rick@stridesearch.com Show Sponsor: Criteria Corp: https://www.criteriacorp.com/

How does one evaluate a subject matter expert when you have limited knowledge or expertise in that discipline? Most individual technical/skills based interviews last about an hour. Where time is wasted quizzing on subject matter that may or may not be relevant to the actual role itself. Scratching the surface on the level of depth that is brought to the table. Consider another option. What I like to call a “working session”. Invite the person to collaborate on a real problem that is relevant to the opportunity. This gives you unbridled insight into how a person thinks, communicates and solves problems within the context of real life. This allows you to really drill down to gain evidence to support the hiring decision either way. Today we’re going to discuss: Why should I care about a working session How to structure and execute a working session/ skills interview in your company Challenge today? Skills not matching up to what someone claimed (faker) Or... Claimed to be able to handle more than capable (over exaggerator)  Or… Just here for the perks & paycheck (freeloader) What's happening? Hiring Maintainers for builder or improver roles Testing  Outdated concepts - learned in college Focusing on irreverent problems How many quarters can fit in a VW van Smart is good, smart with people is much better Going too shallow Not knowing what to ask Not digging deeper to discover the truth Why is this important to the company? Too shallow conceals the truth Smart doesn't ensure success  Relevant skills give evidence of alignment  How do we solve the problem?  Build Interview Structure Only need one technical/skills based interview Timing 2 hours- ½ day Pay for their time (optional) Who’s involved? Co-workers, direct team, anyone in close interaction Define the problem to be solved A current problem that needs to be solved (reason to compensate $) 3 components (key hires) Goals review- understand expectations of KPI’s Data or Gap Analysis- how does the candidate interpret data/requirements/etc Collaboration- Review the details of the problem. Work to solve! Example Goals review - (5 minutes max)  Data Analysis / Gap Analysis - (10 minutes max)  Marketing Plan & Strategy (1: 45 minutes)  Let’s discuss the marketing plan starting with what you feel is the best strategy  Really try to dig into the "Why" How would you bring this plan to life? Based on what you know, what would be your recommendations for reaching the goals? Why? What other angles can we take? What would be the priority? Why? Preparation for Candidate & Team Candidate Let them prepare. Send details in advance Set expectations and discuss next steps Team Coach to be open minded and bias free Ignore opinions, praise evidence Work true - how they act daily Execute to core values Everyone should act as to the standards of the company values Key Takeaways -Value: Build a working session for each role. Becomes really easy when you get used to doing it. Prepare the candidate for success Team collaboration & buy in based on evidence not “uncertain feelings” - bias Host Links: LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/rick-girard-07722/ Company: https://www.stridesearch.com/ Podcast: https://www.stridesearch.com/hire-power-radio Authored: Healing Career Wounds (Amazon) https://www.amazon.com/dp/B094TL14CD/ref=dp-kindle-redirect?_encoding=UTF8&btkr=1 HireOS inquiry: rick@stridesearch.com   This show is proudly sponsored by Criteria Corp: https://www.criteriacorp.com/

10 business days is the optimal time to bring an interview process to a successful outcome.  The way to achieve this is to tighten timelines from stage to stage and cut down the number of people involved in the process. Now I know what you are thinking, that more people should be involved. Which is incorrect. The reason we involve more people in the interview process is because we value their “opinion” or “input” on the individual. But opinion has no value when it comes to making a hiring decision. And opinion is what you get when your interview questions are not tied to gathering evidence.  Opinion breeds assumptions, bias & personal motives. Which do NOT serve the growth of the business. I’m Rick Girard and welcome to the Hire Power Radio Show. We help Entrepreneurs and executives WIN-WIN the strongest hires.  By sharing insights from top-performing rebel entrepreneurs, game-changers & industry leaders. Like our guest today:  Nick Livingston  Nick is the Co-Founder & CEO of Honeit Software.  Formerly the Head of Recruiting at TubeMogul (Adobe), Nick and his team scaled the company from 60 to 360 employees through a successful IPO ($TUBE) in just over 26 months.  In the same two years, he attended business school at UC Berkeley, started a family (three daughters) and co-founded Honeit Software, which is the all-in-one interview platform designed by recruiters to schedule, record, transcribe, search and share interview answers for quick collaboration and higher quality hiring. Today we discuss: Why anything more than 3 interviews it too much How to interview & hire in 3 meetings In today’s market, a candidate doesn’t have time to speak with 8 different people in your organization.  Challenge today? Interview simplification Bad solutions that repel solid people Screening One way video interviews Why is this important to the company? Interview data gets lost Transparency attracts talent Job seekers have become really savvy Humans have changed  Rick’s Nuggets Value of the discovery call is lost Reason why people are not showing up for a job interview Positioning  What a person desires Are they an A-player How do we solve the problem?  Interview conversations as business intelligence conversations Competitive intelligence If you record business conversations, you can tag, search, and rewind the tape. Interview structure: Questions related to core values Questions related to the specific role/skill/need Who’s asking the questions? Who knows a good vs. great answer. Interview Collaboration role of the recruiter was to give ‘time back’ to hiring managers But recruiters are not SME…. where the phone screen falls flat..  Coordinated questions Share interview data/answers/highlights. Record the interview Who are good interviewers What makes a good question, what makes a great answer. Better Interview experience Do we still need 8 separate 45-minute conversations for 8 people to be involved with the interview process? NO! Hiring kick off call…  Rick’s Nuggets Discovery call Interview #1 - Value alignment Interview #2 - Skills Working session Interview #3 - Value Alignment / offer  Key Takeaways that the Audience can plug into their business today! (Value): Interviews are two-way conversation… Candidates are interviewing YOU and your team. Record interviews for - transparency, accountability, to rewind the tape, to protect your company (discrimination lawsuits).  Guest Links LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/nicklivingston/ Company: https://www.honeit.com/ LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/company/honeit/ Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/honeit/ Twitter: https://twitter.com/honeit Host Links:  LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/rick-girard-07722/ Company: https://www.stridesearch.com/ Podcast: https://www.hirepowerradio.com Authored:  "Healing Career Wounds"  https://amzn.to/3tGbtre HireOS inquiry: rick@stridesearch.com Show Sponsor: Criteria Corp: https://www.criteriacorp.com/

The two biggest complaints I hear today from entrepreneurs are “I can't find good people” and “when I hire people, the skills don’t match up”. The first issue, not being able to “find good people” is an easy one to solve. You're fishing in the wrong ponds! Posting & praying may be working for some roles but the more crucial roles require that more creative tactics be deployed. Go to where your audience is interacting regularly. Hint: Not job boards. The second issue, “skills not matching” with what a person represented in the interview, is a HUGE indicator of a poor interview process. Too often we hear what we want to hear (confirmation bias) and we quickly move to get the person to accept the position. Never digging deeper to understand the what, when & how of a person’s work. Remember the purpose of the interview is to understand the truth of the person across the desk from you. I’m Rick Girard and welcome to the Hire Power Radio Show. We help Entrepreneurs and executives WIN-WIN the strongest hires.  By sharing insights from top-performing rebel entrepreneurs, game-changers & industry leaders. Like our guest today: Ashish Rampal Ashish serves as President and CEO of All Imaging Systems. He brings nearly 30 years of experience delivering high growth among, Service and Green Tech companies.  His passion for bringing strategy and innovation together has fueled a long list of leadership accomplishments. Ashish has risen to complex challenges where he has crafted growth strategies, tapped new emerging markets and energized global teams – with many successes coming within turnaround environments.  His leadership approach reflects his deep expertise in creating and leveraging teams that are driven to innovate and excel. Today we discuss: How to find the right people outside of job boards How to dig deeper on skills to gain evidence of competency Hiring Story Hire - skills did not match the skills for the job Kept on for 8 months moving from role to role Right person on the wrong bus Demonstrated Ashish being a weak leader  Intention was one of care & empathy but it was misaligned with the goal of making high performance be their best Warning signs Pushbacks from key people not to have to interact with that person Cost 8 months of salary- $40k Impact to culture Impact the trust of his team Challenge today? Finding people through social networks who are not on LinkedIn Resources are not digital natives No LinkedIn account Meetups Training programs alumni  Why is this important to the company? People are the path to which we scale To be a relevant business need to bring value over the OEM’s More cost effective option Reverse engineering to repair Rick’s Nuggets SourcesPassive referrals LinkedIn sourcing Professional groups /associations Meetups, repositories, college faculty How do we solve the problem?  Bring complex challenges into the company Unique business - OEM agnostic, lot of learning opportunities and exposure to different technology Full exposure to business life cycle Solving a problem with minimal competitor Talent is recognized  People Feel respected Have a voice - Let you know when a bad hire has been made Love the challenge Like who they work with Failure is accepted and celebrated Demonstrate Leadership Trust through empowerment Focus on Morale Self introspection Culture of win or affirm, working on today, need help Inject energy -”try to change the weather” Let the team connect emotionally   Rick’s Nuggets Competency digging First discussed on the Discovery callImpact made in the organization The exact steps taken to complete the project  Interview- Working Session Solve a relevant problem together with the team Key Takeaways that the Audience can plug into their business today!  -Value: You are the custodian of the culture - you define In times of fear or uncertainty the best response is ACTION Teams prefer a leader who is REAL as opposed to one who is CORRECT Guest Links: LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/ashishrampal/ Company: https://allimaging.com/ LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/company/all-imaging-systems/ Host Links: LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/rick-girard-07722/ Company: https://www.stridesearch.com/ Podcast: https://www.hirepowerradio.com Authored: "Healing Career Wounds" https://amzn.to/3tGbtre HireOS inquiry: rick@stridesearch.com Show Sponsor: Criteria Corp: https://www.criteriacorp.com/

Two people sit down in an interview. What happens next??? What happens is that, well, we have no idea what happens.  But the data suggests that a decision is made on behalf of the interviewer in the first 7 minutes of the conversation. The remainder of the time is used to confirm the decision.  There is no way that a person can extract enough evidence to support making a correct decision without bias or personal motives in an unstructured process.  A perfect breeding ground for Murphy’s law- Anything that can go wrong, will go wrong How well a person aligns with the company’s values, vision & purpose is the only way to ensure the success of the person you hire. Today we discuss: Why tying values to interview questions is the only way to eliminate bias How to build an  interview question for a company value Challenge today? Interviews are purely subjective Still ranking candidates - Scorecards Compare & contrast conversations Evaluate exclusively for Skills  Interviewer coordination  Different interviewers asking same questions Why is this important to the company? The wrong hire costs 3-10x annual salary Think of each person being worth $2M to the company. Perspective change? Wrong hire costs in employee morale & your credibility as a leader  People are the #1 reason for failure All your business problems are people problems in disguise  How do we solve the problem?  Define Core Values Define attributes for each core value (traits) Prioritize values (rank in order of importance) Measurables of each value  Agree on values (are they lived daily)    Dig Deeper (Committed, Expertise, Curious) Invest the time to fully comprehend the root of your challenges Listen to Understand, not to respond Build Interview Question Library Craft Behavioral questions (2-3) Determine **Knockouts Agree on questions Sample Question   Tell me about the most difficult customer interaction you encountered in your current role (Dig Deeper)  Tell me more… Walk me through that… What were the circumstances that led to the difficulty? What was the root of the customer issue? What solutions did you come up with? How were you able to calm them down? Break down the steps you took to resolve the problem Why was their view important to you? How were you able to deliver beyond their expectations?  How did the interaction end? Assign Questions to Interviewer Easier on the interviewerVery little prep time for interview Gathers concrete evidence Eliminates Bias & personal motives from the interview! Key Takeaways -Value: Break your Values down in measurable components to which you can evaluate a person’s fit Interview questions must have sub questions to keep the conversation flowing. We want deep data from each interviewee! Host Links: LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/rick-girard-07722/ Company: https://www.stridesearch.com/ Podcast: https://www.stridesearch.com/hire-power-radio Authored:  Healing Career Wounds (Amazon) https://www.amazon.com/dp/B094TL14CD/ HireOS inquiry: rick@stridesearch.com This show is proudly sponsored by Criteria Corp: https://www.criteriacorp.com/

Most of us have a tendency to fast track anyone who comes through an internal referral. The rationalization is that we automatically trust the referral source so the person will be a great hire. Add time pressure to fill the role and we are ready to extend an offer before the interview takes place. Yes there is an increased likelihood that the person will work out. But there is danger too. Because a person is a referral, is the exact reason why they need to be impressed with your thoroughness in your interview process. This does not dissuade the A-players from joining you. It gives them the impression of excellence expected from everyone within the organization.  Our guest today: Todd Ausherman, CEO of Notaroo Todd is an attorney and entrepreneur with over a decade of experience in building high growth companies in the financial services space.  Having successfully exited multiple companies, while personally hiring hundreds of employees along the way, he is currently building Notaroo, a lending software platform for the mortgage industry.  Todd is here to share his experience with hiring internal referrals. Today we discuss: Why it is critical to thoroughly vet internal referrals How to ensure the the referral fits Challenge today? The internal hire from the company that acquired the company Build from 19-250 people in 3 years Went into default and took two people Got a hero and a zero The zero - had his own way Created a lot of barriers Nothing got done First hire power bred discontent among his tribe Led to a mutiny Unreasonable belief in his ability Project fell flat Why is this important to the company? The team of malcontents poisoned the culture Ultimately the CEO unloaded a bad employee on him Rick’s Nuggets Must do diligence for everyone, especially referrals Why is this person being referred to me? Do they align with our values? How do we solve the problem?  Culture first Create a lot of events Break down the communication barriers Humanize himself as a leader Open a channel for people to be heard, raise your hand Spread out the balance of power Minimize the possibility of a mutiny Team leads responsible for smaller teams Decentralized hiring control to the team leads Process that multiple people decided on the hire Recruiting - intro calls Interview conducted in groups of 2- accountability partner Leader final interview Penguin question Hired a person who didn't like penguins(company mascot), it didn't work out. Knockout question: stick to it Fire Fast Eliminate the cancer as soon as you learn of it Rick’s Nuggets Values are what form your culture Hiring process! Knockout question! Key Takeaways that the Audience can plug into their business today!  - Value: Sticking to your knockout question Mindful of your key lieutenants and what their motivations are  Confront the uncomfortable truth of seeing a person who is a performer but the agenda is self driven. Don't hide behind a person’s performance- cowardly Host Links:  LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/rick-girard-07722/ Company: https://www.stridesearch.com/ Podcast: https://www.hirepowerradio.com Authored:  "Healing Career Wounds"  https://amzn.to/3tGbtre HireOS inquiry: rick@stridesearch.com Guest Links: LinkedIn:https://www.linkedin.com/in/toddausherman/ Company: :https://www.getnotaroo.com/ Show Sponsor: Criteria Corp: https://www.criteriacorp.com/

Finding the right people for your ground level startup is really hard!  As every startup founder can attest, there is just no playbook to getting the right people to join your team. It is about just getting anyone with the right skills to join the team. Often resulting in an unsuccessful endeavor.  So what’s missing?  …. Positioning & expectations alignment.  Positioning is rooted in what the person you are considering, really DESIRES their professional growth. Are they a builder? A Improver? Or a maintainer? Expectation alignment is how well the person aligns with your company values and what your expectations are for performance: Step 1. Document your values and share them with each person. Allow them to lean in or bow out. Step 2. Document how both parties view the responsibilities & performance standards. Step 3. Then come to an agreement on how to keep each other accountable.  Our guest today: Craig Conlee, Executive Advisor & Former Founder & CEO of Zealr Craig Conlee has over 25 years of selling enterprise software for giants like IBM and HP with over $110M in total software sales. In 2015, Craig decided to startup a ML/AI B2B SaaS company to solve a problem he faced as a sales person. Craig graduated from the University of California at Berkeley with a major in Political Science. As a student athlete, Craig is still the shortest rower in the 150 year history of CAL Crew.  Craig Conlee grew up in Newport Beach, CA where he met his wife. Currently, he is living in Orange County with his family.  Today we discuss: Why alignment is so critical when hiring How to align with people so they lean in to your opportunity Challenge today? Getting people that understand the work involved with a startup Around location, mindset Maybe a social thing? A lot of people want to join a startup but want to be paid Don’t understand equity Right mindset,  Easy to check out Your not paying them Let people join the team that don't fit the values All equity based Guilt for asking them to do work because you are asking a lot Why is this important to the company? Gravitate toward people who understand A lot of education of the reality You have to be very upfront as to where you are in the stage of my startup. Which allowed me to clearly understand if they want to join or not.  How do we solve the problem?  Process in which you get to know people better Repeatable & consistent way of interviewing Every conversation was different The good hires were just “lucky”  Remove the luck from hiring Worst gambler, yet a startup founder Understanding what they want and what to expect What they want Avoid Leading the witness Selling rather than listening *** Expectations High risk of not succeeding Equity as compensation People getting offended by perceived value Want a mix of cash & equity Hire slow, fire really fast. Have knowledge base centralized for quick transition Don't let yourself be held hostage Avoid paying salary & equity balance- if they leave you have to start all over again Balance keeping them from leaving Conflict of interest in terms of valuation Equity only If it doesn't work out, it wasn't meant to be Key Takeaways that the Audience can plug into their business today!  - Value: Have a sound, repeatable process of interview hiring Hire slow, fire really fast. Don't be held hostage! Host Links:  LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/rick-girard-07722/ Company: https://www.stridesearch.com/ Podcast: https://www.hirepowerradio.com Authored:  "Healing Career Wounds"  https://amzn.to/3tGbtre HireOS inquiry: rick@stridesearch.com Guest Links: LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/craigconlee/ Twitter:https://twitter.com/velocitydata  Show Sponsor: Criteria Corp: https://www.criteriacorp.com/  

I sent out 63 inmails through linkedin a few weeks back and received only 2 responses. My mistake… I did not tailor my message to the individual. Now, 8 months ago those same messages were getting on average a 52% response rate, so what happened?   With all the noise fighting to get people's attention, It is easier than ever to get ignored. When the messaging you send seems way too common or anything at all like a templated message, you will fail. Now, more than ever, the language you use when reaching out to prospective employees matters. And thoughtful messaging designed to align with a person's personality style is the most effective way to win-win a response! Our guest today: Greg Skloot, Co-Founder & CEO of Crystal Knows. Crystal is the app that tells you anyone’s personality. Using Artificial Intelligence, Crystal accurately identifies a person’s motivations, communication style, and other behavioral traits.  Greg and his company have been featured in Inc, Fortune, CNN, Fast Company, MIT Technology Review, Wired, and the Guardian. He is the co-author of a book published by Wiley in 2019, Predicting Personality: Using AI to understand people and win more business. He was recognized by Forbes as 30 Under 30 in enterprise technology. Today we discuss: Why people are NOT responding to your outreach How to get people to pay attention to you when you reach out to them Challenge today? Tough to get people top of the funnel Cold writing, how to get someone to respond. Information overload Email not personalized Does Not speak to who they are Does Not communicate how they like to communicate Passive- no incentive to take action if the email feels like a templated email. Cold emails are really easy to disregard right now The same role needs to be marketed differently for different people Why is this important to the company? More important now due to the tightness of the labor market Difficult to get people into the top of the funnel Rick’s Nuggets Messaging from 6 months ago is really not working right now Way too much noise “What’s the opportunity?” How do we solve the problem?  Learn DISC Dominance, Influence, Compliance, Steadiness Free reading online Integrating disc within your culture Theory , knowledge & practice Behavior & characteristics that are most important for a role Know the Disc type of person you reaching out to Expectations for the role What the candidate's DISC profile is. Personality fit percentage Not supposed to be a disqualifier Adjust your communication style Communicate how the other person WANTS to be communicated with Rick’s Nuggets Hit someone with the PAIN first Key Takeaways that the Audience can plug into their business today!  - Value: Use personality insights to break through the noise when emailing candidates cold Adjust how you pitch a role based on the candidate’s personality Consider integrating DISC into how your organization thinks about communication in hiring, team building and selling Host Links: LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/rick-girard-07722/ Company: https://www.stridesearch.com/ Podcast: https://www.hirepowerradio.com Authored:  "Healing Career Wounds"  https://amzn.to/3tGbtre HireOS inquiry: rick@stridesearch.com Guest Links: LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/gregskloot/ Company: https://www.crystalknows.com/ LinkedIn:https://www.linkedin.com/company/crystal_knows/ Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/crystalknowsme/ Twitter: https://twitter.com/gregskloot Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/crystalknowsme/?hl=en YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UC9BjRz6BlFNdQE1WRpFGIDQ/videos ---------- Criteria Corp: https://www.criteriacorp.com/  

We all have bought into the belief that following hiring best practices will ensure that we make the correct hiring decisions. Yet those best practices really do not produce consistent results. Why? First, “best practices” are guidelines that trickle down from the big name-brand companies who all have the advantage of a much fatter wallet… And they are Transactional! Second, what works for large companies does not work for startups. The truth is that you are needing to hire totally different people. Startup companies need “builders” to fuel company growth. And builders are not all about the $$money. They are about personal & professional growth.  This requires that you approach these people in a way that is counterintuitive to “best practices” and centered upon answering the question, “what’s in it for me”. For those of you who are new to the show or don’t know me yet: Cut my teeth as an Executive Recruiter for Tech Startups in the Silicon Valley Coached leaders, candidates & helped to build over 200 tech companies Black belt in BJJ,  F1 aficionado & adrenaline junkie Today we discuss: Why it is critical to break away from hiring best practices Process to create your Own “best practices” that crush your competitors Challenge today? Beliefs There really is NO right way to hire Hiring Fails are acceptable (50% success rate)  Cost of doing business Copy those who are already successful Google today is much different than Google at your stage. Evaluate for cultural fit… you evaluate for skills People from name brand companies are great hires They may be…. If they are builders Most people that are willing to leave big companies are not high performers High performers have “golden handcuffs” - best to rent More candidates give me a greater chance of success More candidates = time loss Target  1-3 people per position into the Interview process Focus Top of funnel Reliance on job boards  Execution Interview training How do we solve the problem?  What to believe Strong hires come from someone in your network Positioning before Skills Positioning is in a person’s DNA Builder, Improver, Maintainer Only builders will help you grow the company Focus on the interview, not the funnel The Interview process is what wins hires, not the number of candidates Current best practices are: 10-15 minutes on a “screening call”  Selling the company Selling the job Gather requirements Schedule an interview Importance of the Discovery call Biggest time investment is to be made Determines a person's positioning (builder, improver, maintainer) Invaluable insight into a person’s pain, what they desire Impact they have brought into their current organization (key indicator of a builder) Make Interviewing your strongest talent Solidify your process Timing  from first contact to offer acceptance Timing of each interview (45-1 hour) Rules Interviews start and end on time! No meandering Steps - Discovery call, Interview (video, onsite) -number of interviewers Content- pre determine & assign interview questions Questions must be designed to surface evidence of value alignment Not about asking questions but having conversations Broadcast your process Make it known that the interview is challenging Hire for Value Alignment first! Make it known that you foster growth for “builders” No Evidence, no vote Interviewers need to be trained! Roleplaying  Recording conversations Bias has no merit Either a “Hell Yes” or a no Decision must be supported by evidence Rick's Links: LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/rick-girard-07722/ Company: https://www.stridesearch.com/ Podcast: https://www.stridesearch.com/hire-power-radio Authored:  Healing Career Wounds (Amazon) https://www.amazon.com/dp/B094TL14CD/ref=dp-kindle-redirect?_encoding=UTF8&btkr=1 HireOS inquiry: rick@stridesearch.com   This show is proudly sponsored by Criteria Corp: https://www.criteriacorp.com/  

Emotional Intelligence is defined as the capacity to be aware of, control, and express one's emotions, and to handle interpersonal relationships judiciously and empathetically. Over the past year, EQ has become less important to companies because of the NEED for someone to fill the seat. This is just creating more problems, as less care is invested into uncovering the fit into the organization.  We need to understand that high performers are taking their time to find the right opportunity. So this is your wake up call to SLOW down! Now, more than ever, it is critical to cultivate our own emotional intelligence & implement intelligent hiring practices into your organization.  Our guest today: Nada Nasserdeen, Founder of Rise Up For You With over 10 years of experience as a college professor and former top executive for an education corporation, Nada understands the importance of fusing education, empowerment, and leadership together as she works with her clients and speaks to audiences worldwide.  Her company, Rise Up For You has been featured and worked with brands such as CBS, Google Next 19, and various Fortune 500 companies as well as small businesses. Nada has been awarded 40 under 40 professionals in Orange County, California, and Women of Influence for Entrepreneurship in 2021. She is a #1 Best Selling Author on Amazon, Leadership and Career Confidence Coach, and 2x TEDx Motivational Speaker. Today we discuss: Emotional Intelligence and Why it needs to be front and center  How to activate emotional intelligence into your hiring process Challenge today? Building technology at such a fast rate Learning is not catching up Result: Huge gap in human skills Most values are human skills Not looking as values as a benchmark to hire Fostering the culture of human skills in the company so you can embrace  Social skills are creating problems for the organization Active values Why is this important to the company? Result  Executives who implement Emotional intelligence in hiring Practicing EI- when things opened up 87% of her team, others were at 12% Sales increase of 325% Rick’s Nuggets Feeding frenzy from the company end  NOW is the time to SLOW down. Candidates are taking their time Easy to manage the timeline through communication Must progress through to conclusion How do we solve the problem?  Vales need to be activated around EQ Take each value 1 by 1 and figure out how to activate it in the culture. Steps to put values into action plan Create a value campaign Plan to execute the value Coach, train and provide development on these skills On going, not a 90 minute Enough training to be able to trainer, you no longer need a consulting company 6 month engagement Skills don't grow overnight Accurate company analysis Gauge on where the company is as far as strengths and weaknesses Can not make an impact unless you know the truth Survey to uncover where the work needs to be done Looking for evidence  Rick’s Nuggets Making the values a language Decisions made by the north star Emotional intelligence needs to be tied directly to your values Key Takeaways that the Audience can plug into their business today!  - Value: Do an assessment - understand who and where your company is Reevaluate the values and create a strategic map around implementation Ongoing training around soft skills to build the muscles within your team   Guest Links: LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/nadalena/ Company: https://www.riseupforyou.com/ LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/company/riseupforyou/about/ Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/RiseUpForYou/ Twitter: :https://twitter.com/riseupforyou?lang=en Instagram:  https://www.instagram.com/riseupforyou/?hl=en YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/c/RiseUpForYou/featured FREEBIE: https://calendly.com/riseupforyou/freetraining   This show is proudly sponsored by Criteria Corp: https://www.criteriacorp.com/   Rick’s Book - Healing Career Wounds:  https://www.amazon.com/dp/B094TL14CD/ref=dp-kindle-redirect?_encoding=UTF8&btkr=1  

How do you compete against a huge company like Amazon or even a really well funded startup?  If you are competing checkbook to checkbook, you will lose… Every time!  The only way to tilt the odds in your favor today is to really understand the career wounds of the person and to be able to connect the dots as to how your opportunity fulfills their desires.  This requires you to listen. Stop selling and start understanding what is important to the individual. This will allow you to stand out from the competition and allow the person you need to hire to see value above and beyond the paycheck. Our guest today: Michael Downing, Founding Partner of MDSV Fund  Michael is a Silicon Valley serial entrepreneur, has co-founded 6 software companies over a 28 year career, 3 of his companies were acquired and one had an IPO in 2006. For the last 3 years, Downing has focused on investing in promising early-stage tech companies via his venture capital fund MDSV. Michael has recruited, hired and managed hundreds of employees over the span of his career. Today we discuss: Why leading with the checkbook is a very bad idea How to win talent by NOT leading with the money Challenge today? People are getting paid crazy numbers People need to have a major passion of belief in the company Now this is a requirement Conviction & belief are the new requirement wild/ disruptive concepts draw in talent Without a big/bold vision you struggle- pirate ship opportunity- highly disruptive company Why is this important to the company? Key positions are being filled by people doing side hustles Full Time at companies like facebook Necessity for side hustles Rick’s Nuggets People are jumping ship because they no longer align with the company values Too often big salaries = lot’s of problems (attrition, toxic culture, bad leadership, undefined work)  If someone turns you down for a higher offer, you blew your hiring process.  “Rent gold before buying silver” - Steve Newcomb How do we solve the problem?  Be new, bold, unique, disruptive concept- big vision A new way to solve a problem, product in a totally different way Investor pitch- ½ people say “that's crazy”- your onto something Make believers in what you are doing Build an advisory board first Thoughtful about who the members are Translates to 6-12 contacts that can be team members Credibility Positioning Funding Rick’s Nuggets Have a interviewing process (you are being judged too) People to take you seriously Key Takeaways that the Audience can plug into their business today!  - Value: Set Yourself Up For Hiring Success: It's got to be a Big, Bold, Kickass Vision Plant Your Roots Early: Your advisory board can be the single most valuable hiring resource in the earliest of days Don't Conform: Adapt Your Policies & Benefits to people's changing lifestyles Guest Links: LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/michaeldowning/ Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/michael.downing.7161953 Twitter:  https://twitter.com/michaeldowning   This show is proudly sponsored by Criteria Corp: https://www.criteriacorp.com/

Asking for help as an entrepreneur is often a difficult thing to do. But it is the one thing you MUST do if you want to succeed.  I learned this from my friend, Lori Torres, the founder of Parcel Pending. Lori was able to grow the company from $0 to a $100M exit in six years … and the reason it was such a success is because she asked for help… a lot! Asking for help gets people engaged. It allows them to gain insight into the business and is critical in getting over the business humps. It also sets the stage to hire outstanding people. And guess what, people will do it because they want to help.  Our guest today: Vincent Kimura, Co-Founder of Smart Yields.  A Hawaii-based and globally recognized agriculture technology company that is revolutionizing the way small- and medium-scale farms operate. Vincent was named the 2016 Clean Tech/Ag Entrepreneur by the Hawaii Venture Capital Association and a 2016 finalist in the Pacific Business News Business Leadership Awards.  He was also named to the Pacific Business News 2016 40 Under 40 cohort, which recognizes outstanding young business professionals in Hawaii. He lives in Honolulu with his wife Lisa and their three children. Vincent faces the daily challenges of start-up life and is here to share his learnings.  Today we discuss: Why it is important to ask for help  How to get the help you need when hiring Challenge today? Asking for help to support your hiring process as a startup founder?  Understanding how a person is positioned How willing to take on risk Introductions- changing the dynamics to leverage more mentorship Passion for the mission of the company Concerned about the perception from the outside We end up hiring to fill a need vs. what the business needs Why is this important to the company? Wasn't able to grow in a natural way Fully driven by the CEO Passion might be there but  Less emphasis on trying people out vs. All in The team is the make or break Rick’s Nuggets Big difference between people who want to do the work and those who do the work for the paycheck. Eliminate the Assumptions Hey Subscribers!  Keep an eye out for our newsletter as we are giving away 10 signed copies of Healing Career Wounds! Simply complete the linked survey and your name will be entered in the drawing.  You'll also be able to download a free chapter of the book just for participating! How do we solve the problem?  Define what the business needs Core values The business strategy & model What needs to be done & when Understand the person's desire Go Slow Identify builders… and Improvers Discovery call Builders will tell you they need to build (bored with the work) Eliminate the Assumptions Hire what the business needs Your ego, wants and assumptions Start with contractors Barter Letting go Stop doing everything yourself! Rick’s Nuggets Help someone else's business while they help you build yours Expectations alignment document- will solidify a fit for your leadership team Business needs - support to grow Key Takeaways that the Audience can plug into their business today!  - Value:  Don’t wing it….  Get help and plan it out…. Do your homework  Guest Links: LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/vincentkimura/ Company: https://smartyields.com/ LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/company/smartyields/ Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/smartyields Twitter: https://twitter.com/smartyields Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/smartyields/   This show is proudly sponsored by Criteria Corp: https://www.criteriacorp.com/ Rick's book - Healing Career Wounds (Amazon)

The reason we do this show every week is to dispel the commonly held belief that “there is no right way to hire”. Most entrepreneurs & investors believe that you just have to find the right skills and “trust your gut”. Hoping that the person works out.   The consequences of this thinking results in countless sleepless nights, missing project deadlines, unstable mental health, increased capital burn and ultimately company failure.  Which is NOT good for investors, leaders or the people who follow us.  Here’s the truth... There is a right way to hire! It just requires that you learn from your peers who come on to share their hiring success. They all have developed a structure and a process that allows them to stand out from their competitors.    Lead a person through an impressive process that allows you to gain evidence of impact and you will build an amazing team.  Our guest today:  Darrian Mikell, Co-Founder & CEO of Qualifi, A SaaS platform that powers the fastest phone interview experience in the world and helps recruiting teams hire great candidates faster than ever before.  Darrian graduated from Indiana Wesleyan University in 2013 with a Bachelor's Degree in Entrepreneurship and Finance. Darrian was a 2-sport athlete in both Basketball and Track & Field and was a national champion in the Long Jump. He is based in the Indianapolis area and is a dedicated husband and father of 3. Darrian is building a ridiculously successful business because he already conquered his hiring challenges. Today we discuss: Why it is important to care about your interview structure  Two Components you need to successfully hire and sleep better at night Challenge today? Candidates have options Options are unlimited - a lot of remote options Workforce has expanded from local to global competition Why is this important to the company? Not hiring the right people limits growth Hiring the wrong people - Wrong people take you down the wrong path When people doesn't work out - back to the drawing board Case study- grew to 73, hired over 100 people and is now 21 people. $7mm wasted! Major money waste 25% hiring success rate Wrong leaders, wrong investors Rick’s Nuggets You must stand out to draw people in How do we solve the problem?  Planning out hiring Proactive to get someone in the seat on time Gap analysis- Knowing the gaps on the team  Problems that need to be solved Structured approach to the hiring process Pre-planning your process and mechanics Use the Qualifi tool for screening Phone interviews Automated phone screen Pre-recorded, audio-based questions Every candidate gets same exact experience (makes the review process more consistent) Time is a huge factor in recruitment and efficiency can be an advantage First to candidate can be important factor Pre-scripted live interviews Assigned interview questions (round robin) Each person takes notes throughout the interview Real time feedback with the team to make a decision quickly Rick’s Nuggets Phone screen (discovery call) is the biggest missed opportunity Opportunity to understand the person.  Critical - positioning (what the person desires) Interview- eliminate bias Consistent plug n play- same questions for every person Decisions made based on evidence, not opinion Key Takeaways that the Audience can plug into their business today!  -Value: Proactively plan Understand who you need to hire, when you need to hire them, and how long it will take Plan your strategy and what each step looks like Plan your interviews Create an interview script and get agreement on it with your team before the interview starts. Be prepared to iterate. Guest Links: LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/darrianmikell/ Company: https://www.qualifi.hr/ LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/company/qualifihr/ Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/qualifihr Twitter: https://twitter.com/DarrianMikell Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/darrianmikell/   This show is proudly sponsored by Criteria Corp: https://www.criteriacorp.com/

We are in full swing of this “Great Resignation” and a record 4.3 million people quit their jobs in August.  If you are one of the business leaders who have been losing people, please realize that it is not them, It is YOU! People are quitting because they no longer align themselves with your company values … especially the mandated policies in and around the pandemic.  Right now, there are much better options in the form of growth and career satisfaction. Which is why people are taking their time in locating the opportunity that they really want.  So, if you want to stop the attrition and be able to hire strong people, get solid on your values and focus on what each individual is desiring in terms of their personal career growth.  Today we are discussing exactly what you need to do to become an employer of choice to start winning great people! Our guest today:  Leilani Quiray, Founder & CEO of Be The Change HR A conscious company and social enterprise, providing  HR support for small-to-medium sized businesses in any facet of HR from pre-hire to post-term and everything else that happens in between. Her and her team also teach free job readiness courses and provide free coaching to individuals who’ve been trafficked, homeless and veterans in transition.  Her team is not only HR Pros, they are Life Changers.  Today we discuss: What people really want today from their careers in this great resignation The elements you need implemented in your company to successfully hire the strongest people Challenge today? Why employees REALLY are choosing new employers? How to become the employer of choice today? People think they know what people want, but they don't know Money  Benefits  Perks  Unrealistic vision (modeling google) What the owner wants (I like X so they’ll like X) What is it that people REALLY want? “Experts stress that people are leaving their jobs as workers across the country are demanding higher pay, better employment conditions and critical support in their daily lives.” Data source Why is this important to the company? Companies need humans ethics/moral duty to have a healthy workforce  ROI More engagement = more profitable of a company Rick’s Nuggets Flexibility: Personal freedom is a real issue! Attrition is happening due to continued company vaccine policies Both for and against “Don't want to be micromanaged”  What does not matter … as much Compensation Benefits & Perks How do we solve the problem?  Ask your people Needs are different Use buckets core values & data on why people choose companies/stay at companies Survey your people unanimously  Use data to make decisions Communicate back - low morale and distrust if you do not Job requirements reasonable? (also think DEI and diverse hires) Education and where (Harvard?) - biggest hurdle Opens the hiring pool to disadvantaged candidates Compensation Analysis Market Value Free tools BLS By demographics too Employer branding What do you look like publicly? Core values shine? How awesome you are should show! Evil Glassdoor (aka the Yelp for employers) Get ahead of the bad reviews by getting good ones Damage control and a look at ones own org if you already have bads ones Take a look at who you are hiring Core Value Work Do you have them? Assess them Tool? Book? Live them Weave them into everything We ask “are we living our core values?” Language within the company and how decisions are made Rick’s Nuggets Are your values real? Job requirements need to be eliminated and replaced with performance metrics Form of conscious bias Performance Metrics = Accountability Interview for core value alignment Value alignment is the only true measure to ensure performance and tenure No reason to move when you provide everything a person desires Key Takeaways that the Audience can plug into their business today!  -Value: Do Pulse Check Surveys! Rethink your recruiting strategy: job requirements, your online presence, comp analysis LIVE your core values! Guest Links LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/leilaniquiray/ Company: https://bethechangehr.org/ LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/company/bethechangehr/ Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/bethechangehumanresources/ Twitter: https://twitter.com/bethechangehr Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/bethechangehr/ YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCqsQa5CXid2I0xQwiVyE2nw/featured   This show is proudly sponsored by Criteria Corp: https://www.criteriacorp.com/

While everyone is chasing the same people, ie: those who work for competitors or the 3-7 year up-and-comers, there is a huge pool of talent that are on the sidelines waiting for a well positioned opportunity to present itself.  I’d like to challenge you to think about the concept that outstanding talent comes from the most unlikely places.  Last week we heard the story of a top sales performer at Swag.com who had no sales experience at all. But the Desire alignment was through the roof and now this person is absolutely thriving in their organization. The creativity & outside the box thinking is what sets the stage for success!  Today is all about hiring outstanding sales people in an environment that is ridiculously competitive.  Our guest today:  Chris Beall, CEO of ConnectAndSell For 30 years Chris Beall has led software start-ups as a founder or early-stage developer. He believes the most powerful part of a software system is the human being, and that the value key is to let the computer do what it does well — go fast without getting bored — in order to free up human potential.  Chris and his team provide a SaaS solution for sales teams to talk to more prospects, and hosts a podcast, Market Dominance Guys. Today we discuss: Why you are looking in the WRONG places for sales talent How to adapt your hiring model to uncover high performing sales people Challenge today in hiring sales people? Can't find people Everyone is chasing the same (wrong) people Get bid up (too expensive)  Takes forever to train  They bounce Not interested in the job Huge untapped pool of talent (over 40) Why is this important to the company? Adopting a 2 tier model you  Flow rate of meetings is a bottleneck of almost every company Always invest in the bottleneck Rick’s Nuggets Value alignment within the organization is more important than ever before Connecting the dots between values & desire avoids bidding wars Creating value above and beyond the paycheck People do not leave when they are in alignment How do we solve the problem?  Change your model  Make SDR as a real professional job Look at different age demographics Identify people who come from the industry you sell to  Huge untapped pool of talent (over 40) Interview like you mean it Test people. Have them do some work Have 10 conversations Good voice Can you make people laugh Modulating your voice Listen to the conversation Coachable Length of time you keep people on a call Rick’s Nuggets “Walk me through the process how you closed your last deal” Scripts are king! Align your interview process with your company values To properly assess people you need to be able to evaluate them for alignment Key Takeaways that the Audience can plug into their business today!  - Value: Take the SDR role seriously and not just as a stepping stone. (your company’s bottleneck Embrace real management for sales- pay attention to process The only thing a SDR needs to do is sell a meeting… not the product. Guest Links: LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/chris-beall-7859a4/# Company: https://connectandsell.com/ Twitter: https://twitter.com/chris8649 Blog: http://blog.connectandsell.com/ Podcast: https://www.marketdominanceguys.com/   This show is proudly sponsored by Criteria Corp: https://www.criteriacorp.com/  

Growing your company from 2 to 10 people is the most critical time in your company's life cycle. The reason for this is every single hire that is made can make or break the company.  Every founder I meet has a story of “we hired a person that we thought was going to be a rockstar and it turned out to be a disaster”.  So where do things go wrong when a bad hire is made?   The interview was run from a position of need;  where we focus on selling the opportunity. So excited to get this new rockstar on board that we totally forget to take the time to understand if the person aligns with the values of the organization. The good news is there is a solution to avoid these sometimes deadly mistakes and it just requires structure and developing your listening muscle.  Our guest today:  Jeremy Parker, Co-Founder and CEO of Swag.com Swag.com is the best place for companies to buy and distribute quality swag that people will actually want to keep. We work with 5,000+ companies including Facebook, Google, Amazon, Netflix, Spotify and Tik Tok. Jeremy was named to Crain's NY 40 under 40 (Class of 2020) and Swag is #218 on the Inc 500 (2020) and #368 (2021)- Fastest growing private companies Today we discuss: The importance of the first 10 hires Process to avoid making the wrong hire Challenge today? Hiring for the resume People who have done it in the past Not about the skills but the culture One bad hire can destroy a business Why is this important to the company? Story:  First 2 years just the founders. Then scaled quickly to 14 people Who you hire in the early days is super important.  Need to be the right fit, for the right time.  They could be a great person and extremely talented but if they are not the right fit for the time it can go sideways.   Up to 70 people now and everyone is ability is important, skills not as important, as culture How do we solve the problem?  Stop micromanaging Guide & teach & trust that people will get it Allow people who are hiring to do the job Right mentality & Right focus (embracing failure) Failure is ok Embrace it! 4 rounds of interviews First meet with Department Head.  If that goes well, meet with someone who is currently in that same position in the company, to make sure they feel this person can do the job well.  If that goes well, meet with the COO, if that goes well, meet with CEO. If the candidate gets through all rounds and everyone feels they could be a good fit, we get at least two reference checks.  Someone who they worked under and someone who they worked alongside.   Rick’s Nuggets Evaluate everyone around your values Key Takeaways -Value: Being ok with failure! Nothing can go wrong when you are ok with it. Failure will get you where you need to go. Guest Links: LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/jeremyianparker/ Company: https://swag.com/ LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/company/swag.com/ Twitter:https://twitter.com/promotewithswag?ref_src=twsrc%5Egoogle%7Ctwcamp%5Eserp%7Ctwgr%5Eauthor Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/promotewithswag/ Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/swagdotcom/?fbclid=IwAR1TnFCOQ8kv-chtsiP5wKexliw55YISu2rESPCLGUu86tEynikmspBy9xc   This show is proudly sponsored by Criteria Corp  

4 Million Americans quit their jobs in July of 2021 , according to the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics. What this means is that you have a tremendous opportunity to upgrade your talent base in your organization.  The pandemic has magnified people’s career wounds in a way that every business will be impacted.  While many reasons are given as to the cause of this mass exodus, the root of the fall out is that the people leaving are no longer in alignment with the company’s values.  Value alignment is now more critical than ever to attract and hire people. Because when people align with the actual company values, they find meaning & discover their purpose.  And their purpose is far more important to them than your profits. Today is a special episode due to the massive number of requests from our audience about this little problem called the great resignation We discuss: Why it is critical to own your company values How to prosper in Hiring - TODAY! Challenge today? My people are getting poached! We have come to a point where people want meaning & purpose in their lives. Perks, compensation & benefits no longer matter People are questioning their “why” Imbalance Stress & heartache More flexibility is not the real issue Inc Article https://www.inc.com/jessica-stillman/great-resignation-work-meaning-esther-perel.html Demonstrating meaning & the company cares about them as “human beings” Why is this important to the company? Who’s leaving? Mid- career employees have the highest resignation rates! (30-45) You are positioned to heal a person's career wounds.  When you align with values and provide a solution to heal, both parties WIN People are expecting win-win relationships with their employers The Great Opportunity! Easiest time in history to engage A-Players! Raise the performance bar in your organization 4 Steps to Win-Win Talent in this Great Resignation Get solid on your Values Key to attracting top performers Who you are how you lead how people act  Understand your Recruiting Process Recruiting is how you identify people & get people to talk to you. Just because you recruited someone great, doesn't mean you should hire them Or that they will even accept your job offer What is working today Target and Contact & Reconnect Do not sell, listen Understand your Hiring Process Start with an in depth Discovery call (phone screen) Does this person’s desires align with the company  (correctly positioned) Not skills Vision for the environment in which they will excel Timed & structured Interview Values alignment first Skills second (working session) Nurture a proactive flow  - allow the person to have a voice in what happens next What would you like to do next? Heal the Career Wound Growth, Content of work, Management Value Alignment Progression, learning, flexibility If you cannot provide a path to the individual, don't hire Someone else will thrive in the role You will be just a paycheck (if the person joins)  Key Takeaways -Value: The “Great Resignation” is real and you need to be capitalizing on the opportunity that has been presented to us! Get tight on the company values… They are the key to a successful hire Don't confuse a recruiting process as a hiring process. They are two separate activities.  Rick's Links: LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/rick-girard-07722/ Company: https://www.stridesearch.com/ Podcast: https://www.stridesearch.com/hire-power-radio Book: Healing Career Wounds -  https://www.amazon.com/Healing-Career-Wounds-Ridiculously-Successful/dp/173580360X   This show is proudly sponsored by Criteria Corp: https://www.criteriacorp.com/

Time and People are the most precious asset your company has on the road to success or failure.  As leaders, It is our responsibility to protect the time of our team to ensure that projects are delivered on time. It is also our responsibility to put processes in place that ensure that the strongest people are in the right seat! Shouldn't each step of the interview process have a purpose and save time for everyone involved?   Yet Interviewing is the single point of failure in almost every company.  Too long.  Too short.  No clear direction. Or riddled with boobytraps that repel strong people from even engaging with your company!  Our guest today:  Andrew Bartlow, Founder & Managing Partner of Series B Consulting. Which helps businesses to articulate their people strategy and accelerate their growth while navigating rapid change. He also founded the People Leader Accelerator, which is the foremost development program for HR leaders at startups. Andrew Bartlow has 25 years of Human Resources and Talent Management experience at organizations across a wide spectrum of sizes, maturity stages, and industries. He is the co-author of “Scaling for Success: People Priorities for High Growth Organizations,”  Andrew has worked with clients like MasterClass and many others to help them overcome obstacles in a hyper-growth phase.  Today we discuss: Why your timing kills hires How to Time out your process in the most effective manner Challenge today? Filling roles with good people with less of an internal organization tax Too many interviews, too much time - I’m out Over emphasis on consensus, 10-12 people over multiple rounds Giant time drag on a company   People fall out  Offer to close rate 60% is not good! Why is this important to the company? Time - interview time takes away from productivity Rapid growth is usually essential. Time burns cash runway, employee time and goodwill, and competitors keep coming.  Efficiency matters - particularly at the early growth stages Don’t let perfect be the enemy of good. Should be able to make rapid hire / no-hire decisions, and fair/reasonable separation decisions without months of agony.  “Hire slow and fire fast?” I’d suggest looking for a goldilocks zone on both. Take the time necessary, but not one minute more than what is net value-adding to do both.  Rick’s Nuggets All that is needed is: Discovery Call Value Alignment Interviews  Working Session (skills) 10 business days max How do we solve the problem?  Start by clearly defining the roles that you want to fill Source candidates in a scalable way Expand the pool Employer branding @ Series A should get beyond friends & family network Hire a dedicated recruiter Need a screen / filter before the manager sees the candidate Passive candidate magnet Check for compensation expectations & role interest; initial assessment of required skills, knowledge, and experiences Goal is that ZERO candidates make it to the hiring manager who have out-of-bounds pay or role expectations, and all of those candidates moving forward have experiences that reasonably match the role   Manager vetting before meeting the team One and done interview process ~30 minutes 1on1 via video Confirm that the candidate is interested in the role and the comp budgeted - preclose the candidate Ask for references here! A candidate shouldn’t come meet with a team until / unless the hiring manager is a strong advocate to hire them. Don’t waste the broader team’s time. Work Product Sample (optional - often good for technical roles, but rarely for G&A) Give a real problem - don’t spend a lot of time coming up with hypotheticals, too many variations which will change Faster / easier / more accurate to work on a real problem. Just get an NDA. Related alternatives - Can review Github rather than request a project. Can conduct a live shared-screen working session. Can ask for examples of prior work that demonstrates a good fit for the role. LOTS of candidates drop out at the project stage. Don’t let this become a barrier! Team Screen One and done over video, with multiple people involved Cultural (watermelon @ Gusto) interviews have a risk of being counterproductive. To be effective it should be structured, interviews have good training, and the traits assessed should be really clear AND ALIGNED with the future needs of the org. Danger of holding onto the past - what got you here, won’t get you there.  Decision After the team screen, there should be a hire / no-hire decision. Lots of organizations get hung up comparing candidates, not sure what they are looking for. You need to fill jobs with good people and KEEP MOVING. A hiring manager / hiring team which isn’t sure what they are looking for is the single largest waste of time and energy in the company-building process. Can have a calibration meeting. Maybe the recruiter supports it, but really, the hiring manager should own the decision and have the most energy around moving forward. Offer & Candidate Closing Rick’s Nuggets Reverse engineer the time to hire and set timelines for each stage Set process before you define roles Train your people on “how you hire” Gain commitment from interviewers for excellence Key Takeaways -Value: Streamline your process. Fill jobs with less time from the team. May or may not fill the role in fewer days, but can reduce total hours committed by the group from 100+ to closer to 10. Yes, this requires a bit more ownership and potentially a little more time (per candidate) from the HM, but should dramatically reduce the overall time by the team. Guest Links: LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/bartlow/ Company: https://www.seriesbconsulting.com/ Speak On Podcasts: https://speakonpodcasts.com/andrew-bartlow/ People Leader Accelerator: https://www.peopleleaderaccelerator.com/   This show is proudly sponsored by Criteria Corp: https://www.criteriacorp.com/

Hire slow, fire fast is a motto we have all heard as startup founders. It makes logical sense but what really happens is quite the opposite. As entrepreneurs we shift into panic mode when we have a need and move quickly to fill the role. Completely missing all the evidence that this person will be a bad hire. Once the person is in the seat, the dread of having to refill a role often leads to concessions made to the detriment of the business.  Hiring Slow means investing the time to really make sure the person will be a strong hire. Therefore there should be no need to fire fast. Especially if you really understand who the person is and gain evidence of the value they add to the company.  Think of each person you hire as being worth $2 million dollars to the company. Changes your perspective, right? A lot more care and a higher talent bar would be prioritized over just “filling the seat”.  Our guest today: Joseph Fung, Founder & CEO of Uvaro A tech sales career accelerator, and of Kiite, a sales enablement platform purpose-built to provide sales teams with the information they need when they need it.  Joseph’s a repeat Founder & CEO, and with multiple successful exits, and speaks frequently on the topics of sales leadership, diversity, and corporate social responsibility. Joseph is an expert in sales, startups and building scalable culture.  Today we discuss: Our mentality around hiring sales people How to effectively attract & hire high performers  Challenge today? Hiring for software skills rather than problem solving skills No internal training- want someone who already doing what you need done Rely on stereotypes and gut Need people who can speak to a bigger variety of customers Why is this important to the company? Fix the problem, you can triple the production of 1st year sales reps 8 months to ramp, average sales rep only achieves 60% of quota Ramp in ⅓ time and drive production to 80% - Training Churn & burn kills morale  Cash costs are immense on the back end How do we solve the problem and hire the strongest people every time?  Throw out your job description Translate ideal customer to sales job description Ideal Customer Profile- go granular Choosing what & who to hire Invest in Revops & sales enablement 50:1 ratio Rep to SE is a start => move to 20:1  Mindset Treating the organization with respect Thinking is you solve the problem by hiring more people Interview Culture fit interview - “Is this someone I want to have a beer with?” not Turn it into a behavioral interview - what behaviors demonstrate values alignment Rick’s Nuggets Performance metrics are most critical component today for job descriptions today Accountability up front Understanding a person’s positioning Transactional Sale VS. Enterprise/Solutions Sale Resources available  Builder, Improver, Maintainer Uncovering the impact that has been made in their current/former position Save time, increase revenue  Key Takeaways -Value: Throw out your job description . Copying others is just propagating bad habits Stop asking people to sell like the founders - it won’t work Re-think your culture fit interviews...write behavioral questions  Guest Links LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/josephfung/ Twitter: https://twitter.com/josephfung Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/josephfung/ Company: https://uvaro.com/ LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/school/uvarolife/ Twitter: https://twitter.com/uvarolife Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/uvaro.life Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/uvaro.life/ YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/uvaro   This show is proudly sponsored by Criteria Corp: https://www.criteriacorp.com/

“There is work that needs to be done and I just need someone good to do the work” *** sigh *** This is what we tell ourselves when we decide to hire someone. But it is so much deeper than just getting a butt in the seat!  Growth is the most important factor here. So, we must start with the end in mind to avoid making HUGE hiring mistakes!  Yes, we need to get the work done but will this person really help your company grow? And more importantly, can your company provide the growth that the person you want to hire desperately desires? Our guest today: Mike Zani, CEO of The Predictive Index. Mike Zani, the Wall Street Journal best selling author of The Science of Dream Teams, is CEO of The Predictive Index, the leader in talent optimization. Prior to The Predictive Index, Mike served as president of LEDCO, a manufacturer of rugged computer peripherals. It was at LEDCO where Mike, a customer of The Predictive Index, developed his passion for the company’s vital management tools.  An avid sailor, Mike began his career in marketing and sales with Vanguard Sailboats and was a coach for the 1996 U.S. Olympic Sailing Team. He holds a B.S. from Brown University and an MBA from Harvard. Today we discuss: Hiring for Talent optimization What is talent optimization How to hire for it Challenge today? How to you hire well within the context of time & risk What risk are you willing to take on bad hires? Systems in place to support the risk 30, 60, 90 day check ins to support  Do you just want t body in a seat Persona  A talent optimized system allows you to train & develop Need to develop the programs to support Why is this important to the company? We are 30 years behind sport in bringing analytics for hiring What is sport doing now? TA is the single most important function in the organization Need to take a maniacal approach to hiring. Fantasy league hiring takes more time than hiring to companies Data drives success Performance measurement Rick’s Nuggets Getting the right person the the bus is FAR more important than getting work done If the work is that important, hire a contractor The mistake made is the optimism of the founder Assumptions Hire on their potential (assumed), bias (assumed) & need (get it off my plate) Zero time is taken to understand what the other person desires, other than a paycheck Consider this: The cost for every bad hire is $2M How do we solve the problem?  Top of funnel strategy Clear mission Hiring brand that attracts talent Palpable culture - Strong enough that it disqualifies people Great referral strategy - cash after 6 months, Bottom of funnel strategy Hiring systems Strong assessments -behavioral , cognitive, analytics Hiring process, structured interviewing Training- especially on cultural interview aspects interviewer grading, scoring, developing Remove people who are bad interviewers Post hire Strategy Benchmarks  Performance systems - 30,60,90 day Hire for buoyancy! Rick’s Nuggets Mid Funnel Strategy The Interview Structured & timed Values aligned  Challenging Does the interview produce evidence to support the decision Is the evidence supported by the assessment? Key Takeaways -Value: Need a post-hire system!  Can take more risk  Need to have a feedback loop to add/subtract people from the interviewing process. Guest Links: LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/mikezani/  Company: https://www.predictiveindex.com/ Twitter: https://twitter.com/predictiveindex?lang=en Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/predictiveindex/ Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/thepredictiveindex/?hl=en YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCexehrVsBrP9SiNeBm4pY7Q   This show is proudly sponsored by Criteria Corp: https://www.criteriacorp.com/

The first time I was fired was when I was 16 years old and working at Numero Uno Pizza. It happened really strangely, I went in to pick up my paycheck and the manager let me know that this paycheck would be my last one as I was no longer employed there.  No warning and no explanation. Bewildered, I simply walked out the door, walked across the street and was hired by their competitor.  The way in which the whole experience went down, left me feeling embarrassed & resentful.  Never again did I eat at that restaurant because of the way they made me feel.  Our guest today: Lori Torres, Founder & Former CEO of Parcel Pending  The nation’s leading provider of innovative package management solutions. Prior to Parcel Pending, Lori was SVP of property operations at The Irvine Company.  She has been recognized on multiple occasions for her leadership, including being named 2017 “Innovator of the Year” by the Orange County Business Journal and chosen as one of 13 entrepreneurs admitted into the EY Entrepreneurial Winning Women™ 2017 North America class. Lori worked to build a world class organization and is going to share her wisdom. Today we discuss: Making the difficult decision to part ways  How to fire a person in a way that leaves everyone feeling good about themselves Challenge today? When is the right time to make a change and terminate someone? Can you afford to do it, do you have the bandwidth Taking the time to really understand  Have an intervention- performance improvement plan, use to be successful Articulate to really improve the person's performance Everything possible to make sure they are successful Accountability tool &   Why is this important to the company? Benefits: often find someone better Help the person you are terminating to the world, Embrace the people management side of the business Termination is part of the evolution of the company Change needs to happen, This is the game we are playing, these are the rules, here’s how we move forward What you need at $3mil is different at $10M   Rick’s Nuggets Be proactive in your hiring Hiring for growth first - start with the end in mind “people will forget what you said, people will forget what you did, but people will never forget how you made them feel.” - Maya Angelou How do we solve the problem?  Identify performance issues first Candid open, specific conversation Time frame to meet the expectations Check in: not meeting expectations,  Provide a performance improvement plan Whatree performance is now, when they are not meeting expectations, when we are going to convenience to review Termination Reason for termination: Labor attorney- worth the money to handle things properly Quick conversation : next step, it is not working Part ways with dignity!  Severance with a legal document release of liability & non-disparagement  Walk them out the door and wish them well Offer help to help them move forward Sample Termination Rick gets Fired! Rick’s Nuggets Really take seriously the performance metrics that were set for your people in the job description Evidence to support the hire first! Key Takeaways -Value: Really spend the time to hire correct people. It's like dating, Interview a lot When the person is not performing, invest the time to  Have non-confrontational conversations with people Guest Links: LinkedIn:  https://www.linkedin.com/in/loritorres/ Company: https://www.parcelpending.com/ Twitter: https://twitter.com/ParcelPending Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/parcelpending Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/parcelpending/ YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCFj7yh4kDC7Jx5CDUYnar7A   This show is proudly sponsored by Criteria Corp: https://www.criteriacorp.com/  

Answer: Linking Corporate Values into Your Interview Questions eliminates bias I posed the question to a room of over 400 corporate executives and the results shocked me when I first asked it. Now when I ask the question, the results just make me …. Sad. “Please raise your hand if you have had any formal interview training at any time in your career, other than what not to say in an interview”.  Three hands were raised. 3 out of over 400 people!  And we wonder why hiring is “hard”. Guess what, It is not so hard for companies like Amazon who, from the beginning, have structured and trained their people HOW to effectively interview people. This is why they have always been a talent magnet, and not because they pay well.  3 out of 400 people! This was a major a-ha moment for me and it should be one for you!  Imagine the impact your company will have on this planet when you and your people get really good at hiring. Today we discuss: The importance of linking values to interviewing How to set up and execute a values driven interview Challenge today? Talk about bias elimination  cannot happen until interview questions are designed to extract evidence The content of the interview cannot be left up to chance The fate of each interviewee is determined in the first 15 minutes at most. Sometimes in the first 5 minutes….. All based on bias  51% chance that your decision is wrong Unchallenging, unimpressive interviews only attract people who are there for the paycheck Talented people (A-players, change makers & high performers) do NOT want to work for yahoos!  Informal, unstructured & unprepared interviews make you look like a yahoo. Offer turn downs are at an all time high Why is this important to the company? One word: AMAZON Leadership principles (company values) are what drives decision making  Customer Obsession Leaders start with the customer and work backwards. They work vigorously to earn and keep customer trust. Although leaders pay attention to competitors, they obsess over customers. Hire and Develop the Best Leaders raise the performance bar with every hire and promotion. They recognize exceptional talent, and willingly move them throughout the organization. Leaders develop leaders and take seriously their role in coaching others. We work on behalf of our people to invent mechanisms for development like Career Choice. https://www.amazon.jobs/en/principles Talent is drawn toward excellence How do we implement values driven interviewing?  Clearly write down your company values Founders- this is you & your values  As you ad people, reassess at least bi annual- especially before hiring ANYONE   Develop Values Clear definition of what the values means to the company What attributes characterize each value Measurables (how does a person live the value in their day to day life? Sample exercise Value #1 Dignity Definition: Treating yourself and others with respect & courtesy Attributes: CEO Co-founder Dept Head acceptance Self-respect self-confidence Non judgemental equality Respect for others Self esteem- elevation decency Stands tall empowered   Treat as equals   Measurables: *** Empowering others *** Respect for others *** Non-Judgemental Build interview Question Library Behavioral questions designed to bring evidence of how people “show up” "Tell me about a time...." or “Describe a time when….” or “Outline a time where….” or  "Give me an example of..."  Questions must be Indirect & not obvious to the interviewee  Evidence to support Attributes  Support / follow up question flow Value #1 Dignity  Attributes:  *** Empowering others  *** Respect for others  *** Non-Judgmental  Tell me about a time you helped elevate the performance of one of your teammates (Empowering Others)  How did you learn of the issue?  What were the events that led to this performance being important to you?  How much time do you dedicate to the cause?  How do you feel you could make more of a difference?  What makes this important to you?   What was the outcome?  Give me an example of a time you stood up for a person you didn't know (Respect)  What steps did you take?  How did this affect the other person?  What made this action important to you?  Describe a really uncomfortable work situation that needed to be addressed that was personal to the other person? (Non-Judgmental)  What were you asked to do?  How did it make you feel?  Reinforcement & Training Live your values Make it a language by which decisions are made (like Amazon) Teach everyone who interviews, how to extract evidence Capture data - training & compliance purposes  Key Takeaways -Value: Invest the time to build out your corporate values - the Payoff will be HUGE  Take the next step and connect them to your interviewing Train your people! Part of their job is to other high performers so give them the tools to do so Rick's Links: LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/rick-girard-07722/ Company: https://www.stridesearch.com/ Podcast: https://www.stridesearch.com/hire-power-radio Book:https://www.amazon.com/Healing-Career-Wounds-Ridiculously-Successful/dp/173580360X   This show is proudly sponsored by Criteria Corp: https://www.criteriacorp.com/

You are at the point in your business where the company is ready to hire the first person to head up a department (i.e.: sales, marketing, engineering). You are excited and terrified at the same time. You’re thinking “I have to get this right”... and you are right, you do! How do you evaluate a person with an area of expertise that you are NOT familiar with?  The answer, my friends, is being prepared, digging deep and really listening! Step outside of your first impression and be aware of your tendency of confirmation bias.  Shift your focus on gathering concrete evidence and the outcome will be the correct decision every time.  Our guest today: Liam Rose, Founder of Catalina Seven Ventures. Liam is the founder of Catalina Seven Ventures, a Southern California consumer software startup. Before forming C7V, he managed the sales team for an Orange County-based entertainment startup. As a result of his own challenges trying to juggle health, academic obligations, and personal relationships while attending the University of Richmond, Liam created a new approach to life scheduling built to enable better balance. During his time at the Robins School of Business, he was selected as a 2019 Innovator Under 25. Catalina Seven Ventures' first product, HORUS Life Schedule, is now available for Beta testing on iOS and Android (access available through the company website)."  Today we discuss: How to effectively make your first departmental hire Challenge today? Hiring the first person within a department How do you make that hire How do we know if the person is good What's the barometer  First tech person, marketing, HR or finance person How do you know if the person is the best person do the job at the current stage Culture & environment fit Metrics & deliverables How well they can make the connections between metrics and the outcome Why is this important to the company? They will be the departmental cultural lead Top quality people hiring more top quality people The greatest impression people get is from the interview process itself Set the tone on how you are going to manage the person based on the interview process itself Improved interview process results in a higher level of talent  Demonstrates the ability to understand the individual Ignorance of the process Rick’s Nuggets Every hire is critical at every stage of your start up! Hire slow, fire slower-er-er Firing fast is negligence & kills culture (reduces trust, increases anxiety) Cult creation- Steve Newcomb (https://medium.com/cult-creation/cult-creation-a44303564f21) Firing fast “kills innovation, ownership and trust”  How do we solve the problem?  Signaling - feel a unique attraction to our company  Job Advertisement Distributed via word of mouth/referrals first  The step beyond who we are. Bold- unapologetically ourselves Demonstration of understanding  Interview process Realistic expectations Show that people can succeed Difficult but not impossible Show professional empathy What is going to make you most happy?  What does the individual want? Communication preference, invest in every core operation of the company Calling the Hotline Advisor de-risk Outside influence to identify the obvious  Rick’s Nuggets Prepare yourself by adopting process, engage in interview training & experience  Process: must have a flow and timing- Start on time, end on time Discovery call (45 minutes) Interview #1 Cultural (60 minutes)  Deeply tied to corporate values/principles/culture Interview #2 Working Session - judge skills (60 minutes - ½ day)  Live example of how we work together, problem solve, communicate  Interview Training Behavioral interviews produce EVIDENCE to uncover the TRUTH Assign interview questions to the individual interviewers Prepare the candidate for what to expect Experience (not yours, theirs) A-players are attracted to excellence Leave everyone feeling good about their time investment  Key Takeaways -Value: Their language, not your language  Gets you the people you want rather than the people you can get Use experience to de risk: everyone in your network. What you should avoid with absolute certainty Guest Links: LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/liamwrose/ Company: http://catalina7ventures.com/ Twitter: https://twitter.com/c7vinc Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/catalina7ventures/   This show is proudly sponsored by Criteria Corp: https://www.criteriacorp.com/

The key to retention is growth. With looming fears of “the great resignation” company’s are unsure as to how to structure the organization. Forcing a state of flux that is not healthy for the business.  The poles tell us that at least 40% of people will quit if forced to go back into the office full time. Will your company have a mass exodus? If you have not put your people first…. Most likely. Companies who have been fostering personal & professional growth through leadership will experience far less separation because they have put their people in front of the transaction.  Our guest today: Sam Caucci , Founder & CEO of 1Huddle A workforce tech company that upskills, trains, and motivates employees through science-backed, quick-burst mobile games.  Sam founded 1Huddle on the belief that every worker deserves access to the job training, support, and coaching needed to win on the job. Put simply, 1Huddle is making training more fun, effective, and accessible for the entire workforce. Sam is also the author of the #1 bestseller, Not Our Job: How College has Destroyed a Generation of Workers and How to Fix it. Sam is an expert in workforce engagement and development.  Today we discuss: Why struggle based learning is the key to retention How to build learning into your culture Challenge today? Training Do unto others as it was done to you Struggle is important to learning Leverage technology to increase outcomes Why is this important to the company? Middle management job function is more important than ever How do we arm them to be better coaches to the front line 55% of workers are Millennials & GenZ They like structure Coaching up and development  Struggle based learning  Game based learning 45% faster! “Make it Stick” -Peter Brown "It's the Manager” Only 15% or workers are engaged (before pandemic)- Gallop #1 driver to engagement is having a coach  How do we solve the problem?  Struggle based learning Content Audit What do you have now? Gaps - Where are the business problems? Finding content: buy vs. build Selecting Technology (learning management system) Accessibility, Outcomes & Authoring What kind of staff is required to manage it Wrap learning in a game format Mobile first 52 week calendar (never ending game) Continual development Up-skilling (stop siloing workers) Reskill & re-onboard Key Takeaways -Value: Workforce technology is making it easy to more effectively onboard every worker from frontline to full time Effective skill building and retention requires struggle Managers need better tools and strategies to onboard, develop and engage workers. Guest Links: Sam Caucci: LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/samcaucci/ Twitter: https://twitter.com/samcaucci Company: 1Huddle: https://1huddle.co/  Twitter: https://twitter.com/1huddle Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/1huddle/  Instagram:  https://www.instagram.com/1huddle/ YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/user/SalesHuddleAcademy Author of the #1 bestseller: Not Our Job: How College has Destroyed a Generation of Workers and How to Fix it (Amazon)   This show is proudly sponsored by Criteria Crop: https://www.criteriacorp.com/

We can all agree that running a remote business has become very challenging from both a cultural and productivity perspective. If anything the past year and a half has taught us, it is that paying attention to the needs of our people is really hard. Especially when they are remote.  So how do we progress through this challenge and continue to grow?....Take on a social mission.  We have all heard the term “givers gain”. When your culture merges with cause, it propagates purpose. And, a shared purpose attracts value-aligned people and elevates company performance.   Our guest today: Brian Roland, Founder & Chairman of Abenity Brian is a social entrepreneur and Founder of Abenity, the 6x Inc. 5000 company that’s powering corporate perks for top brands like U.S. Bank and Mastercard. Abenity recently exceeded $1 million dollars of total giving! Brian lives in Scottsdale, Arizona with his family and enjoys roasting coffee, flying drones, and helping impact-driven entrepreneurs establish a social mission of their own. He has built a fully remote, purpose driven organization that absolutely crushes it! Today we discuss: Why cause brings purpose to your company How to build a social mission Why don't we build cause into our companies from the beginning? Launched into remote work with a false positive Shared purpose needs to be outside your brand Fighting for is more powerful than fighting against People become lost on an island without purpose People need something bigger than their day to day routine to stay healthy Hybrid is dangerous… either all remote or onsite…. Can create a resentment culture Why is this important to the company? Process of navigating back from fully remote work Still very uncertainty Doing what is best for your work routine will breed resentment with my employees What mix is correct?  Potential pitfalls in onsite, remote, hybrid Culture is what needs to be fought for above everything else Rick’s Nuggets The more structure you have in your company early on, the easier it is to attract the Strongest/value-aligned people to the company.  High performers are attracted to excellence, not ego.  Excellence is structure How do we solve the problem?  Impact plan Define your giving model Put profits towards a cause Give from savings - what you save in rent Flat fee, percentage, 1 for 1  Create a social mission statement Use this template to build a Social Mission Statement: Here's a template that you may find useful for your social mission statement: [your belief statement here],  and that's why we [summary of your impact plan here].  With this commitment, we're communicating a powerful message, [your purpose statement here, why you care about your cause]. Here's our Social Mission statement at Abenity: Perks are about people and that's why we sponsor children living in extreme poverty with the programs we deliver.  With this commitment, we're communicating a powerful message, that whether you're an employee at a Fortune 500 Company, or an orphan in the developing world, you are valuable, what you do matters, and you can make a difference. Share your impact story Publish an impact report (https://prks.co/Impact)  Market the social mission Brand differentiation Everywhere you are comfortable Setting up accountability Who are you inviting in? Invite the team to hold everyone (including you) accountable  Board, investors, cpa, and/or staff  Identify blockers Anything that is holding back Debt Growth commitments Must overcome before you can embark on the mission  “Once we achieve this as a team, then we start our mission of giving”  Do what you said you would do! Rick’s Nuggets Define the values that align with your cause Understand that  Key Takeaways -Value: Just show up Download the Impact Report to start your Social Mission Guest Links: To download the 5-Step Impact Plan, text “Impact” to (615) 802-6853 For more on creating a 5-Step Impact Plan, read “5 Steps to Maximize Your Business Impact” https://www.brianroland.com/single-post/5-steps-to-maximize-your-business-impact  For some inspiration, check out Abenity’s Impact Report to see how they’ve funded over a million dollars of direct giving at https://prks.co/Impact To set a perks program for your group, visit Abenity.com and use code “HirePower150” to save $150 off your first month’s services. Brian Roland: LinkedIn  Company: Abenity  Twitter  Facebook  YouTube   This show is proudly sponsored by Criteria Crop

It is time to change our mindset on how to really attract and hire the strongest people. The answer is not having the  greatest recruiters or tools. It is not about having strong “employer branding” or compensation plans. The answer is really simple... It is about gathering the evidence in the interview to support the decision without assumptions & bias.  Leadership drives hiring , not recruiting or HR.  Mic drop moment: There are two critical components to your people function. Recruiting & Hiring. Recruiting is run by, well, recruiters and Hiring is run by hiring managers, executives & founders.  To land the strongest people for your organization both functions must have structure, synergy and adequate training to be successful.  Our guest today: Brian Breth, Riot games alumni & former VP of Talent Acquisition at Fair Brian is a talent acquisition leader and US Marine Corps veteran with 20 years of experience forging, adapting, and applying best practices to complex business challenges in recruiting. He has a proven track record as an entrepreneurial leader whose ability to align teams, enact change, and build sustainable frameworks enables businesses to attract top talent and become more efficient, productive, and competitive. Specialties: Global talent acquisition strategy and operations, leadership coaching and development, team-building and communication, process development and implementation, networking. Brian was responsible for scaling Rubicon Project from 200 to almost 800 people in two years. Today we discuss: Why Quality is more important when you scale How to scale without sacrificing quality Challenge today? Scaling quickly without sacrificing quality Mindset Lets get people as fast as we can Competing for talent Finding the best people Not clear into what the values are then translating it to others Managing the expectations of investors Growth at whatever cost is dangerous Why is this important to the company? A startups evolution  Culture is the most important element for founders Desire for culture conflicts with the investors desires for rapid growth To become a competitor you NEED the best people Rick’s Nuggets Understanding what you are up against today Flip the funnel upside down Work referrals at scale How do we solve the problem?  Acquisition  Understand that hiring people needs to be understood by leadership A commitment from leadership Cannot just set it & forget it Just as important as your new product pipeline Alignment at the executive level as to where and how they want to compete for talent Realistic on what you can pay Value prop - speaking to what is important to the person from a more intrinsic value.  What’s important to me? Build out the people function   Retention Invest internally to retain them Value - a future to live into People leave because they no longer see a future for themselves Develop leader to provide the future for each team member Rick’s Nuggets Understand each individual’s pain, desire & impact Invest in the discovery call! 45 minutes saves hours in the long run Crucial checkpoint Key Takeaways -Value: Founders look at what you are investing in your people function What you invest in talent acquisition you should be investing into leadership training to get them really good at hiring Guest Links: Brian Breth: LinkedIn  Website: Riot Games   Fair   TechRecruit Conference    This show is proudly sponsored by Criteria Crop

Have you ever thought to yourself “If we only could have paid a bit more money, we would have landed the A-player we really needed to hire”? If so, you would be wrong.  We often assume that money is the main reason for the turn down but in reality, it is our inability to demonstrate how our opportunity brings purpose to the individual. It is no longer a time where good people will sacrifice career satisfaction for a paycheck.  The balance of power has shifted and the mindset has changed. One thing we have learned from the pandemic is that purpose trumps the paycheck for almost everyone worth hiring.   Our guest today: Lorna Borenstein, Founder & CEO of Grokker. The social health and wellbeing network that helps employees at global enterprises to move more, sleep better, eat more healthily and reduce financial stress. Her new book, It’s Personal: The Business Case for Caring, thoughtfully examines the Human Connection Movement™ in the workplace, which is fueled by a growing desire among employees to feel more connected to one another and as a result, better connected to their jobs.  Lorna’s expertise has been featured in top tier publications including Bloomberg, Fortune, and Entrepreneur. As a sought after speaker and panel moderator at leading industry conferences, Lorna presents on the current state of workplace wellbeing and engagement.  Lorna is a member of Forbes Human Resources Council and a frequent contributing author. Today we discuss: The importance of Purpose as today’s main currency How to unearth purpose in the hiring process & beyond  Challenge today? Insides match your outside Create a high performance culture Connect mission vision & culture To drive results to not move away from humans but toward it Cost of not caring is the failure of your business Creating a safe place to be (psychological safety)  Why is this important to the company? To keep your people you need to treat them with empathy Silent revolution (they will just walk out) People do not want to feel alone (feel like they are part of the tribe) Companies on the fortune best places outperform the s&p 500 by 2:1 40% of employees report that managers have not asked them how they are doing through the pandemic Appreciation & interest as a person translates to a 7x increase in innovation  61% of employees will take a lower salary for better benefits Empathy is the new company sexy Rick’s Nuggets If your understanding the person then you are transactional, and deserve to lose  Selling, pitching, focusing on compensation Understand a person’s career wounds first “What’s happening in your current role that has you open to hearing about something potentially stronger?”  How do we solve the problem?  State your commitment I'm committed to you and here's what I am going to do  Living values inside & outside the office People need to feel safe and valued (psychological safety)  Link their needs what you are going to deliver Listen & accommodate   Coping accommodation -  digging into tactical solutions Create personal/ family time Survey on policies and adjust   Provide tools Digital tools to support healthy lifestyle On demand on phones Incentives for programs  Rick’s Nuggets Structure first! Build your interview process around your company VALUES Take advantage of the “discovery call” to build trust Understand everyone’s pain, desire, & impact Ensures people will show up for your interview Key Takeaways -Value: 3 tiered stratification model  What did you sacrifice that may have damaged your culture What is your competition doing? Transformational thinking Guest Links: Lorna's Book: It’s Personal: The Business Case for Caring, thoughtfully examines the Human Connection Movement™ Lorna Borenstein: LinkedIn   Twitter Company: Grokker  Facebook  Twitter  Instagram  YouTube   This show is proudly sponsored by Criteria Crop 

As Entrepreneurs, we are constantly striving to get in front of the challenges we have. However we often seem to be in a constant state of fighting fires.  So now we are at a precipice where technology tools can alleviate this pain but we must first invest the time in training & understand how to best position ourselves and our teams to innovate successfully.  Let’s start to think about our human resources differently in a mind shift away from our desires to the personal & professional development of our employees. Thinking bigger attracts A-players! This fuels innovation. Our guest today: Patrick Schwerdtfeger, Business Futurist and Keynote Speaker  Patrick specializes in technology trends including big data, artificial intelligence, Fintech and blockchain. He’s the author of “Pandemic, Inc.: 8 Forces Driving Business Failure or Fortune in the Post-COVID-19 Economy” as well as five other books, and has lectured at numerous academic institutions including Purdue and Stanford Universities.  Patrick is also a regular speaker for Bloomberg TV, founder of Trend Mastery Inc., and host of the Strategic Business Insights video blog (with over 28,000 subscribers and six million views on YouTube). Patrick has spoken about business trends, technology and digital marketing at hundreds of conferences all around the world. Today we discuss: How to think bigger to attract stronger talent Challenge today? Companies are not adopting technology fast enough Companies always feel like they’re “behind” with respect to technology How can companies leverage HR to accelerate technology adoption? Jobs of the future: (1) communication skills & (2) creative problem solving Thinking about your human resources differently Stop thinking bottom up NEW: How can companies attract top talent NEW: Millennials are “lazy, apathetic, and entitled” but they CAN be inspired NEW: Inspire your employees, customers, and competitors (good source) Why is this important to the company? Being innovative fuels growth Rick’s Nuggets Define your company’s purpose & cause  Utilize Talent from competitor - adjacent companies Present Innovative technologies How do we solve the problem?  #1: Identify staff who are excited to learn and use software more extensively #2: Leverage enterprise software and get more training for your staff #3: Understand that technology propagates SMB through enterprise software #4: Break down tasks into (1) manual & (2) cognitive #5: Break each category down into (1) manual & (2) cognitive #6: Soft repetitive tasks by their level of complexity #7: Understand that “Innovation = Budgeting Failure” #8: Protecting high-gross margin products to FUND innovation #9: FAIL as fast and as cheaply as possible (test new ideas cheaply) NEW: think bigger about your business NEW: not 10% bigger, but 10x bigger Rick’s Nuggets Train your people  - Have an active training program that promotes learning, innovation, new technologies - good for retention Elevate top-down thinking Key Takeaways -Value: #1: EVERYONE thinks they’re behind. #2: think more strategically, and you’ll catch up quickly. Guest Links: Patrick's Book: Pandemic, Inc.: 8 Forces Driving Business Failure or Fortune in the Post-COVID-19 Economy (Amazon) Patrick Schwerdtfeger: Patrick Schwerdtfeger  Facebook  Twitter    This show is proudly sponsored by Criteria Crop

Listening is the most critical interview tool you have. Not listening to respond (which we all do) but listening to understand.  Think of the interview as an opportunity to gather evidence to support your decision and when you understand a person’s pain & desire first, you can accurately position your opportunity as the answer to their problems.  Why do you need to understand the person before you hire them? Isn’t it enough that you know that they have the skills that are needed?  Because not understanding the values of the individual is what ultimately results in bad hiring decisions.  Our guest today: Casey Welch, Co-Founder & CEO of Tallo. A digital platform and app that connects 1.3 million+ students and professionals to opportunities offered by colleges, companies, and organizations. Since its inception, Tallo has pioneered early talent engagement, facilitating career discovery and guidance for a diverse talent pool.  Under Casey’s leadership, Tallo serves as a virtual ecosystem leveling the playing field for all students and job seekers, regardless of traditional geographic and economic barriers. Casey is a leading expert on Generation Z in higher education and the workforce, and his insights have been featured in Forbes, FastCompany, ZDNet, and SHRM.  Today we discuss: The importance of proper positioning when hiring How to build understanding into your interview process Challenge today? (Reactive hiring and approach to talent) People want to find careers that are purposeful After more than a year of grinding stress, workers are increasingly looking to find new jobs. In fact, according to research by Monster, 95% of workers are thinking about finding a new job, and 92% would consider switching industries for a new position. Gen Z agrees with this overall sentiment. According to Tallo’s recent survey of over 1000+ Gen Z individuals, 69% of Gen Z said over the past year it's become more important to find a job that is personally fulfilling. Products that will help people, change peoples lives Gen Z wants a career that brings them purpose and meaning, not just a job. They also want to make a social impact with their career, not just work the 9-5. Tallo data found that one of the three most important factors for Gen Z when thinking about their future work environment includes making an impact socially and economically (47%) In order to attract members of Gen Z, employers need to show prospective new employees will bring a positive change from a social and economic standpoint. This is an opposite mindset from their predecessors Millennials, who focused more on company name recognition Finding the workforce that is going to stay The top three most important factors for Gen Z when thinking about their current or future work environment include: Having a fair and ethical boss (72%) The ability to be heard (61%)  Making an impact socially and economically (47%) Hybrid work environments are key: 63% of Gen Z is interested in working in a hybrid setting, while 27% want to work in the office full time and 8% want to work remotely full time. Pandemic changed people's views More than one out of every three Gen Zers reported in a Tallo survey that they are reconsidering their career choice due to certain industries being negatively impacted by the COVID-19 pandemic. Culture & environment are far more important The three biggest factors that motivate Gen Z to take a job include salary (78%) interest in work (70%) and work life balance (58%).  Addressing social issues + diversity equity and inclusion in the workplace is vital. Tallo data found that Gen Z listed the following as the most important DEI initiatives they look for in an employer:  Women in leadership (59%)  Training and discussions (58%)  People of color in leadership positions (53%) Why is this important to the company? Understanding what the modern employees wants and needs are, and then meeting those needs is critical to improve retention and reduce turnover.  People are leaving their companies faster than the employers can fill, which is why there’s a high demand for jobs but no supply of experienced candidates. In order to fill these positions, employers must begin a double-pronged approach of employee retention and employee outreach – and focus their efforts on Gen Z. When asked about future workplace settings, only 8% of Gen Z want to be fully remote. 63% want hybrid and 27% would want to be in the office full time Rick’s Nuggets Understanding leads to truth Every person has a different set of values Evidence eliminates  Assumptions Bias How do we solve the problem? (Creating a proactive approach and system to hiring) Mindshift  Away from transactional relationship (Two people can want to get married, doesn’t mean they want to get married to each other) Care more about experience and about people Using tools for measurement Purpose & Meaning - what they like and want to do Skills - What they CAN do A focus on reskilling, upskilling and learning & development (L&D) opportunities:  Employers need to provide all their employees with new and innovative ways to reskill and upskill – especially when it comes to soft skills.  74% of Gen Z think soft skills (such as critical thinking, analysis, problem solving, leadership, and communication) are more critical for success in our current economy.  Some different L&D opportunities employers can explore include: Technical (science, technology, engineering, software development, and design); Leadership (communication, management, and critical thinking); Learning new languages; and  Agile (collaboration, user experience, experimentation, and continuous learning). Rick’s Nuggets Mindset : who are you really? Blind conversations are the most fruitful & eliminate bias Interview questions that surface value alignment Behavioral Interview that is tied to values! Key Takeaways -Value: Employers must place a heightened focus on recruiting the next generation of leaders into the workplace: Gen Z The most important factors to drives people to come work for you include considering a hybrid work environment, addressing and emphasizing the important of diversity, equity and inclusion in the workplace and providing a means for employees to reskill + upskill  Employers must fully understand what today’s modern employee wants – from salary to benefits to work environment – and meet those expectations Guest Links: Casey Welch: LinkedIn Company: Tallo  Facebook  Twitter  Instagram   This show is proudly sponsored by Criteria Crop  

Do you have a target list of the people you desire to hire? It is easy to plan the roles you need to hire but the “who” is what matters most.  A very simple hack is to just create a spreadsheet and every time you hear of someone good, add them to your list.  Now here is the important part… reach out and seek to understand. Simply reaching out and listening to their desires is all it takes to attract a well positioned player for your company.  Our guest today: Eric Dahan, Co-Founder & CEO of Open Influence A premiere influencer marketing company with clients that include Disney, Google, Amazon, Facebook, and Under Armour, among others. The company is also a leader in Machine Learning and Artificial Intelligence within the ad industry thanks to its predictive analytics tools and entire influencer taxonomy, which contains over 10B data points. Eric is a Forbes 30 Under 30 recipient and Inc. 30 Under 30 honoree. Eric has hired over 100 people for Open Influence and has a strong proactive program in place. Today we discuss: Why you should always be interviewing How to run a proactive hiring campaign Challenge today? (Reactive hiring and approach to talent) Cascade risk of people getting burned out and demoralized Takes time to train new people An ounce of prevention  Avoiding the “oh shit” moments Why is this important to the company? From a p&l standpoint, building a more lucrative  business Retaining the best and brightest that they have worked so hard to to build up Attracting, building, training and elevating the best people Rick’s Nuggets People are harder than ever to attract Building a passive talent pipeline allows you to constantly raise productivity How do we solve the problem? (Creating a proactive approach and system to hiring) Planning This is the structure Getting the team to buy in The why Accomplish more by delegating Create a strong feeder of young candidates In network referrals Inbound, through website Industry niche focused Building relationships with professors in college Elevate and create a management layer Empower managers to Giving a bit more time to go out and find people Budget for strong hires Role creation for strong talent Elevating from within Hired HR director to help with recruiting and building out better processes A lot of time saved with onboarding Point person for planning & vetting  Rick’s Nuggets Dedicate 1 hour a week to talent development (first 20) Adopt a policy of opportunistic relationship building  ie: hackathons, hosting events Understand the person’s pain & desire Start interviewing 2 months prior the role becoming available Value alignment is key!  Judge on values, not skills  Key Takeaways -Value: Think about the ideal structure and what is going to make you scale. What is the break point? How do you make sure you bring it to life? Think of hiring as something that you will always have to do To really scale, make hiring continuous Guest Links: Eric Dahan: LinkedIn Company: Open Influence  Facebook  Twitter  Instagram  YouTube   This show is proudly sponsored by Criteria Crop  

Knowing at least one attribute that is shared by everyone in the organization is critical to nail down before you start hiring. This one thing becomes the cornerstone of your corporate values which shapes the company culture, attracts the right people and fuels growth.  Ask yourself, what is the one trait that is critical to the organization? Write it down, start talking about it and encourage it to grow.  Allow it to be the compass by which you will evaluate the right fit. Our guest today: Beerud Sheth, Co-Founder & CEO of Gupshup Gupshup is the global leader in cloud messaging and conversational experiences. He previously founded and led Elance (now Upwork, a publicly listed company), the pioneer of online freelancing and the gig economy. Beerud has built world class organizations and hired hundreds of talented people throughout his career.  Today we discuss: Minimizing the difficulty in hiring the right people How to identify your one thing to enable you to make the right hiring decision Challenge today in finding & hiring the strongest people?  Putting the jigsaw puzzle together The right set of people Hyper growth  don't rush into the hire Make due with what you have, be opportunistic Collaborative Negotiation Why is this important to the company? Very jr, part time roles were able to demonstrate grit & hunger and have evolved to very senior roles in the organization People who get stuff done Rick’s Nuggets It starts with leadership! What is your most crucial attribute Define it Live it How do we solve the problem? Find Highly flexible people Goal oriented Sense of humor; not take themselves too seriously Missionaries, not mercenaries How they negotiate is key Right people, right seat Give broad opportunities *collaborative negotiation is key Constructive conflict resolution Teamwork is all about negotiation Empower them within the role Expand the scope of the opportunity Personalities aside Flexibility, teamwork, focus on the big picture Rick’s Nuggets Referral network Content Evaluate people for Value Alignment Do they live your value?? Key Takeaways -Value: Business requires flexibility Collaborative Negotiation enables flexible execution and innovation Flexible teams win Guest Links: Beerud Sheth: LinkedIn  Company: Gupshup  Facebook  Twitter   This show is proudly sponsored by Criteria Crop

Are you considering hiring a team of experts offshore?  We all know that this option can give you a lot more bang for your buck. But does it really? The communication challenges, cultural differences and time variations may prove too much to manage for some entrepreneurs.  It’s important to consider this as an option only when the organization has the tools & structure to support successful communication of expectations. When aligned with company values, these hires can bring the added diversity that is needed to fuel innovation. Our guest today: Eris Verne, Founder of AIfinder. Eris started programming at the age of 14. While in college he started an algorithm based company which solved the problem of internet filtering called APKN. The company was acquired two years later.  After the exit of APKN, Eris discovered a flaw within a multidisciplinary field which intersects marketing, data, and behavioral analysis. So he founded Alfinder to be the most flexible behavioral data analysis solution, enabling industry leaders to predict market behaviors and learn audiences.  He currently leads a team of 11 talented offshore employees who have been extraordinary since day one. Today we discuss: Why to hire offshore talent How to effectively acquire the right teams for your company Challenge today?  Big risk to hire local Costs Commitments, legal issues Locating people for technical roles very difficult Taking a big gamble  Problems faced: Knowing what to do with the offshore team Cultural alignment   Quality Need a technical person to manage Why is this important to the company? Frees your time to hand off work Offshore are in their own habitat - only need one person here to project manage Must be a technical founder!  Rick’s Nuggets Communication is the biggest hurdle Contracting makes sense How do we hire offshore talent effectively? First Determine what you need  It’s best to find a technical person to assist you with this  Do not hire individuals! Hire through an agency Identify an agency  They might not be technical people themselves so make sure they understand your needs. Agencies usually have a way of tracking their candidates, ask as many questions as needed to understand the details of how the do so  The agency you choose should be ok with you changing, adding and removing candidates from your team regularly Don’t fall into the trap of letting them handle your team and get your own project manager Interview & Hire  Feel free to set up your interview as you would normally Understand candidates backgrounds and challenge them with technical questions Make sure there is NOT a language barrier or move on Do not spend days on hiring and going through 5 interviews with a candidate Hire Fast, Fire Faster! Set everything straight Try not to share internal news with them And don’t expect them to learn a new technology while working for you After you find fit candidates for your needs, try to work with them on a technical level only Monitor their everyday work Set the bar as you would normally Key Takeaways -Value: If you’re not a technical founder make sure you to have a technical person on your team Focus on the people who benefit from your software/solution rather than the people who are making it Hire Fast, Fire Faster Guest Links: Eris Verne: LinkedIn  Company: Alfinder  Facebook  Instagram   This show is proudly sponsored by Criteria Crop  

People do not want to go into the office on a daily basis anymore!  In fact, the last search we completed had an overwhelming number of people that would only be interested in a hybrid or fully remote work situation. Quality of life has become far more important to people than the paycheck.  We have all had to pivot in the past year but we really should embrace & capitalize on the opportunity that has been presented to us. That opportunity is the ability to raise the bar of talent within your company that is outside your geographical locale.  Our guest today: Nick Iovacchini, Co-Founder & CEO of Kettlespace. Nick Iovacchini is a serial founder with a proven track record of building successful ventures across a wide range of industries. Companies founded by Nick have grossed $70MM+ in revenue, sold 10MM+ consumer products, and provided hospitality to 1MM+ patrons. Nick is currently a co-founder of KettleSpace, a company enabling smart hybrid work solutions with software, workspaces, and expertise. In his role as CEO at KettleSpace, Nick oversees product, operations, and growth. Today we discuss: Why the hybrid model is here to stay How to run an effective hybrid hiring model Challenge today?  Gen Z- values freedom People enjoying the upside to working from home 40% of workers will quit if they have to go back Operationalize hybrid & gather the right data to know if it is working Why is this important to the company? Value talent- talent concern Power dynamics between worker and boss have changed Worker is in a stronger position of negotiation Apple revolt-  Global shakeup Rick’s Nuggets Target the strongest people -nation wide How do we solve the problem? Gather task force of people HR, c suite,  Look at new paradigm Employee input Establish KPI’s, Objectives & Steps to take (# days in the office) Success Metrics -- Engagement & Productivity Measurements General “Direction” for Hybrid - 50/50 vs 3 days a week vs. self-select all remote, all in-office, hybrid Set timelines  Plan for Change Management / Communications Operationalize Tooling Decisions / policies Implementation Data Collection /  Monitor and iterate Rick’s Nuggets Target hiring: cross industry/competitors Personal contact information Performance metrics for each role- 90, 180 days Run HireOS Key Takeaways -Value: According to McKinsey 90% of companies plan to be hybrid, but nearly 70% don’t have a plan or the tooling yet to implement it -- need to move towards solutions The key is accepting the fact that this environment will be changing, need to adopt a test/learn approach -- plan for adaptation Whether you are early or late to the hybrid party, at the end of the day this is what the talent wants and over time the majority of the workforce will demand -- early adopters will have advantages to retaining and attracting top talent Links Nick Iovacchini: LinkedIn  Company:  Kettlespace  Facebook  Instagram  Twitter  YouTube   This show is proudly sponsored by Criteria Crop

You don’t need to see 50 or even 10 candidates to make a hire. You only need to see 1.  Why do we feel like we need to see a lot of people to “compare & contrast” before making a decision? Because we have been conditioned to window shop to ensure we are getting the best “deal”. But this is a transactional mindset which causes us to hire too fast with zero evidence to support the decision.  Resulting in bad hires! Let’s change your perspective...  Start by flipping your funnel. Focus on the channels that produce the strongest hiring results. Referral Network, Warm Recruits, and then supplement with applicants.  Relationships, not money, are what drive people in today’s hiring landscape.  Our guest today: Kate DeWald, Founder & CEO of OnCue. Kate DeWald is CEO and founder of Oncue, the leading software and booking service for the moving industry. Launched in 2018, Oncue helps moving companies increase their revenue by as much as 400%, year over year, by automating many of their manual processes and enabling them to devote more time towards business growth and longevity. Prior to leading Oncue, Kate served in go-to-market roles to drive growth at industry-leading SaaS companies, including SuccessFactors and ServiceMax. Today we discuss: Why hiring is a long term play How to gain access to high quality people  Challenge today?  Filling the top of the funnel with high quality people  Leadership roles Funnel: either too many (unqualified) or too few Making sure the candidate experience is stellar Why is this important to the company? Time wasting Want to find the people that are going to be best in the business Find the people that are aligned on mission, vision and values Rick’s Nuggets Reactive hiring results in “oh shit” hires How do we solve the problem? Funnel: linkedin recruiting, cold outreach, recruiter Hire expert/subject matter expertise recruiting  Write content: be authentic and write about what it’s truly like to work at your company Unbias interview process- doesn’t matter where the candidate comes from Training leaders Reviewing questions prior to the interview Play the long game - interview and connect with people before you have the roles available, help out others where you can, it’s about creating long lasting relationships with people Rick’s Nuggets Referrals first: “Who have you worked with that was a strong performer in the organization?” Recruits: cross industry performers, competitors-  Key Takeaways -Value: Spend more time than you think you need on recruiting  Be authentic in your hiring process- if you’re a startup, own it- being transparent with the candidate about what the role is really will set them up for success  Think about Key ways you can add value - how can you add value to your candidates in the process? Make sure they have a great experience regardless of the outcome Guest Links: Kate DeWald: LinkedIn Company: Facebook  Twitter   This show is proudly sponsored by Criteria Crop

You’re hiring and just are not seeing the quality flow of people responding to your job ads. A bit frustrated, you decide to launch an email/LinkedIn campaign targeting people from your competitors. You identify the people you want to talk to and start sending messages. Hopeful that you’ll draw in the strongest talent.  But the response is underwhelming at best. Why? Because no one cares about your company, your job or you until you can demonstrate the value of “what’s in it for me?”. The selfish way you message is the #1 reason you fail to gain a positive response.  Start with a person’s pain first, then you'll gain their attention. Our guest today: Henna Pryor, President & Executive Coach for Pryority Group After an explosive 14-year recruitment career working with top performers, growing managers, and C-suite leaders, Henna founded Pryority Group to realize a vision that access to coaching and development is the most important asset to any individual’s continued growth.  Henna prides herself on an "empathetic but no-nonsense" approach and has been recognized quickly as a secret weapon of companies ranging from fast-growing startups to Fortune 500. She has a dual specialty in working with high-achieving women and measurably improving the performance of sales teams and growing start-up businesses through her in-demand sales messaging training programs and strategic coaching.  Today we discuss: Why no one cares about your messaging today How to structure your digital communications to gain a positive response Challenge today?  Reaching out to candidates digitally in a noisy marketplace - getting their attention and keeping it. Problem: Peoples attention span is about 8 seconds in digital communication (goldfish)  Initial outreach is usually operating from middle school English class writing techniques Subject line kills you (great opportunity) The spotlight is in the wrong spot. People start by talking about themselves right out of the gate.  People don’t want to hear about you right away. They want to be the hero of their sales message first. People are motivated by Love Hate Fear of Vanity Pride Longing for Why is this important to the company? Even in digital communication, people buy on emotion. People get 121 emails a day- most of which are deleted or ignored Most leaders have not been taught sales writing  Rick’s Nuggets Pain, desire, impact How do we solve the problem? Subject Line Must induce curiosity Ie:  You wouldn’t believe how we do this,  Confidential mysterious confession- top open “That was a huge fail”  What's something special? What’s something you want to get away from? The Content You Perspective (“I get you, I understand where you’re coming from, I relate” Here’s why it might be worth chatting with me for a few minutes (features + benefits, ideally at least 3) Call to action Very clear Low pressure, low commitment Rick’s Nuggets Strike a nerve by identifying their pain  Be specific (growth, management, work content) Desired outcome by alleviating the pain Performance Metrics (Impact they will make) How’s my telepathy? Opener You have been eagerly anticipating my email, but I just received your telepathic message so I apologize for taking so long to get back to you ;-).   Acknowledge the Pain I understand you are pretty good at your job but your talents in XXXX (personalize) may be a bit underappreciated (or underutilized, under-challenged, over-managed)  in your current role.  Key Takeaways -Value: Attention is a currency. You might have the best opportunity with the biggest runway, but none of it matters if you don’t have a rock solid digital communication strategy to catch the attention of the right people to engage the conversation further. Your value proposition alone isn’t enough to attract a good candidate in this marketplace. You need to express in your outreach that you understand THEM, and then walk them through the benefits that will make your message compelling enough to want to continue the conversation. Using the framework shared will give you a much more compelling message to attract the candidate and give you a much better chance of starting conversations with the top passive talent as well, not just the active talent. Guest Links: Henna Pryor: LinkedIn www.linkedin.com/in/hennapryor Company: Pryority Group  Facebook  Instagram    This show is proudly sponsored by Criteria Crop  

With everyone struggling to hire, companies are looking for a competitive edge in being able to attract talented people. But the answer is not compensation & benefits. Contrary to what most people are preaching right now.  What draws people to your company is NOT the transaction. It is the substance behind what is in it for me!  Today we are discussing how your book can have a surprising effect in drawing talented people to your company by simply allowing people to understand who you are.  Our guest today: Alicia Dunams, Founder & CEO of Bestseller in a Weekend. Alicia has helped over 2000 people become bestselling authors through her Bestseller in a Weekend® course and professional ghostwriting  author services and coaching company.  Additionally, as a leadership trainer, executive coach and certified peacemaker/mediator who has worked with clients including CBS, Gap, GEICO, and Capital One, Alicia uses the foundation of healthy conversations and storytelling as the bridge to overcome conflict in the workplace and beyond.  Alicia is an expert at bringing a book to life and elevating personal & professional brand!  Which makes Alicia a perfect expert for today’s topic. Today we discuss: Why a book may be the competitive edge How to create a book to elevate your professional brand Challenge today? Can't attract the right people People don't want to go back to the grind Want flexibility in being able to work from home Competing from a lifestyle perspective Companies are competing in the same pool Not attracting the passive people Why is this important to the company? Publicity Clear company story Insight into who you might be working for Shows company values Branding Omnipresence Sales/recruiting channel (24x7) People who resonate with the message of your book will be drawn to the company Rick’s Nuggets Powerful insight into who I will be working for How do one write a book while building a company? Determine what do you want to accomplish with book Outlining the target audience Their pain point and providing solution Positioning it for recruiting attraction Examples of culture and stories of the people who work for you Hire a Ghostwriter Find someone who resonates with you - someone who captures your voice, finding your voice Contact a service, like The Book Funnel ,or Authors Unite, where a book coach can pair you with a ghostwriter, and handles all the project management and author services 6-12 months Traditional Publishing Route Contact me Timeframe 18months Connect with a Book Proposal Writer (describe what is a book proposal) Contact Agent - they also have a list of book proposal writers Your  book will be Shopped around Book Marketing - make your book a bestseller Key Takeaways -Value: Write a book on workplace culture to attract the right people. This book becomes a playbook and operating procedure for your company. This also could be a requisite read for new hires/interviewees. Guest Links: Alicia Dunams: LinkedIn  Website  Facebook  Instagram Company: Best Seller In a Weekend  YouTube   This show is proudly sponsored by Criteria Crop

It is no secret that diversity sparks innovation and fuels business growth.  But diversity for the sake of image or social pressure is dangerous. It needs to truly be embedded into the fabric of the corporate values in how people interact. It is not just checking off a box to satisfy outsiders. This is most dangerous when someone is hired simply for their gender or race without any consideration of what the individual is positioned to contribute. Values are misaligned, expectations miscommunicated and voila …. Let the nightmare begin. Costly mistakes that result in wrongful terminations, and hostile work environment lawsuits.  Our guest today: Venesa Klein, Executive Recruiter & Partner for Calibre One. Since 2007, Venesa has helped some of the world's most successful companies build out the critical leadership teams that drive their success.  As Partner at Calibre One, Venesa founded its Purpose-Driven Practice, which focuses on placing executives in growing organizations seeking to create innovation with meaningful impact. Her empathy forward personality along with her strategic thinking has enabled her to successfully build diversity programs for her clients.  Today we discuss: Why diversity may not be right for your company How to correctly implement a diversity program Challenge today? Having a real diversity strategy Implement a long term strategy that develops people into leaders Diversity in leadership to fill a role - check off the box Oh Shit, we need to hire a woman because we are an all male leadership team the structure to give opportunity to diversity  Vanity hire Why is this important to the company? Real change and a more diverse workforce equals growth & innovation Companies  The reality is that a woman Diversity of perspective:  Will the person really be valued Rick’s Nuggets Hiring for core values alignment eliminates bias, promotes diversity Just filling a seat for diversity sake, dangerous Value aligned Empowered to thrive How do we solve the problem? Bottom up approach Add people at the most jr level first Development plan Way of identifying people who are doing well and offering opportunity to continuously grow Promote into leadership Incentivizing organization to develop those around them Leadership accountability When you have to go out to search Leadership team in agreement  Think through the obstacles in recruiting within the criteria Ask Why? Needs to be a level of honesty -that is not happening Rick’s Nuggets Build your interview process to eliminate bias first Value alignment first Values come in every flavor of person Positioning before Pitch Understand the person’s desires Path to success Heal their career wounds with your opportunity Key Takeaways -Value: Bottom up approach Strategy around developing diversity in the organization Looking through the lens of diversity Guest Links: Venesa Klein: LinkedIn  Twitter  Company: Calibre One  Facebook  Twitter   This show is proudly sponsored by Criteria Crop

What if you completely eliminated the resume from your entire hiring process? Now you might be thinking, “how is that even possible”? Well, lets’ divulge a few truths about the resume. First, all resumes lie. Not only in what is written but more importantly, what is not. Really the most valuable information on a resume is the contact information and the white space. And the white space is where the truth is found. Today we discuss how to effectively circumvent the resume to uncover the strongest talent while minimizing your time investment in sifting through piles of resumes.  Our guest today: Dr Michael Neal, Founder & CEO of Build My Team Dr. Michael Neal is an Eye Doctor in private practice and the Founder of Build My Team. After years of struggling with bad hires, he invented a scientific assessment system to predictably discover diamonds in the rough - all without looking at resumes.   Dr. Neal and Build My Team erase all the guesswork with their scientific hiring process. They remove those who can’t do the job using their unique combination of scientific assessments for mindset, learning speed, motivation, strengths and talents. This saves business owners valuable time and helps eliminate high turnover.  Today we discuss: Why we need to kill the resume How to effectively hire without a resume What are the challenges with the resume? At the end of the day, leaders just want to know who to hire Resumes get in the way every step of the process until the end A resume does not tell you anything useful Address is the most useful thing (tells commute time) Mostly made up- inaccurate information Why is this important to the company? Resumes lead people down the wrong path Fictional failure file Bias Does not tell you who the person is Inertia - lead into the funnel Replace the resume with a scientific assessment  97% accurate  Rick’s Nuggets All Resumes LIE Hiring for Skills is a recipe for disaster This includes Vanity Hires A Call to Action is a powerful screening mechanism Added to the job description Provides insight into the person How do we solve the problem? Be open to a better way If the current method is working,  Enjoy the misery of being on the hiring hamster wheel Ready for better results Pain: time, emotional,  Use assessments Build your person and identify the superstars Reject concept of experience Eliminate the con-people and manipulators Reverse engineer what the right person looks like Being categorically honest Accepting the truth- hire people around the leaders Identify a specific mindset Eliminate entitlement Interview Do not bring the resume into the interview Rick’s Nuggets Invest the time cultivating Referrals first Targeted recruiting Job postings Discovery Call! Determines if the person has the correct positioning first Understanding Pain, Desire & Impact  Key Takeaways -Value: The stress you are under as a business owner with hiring is totally avoidable Replace mediocre team members with superstars An 80% staff replacement resulted in an 82% profit increase Guest Links: Michael Neal: LinkedIn  Company: Build My Team  Facebook     This show is proudly sponsored by Criteria Crop  

Assumptions are the #1 reason we fail in our expectations when hiring and raising capital.  Assumptions are drawn when we don’t invest the time to listen to all parties. Asking deeper questions to gather data to support an accurate decision is crucial. What is not uncovered is the reason we make bad hires. Because we inject our own assumptions, needs & bias where the evidence should be.  This especially holds true in your hiring process when our needs and desires cloud what is most important, the truth.  Our guest today: Brian Franco, Founder & Managing Partner of Meritage Partners. Brian strives for excellence and fairness in deal structure and has a deeply intuitive understanding of the importance of company’s compatibility. He has represented and completed deals with an extremely diverse set of small and mid-sized businesses (SMB's), private equity groups and public companies in a number of industries and has significant experience working with companies in: architecture & engineering, healthcare, manufacturing, logistics, wellness, A.I., software and technology, and professional services. Brian is an expert in aligning expectations in the M&A process.  Today we discuss: Managing Expectations with Market Conditions and Expectations when Fundraising & Hiring 3 step process to achieving expectation alignment Challenge today?  Capital raisers need to secure time to develop and bring their vision to market. In business as in life, Time is afforded by “capital” ILLUSTRATION: An airplane needs enough runway, a powerful engine or engines , and fuel to develop speed/momentum to get airborne. One without the other will result in catastrophic results EXAMPLE: Amazon did not expect to make a profit for four to five years   QUESTION:  Will you expect Capital Providers to wait months or years to return a profit? Does the investment opportunity meet the investors expectations? Time requirement Return on Investment Balanced Risk & Reward Is their alignment among the founders and the investors? Cultural alignment Is the founder/team coachable? Is the founder a “rebel” or a “cowboy/cowgirl”? Is there TRUST, Is there a Perception of risk when it comes to the topics of: Operational Control  Financial Control Investing in the PERSON or TEAM to execute the vision or the business plan Note:  Visionaries aren’t always the best integrators STORY: Some of us are familiar with the story about Steve Jobs leaving Apple in 1985 for 12 years and then returning in 1997 To manage you must first understand LISTENING Why is this important to the company? Understanding alignment empowers us and allows us to understand how to meet expectations and then meeting those expectations leads to SUCCESS Qualified leadership team:  is their personal goodwill or collateral in past successes? Relevant experience in leadership Rick’s Nuggets Assume nothing- eliminate your needs, desires & bias Listening is the only way to understand Understanding is the key to truth Truth is the springboard to success How do we solve the problem of managing expectations?  It is as simple as “Listening” and “Educating” ourselves so that we align and meet expectations of Capital Raisers and Capital Providers. Identify what is Achievable Listening  Education Educating clients on what the ‘market’ is likely to offer them Aligning expectations to market practices or offerings (reality) Plan & Equip Identify relevant investors Develop Pitch Deck and Memorandum to articulate a consistent message Experience and ability to Assembling the team and identifying strengths and weaknesses (don’t put the strongest person in any position simply because they are “strong” align their strengths with the organization because they are qualified and capable) Rick’s Nuggets Understand the person the business needs Target: Research, network & connect with 5-10 potential candidates Execute Have conversations to determine positioning alignment Key Takeaways -Value: Don’t get in the way of your vision (don’t be too rigid) Put an allstar team together Be coachable Guest Links: Brian Franco: LinkedIn  Twitter Company: Meritage Partners    This show is proudly sponsored by Criteria Crop  

“But I have managed to hire two rockstars without having any formalized hiring structure” Said my friend Anthony.  To which I quickly replied back “I’d rather be lucky than good”! It is great to have a few “superstars” in your organization but it is outstanding to have an organization built entirely of well positioned, highly productive people, A-players. Having a system for hiring is the only way to make the leap from average to extraordinary. Our guest today: Robert Glazer, Founder & CEO of Acceleration Partners. A global partner marketing agency, and the co-founder and Chairman of BrandCycle. A serial entrepreneur, he has a passion for helping individuals and organizations build their capacity to Elevate. Robert was twice named to Glassdoor’s list of Top Small & Medium Companies CEO's (#2) and was selected as a Top 22 Conscious Business Leaders of 2019 by Conscious Company. He speaks to companies and organizations around the world on topics related to business growth, culture, capacity-building and performance. Today we discuss: Why systems, especially in hiring, to win! Robert’s process for hiring Why are business leaders reluctant to follow a hiring system?  Moving from a superstar hiring culture to a systematic process Getting everyone to do work up front Agreeing on what success looks like in the role Clarity in the scorecard Everyone to follow the process Being thorough to meet objectives Why is this important to the company? Process pushes the responsibility of building great teams to the teams Scalable in removing leadership from the process quickly Scientific process and repeatable  Rick’s Nuggets Process & systems win “I’m too busy and don't have time to sit down and develop a process” - You Hiring process needs to be driven by leadership Hiring the strongest people, needs to be your strongest talent How do we solve the problem?  Collect process from other firms Layout - read Who Developing the playbook as a team Eliminating the bias & urgency Clear on qualities & outcomes  Making everything behavioral based  Training the playbook  Train & certify on the process No interviewing unless you are and expert on the process itself Evaluate interviews  Following the process Look at the data and scorecards, not gut  Improving the playbook based on mistakes Debriefed on mid hires and find the holes in the system  Get uncomfortable and figure it out now Rick’s Nuggets Read Healing Career Wounds (Available May 20 - Preorder on Amazon) HireOS interview process - Role playing - best training! Scorecard = performance metrics - measurable / timeline Key Takeaways -Value: Your current hiring process is probably no better than 50/50 Based on individuals not a repeatable process  A good process also really helps with remote hiring  This is the #1 way to improve your culture  Links LinkedIn:https://www.linkedin.com/in/glazer/ Websites:https://www.accelerationpartners.com/ Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/AccelerationPartners/ Twitter: https://twitter.com/accelerationpar Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/accelerationpar/ YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/c/Accelerationpartners/featured   This show is proudly sponsored by Criteria Crop: https://www.criteriacorp.com/

It is very possible to share the same core values, yet differ in our religious or political views. This, we must understand when hiring new people. Now you might be thinking something like “we have a really harmonious team and we don't want someone who will be bringing their strong political, religious or social agenda”. Then build the practice into your corporate values and let it blossom throughout the company.   After all, we are all servants to the “business”. And what is good for the business is innovation, diversity and growth.  All of which are fueled by proper value alignment. Our guest today: Bianca Lager, President of Social Intelligence Corp. By driving the vision for Social Intelligence to provide productive, ethical and innovative solutions, she has spent her time working closely with Fortune 500 companies and non-profits alike to create safe and discrimination-free workplaces.  Bianca obtained an MBA from Pepperdine University with a concentration in Dispute Resolution and is a LinkedIn Learning Instructor. She is an expert in consumer reporting, focused on online risk for human resources.  Today we discuss: Valid reasons not to hire based on a person’s social profile How to properly use a social media background check to limit your company liability What are the challenges with conducting a social media background check Violating privacy rights by doing it yourself Fed and state laws regarding politics in the workplace  Whose standards are you using Is it related to business outcomes Is it fair to the person or the company Context is key Why is this important to the company? Disqualification based on personal views does not lead to better business outcomes and could be discriminatory Culture fit - Diverse teams Or single mindset Business suffers Code of conduct standards  Avoid someone who is disruptive to the business Limits the success of the company Who are we or What are we not? What is hate speech - how do we define and document that?  Rick’s Nuggets Difference in opinion among people who can communicate (agree to disagree) produce magical results unintended consequences  How do we implement a proper social media check? Do NOW! Review laws in your jurisdiction/jurisdiction of your employees  Create a policy Risk - what is actionable  Definition of what is acceptable code of conduct  Stay away from protected class information Age, race, sex, religion, political affiliation  3rd party solution - defines content and behavior appropriately and consistently  Violence:  Intolerance:  Criminal activity (drugs / stealing): Sexually explicit:  Well documented and legally vetted business related behavior  Fbi, Anti-Def, SPLC Actionable Legally defensible position Rick’s Nuggets Preparation is key for everyone that you invite into your organization.  Let your Values policy be known to everyone Crystal clarity from the minute they are engaged in the interview process Hire for value alignment first Key Takeaways -Value: Formalize your social media screening approach Create a simple, 2-3 sentence social media policy based on a basic code of conduct Document and stay consistent (Documentation + consistency + policy = Actionable) Links: SI Podcast Offer - receive a free sample report along with discounted pricing offer LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/biancacalhounlager/ Websites: https://www.socialintel.com/ Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/socialintelligencecorp/ Twitter: https://twitter.com/socialintelco Twitter: https://twitter.com/BiancaLager Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/socialintelco/   This show is proudly sponsored by Criteria Crop: https://www.criteriacorp.com/  

It’s no secret that I feel that employer branding is bullshit. Mostly because it is focused on perks and selling a “utopian” environment that is not what the company really is at all.  Messaging is focused on being the greatest place to work. But we all know that if you are a small to mid sized business, you are at best, a “hot mess”.  Clarity in who you REALLY are as an organization is the one thing that will propel your business forward and attract the strongest people to your company. Our guest today: Eric Morley, Co-Founder & COO for Blue C Advertising Eric has been helping companies across both B2B and B2C segments create brand strategies, campaign development, strategic design, content creation, and digital marketing strategies with a goal of outperforming the competition. Eric and the Blue C team have been honored to work with some truly innovative and impactful brands that keep them constantly pushing and evolving their exclusive BrandPWR Platform.  Today we discuss: The truth about what branding is The elements for a true branding initiative  According to Wikipedia: Employer brand describes an employer's reputation as a place to work, and their employee value proposition EVP-a set of associations and offerings provided by an organization in return for the skills, capabilities and experiences an employee brings to the organization Challenge today? Not having your messaging down Retooling messaging for a covid friendly world The world has changed in the last year Equally important to communicate to your customers as well has your future employees Why is this important to the company? A players have seen it all before and can smell a skunk a mile away Laser focused messaging creates massive clarity Sales side, it affects revenue Employees- will view you as the same as…. Just getting by Rick’s Nuggets Branding is not perks, puffing your chest (ego) or the product Today’s employer branding focus on transactional components Not about “what’s in it for me” How do we solve the problem? A 360 degree process- brand clarity Discovery  Pull everything apart Question Verbal Messaging -12 point process  Vision Mission Positioning Brand pillars Brand promise Values Brand personality Voice & tone Mantra Tagline Visual Messaging- Recognition Website, social media, external marketing, inbound marketing Transcend from written to visual  Rick’s Nuggets Pain  Why Desire (what’s in it for you)  Problems to be solved Performance metrics Impact  How you grow Key Takeaways -Value: Strategy first - roadmap to the promise land Create laser focused messaging Massive clarity in the minds of your employees, future employees Links LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/ericmorleybluec/ Websites: https://bluecusa.com/ Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/BlueCAdvertising/ Instagram:  https://www.instagram.com/blue_c_usa/   This show is proudly sponsored by Criteria Crop: https://www.criteriacorp.com/  

As Leaders, we spend a lot of time wondering if we have the right person in the right seat. But how often do we question if we are the right person in the seat? Entrepreneurs have a special challenge, in that, some of us don’t choose to be entrepreneurs, it is just who we are. But what if you are really an entrepreneur who is in a J O B… or not an entrepreneur at all but have been forced into that role due to life circumstances.  Today we discuss the core of what makes a business successful, the entrepreneur and how to recognize if you are the right person in the right seat.  Our guest today: Gino Wickman, Founder of EOS Worldwide, Author of Traction & Creator of Entrepreneurial Leap. An entrepreneur since the age of 21, Gino has had an obsession for learning what makes businesses and entrepreneurs thrive.  Gino set out to help entrepreneurs and leaders get what they want from their businesses. Based on his years of real-world experience, he created the Entrepreneurial Operating System (EOS), a practical method for helping companies achieve greatness.  His new mission, Entrepreneurial Leap, is to find all of the entrepreneurs-in-the-making, at any age, wherever they are—to help them realize their purpose and live the life they were born to live.  Today we discuss: How to discover if you are really an entrepreneur The steps to take to launch your entrepreneurial journey Challenge today in people being in the wrong seat? Are Your eyes open Did you make the right decision to become an entrepreneur Forced entrepreneurs - won't be the next Elon Musk Hype around being an entrepreneur Not everyone can be Career choice for 4% of the world Why is this important to the person? Clarity, certainty, peace of mind, self confidence Rick’s Nuggets Too often the person leading the company is just “running the business” How do we discover your true entrepreneurial nature? Confirm Take the assessment Know when you on the entrepreneurial range Know whether you are or aren't Not is not a death sentence Glimpse What you are built for The type of business is right for you Day in a life- heaven & hell Perfect business for you (my bizmatch) Path Showing guide post to avoid ½ the mistakes they are going to make and greatly increase the likelihood of success Mentor Discipline Stages of building the company Key Takeaways -Value: 1,2,3 roadmap- Assessment - https://e-leap.com/assessment/4 MyBiz match, vision clarifier Links: LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/ginowickman/ Websites: https://e-leap.com/ Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/readLEAP/ Instagram:  https://www.instagram.com/readleap/ YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCg1fRlytBObtuIIAa46B_cg Entrepreneurial Leap: Do You Have What It Takes to Become an Entrepreneur?  Available for purchase through all major retailers: Order on Amazon    This show is proudly sponsored by Criteria Crop: https://www.criteriacorp.com/

We can all agree that the only way to 10 or 100x your company is to hire the strongest people. So, what are the strongest people?  The strongest person for your company is a person who aligns with your values first. They understand the mission and they have a strong desire to impact the business because it benefits them first.  Understanding the person across the table does not happen by chance but by a systematic approach to your interview that is designed to gather concrete evidence.  The smartest companies know that cultural alignment is far more critical to a successful hire than merely a person’s skills.  Today we discuss: The value & pitfalls of a hiring system How to implement a hiring operating system into your company What is a hiring operating system?  The step by step process by which your company successfully hires. Challenge today? In any market, care needs to be taken when hiring Right person, Right seat … Jim Collins - Good to Great Time pressure Hiring is a guessing game Likability/commonality Skills Bias - educational background, company history (assumed success) People hired are not properly positioned for your unique company Builder, Improver, Maintainer Hiring Process is common, weak or unorganized - Key indicator of how the business is run People are systems resistant.  Systems are the key to success Why is this important to the company? Operating Systems  Save time & money provide structure & clarity Build accountability Build effective practices  Attract talent A- players are drawn to successful opportunities Systems Win Business operating systems (EOS, scaling up, Strategic Coach, MAP) IDC: Companies lose 20-30 percent of revenue each year due to ineffective business practices https://www.entrepreneur.com/article/286084 https://www.forbes.com/sites/jeffboss/2016/11/01/5-ways-your-business-processes-could-be-hurting-your-business/?sh=6b39e50452e9 How do you build your hiring operating system? Foundation Values first Own it- embrace the truth Be transparent about the Good & Bad  No one believes your company is perfect Build Interview Question Library Craft Behavioral questions (2-3) Determine **Knockouts Agree on questions Establish Interview Structure Timeline Commitment Define Format Outreach / Application Intake Process - discovery call Interview Assessments/Tests (not too soon) Decision Build Job Description Template Understand Performance Metrics Build Call to Action Questions Assign Questions  to Interviewer position (order of importance) Assemble Interview Team 3 teams of X Execution Rules of engagement Discovery/Screening call Assessment over Resume Time up front saves pain in the end non-transactional TRAINING!!!  Behavioral Interview Bias annihilation Knock Out’s Role playing exercise Interview question tweaking Iteration of follow up questions Solidify questions Logging data Wrapping up interview & Handoff Gather feedback Dismissal  Role Playing wrap up Key Takeaways -Value: Systems -breed success and eliminate all the things that keep you up at night Prioritize owning a hiring operating system that attracts the strongest people to your business  Train your people how to interview to gather evidence to support the hire Links LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/rick-girard-07722/ Websites:  https://www.stridesearch.com/hire-power-radio https://www.stridesearch.com/rick-girard Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/HirePowerRadio/ YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCeEJm9RoCfu8y7AJpaxkxqQ   This show is proudly sponsored by Criteria Crop: https://www.criteriacorp.com/

If hiring right is so critical to the organization, why is interviewing the one action that is entirely left up to chance? It has been my experience that virtually zero small companies invest in training their people how to interview. This was the experience of an extremely successful executive, Jeff. Who at the C-level had only attended a one hour session of interview training in his whole career…. 10 years ago. It is assumed that most leaders already know how to interview but the truth is that they don't. Most of us know how to talk skills and look for likable traits. But the process is riddled with bias and assumptions. Missing the evidence that is so critical in hiring the strongest person for the role. Our guest today: Adam Stonehocker,  Head of Sales at Gemini Adam is the head of Sales at Gemini, a data visualization company that helps executives make key decisions involving their most important asset, their people. He has led sales teams for Peek, Google, Twitter, Pandora Radio,  and AdRoll, EBay.  Adam has hired over 500 salespeople throughout his career and trained his leaders to interview with purpose. Today we discuss: Why you need to invest in training your people how to interview How to train your people to interview effectively There is a belief that there is no right way to interview and in the end it all comes down to “trusting your gut” and pulling the trigger... So wrong in every way! Why don't companies invest in interview training? Attrition was 20% per month with poor hiring Team only hit 85% of goal for the year Culture was terrible Top performers said “your hiring anyone who can breathe” Why is this important to the company? Without recognition & change top performers would have left Interview team has no idea how to identify the right people,  You have to get the right people on the bus Upper management not happy Costs a lot of money when you have a leaky bucket Rick’s Nuggets Every company should prioritize training everyone who interviews for the company Systems put in place maximize productivity & efficiency of your employees How do we solve the problem? Identifying core values & culture that you want to hire for Make sure everyone is on the same page Hiring managers, recruiters,    Structuring the Interview guide Gauging the competencies in the interview guide Coachable: Role play exercise to implement feedback from prior interviewer   Training  Values we’re looking for  Interview guide gauges those values or competencies Role playing with each other Using the interview guide as a script Feedback loop and discussion from the group Reps/future managers take part in calibration and interviews Quarterly calibration Continually updating the interview guide Have your needs changed?  Are there questions that aren’t pulling the right competency Problem questions that most people stumble on? Feel of the interview, is it intense or laid back and fun? Your interview feel should match your culture Rick’s Nuggets Write behavioral questions that uncover evidence to support your company values Write follow up questions for deeper digging Assign to each team member Role play Practice makes proficient How did that work? Key Takeaways : Define your values/culture Everyone on the same page, looking for the right types of talent Only then can you ABR (Always Be Recruiting) Structure your interview guide to gauge value competencies Set up quarterly calibrations to refine interview guide, interview skills, This is where your team continually sharpens the saw,  Feedback loop on interview process Links: LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/adamstonehocker/ Websites: https://gogemini.com/   This show is proudly sponsored by Criteria Crop: https://www.criteriacorp.com/

Thinking about the people you hire as objects or obstacles to achieve your company goals is poison.  Often we venture into the hiring process with the mindset of “how can YOU help ME”. This is wrong in so many ways. Especially if your goal is to fuel the growth of the organization.  The truth is, the people you hire could care less about you and your goals. This is why people take your job simply for the paycheck and bounce at the first hint of trouble. Understanding the other person’s pain & desires allows you to connect the dots, for both parties, of how they can bring maximum impact to their careers and the company.  Our guest today: Jonathan Domsky, Founder of Untangled Coaching An entrepreneur since he was 24 years old, Jonathan uses many of the same tools as a traditional business coach—goal setting, accountability, best practices. But his purpose in life is teaching personal mastery. Jonathan’s superpower is to distill this wisdom into practical, easy to understand, and simple to apply tools that will make your life more easy, meaningful, and joyous. To untangle the clutter in your business and life so that you can be your best, most authentic self. And most importantly—see a clear path on how to get from where you are right now, to living your beautiful future. Today we discuss: Why you need to change your hiring mindset How to shift your mindset to fuel growth Challenge today? Hiring manager hires people who are not a good fit for the company. Only thinking about what’s in it for me Not long term  Why is this important to the company? Behavior drives results.  But what drives behavior? Training and incentives aren’t enough.  The answer is mindset Outward mindset is a tool, a lens, that gets everyone on the same page Side steps personal issues to allow focus on the organization It allows space to find solutions to things that aren’t working Change success metrics (data point) Rick’s Nuggets Shift from listening to answer to listening to understand Need to fill & ego drive hiring. Period Result 51% bad hires How do we solve the problem? Seeing others as having needs, challenges & objectives of equal importance to our own First ask- what is needed? Remind yourself “am I doing what is in the best interest of all parties” Realize the impact that has been received by you in your career Can you state the top three goals and objectives of key coworkers? How does what you do affect other people in the organization? Adjust efforts to actually help them Make a list of the objectives, needs, and challenges that belong to the people you impact in the organization--peers, manager, direct reports, candidates.  If you aren’t 100% sure, ask them.  Evaluate how you are helping these people accomplish their objectives, meet their needs, and face their challenges.  Make a list of ways you can improve If the success metrics and incentives in your organization are inward, then an outward mindset is unlikely to have a lasting impact.  Change those metrics so that they are focused less on what you do and what you get, and more on how what you do affects others What are your current metrics around Selection and Onboarding--do job descriptions and training simply describe what the employee is hired to do? Or does it also explain why they do what they do, and what is the desired impact? Reporting Practices--are they used to control and monitor or to empower? Incentives and Compensation and Performance Management--Are people rewarded for individual performance, or for accomplishing group goals? What are negative effects of inward thinking in these areas? What are ideas to approach this with an Outward mindset? Measure results Check in to see that their needs were actually met.  Adjust your efforts accordingly Rick’s Nuggets First- Understand what the business needs, not your ego Second- Understand what the person needs for themselves Third- Connect the dots Value load every challenge into the person’s desires and allow them to make an impact Metrics: Time saved, interview experience Key Takeaways -Value: Are the success metrics in your organization inward or outwardly focused? How could you make them more outward focused in order to experience less drama and conflict? Carefully consider this statement--As far as I’m concerned, the problem is me.  I am the place to start. Who is one person who needs more from me than I am currently giving? What more could I begin to contribute today? How could I know that my actions made their life easier? Links: LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/jonathan-domsky/ Websites: https://untangled-coaching.com/ Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/jonathan.domsky YouTube:https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCCtBAgyPKr5_-boeLjQWFGA     This show is proudly sponsored by Criteria Crop: https://www.criteriacorp.com/

Do you really need a person full time or will a freelancer suffice? Often the need to get work done clouds our vision who we really need.  Ask yourself, “what does the business need?” and what is the timing in which the work needs to be done. When you need something quick, you most likely need a freelancer. But know that your explicit communication is the key to successful project completion. Just don’t shortcut the selection process and hire those who get it, want it and can deliver results. Our guest today: Shahar Erez, Co-Founder & CEO of Stoke Talent. An experienced executive with solid engineering, product and marketing leadership backgrounds backed up by sound results. He has more than 15 years of experience in various management positions in a wide range of organizations building stellar teams and leading them to new levels of success in highly competitive markets.  Shahar has hired hundreds of Freelancers throughout his career and is here to share his expertise. Today we discuss: When to hire freelancers vs full time talent Roadmap to how to most effectively hire freelancers I struggle with the notion of hiring freelancers as I have time challenges in communication of expectations Challenge today? There was no flood in the market of talent Cultural challenge Mental barrier Freelancers Compliance & back office challenges  Why is this important to the company? Get the right talent Agility to move fast Flexibility & budget control Quick time to hire Try before you buy Rick’s Nuggets Even freelancers need to align with your company values They are part of the culture When values align & expectations are clearly defined the quality of work skyrockets What is the process for hiring freelancers? Open to the possibility of freelancers No strings attached  Budget flexibility to get work done quickly  Training managers on what it is to manage & hire freelancers No need for a full interview Lower Expectations  Very clear on deliverables- what to happen & when Start with a 2 week project Define deliverables How to operate in the two weeks Clear communication- more important than full time employees  Rick’s Nuggets Interviewing Freelancers Must have a strong Discovery / Screening call - do not shortcut! Understand the person’s pain, desire & impact Why do they want the work?? Every person you add has an influence on culture Do they get it, want it, and have the capacity to do the work? - Gino Wickman Do not hire if they are just there for the paycheck Key Takeaways -Value: Number of independent contractors are growing and will make more than 50% of workforce within the next 5 years Prepare your organization and leaders to operate within this new workforce composition model You should treat this as strategic shift and get a platform to assure you are managing this correctly Links LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/shaharer/ Websites: https://www.stoketalent.com/  Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/stoketalent Twitter: https://twitter.com/shaharer Twitter: https://twitter.com/stoketalent   This show is proudly sponsored by Criteria Crop: https://www.criteriacorp.com/

How many resumes do you need to see to fill a role? Let’s take it a step further. How many people do you need to interview to fill a role? If you guessed One, you are correct! So, what is wrong with Gloria wanting to wait to interview other people before making a decision on the person that was just interviewed?.......Everything! Waiting to interview other people is a ridiculously clear beacon that you have a weak interview process. Not being able to gather enough data and make a decision within 24 hours is not only a waste of your time, but the other person’s as well.  Comparison shopping is how bad hiring decisions are made. Our guest today: Jodi Brandsttetter, Chief Talent Strategist of Lean Effective Talent Strategist, LLC Jodi is passionate about talent acquisition and uses design thinking in creating selection and hiring processes focused on people and business. She is certified through IDEO U in design thinking.  Jodi is the CEO and founder of Lean Effective Talent Strategies which includes The Hiring Blueprint, talent acquisition consulting firm and Talent Acquisition Evolution, a community for recruiting professionals to connect, learn, and work together.  Today we discuss: The dangers of comparison shopping when it comes to hiring A plan of attack to enable quick decision making for each individual interviewed Why do we feel like we want to see more people before we make a decision? The hiring manager lacks confidence in making a decision with just one interview. Being able to communicate the desire skill set and experience needed to find the best candidate Understanding the motivators Miscommunication between the manager and recruiter on the best candidate for the role Or no communication between the manager and recruiter  Not everyone is the same person- shrug off bad hires Stupid Assumptions! Why is this important to the company? Having confidence in pulling the trigger with the first person will lower time to hire/fill. By hiring the first person who is align with the role, there can be a positive impact on the business in a faster time frame. Builds a stronger relationship with the hr/recruiting team when a hiring manager knows what they need and able to make decisions in a timely manner. People will judge you based on the quality of your questions. Therefore, your interview questions must be intentional and have a specific purpose.  How do we solve the problem? Recognize that you do not have the tools and experience in hiring to have real confidence in your hiring decisions. Join Hiring Managers Anonymous, a community for hiring managers who have a hiring problem. Step 1: Admit that you have a hiring problem  Step 2: Believe that there are tools and training available to help you. Step 3: Find training and tools to help you become a confident hiring manager. Step 4: Start your learning journey with the training & tools Step 5: Make a Candidate Persona to understand who your ideal candidate is and focus on them. Step 6: Communicate with your recruiter/recruiting team so that they can find the ideal candidate for you. Step 7: Use the training and tools to make decisions while interviewing. Step 8: It is ok to fail. Shake it off and try again. Step 9: Be open to feedback and continue to improve. Step 10: Once you become a confident hiring manager, carry this message to other hiring managers and continue to practice these principles. 10  Step Program to Help Build Confidence in your Hiring Decisions In order to have the confidence, you need help. Rick’s Nuggets Interview questions are the root of interview failure Questions must be tied to corporate values Linked questions have purpose & produce evidence Eliminates bias Promotes diversity in thought & experience Train your employees how to interview  Assign interview questions Conversational evidence gathering Key Takeaways -Value: Join Hiring Manager Anonymous and find training and tools that will help you have confidence in hiring. Use a Candidate Persona to create your ideal candidate. Communicate who your ideal candidate is to your talent acquisition team and work in collaboration with them. Be willing to fail. It is the only way you can learn. Links LinkedIn:https://www.linkedin.com/in/jodibrandstetter/ Websites: https://letscincy.com/index  Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/letscincy Twitter: https://twitter.com/jodi_recruiter YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UC2BNdy2kafFSs-cimLyBPBA https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCToc02W0GAFHMhXWJZIbhxQ?view_as=subscriber   This show is proudly sponsored by Criteria Crop: https://www.criteriacorp.co

Why do I need to waste my time writing a job description? You might ask. The answer is: To save Time … & be able to Sleep The Job Description is there to evaluate how successful the person you hired is in the role they were hired for. Consider it the essential evaluation tool to manage expectations... A syllabus for success. Investing the time up front will allow you to set the performance metrics the person needs to achieve in the critical first 90 days. Thus cementing quantifiable data to ensure a successful hire.  And that just helps all parties sleep better at night!  Our guest today: Mark Herschberg, MIT instructor, CTO, & Author of The Career Toolkit  From tracking criminals and terrorists on the dark web to creating marketplaces and new authentication systems, Mark has spent his career launching and developing new ventures at startups and Fortune 500s and in academia.  He helped to start the Undergraduate Practice Opportunities Program, dubbed MIT’s “career success accelerator,” where he teaches annually. Mark helped create a platform used to teach finance at prominent business schools. He also works with many non-profits, including Techie Youth and Plant A Million Corals.  He was one of the top-ranked ballroom dancers in the country and now lives in New York City, where he is known for his social gatherings, including his annual Halloween party, as well as his diverse cufflink collection. Today we discuss: Why Job descriptions are critical to the success of your company How to craft job descriptions that positively impact the organization Challenge today with Job Descriptions? Vague Too much redundant information Missing information Break down what the tasks are ie:% of time Understanding the skills Defining soft skills Technical knowledge- not digging deeper Throwing up barriers Unclear job description leads to unclear evaluation of the interviewee Why is this important to the company? We waste a lot of time interviewing the wrong people We hire for the wrong reasons Breeds a underperforming team Infects the culture Domino effect downgrading the business No compensation for a good teammate Rick’s Nuggets A job description is not a wishlist of skills Job description and job advertisement should be the same document How do we solve the problem? Working backwards  Define the specific attributes that are wanted Uncover the why Similar mentality bread into the person Industry  Write the job description Start with a selling point   Getting everyone on the same page Define the interview questions  uncover how the person fits the company Rick’s Nuggets What’s in it for me? (pain) Problems solved  90 day performance metrics  Includes hard & soft skills  About us Call to Action Homework before resume submittal Key Takeaways: Step 1 of hiring: define the role, including the qualities you’re looking for, beyond just knowledge and experience Step 2: make sure everyone on the hiring team is clear Step 3: make sure the questions you ask align to evaluating on what you’re looking for Links: LinkedIn:https://www.linkedin.com/in/hershey/ Websites: https://www.thecareertoolkitbook.com/media Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/TheCareerToolkitBook Twitter: https://twitter.com/markaherschberg Twitter: https://twitter.com/CareerToolkitBk Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/thecareertoolkit/   This show is proudly sponsored by Criteria Crop: https://www.criteriacorp.com/

No one is interested in working for your ego. Just ask our friend …. Dick (name changed to protect the innocent).  Dick is a VP of a small, well funded start-up and very proud of what they are building. So proud that he has established a very high bar for the people he wants to hire. Let’s just say his expectations are a bit out of whack!  He has Ferrari expectations on a Hyundai budget. The way in which the interview is conducted comes across as adversarial. Dick comes across as a real, well you know…. Horses ass. As a result, some fantastic people have opted not to accept his offer and negative Glassdoor reviews are abundant. Today is about how to NOT run off talented people in your interview, just like Dick.  Our guest today: Molly McGrath, Founder of Hiring & Empowering Solutions Molly is a National Podcaster, decade long national blogger and 2 x Amazon #1 Best Selling Author. She  has coached, consulted and directed presidents and founders of national organizations and over 4,000 small business owners in; executive-level leadership, continuous improvement and team empowerment initiatives to infiltrate new markets, leveraging partner ecosystems and producing profitability.  Today we discuss: How you come across as Dick How to fix the problem even if you are a Dick Full disclosure: My dad’s name is Dick…. Sorry dad! Challenge today? Entrepreneurs  don't believe that is a employee market People are looking for an opportunity People need leadership No one needs a job for a paycheck Realize that you are not the prize Recruiting is 100% sales You can't hide the fact that you are an asshole You are responsible for the energy that you leave in every room The interview is reckless You have to be  Why is this important to the company? Mis-hires  Brand Reputation Management  Ability to hire Social Media, Glass door Reviews Greatly reduce your ability to hire  Rick’s Nuggets Own who you are No matter how great your company is, it is not the prize Means to an end & a Paycheck Two words: Improper screening  How do we solve the problem? Audit on current interviewing, onboarding, & training process Make it safe Name it and own it Be clear on who you are, prepare people for the interview   Treat your interview like a client Brand reputation management End process gracefully Leave them better than when they entered Close the loop   Feedback Honest & intentional feedback Be a coach, leader, mentor Rick’s Nuggets Preparation for everyone in the interview process. Key Takeaways: FINDING ROCKSTAR/Batteries Included EMPLOYEES-- hiring and recruiting is 100% sales. You are selling YOUR COMPANY. don't make the entry point harder than hacking the white house--- keep your ADS short/empowering- don't include salary….you might push away a superstar b/c your top pay is dollars short of what they are worth. You want to take EVERYONE….interview for mindset/emotional intelligence/core values and don't get seduced by the resume. You can always training knowledge & Skillset  BUT the Human stuff is what destroys a team.  KEEPING ROCKSTAR EMPLOYEES---Once you have a rockstar team-- don't get too cocky and think you're safe. Implement  a quarterly “Employee Growth Plan'' for very employee in your business. This is the KEY to keeping and creating lifetime employees. Please feel free to email me and I will give you my process for free, as a listener of Rick’s. Nothing makes me HAPPIER as a recruiter when In box an employee and say “hey, are you happy & being treated well @ your current job or are you interested in hearing about a great opportunity…..” and then i get a response “I am VERY happy where I am, not interested!” i will immediately go check out the company they are working for and can IMMEDIATELY see the culture/values/ of that company and get so hopeful there are amazing companies finally understanding the value of team empowerment! PERSONAL GROWTH is MORE Important than Professional growth-- when you invest in your team and invest (pay for!!!) coaching programs, mindset programs and have them CONSISTENTLY enrolled & engaged in coaching and personal development & growth your employees wont leave! (I will elaborate on ALL of this more during the LIVE.) Links: LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/molly-hall/ Websites: www.hiringandempowering.com Twitter:https://twitter.com/HireAndEmpower   This show is proudly sponsored by Criteria Crop: https://www.criteriacorp.com/  

Think what you may about the military but the truth is they hire better than you! They developed and refined a process that, over time, has ultimately uncovered those individuals who exemplify the core values that are critical to the success of the organization and the mission.  A strong commitment to We, before Me!  …which is what your company needs Today is about lessons learned from Special Forces that you can apply to your company, to ensure that you are hiring the people who also share your company's core values. Our guests today: Michael Sarraille, Founder & CEO of EF Overwatch, & George Randle, managing partner at EF Overwatch & Head of Global Talent Acquisition of Forcepoint. Mike Sarraille is a former Recon Marine and retired US Navy SEAL officer with twenty years of experience in Special Operations, including the elite Joint Special Operations Command. George Randle is a former US Army officer, and Vice President of Global Talent Acquisition at Forcepoint, a human-centric cybersecurity company. George has more than two decades of experience in talent acquisition at Fortune 100 and Fortune 1000 firms. Today we discuss: Why it is critical for values to align with the mission  How to Model Military Special Forces in Hiring Talent Can we all agree almost every core business problem can be traced back to a people problems?  Knowing this, why do we set ourselves up for failure by hiring the wrong people? Challenge today? Companies are terrible at hiring Not the best leading recruiting Actions don't reflect people importance Wrong people leading people Why is this important to the company? If you don't achieve strategic competitive advantage over people, you will fail Weak HR function- CEO’s need to empower HR to breed success Every business function starts with people Costs are 213-1500% for a senior executive bad hire Direct cost- 2-15x the person's salary ($3400 per every 10k in salary) Indirect cost- disengaged employees  Run out your A-players Rick’s Nuggets Disengaged employees are easier to pluck out of your company when leadership is compromised How do we deploy into your company? Focus in talent management solutions Talent diagnostics    Leading in talent management first Starts at the top Investing into your people Constant Training (less than 1% of companies do this) Key Takeaways: Look in the mirror Treating your human capital as discipline, rigor & focus as you do on your financial? Links: LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/michaelsarraillemba/ https://www.linkedin.com/in/georgelrandle/ Websites: https://www.efoverwatch.com/  https://www.forcepoint.com/ https://thetalentwar.com/ Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/efoverwatch/ https://www.facebook.com/talentwargroup/ Twitter: https://twitter.com/MJSarraille https://twitter.com/EfOverwatch https://twitter.com/talentwargroup Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/efoverwatch/ https://www.instagram.com/talentwargroup/   This show is proudly sponsored by Criteria Crop: https://www.criteriacorp.com/

The remote interview is still a HUGE challenge for a lot of companies. Especially for those of you who are lacking a formalized process.  Simply evaluating skills and heavily relying on “vibe” to influence decisions is producing even worse results in this work from home environment.   Too much is able to remain hidden because video is limiting on the non-verbal cues that happen in the interaction.  Assumptions, bias and misinformation have become the new plague in today’s interview. Today is about nailing your video interviews to ensure the strongest hire! Our guest today: Brenna Loury, Head of Marketing for Doist. Brenna Loury knows that the road to success isn’t a path you find — it’s a trail you blaze.  Fueled by her unorthodox marketing efforts, Brenna left her PR firm and joined Doist full-time in 2014. She handles everything from overall marketing strategy, to HR duties, to writing website copy. She’s helped expand Doist’s remote-first team from 5 to 92 employees in over 30 countries, and her grassroots marketing strategies have helped bring the company over 25 million users globally.…And everyone is remote! Today we discuss: Why the Video Interview is so challenging today How to master the video interview Challenge today? Not meeting in person Touch points have gone away Video interviews - change in format Onboarding Hire based on core values Why is this important to the company? 98% employee retention rate Benefited the business  People are happy and the quality of work  Willingness to go above and beyond Rick’s Nuggets Limited view of subject Uncomfortable/unnatural interaction Breeding ground for assumptions & unconscious bias How do we build into your company? Same interview process across the company Structure Hiring committee (3 people)  1 hour interview Add insight question for people who submit a resume Cultural Interview - team manager What are the challenges that Doist’s products are trying to solve that most excite you? (did they do their homework?) How might you improve our landing pages/XYZ? (can they be radically candid?) Tell me about a time in your personal life or at work when you had to be very detail oriented. Tell me about a time when you completed a project 100% on your own. How did you get started and what was the outcome? (can they work autonomously?) What’s the last good book that you read? (interests/life outside of work) Favorite apps on your phone? (interests/life outside of work) Technical- person assigned (senior people) Judging the skills  Can you tell me about a company that you think does a great job at product marketing? What are the advantages/disadvantages of using CSS preprocessors?  Test Project Pay people to do the work Examples: Create a week-long social media plan Write a blog post about a product update Create a Hacker News style reader Cultural Final - leader/executive Covers 5 core values: Mastery, Independence, Communication, Ambition & Balance, Impact Behavioral questions: What’s the difference between someone who’s good in your field versus someone who’s outstanding? Tell me about a time when you disagreed with a team member. How did you approach that situation? Tell me about a time that you went above and beyond what was expected? What motivated you to do so? Rick’s Nuggets Phone Screen / Discovery Call Pain, Desire, Impact Key Takeaways: Prioritize hiring for cultural fit – some technical skills can be learned later on the job Do everything you can to cultivate an environment that values trust over tracking Links: Website: https://doist.com/ Blog: https://blog.doist.com/  Twitter: https://twitter.com/doist, https://twitter.com/brennakL  Relevant blog posts:  https://blog.doist.com/trust-remote-workplace/ https://blog.doist.com/remote-onboarding/    This show is proudly sponsored by Criteria Crop: https://www.criteriacorp.com/  

High performance teams don't just happen by chance. They are artfully built with an impenetrable culture at its heart.  The people who join are in alignment with the values and purpose of the organization. The result is unrivaled performance above and beyond your expectations. Our guest today: Greg Besner, Founder and Vice Chairman of CultureIQ A global company that helps organizations create high-performance cultures. He and his firm have assisted more than one thousand organizations and millions of employees strengthen their company culture.  Greg was an early investor in Zappos which inspired his commitment to organizational culture. In 2018, he was ranked in USA Today as the 8th best CEO in the United States among a pool of 50,000 companies. He was also named the EY Entrepreneur Of The Year®.  Today we discuss: Why, if you are serious about your business, you need to prioritize your company values as the heart of your hiring decisions How to deploy a process to enable your company to hire people who continually raise the bar for performance I find that often the phrase “not a good cultural fit” is an easy cop out line for a company to pass on people. When asked “HOW” the conversation quickly disintegrates.  How can someone not really make that conclusion when they lack clarity on what their culture/purpose is?  Challenge today? Recruiting for purpose/ culture alignment Zoom interview Body language/ energy Human interaction Interact in the environment around them Fumbling with this new interview process  Onboarding Energy of the office not really happening Interpersonal mingling  Because the human interaction is missing Elevates chance of bias People are uncomfortable in a video interview setting Why is this important to the company? Culture alignment Diversity of experience, perspective Recruiting process is opposite of what it is today Expensive to recruit & train Turnover is expensive Employees who are not aligned with the purpose are expensive Rick’s Nuggets Bias is a two way street  How do we build into your company?  First interaction is a 2 sided conversation- human interaction Experience of working in the organization Company go first Let the person give their elevator pitch What would allow them to be successful at the company  Having a framework Notes should be taken, structured, & details on their values Mutual agreement on moving forward Letting the person know the next steps Transparency   Closure  Interviews Teammate or HR first Try not to replicate the interview! Multi-step process Split up to cover different roles values from skills No need to cover the same questions hire bar raisers  Rick’s Nuggets First interaction: Discovery call Understand Pain, Desire, Impact Listen to understand first Buy in through connecting the dots Presenting back what fits, & what does not Key Takeaways: Bar Raisers- Structured Interview Process Transparency in Hiring Process Links Email: greg@cultureiq.com LinkedIn:https://www.linkedin.com/in/gregbesner/ Websites:  http://theculturequotient.com/ http://cultureiq.com/ http://getsunflow.com/ Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/CultureIQ/ Twitter: https://twitter.com/cultureiq YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCSECYe1wg_KxMi_yNi7KQbA?view_as=subscriber Instagram:https://www.instagram.com/cultureiq/   This show is proudly sponsored by Criteria Crop: https://www.criteriacorp.com/

One bad hire in your startup negatively affects your balance sheet and is the fuel to future boardroom conflict.  Often, we entrepreneurs feel the pressure to fill our roles at the expense of elevating our people's performance. This disintegrates the company values and results in the exit of your strongest players.  Today is about hiring “gravitators” and avoiding the “disintegrators” that will surely be the subject of boardroom conflict. Our guest today: Rod Robertson, Founder & Managing Partner of Briggs Capital. Rod is an international entrepreneur and co-author of the book The Human Vector. He has conducted business in over 15 countries while focusing on developing small-to-medium-sized businesses and taking them to market worldwide.  Robertson’s career in transaction experience and entrepreneurship includes guest lecturing around the globe at institutions such as Harvard Business School and other top-flight MBA schools as well as business forums and news outlets worldwide. He sits on numerous boards, guiding firms to streamline operations and make businesses more profitable before selling. Today we discuss: The difference between hiring a gravitator vs a disintegrator Why this is important to your board of directors How to gain evidence to support hiring the right person - a Gravitator Challenge today? Companies have no room for error in hiring Hiring folks that can contribute to increased value of the firm Boards are looking at the income statements & balance sheet Are they cohesive with growth strategies? How to assess quickly to unload non performing employees Why is this important to the company In 2021 the PPP bailouts have run their course - no margin for error Your hires must stick - no “numbers game” in hiring The co culture equal to individual go Rick’s Nuggets A speedy hire often results in a miss hire How do we fix this issue in your company? Bring on more outside Board of Advisors (not traditional Boards) to analyze and share the responsibility of hiring and layoffs Human Vector Systematic approach to maximizing employee performance GRAVITORS can change employees “angle” to the” Vector” INTEGRATOR -manager who accelerates integration of employees FUNNEL OF VECTORS acceptable deviation of employees from company values DISINTEGRATORS  a disruptive employee Attributes as they relate to the goals of the company  Management hiring and termination based more then ever on cash flow Quantitative analysis trumps culture for now $1.9B stimulus will prop up economy for six months then economic slide predicted for balance of 2021 thru 2022 Small to medium size businesses must pivot quicker then ever Using outside Board members or advisors to make quantitative decisions should be utilized Rick’s Nuggets Behavioral Interview Tie interview questions to your company values *Knockout:   Tell me about your most difficult Customer interaction (give wow) What were the circumstances that led to the difficulty? Break down the steps you took to resolve the problem What was the root of the customer issue? What solutions did you come up with? How were you able to calm them down? How were you able to deliver beyond their expectations?  How did the interaction end? Why was their view important to you? Key Takeaways: During these difficult times, systematic hiring and termination most adhere to a firm’s financial  Outside Advisory input can bring clarity to growth and/or scaling back strategies It’s a perfect time to shake up your roster! Guest Links: LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/roderickrobertson/ Website:www.briggscapital.com   This show is proudly sponsored by Criteria Crop: https://www.criteriacorp.com/

There needs to be a deliberate cadence to your interview process.  Just like a first date, you wouldn't say “hi, I'm Rick. before we start the date, I’d like you to complete this sexual survey and if I like your answers, we can continue the date.”  Now it may work on some people. But the question you need to ask yourself is who exactly are you weeding out?  Answer… A-Players! Today we are talking about the pros and cons of screening mechanisms and the proper order to deploy them to keep people engaged. Our guest today: Joel Patterson, Founder of The Vested Group A business technology consulting firm in the Dallas, Texas area, and ForbesBooks author of The Big Commitment: Solving The Mysteries Of Your ERP Implementation. In 2011, Patterson founded The Vested Group, which focuses on bringing comprehensive cloud-based business management solutions to start-ups and well-established businesses alike.  Joel has hired hundreds of engineers & consultants and has learned a lot about what works in an interview process. Today we discuss: Why a proper cadence is so critical in keeping top talent engaged How to set the correct sequence to avoid triggering “fight or flight” in top talent Challenge today? Saving your time with a video screen first Wasting a lot of time with interviews of unqualified people Need to be efficient with people's time- billable resources Elevated the quality of the people hired Not as many bad hires Missing out on good talent? Do people want to jump through hoops? Why is this important to the company? Cost to replace a person 100-150k loss per person lost Culture impact of people coming and going Sunday test- call on a sunday Rick’s Nuggets Are you losing the top 20% in your screening efforts Transactional Value driven How do we build into your company? Video - one way Phone screen Video Interview 2 sessions Job score card Core value  Case Study to do Rick’s Nuggets Discovery call (Positioning) PDI (Pain, Desire, Impact) Interview Culture, skills, culture, combo Behavioral questions Assessments/Assignments/Skills test Prefer working session to determine skills Connect the dots Key Takeaways: Core values drive hiring/firing decisions Interviewers represent cross section of experience and skills levels (AMA) Providing purpose quickly is critical to long term hiring success Guest Links LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/pattersonvested/ Website: http://www.thevested.com/netsuite-provider-the-vested-group Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/VestedGroup/ Twitter: https://twitter.com/TheVestedGroup YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCHDBLjRuMtER5yUrPhZYKkw   This show is proudly sponsored by Criteria Crop: https://www.criteriacorp.com/  

CEO campfire horror stories often start with “In the beginning, I hired a few friends of mine”... then the story digresses from there. Sometimes the situation works out but most of the time it is a disaster resulting in a severed relationship.  Today we are discussing lessons learned in hiring from your inner circle and how hiring for growth lands great talent.  Our guest today: Wing Lam, Owner of Wahoo’s Fish Tacos Wing Lam is the eldest of the three founding brothers and the enigmatic character widely recognized as the face of the iconic Wahoo’s Fish Taco brand. A 30-plus-year restaurant industry veteran, he is often in the public eye participating as a panelist and speaker at global events such as the IEG Conference and guest lecturing for MBA programs at Yale, UCLA and USC.  Wing is Prolific & “rich in the currency of social good”! Today we discuss: The pitfalls & benefits of hiring friends & family Two key components to hire successfully Challenge in hiring friends & family? Setting precedence People did not take it seriously Stealing Can't allow people to take advantage of your generosity Corporate hires- Hired from headhunters for store managers (⅖ stayed over a year) Moved to growing from within Why is this important to the company? Mistakes cost the company money, time & morale Rick’s Nuggets Expectation Alignment Where we fail is in agreeing on expectations up front  How do we build into your company? Understand culture first Fit is more important than skills Up Hire Too much experience is good Opportunity to allow the person to do what they want to do Others intimidated by credentials Didn't feel like the person would take the job Personality, integrity, passion Translates to a good hire Rick’s Nuggets Positioning determines the cultural fit Cultivating growth is what captures & retains talent People want to learn, grow and tackle new challenges Key Takeaways: Referrals & dig deeper Really understand your culture & what fits Links: LinkedIn: Wing Lam Website: Wahoo’s Fish Tacos Organization: California Love Drop   This show is proudly sponsored by Criteria Corp  TAGS : #californialovedrop #wingdash #wahooswing #giving 

“We really need to hire a person from xyz company and they need to be from a top tier school.” Words that make every recruiting professional cringe.  This criteria is the perfect storm for making the worst hire of your career. The Truth is, Your ego WANTS these things but the business needs a person with the RIGHT DNA to fuel company growth.  Our guest today: Greg Toroosian, Founder & Managing Director of Elevate Hire Having worked for startups, globally recognized brands, and recruiting agencies, he brings a unique perspective, a fresh sense of understanding, and an elevated level of service to his clients. He previously held the roles of Recruiting Manager for Virgin Hyperloop and Director of Talent Acquisition for Sweetgreen. Greg believes that recruiting and retaining talent is key to having a successful company. Today we discuss: Setting expectations of what you can REALLY hire How to hire what you can Really hire There are 2 ways to hire A-level talent  Pay for them Be the solution to their career wounds Challenge today? Overall value proposition Competitive market Hard to find or in demand roles Stage of growth Disconnect on what the market really is budget Clarity on what you are actually hiring for and why Coming back to earth on what is really needed Why is this important to the company? Impact time to hire Help to hire the right people  Think through their recruiting strategy Help with financial planning How do we build into your company? Build your value proposition What is it to your employees Cultural element How to communicate you culture Honest and open about What your culture really is Allow people to opt in/opt out Business element What the work is Product/ service Social good, clean energy, industry Clear about how it is different from their competitors Personal/Professional element What’s in it for me? What will I learn? What will this do for my career? Clarity On what needs to be done What really needs to be done? First hire??? Now what? Clarity helps to target the right people, industries, competitors Gain clarity on what success looks like for this role Understanding the competitive market Clarity on what you are hiring for and why Common complexity of what is being built Reality check on what you NEED to be paying this person Who else you are in competition with for that person Solutions if the role cant flex If the person you need is unhirable? Competition, salary, location, level of skill, small pool Training & molding a person intro the role Contractor, fully remote,  Key Takeaways: Craft and solidify your EVP - at least for your company. Use the cultural, business, professional buckets to help. Be mindful of the market you’re hiring in and self aware of your company's positioning. If hiring the people you want or the way you want aren’t currently realistic, then consider creative ways of making your offering more attractive or creative ways of getting the work done. Guest Links: LinkedIn:  Greg Toroosian Website:  Elevate Hire Twitter:  Toroosian Email: greg@elevatehire.com   This show is proudly sponsored by Criteria Corp   

Please, please, please wear pants during your video interview! Both parties, not just the person being interviewed.  Just yesterday, Jessie filled me in on the horror story of her last interview. The interviewer spilled his coffee,  jumped up really quickly to reveal he was in his holiday boxers. While it makes for a hilarious story, it did not win the hire for the company... Our guest today: Vince Thompson, Founder & CEO of MELT One of America’s most successful sports marketing and branding agencies, and author of Build Brand You . Vince has been named one of Atlanta Business Chronicle’s “Most Admired CEOs,” among the “500 Most Influential Atlantans” by Atlanta Magazine, the American Diabetes Association’s “Father of the Year,” one of Sports Business Journal’s “Power Players,” and was listed by BizBash as one of the top 1,000 people in the event industry. Today we discuss: An impressive Pivoting story doing Building a virtual hiring process  Challenge today? Business collapsed overnight on March 16th Overnight NCAA canceled everything Nobody knew what was going to happen Had to furlough dozens of employees within weeks Breakdown in demographics Fear & unrest Pandemic, unrest, election …. Oh my Made the shift to 100% remote The liability gap is HUGE Mitigating the litigation dream Silver linings Positive forward facing manner Reposition the company - opportunity to showcase what they are doing Career development Why is this important to the company? Shifted /evolved the company into a multimedia & event company Overnight the market shifted to buyers market It will kill the “bounce” mentality Prepare for the next evolution Good will is good business! How do we build into your company? Building a virtual hiring process Bring the heat (first impression) Wear something nice Know everything about the company, job & the person you are interviewing Get a good feeling for the chemistry before diving in Trust your gut Cease the opportunity to really have a more thorough vetting process Improve the process What did they do for themselves & others during Covid? What did you do to enhance yourself? *during this time, if nothing was done for self or others…. Not something you want to hire Look at the big picture of “Who” the person really is A whole different set of ways in which you can Can't coach desire & attitude! Put something out that is positive, and No bad ideas to pitch in the marketplace Go from crazy to genius overnight Key Takeaways: Pursue any crazy idea that might have been shelved Use a lot more discretion in hing as it is now a buyers market Shift in hiring for chemistry & culture to allow us to make more value based decisions  Guest Links: LinkedIn: Vince Thompson Website: MELT Email: vince@meltatl.co Twitter: vinnyinc   This show is proudly sponsored by Criteria Corp     

Skills can be learned, but who a person is, is what determines a successful hire. This all comes down to core value alignment with the organization.  Shared values create a much tighter bond and a more engaged team member.  The correct answer is rarely hiring for skills. So consider alternative hiring initiatives like an apprenticeship program designed to purely foster career growth.  Our guest today: Nicholas Wyman, President of IWSI America   Nicholas is an international expert, particularly zero-ing in on CTE education, apprenticeship and training models in the US, UK, Germany, Switzerland and Australia.  Wyman writes opinion pieces for Forbes, Quartz and Fortune, appearances on National Public Radio, he has notched top education writer on LinkedIn. Today we discuss: Why an apprenticeship program might be the key to unprecedented company growth 6 step process to build a program at your company Challenge today? Can't find people with the skills they need Employers need to do more to train people Design an apprenticeship program or internship model needs to be turned upside down Misconception that because a lot of  Young people who have not been able to get a start Displaced people who need a fresh start Why is this important to the company? Skills gap has gotten wider Economic uncertainty Global economic changes Impact of new govt coming in We will not be returning to normal Need to really look at your talent strategy Rick’s Nuggets Apprenticeships for those in career transition- modern elders How do we build an apprenticeship program into your company? Six Step Plan:  1 - Identify the apprenticeable occupations 2 - Form a team to run the program Internal team- leadership support Identify coaches / mentors 3 - External partners Deliver Training has to be structured Training provider State funding assistance  4 - Define training goals & Wage schedules 5 - Marketing & Recruitment of the program  Brand it & give identity 6 - Develop an ongoing evaluation process Rick’s Nuggets Develop everything around your true corporate values Interview process that uncovers evidence to support the hire Key Takeaways: Broadening your view on who you might employ - broader than diversity, disability - more women (women and youth disproportionately impacted by Covid) Get people engaged- lost generation of young people Take a long range view to skills development Rock solid, top down support- can not be just another training initiative Guest Links: LinkedIn: Nicholas Wyman Website: IWSI America Twitter: @nicholas_wyman   This show is proudly sponsored by Criteria Corp

Imagine having to staff 250 roles... just as many companies were laying off and scrambling to get their PPP loans approved.  Our guest today had 2 weeks to hire 250 people to handle the demand for PPP loans and is here to share his story.  Our guest today: Brock Blake, Co-Founder & CEO of Lendio Brock spent the last nine years developing technology to get loans to more people, more quickly, and more efficiently than traditional lenders. Under his leadership, Lendio grew to be the largest online marketplace for small business loans in America. So when the coronavirus pandemic struck, he knew he was in a unique position to make a difference.  Today we discuss: Creative ways to bulk hire in a short period of time The hiring system to be able to crush a lot of hires in a very short time Challenge today? We had committed to [a company] that we would hire 25+ of their people on a temporary basis to help with PPP and then they would return to their employment.  It was a win/win.  The painful part was realizing the people we hired through them were not skilled in computer software and systems.  We ended up keeping only 8-9 people from [Company] which put us behind in getting resources to meet the demands we had.  Being told “we are good, no more hires” next day “Let’s get 150 hired by next Monday” and we crushed those goals Why is this important to the company? Getting to the bottom of the barrel in terms of Temp to hire resources for the last group that we hired.  The incentive to stay home instead of work because of the unemployment benefits had kept a lot of people from applying for work.  So those that were applying by the end of our hiring process were not the most employable people.  The number of wage garnishments, failed background checks, etc. was much higher for this last group than our overall hiring experience.  Having the opportunity to extend offers to people during the pandemic. Some people were experiencing the worst few weeks of their lives and were overcome with joy when they received offers. Truly an awesome experience! Candidates crying on the phone with us when we offered them the position because they were so grateful to be able to provide for their families or be helping w/PPP How do we build a quick hiring structure into your company? Bulk interview process One interview, Decision Creating SOPs and generic equipment setup/login instructions - Getting 200+ new hires setup and logged into equipment was a massive undertaking. Staying up until 2 am helping new hires set up their computers for the next morning  Trying to run new hire orientation with 50+ people in a Zoom meeting who have never used Zoom or their equipment before. No understanding of the mute button. Guy falling asleep for 2 hours during training.  Snoring. Being responsible for retrieving equipment; traveling to unknown places (I’m from out of state), former TMs not cooperating, equipment not being left where they say it would be, thoughts of getting Covid from equipment boxes, equipment not being packed up properly and left outside in garbage bags. Cops involved (one emergency contact saying that the temp was MISSING and that us reporting her equipment as stolen might help the authorities find her!) - 4 total police reports One person saying “If you want your stuff back, come and get it. And BTW I have COVID” Driving all over the state Condition that equipment was returned in (garbage bags, shoe boxes, etc.) Russ and Kimberly stories of tracking down equipment after terminations Rick’s Nuggets Do not get rid of your hiring process to rapid hire Scale the number of interviews  Train 2-3 interview teams to allow scale Assigned interview questions Back to back video interviews  Be aware if interviewer fatigue Key Takeaways: Have a process in place Don't cut corners on culture fit, screening Get creative Guest Links: LinkedIn: Brock Blake Twitter: BrockBlake Instagram: Lendio This show is proudly sponsored by Criteria Corp

Can we all agree that the people you hire determine the success of your company.  It is not enough to just “fill a role”. Especially if you're a smaller, growing company.   Every hiring mistake that your company has made is due to your focus on the wrong ego driven priorities.  (Ie: the work to be done, what I think I need, image for the company) Focus on hiring the “WHO” that aligns with the corporate values first and you’ll achieve unbelievable results. Our guest today: Tim Spiker, Founder & President of The Aperio  ...And the Who* Not What Principle, a profound research-based truth that has powered 15 years of leadership development success. Tim’s book, The Only Leaders Worth* Following, reveals that 77% of leadership effectiveness comes from who a leader is and not what they do. Using this principle, Tim helps people become, be, and stay leaders who are actually worth following. Tim’s work includes delivering keynote talks, creating unique and customized learning experiences, and guiding long-term development journeys.  Today we discuss: The advantage of focusing on Who before What The role Trustworthiness plays in a Successful “Who” 3 steps to hiring the Right Who! ¾ of things working is about WHO the person is who is leading the process.  Listening for who based questions Eagerness to hallmark others Challenge today? Are your leaders trustworthy?? Strong Leader: Who is inwardly sound and others focused = trustworthy Engages people at a higher level How much energy are you putting into your leaders to help them be more trustworthy Why is this important to the company? 77% of leadership effectiveness comes from who a leader is and not what they do. Why? Because trustworthiness drives engagement and engagement drives performance. Therefore we must interview for and intentionally develop leaders who are trustworthy. Not leaders who give the appearance of being trustworthy, but who are actually trustworthy.  Trustworthiness drive engagement which drives performance  Huge Difference between image and the perception of others Start of a trend of external image vs  Downside to the company - long term value creation at the fundamental level Company will never maximize performance of the organization How do we hire the "Right Who" into your company? Become Trustworthy Develop the core of who you are Being curious - about others Tell me more about that... Depth, Community & Time Hire for trustworthiness! Giving the interview questions in advance Let them prepare for the interview Dig under the hood Provide the Interview questions in Advance! Interview question: "Tell me about a time when you broke trust with someone and what did you do to fix it?" Continued Development   Use the phrase “tell me more” 100 times Develop those around you Depth Community  Time Majoring in politics downgrades your trustworthiness! Key Takeaways: Be willing to look in the mirror, courage to own your shortcomings To have a organization with world class leaders, you have to engage with world class conversations - Be willing to work on myself to set the example for the other leaders to have “who” based conversations Guest Links:  LinkedIn: Tim Spiker Websites: TheAperio.com  (The Aperio) TimSpiker.com  (TimSpiker.com) Twitter: TimSpiker This show is proudly sponsored by Criteria Corp     

Data Driven Insight into Your Video Interviews. “Look, I just need to hire someone who can do the work so we can get this product done”  Said Peter. A CEO for a newly funded startup. “Besides, there is no way to really know if someone fits into the company until you experience working together”.  Not true at all!  Your interview process, when structured properly, will give you all the evidence to support making the right hire each & every time. Because, as we all know, one bad hire can destroy your company! Today we are talking about the power of digging deep on the “right” questions and utilizing AI to confirm your conclusions.  Our guest today: Scott Sandland, Founder & CEO of cyrano.ai Scott is the former world's youngest hypnotherapist. A few companies (and decades) later he is the CEO of a company focusing on artificial empathy and strategic linguistics.  As a former executive director and CEO of a mental health clinic and longtime technologist, he has experience leading purpose driven organizations. He has been published in numerous peer-reviewed journals, Psychology Today, Forbes, and Entrepreneur Magazine. Today we discuss: Getting to the truth about the person in a video interview How to leverage AI to confirm your hiring decisions  Companies today have an interview process that is no better than a coin toss.  No process Shallow (how can you help me) Or rely heavily on assessments for decision making Challenge today? Understanding the mental state of the person you are interviewing How they are thinking allows you to understand a persons mindset now Analyzing the what and how things are said Keeping track of people Understanding how people will fit Correctly auditing the client pool at scale People are dishonest during interviews Creating a right fit with a specific management style Why is this important to the company? A lot of the “right” people get screened out via a resume People who look good on paper/resume that don’t actually fit reality of job/culture How to manage/mentor the person you do hire Right person, wrong team… vision to see who will “blow up the locker room” Making sure you are in a position to get the most out of a new hire What burns them out/demotivates them and how to avoid it Allow you to really utilize all the features that are strengths (create a more well rounded team!) How do we build into your company? Profile yourselves & your team Look at the relationships of what already exists Understand what you really need Make strategic decision for similarity or diversity Profile each person to interview Run youtube interviews /linkedin profiles through their system Get a head start on your hiring process Creating custom interview questions based on insights Measure relationships between interviewer  and interviewee Confirm understanding of what motivates and what burns out Accountability vs recognition environments Gives the tools to accurately set performance metrics  Makes the intangibles, tangible from the beginning.  Hire Confirm fit & hire Rick’s Nuggets Understand yourselves then build your company values around  Do your homework, target & connect Interview for values first Key Takeaways: Soft skills assessment of candidates is more important than resume checklist Consistency and transparency in that assessment is critical, which is why machines should be used instead of a person with moods and distractions TAGS  #AI #data #videointerview #artificialempathy #strategiclinguistics  Links LinkedIn: Scott Sandland   Website: cyrano.ai This show is proudly sponsored by Criteria Corp 

Entrepreneurs, take your mental health seriously because the life of your company depends on it! Our guest today: Sally Spencer-Thomas, President of United Suicide Survivors International Sally Spencer-Thomas is a clinical psychologist, inspirational international speaker and an impact entrepreneur. Dr. Spencer-Thomas was moved to work in suicide prevention after her younger brother, a Denver entrepreneur, died of suicide after a difficult battle with bipolar condition. Today we discuss: Why it is critical that you prioritize your mental health The 3 components of a strong mental health practice that you can build into your company  My entrepreneurial journey has been a plethora of highs and lows… At times: Question my purpose Question my judgement Manifested extreme confidence followed by imposter syndrome My saving grace: Having an outlet of physical & mental stimulation outside of business Jiu jitsu Challenge today? Cannot let mental unwellness show to investors or competitors Extreme self-reliance Can not take a mental health day When things go down it is on you  When it crashes it is on you A lot of pressure Isolation: Tend to be lone rangers Competition for funding, being first to market,  Less likely to reach out for support Evidence that we live on the bipolar spectrum, susceptible to maina: https://www.bphope.com/entrepreneurs-success-bipolar/  Why is this important to the company? The entrepreneur is the essence of the company.  You have to keep yourself well because it is on you People’s holistic health keeps people engaged in the company Talent will not stick around if they are not getting broader opportunities to find a passion for living beyond work How do we build mental health practice into your company? Appreciating that our mental wellbeing is part of our overall asset to the wellbeing of the company. Understanding of your own mental health and how best to promote the wellbeing of others. Upstream about driving a culture of care -- attract and retain talent, long-arc of productivity and success Upstream - Building protective factors, resilience as strong at it can be -- modeling self-care Eating, exercising, sleep Having the a team of the ready Front end your day with as much personal wellbeing investment as possible Walking the dog touches many aspects of wellness Midstream - Catching things early Before they become catastrophic -- what are the early warning signs that the wheels are wobbling. Measures put in place to course correct https://www.helpyourselfhelpothers.org/  Downstream - Where do we turn? Resources we have access to Dealing with the crisis in our lives What is the plan Crisis Text Line: https://www.crisistextline.org/ text HELLO to 741741 iRel8: https://irel8.org/  Key Takeaways: Commitment to investing in your health first Check out when your brain is not sharp Having a plan for crisis (personal) Kick the tires of mental health resources before you need them Links Guest website and social media platforms: https://www.sallyspencerthomas.com/ TEDx Talk: https://www.ted.com/talks/sally_spencer_thomas_stopping_suicide_with_story Entrepreneurs and mental health video: https://youtu.be/qrWbePKB-6A  Article: Prevent start-up suicide. Literally. Entrepreneur. https://www.entrepreneur.com/article/271435  Article: Entrepreneurs And Suicide Risk: A New Perspective On Entrapment Provides Hope. Forbes. https://www.forbes.com/sites/prudygourguechon/2018/08/23/entrepreneurs-and-suicide-a-new-perspective-on-entrapment-gives-hope/?sh=2b2e3cbb5385  Article: The Psychological Price of Entrepreneurship. Inc. https://www.inc.com/magazine/201309/jessica-bruder/psychological-price-of-entrepreneurship.html Carson’s story: https://www.sallyspencerthomas.com/history/  https://www.facebook.com/DrSallySpeaks/ https://twitter.com/sspencerthomas https://www.instagram.com/sspencerthomas/ https://www.pinterest.com/sallyspencertho/boards/ https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCfr2b_0rxSsItOgo021ykkw?view_as=subscriber Facebook @WorkplaceSuicidePrevention Twitter @WorkSuicidePrev Insta: @WorkplaceSuicidePrevention YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCOjL6-clq63_G9X_F7Wp1mQ LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/company/40849573/admin/

Values are the foundation of what your company is built upon. As we all know, without a foundation, the structure that is built can be destroyed at any time. Too often the foundation is poured after the structure has been built.  Our guest today: Darius Mirshahzadeh (Mir Shah Zaday), Founder of The Real Darius & Host of The Greatness Machine Podcast Darius  is a dad, husband, twin, brother and son who was born and raised in California and now lives in Austin Texas. He is a serial entrepreneur, author, conscious capitalist, speaker and mad scientist CEO. He was ranked #40 in Inc 500 CEO’s in 2007 and #9 in Glassdoor’s Top Ranked CEOs in America for small to medium business. He participated in Birthing of Giants at MIT, graduated from Stagen Integral Leadership Program, is a TEDx curator and expert on core values. Darius’s new book, The Core Value Equation, explains everything on core values.  Today we discuss: Why values are so critical in landing unobtainable talent How to roll out a Core Values based recruiting machine There is a silver bullet to hiring! Smart hiring decisions are much easier when you evaluate people for evidence of core value alignment, rather than skills.  Challenge today? Social proof Everyone pretends to be a cool company Catfishing-  Making sure the best people show up A-players are never filling out job applications Why is this important to the company? Not seducing with $$$ Leading with core values Differentiating value proposition Value hires are stronger fits for the organization Cements a validation process You will win Hires You are building a better company You are only competing with yourself Foundation for a “REAL” conversation with each person Rick’s Nuggets People are attracted to opportunities that have a fundamentally stronger foundation Opportunity for growth is greater which fuels more impactful work How do we build a core value recruiting machine into your company? Discovery  What your values are Leading with values Content  2 of 3 hires are referral hires Design High utility value Translate into the most powerful language Roll out Teach team the language Immersed in the language Implementation Nurture  Implement in an ongoing basis Measure Measure for efficacy and optimize based on results Plug into your recruiting efforts Built a language for accountability in the organization Leading with values when contacting people Filter for decision making The people on the boat are in alignment with the values Dig deep in discovery for value alignment Rick’s Nuggets Design: build interview questions that unearth evidence of alignment with your core values Implementation: Train & assign specific questions for each interviewer Key Takeaways: Ultimate decision making engine Invisible scale - allow you to grow faster / better Magnet for top talent that shouldn't even consider your company (marrying outside your envelope) Guest Contact & Links: Darius: therealdarius.com Book: The Core Value Equation (Amazon)  

The keys to attraction and retention are transparency and process. Just like having a strong interview structure, Compensation structure is just as critical.  Having clearly defined salary thresholds allows people to be comfortable with your environment while eliminating uncertainty in the minds of your employees. Our guest today: Louis Beryl, Founder & CEO of Rocketplace Louis Beryl is the founder and CEO of Rocketplace, a curated marketplace of high quality professional service providers. A 3x founder, investor, and board member, Louis began his tech career as a partner at Andreessen Horowitz and was also previously a YCombinator Partner part-time. Outside of being an entrepreneur and investor, Louis is an avid cook and has recently been perfecting his homemade pizza. Today we discuss: Benefits to establishing a compensation structure early on 4 step process to building a successful comp plan Challenge today? Setting a correct compensation structure Disparity in salary Miscalibrated pay system  How to promote and compensate properly Why is this important to the company? Ultimately compensation to align with the values of the company tighten range of cash & equity  Wiggle room for negotiation Tradeoff flexibility Determine range of percentile before you start ( Netflix 110%) Trade off on higher compensation is a recipe for disaster Compensation is what does NOT determine the level Provides organizational transparency Manage expectations & promotions When compensation changes, adjustments are across the organization  How do we build a compensation structure into your company? Talk about what values you have in your compensation package People feel that teammates will be paid very similarly  Build compensation Matrix Cash, quality, bonus, etc Determine levels Functional areas Collect data (compensation data) Determines what percentile your organization is willing to pay Leaders need to define what each level is Interview process at each level Promotion process Live values through the interview process Adjust the interview process according to the interview Key Takeaways: Think about what you value Think about compensation in advance Develop methodologies to allow the organization to scale Guest Contact & Links: Email: louis@rocketplace.com Website: Rocketplace   Facebook   Twitter

We are in the greatest time for opportunistic hiring!  An unprecedented number of talented people are on the sidelines and now is your time to hire the people that will take your company to the next level.  All it takes is some creative thinking and a plan. Our guest today:  Scott Hamilton, President & CEO of Executive Next Practices Institute (ENP) Scott and his team of Nextworks partners provide executive and organizational programs around strategic planning & execution, internal innovation methods, performance management improvement and the pioneering use of “collective intelligence” alignment.  Today we discuss: Why to start executing your talent strategy next year Today The 3 critical elements to building your hiring plan - executing in a targeted way I find the biggest challenge today is that business leaders have not recognized the tremendous opportunity we have in front of us. That opportunity is displaced talent.   Challenge today? Getting lost in the covid fog Getting disconnected  Employment brand message is getting lost in all the noise Lost in person networking Need to force connections in a different way, that you don't know Expanding your network channels Why is this important to the company? Business value proposition, new ideas come from outside our industry Talent: High quality talent in other arenas Have skills, aptitude & capabilities to be successful Transparency & increase communications in our marketplace Be found easily and understand the value in working for your company Diversity, Equity (level playing field) & Inclusion  Rick’s Nuggets Leaders are still unclear about the opportunity we are in right now! Disrupting your own business through How do we build it into your company? Bottom up strategy Tap the collective IQ Clear on mission Shared purpose Not just say it, but live it Culture of learning Community Partner Talent Skills Valuing adaptability Ideation - create Culture that allows people to step up & take risks People who have good judgment Execution skills Execution  Acting with measurable intent Knowing KPI’s & OKR’s Pace & Rhythm Faster cycle to fail fast, learn fast 30-60 days (smaller projects to allow for testing) Reward & recognition for hiring - referrals Rick’s Nuggets Target and connect Build a strong referral strategy Communicate needs daily Ask for names & contact information of top performers Contact yourself Do NOT pitch your job/company/yourself Treat as a “get to know you” call Take your time Hire for value alignment / cultural alignment before skills Value growth Key Takeaways: Get started now on 2021 Business value creation  Talent value creation Guest Contact/Links Scott.Hamilton@enpinstitute.com www.nextworksstrategy.com www.enpinstitute.com

Consider the possibility that giving may be the answer that propels your business through challenging times.  There is nothing more alluring to talented people than a leader who finds cause to support. Especially when most businesses are hanging by a thread. Today we are talking to four business leaders who are giving back to the community and experiencing tremendous engagement from those they serve. Our guests today:  Charles Antis, Founder & CEO of Antis Roofing & Waterproofing Eric Morley, Co-Founder & COO  of Blue C. Creative Marketing Agency Wendy Ellis, Strategic & Creative Partnerships at Meruelo Media - KLOS FM Wing Lam, Owner of Wahoo’s Fish Tacos & Co-Founder of CA Love Drop These Four business moguls came together in April of 2020, to start up a charity called California Love Drop. The California Love Drop delivers meals and treats to our well-deserving Front Line Heroes and community neighbors in need. In October 2020, California Love Drop celebrates their 100th Drop!  Today we discuss: The importance of finding a cause & giving now How to build giving into your culture to spur abundance Now more than ever people need help. It is easy to forget this when so many of us are focused on keeping our businesses afloat.  With this uncertain business environment, your strongest talent is most likely “keeping their options open” so shouldn’t we be doing everything we can to keep them engaged and productive? Challenge today? Thinking about giving when we are treading water  Finding people that align  Charity is the best way to find great people Giving philosophy Nothing going on so no excuse to not give Why is this important to the company? Not afraid to try things and fail Time to do good Shine a light on good It becomes not about price but it is now about Value! Elevate yourself above your competition Rick’s Nuggets Cause attracts winners (people who will thrive in your company) People desire more than a transactional relationship How do we build cause into your company? Find a cause Alignment with your company that you hold a strong passion Doing something for your people that allows them to be proud of giving back Join it, promote it within your company Allow your people to own the success Become involved Participate consistently Make your story compelling Celebrate & Openly talk about your cause Rick’s Nuggets Start with what is important to you and your team Hire for cause / culture alignment (passion to the cause) Build in a knockout question in your interview process related to uncovering evidence as to the real passion for the cause Key Takeaways: Just say yes to helping people Continually show up Indirectly network to spur opportunity Cause Links: California Love Drop Hire Power + Working Wardrobes T-Shirt Fundraising Today's episode made possible by Criteria Corp #hirepowerradio #giveback #calovedrop #rebuildcareers #workingwardrobes #mixonesound

Our guest today: Jodi Duva, Vice President of Cox Business  Jodi is responsible for leading a world-class team delivering customized communications solutions to local business communities. Duva oversees sales and service delivery across all sales channels and has been leading one of the organization’s largest and fastest growing sales teams and consistently delivering double-digit growth.    Jodi is very involved in the community, and serves on the boards for Orange County Business Council and Girl Scouts of Orange County.  She plays an active role in both boards, chairing or co-chairing key committees.  Duva also gives back through volunteerism.  Fun fact: Duva grew up in the Boston area and is an avid New England sports fan.  Today we discuss: The importance of mental health of your people How to build mental health culture to increase productivity  Challenge today in this work from home environment? Virtualizing workforce yet keeping them nimble and able to pivot for life’s everyday challenges (or something more creative)  Keeping mentally connected and productive  Human connection and preserving your sanity and Cox’s brand is based on “Life gets better when we have moments of real human connection” Working from home can lead to increased productivity and happy employees, but for some, it can cause feelings of isolation, increased stress (working too many hours and not stepping away), wearing too many hats - are you employee, mom, teacher, etc…., lack of recognition Why is this important to the company? Maintaining human connections Productivity has not dropped off and in some cases, even gone up Engagement challenges Rick’s Nuggets Relationships are starting virtually now. Important to create bonding moments starting with the interview.  Extra time to become comfortable Invite perspective employees to virtual team based events Obvious solution: Implementing a policy of “me” time. Exercising, meditating and/or unplugging to balance one's self. - must alone time! How do we keep our people sane? Get creative!  Think outside the box.  Provide tools for your employees, but personalize it and JOIN THEM!  Be vulnerable, be silly, be human.    Fun ideas:  Selfie contests, Five for Fitness, Pet “yappy hour” (bring your pet to virtual happy hour) Yelling at your kids without the “audience” on your Zoom meeting catching on. Create Fun:  Pickle ball court, Beer Die Table – wait am I teaching my kids how to play drinking games?  Should I be ashamed or should I take the other side – well, if they are good at it when they get to college, then that means less drinking right? Filming Music Videos – Post your best music video to a Rick Astley Song - “Never Gonna Give You Up” –  Toilet Paper dance and “Together Forever” – husband wore a dress and the wife was Rick Astley in the suit…..    Digital access to physical & mental well being Zoom happy hour Bring dog to a meeting Selfie contests Video challenges (fun)  Rick’s Nuggets Implement Mental health policies NOW!  “Flag & Tag” in Communication Tool Calendar time into people’s schedules Key Takeaways: Be a leader that encourages/requires your people to do these things.  And don’t forget to recognize openly and often for accomplishments.  A simple email or phone call goes a long way!   Schedule analog breaks - No technology allowed! Get up and move!  Fitness breaks Make time for your favorite people Enjoy the wonders of nature AKA Go outside! Just say “no” - find balance Share and celebrate successes Guest Contacts: Jodi's LinkedIn  or Email: jodi.duva@cox.com   #hirepowerradio #coxbusiness #hiring #vpofsales #leader #volunteer #mentalhealth #employeewellness #orangecountybusinesscouncil #girlscoutsoforangecounty

Our guests today: Dan Moore, Co-Founder & CEO of Vaporware Dan is a trained computer scientist who helps clients craft ideas into scalable products. Always one for over-communication and compulsive attention to detail.  Dan co-founded Vaporware to help entrepreneurs take their software ideas to market. Over the past 7 years he has helped Vaporware deliver dozens of apps in Human Resources, Staffing, and Recruiting—all while building vaporware into a stellar organization.  Hiring a bench of developers, designers, and product managers is a challenge for any organization, but Dan has created 2 expert teams that combines all 3 roles at Vaporware. Today we discuss: The 30,60,90 job posting; What it is & how it works How to build it for hiring success! What is a 30/60/90 job posting? A better way to do job postings to find the right candidates. A list of objectives at different checkpoints (30-60-90 days) Designed to ensure proper onboarding and culture fit before the company invests too much. What happened to drive this solution? Created out of personal desire because of the experience from prior companies- escape from past experiences How would we want to be hired? Tailoring to culture fit is much more important Allow people to do different things within one company Not looking at what they have but looking around ….  Why is this important to the company? Yes can meet those objectives! Limits company risk Shifts away from skills Keeping people onboard Retain people longer from 3-6 months to up over 4+ years Bottom line, higher attraction of more seasoned employees Rick’s Nuggets 90 day performance metrics are a necessity for a successful hire Sets up the framework for the communication and expectation structure Clear guide of what needs to be accomplished by when How do we build out a 90 day plan? Start with the end goal (6 months to a year)  Stay with us forever: They’re bought into the mission and helping us define it Figure out how we can evaluate that in the first 90 days (limit our investment) Question what is realistic in 90 days? To get to 90 days Negotiation between desires and realism. Hope for the best but don’t negotiate your minimum expectations Define 60 and 30 Break out what needs to happen for 90 to be successful = 60 days Break out what needs to happen for 60 to be successful = 30 days Keep flexible enough for applicant to define their own OKRs within that framework Post into job listing. Applicants can define OKRs (Objectives and Key Results) within that posting Reverse engineer what needs to be What are the OKRs Set up framework for people to self manage their goals Break things down into strategy Compelling ability to break things down for company Autonomy, bring people who are smarter and can teach us something Rick’s Nuggets Additional formatting for the job add to attract passive people What’s in it for me? Solution Performance metrics Call to Action! Key Takeaways: Align to culture first Have a 90 day plan Review and adjust the plan as you go Full video of today's #hirepowerradio show available on YouTube Guest Contact: Vaporware website or Email: dan@vaporware.net Links Website: Vaporware  Vaporware's Sample: 30,60,90   #hirepowerradio #vaporware #hiring #founder #startup #business

To Cultivate Employee Engagement Focus on Performance Management & Personal Development Our guests today: Michael Caito, CEO, Management Action Programs Michael and two business partners launched Restaurants on the Run (ROTR) with a mere $6,000. His company experienced explosive growth after Michael attended a workshop hosted by Management Action Programs (MAP).  After selling the business valued at 12x EBITDA, Michael seized an almost uncanny opportunity to purchase the very coaching firm that helped transform his own leadership and business development. He bought MAP in December 2017 and is now, serving as its CEO.  Michael both gives back and pays forward what he learns: He has been a member of Entrepreneurs’ Organization and has served as its past Global Chairman. The balance truly matters, too, fueling his unstoppable energy, direction and focus, a discipline that transpires into positive action, producing results both on the job and at home. Today we discuss: Performance management & development: what is it? Why should it matter to me? 5 steps to building a stronger organization The roots of a successful company (engaged team) start with your hiring process Snapshot of how things are done  Demonstrates your commitment to performance  Challenge today Staying focused on what is vital today & moving toward innovation First the focus was on cash Non market forces we can't control Moving toward growth & innovation It is all about process! Fake it till you make it (imposter syndrome) Accountability & focus alignment Why is this important to the company If you are not focused, you are everywhere If people are not aligned, how are you getting the best self from your team Strategy and not chasing shiny objects Rick’s Nuggets Growth must be known & demonstrated Promoting within first, then gathering referrals Focused and deliberate hiring process wins hires How do we do it?  5 Step process to drive:  Accepting reality Face the brutal facts of your business. You can't be hopelessly optimistic Look at what’s really going on. Outside forces Market & non market forces Having empathy with your team What are your people feeling? LISTENING! You may just have to fake it. Take the steps to show that you are listening Create an envisioned future that people can get behind Place that people want to get to Picture of where we are trying to go Engage your team Communication; work together Stability plan first, where are we going first Where we are going. Prioritize projects that move people forward Process in place to hold people accountable Cadence of accountability check ins Monthly check in at the minimum Problem solving exercises KPI’s & cascading goal setting system Everyone sets goals Leader has to have the system in place to align the company. EOS, Gazelle, Map One page business plan Rick’s Nuggets Reality - great companies find a way to grow through difficult times Listen - to the people you interview. What’s important to them is what ensures a strong hire Engage- coordinate delivery & feedback Key Takeaways: CEO needs to deep dive on themselves. 360 degree feedback to understand yourself and be vulnerable enough to share. Creates psychological safety with your team. Allows people to bring their best selves.  Need a goal setting system in your company. Habits Have a coach to hold you accountable. “It takes a village” Guest Contacts: Website: MAP   Email: map@mapconsulting.com TAGS  #Michael Caito, #MAP, #Leadership, #Manager, #Howto, #Tedxspeaker, #EO, #Entrepreneurs, #Organization

Our guests today: Anne-Marie & Chuck Lerch, Co-Founder & CXO’s of HI Tech Hui Chuck heads up Cybersecurity. been the CIO and CTO at numerous companies with great emphasis on security. His passion for secure networks is what led him to his love and vision to bring cybersecurity solutions to the Hawaiian islands. Anne Marie is the CXO & Head of Counting Beans. Her love for business strategy and technology is what inspired her to start a consulting company in Hawaii. She specializes in project management for software development projects. Today we discuss: Why it is important to secure your at home workforce Steps to take to mitigate the risk of being hacked What are the security risks we are experiencing today with a remote workforce? Cyber crime is up over 650% Most office workers are working from home Companies and workers are ill equipped from a Culture Impact Technology Impact Depression Kids at home at same time Workers are can be less productive and not pay attention to what they are doing Why is this important to the company? Money Loss Vendor hacks Moral Issues Productivity Issues Management Issues Home Issues How do we secure our remote workforce? First we need to answer some questions and create a plan with our vCISO’s, CTO’s and Project Managers Understand what is at stake A hack can cost you millions of dollars! Depends on Company Budget and Industry HITRUST? CMMC NCUA, FFIEC -  Healthcare ? Business with the Federal Government Banking Gap Assessment  What are the weaknesses  Corporate policies must align with security policies  Cybersecurity hygiene Passwords -every login needs to have a different password! Remediation MFA- multi factor authentication Education & Monitoring Key Takeaways: Implement education - security training, be aware so you don't get jacked Multifactor Securing the cloud infrastructure . secure the endpoints (computers) - configure against shady sites  Monitor traffic Guest Contacts: Websites: HI Tech Hui, LLC or Cyberuptive

Today's Guest: Jerri Rosen, Founder & CEO of Working Wardrobes Jerri’s organization helps over 5,000 men, women, veterans and young adults each year re-enter the workforce with career development services and professional wardrobing. Today we are discussing: The hidden gem that is the veteran pool How to find and hire veterans to diversify your talent pool Why Companies don't actively seek to hire veterans? Bias Think they all have ptsd Not knowing the value of the training that vets get in the military Not knowing the true value Too much bad press  Painting with a brush that is very negative Vets fall on hard times because they miss the discipline/brotherhood Why is this important to the company to hire veterans? Intense loyalty, when treated with dignity Absolutely mission driven Path of a veteran Make outstanding employees Can help recruit -underground network How do we find and hire veteran talent? Decide to hire outside your comfort zone Outstanding, dedicated people Finding Vets Active duty national guard or reserves (highly under employed) Vet spouses,  Military connection through working wardrobes, on your own Vetnet team Interviewing & Hiring  Understand a MOS- military status Translate what was done in the military to civilian language Look past the acronyms Look for the passion & talents  Experience & gravity of the work  Look past the stoic demeanor Recognize that task at hand/orders need to shift to a “going above and beyond” mindset Requires a bit of patience  Hire as normal Understand that everything was provided for them in the military Learning to operate in a very different world & culture Different level of expectations  Rick’s Nuggets Dig deeper on what work was done and look for transferable skills to justify  Key Takeaways: Veterans become a much better employee  Veterans also bring a network of additional talent Looking to hire veterans, WW can be the one stop shop. Hidden Talent Pool! Working Wardrobes is Rebuilding Careers, and we’ve teamed up with Hire Power Radio Show & Podcast to support this initiative. The Hire Power Radio team has created limited edition shirts, the proceeds of which benefit Working Wardrobes. Together we can make a small dent in reeducating, coaching and providing resources for our transitioning veterans, professionals and workers affected by the current world landscape. Get yours here: T-shirts Guest Contact: Website: Working Wardrobes Office Number: 714-210-2460  

Local hiring market is now gone!  Guess what! Today, your best people will be hired outside your geographical location. Our guest today: Bradley Clark, Co-Founder & Product Strategy of RecTxt Bradley Clark, who is both a recruitment leader and an actual entrepreneur himself. He’s the Co-Founder of Rectxt, a text recruiting platform, and after a long consulting career working with organizations like Samsung R&D, Boeing Labs, Plenty of Fish, Best Buy, he’s now leading recruitment at Article.  Being on both the front line and talking to a number of companies and recruiters, with COVID and Work from anywhere -  he’s seeing this rapidly emerging trend of where top local talent is getting scooped up from outside the market.  Today we are discussing: Why your local talent pool will continue to dry up How to counter this trend and give your company a competitive edge Challenge today? Candidate experience is consumer behavior. People do have a lot of buying power right now. With remote, you are able to buy anywhere right now. Hiring local talent is now more competitive. Remote work will decimate your local hiring market. Already seeing it happen. Organizations say - work anywhere! Precedence to work anywhere led by tech giants. Why is this important to the company? The best people in your local area, are going to be out of your market Transactional market/process will out bid you! Disrupt smaller markets Local discount is over Rick’s Nuggets Work from home has opened the flood gates Adjust your mindset and start adjusting your processes: Focus on growing your own talent Finding ways to build your own people Making them committed to you Rewards & recognition (your cool office, and office based perks are no longer valuable, mental health is important) Focus on Keeping them Engagement  What the work looks like and the meaning of that work Flexibility & shift to output based Interview process as a promoter rather than a bouncer Mindshift change Rather than no… who do I say yes to? Speed & decisiveness Pre-interview process Understanding what the problem really is that they are trying to solve. What skills are needed to solve that problem Define what the person is really needed to do You need to be able to identify the “what and why” Interview process Focus on the “how & when” Selling the problem, how it is good for them Identify people that want to be a Big fish in a small pond Be decisive Communication Improve both the Speed of communication and keeping an open channel of communication. Get off email, this is why we created Rectxt.  Rick’s Nuggets Whats in it for me (not you) needs to be all you are con Key Takeaways: Understand they’re no longer competing locally for top talent, so they’ll have to change to compete (business can’t be the same as always) Interview well with knowing what you want, then be decisive  if/ when possible grow your own talent, then do everything you can to keep them Guest Contact: LinkedIn: Bradley Clark Website: RecTxt  

Why Hiring through the pandemic is a strong Indicator of a innovative business. “We have all been forced to pivot and now we are weathering the storm”  for most businesses. Our guest today: Jay Connor, Founder & CEO of Learning Ovation Recognized as an early thought leader in collective impact, Joseph A. “Jay” Connor, JD/MBA, is the Founder and Chief Executive of Learning Ovations, Inc.  The mission animating Learning Ovations is to have all students reading at or above grade level by the end of third grade. Jay, a C-suite officer for two separate Fortune 500 corporations, has extensive leadership experience in the business, nonprofit, and public policy arenas. Today we are discussing: Why you should be hiring NOW How to evaluate for the business and skate to the puck Challenge today? Is this company able to adapt and respond? Have a future, capacity to respond to change vs. being changed Higher quality people attracted to the company simply because they are hiring People are open to talking. Not hunkering down during pandemic is a sign that the company will thrive post covid Why is this important to the company? Expanding & growing in the face of problems  Approaches & ways of doing things are more attractive to potential businesses. New approaches are welcome and critical to moving forward in the business. Engagement at the strategic level is more accepted today. Requiring employees/people to expand their knowledge base. We are in the second wave now and you can't be on the sidelines anymore! How do we do it? "Skating to where the puck is going to be." - Wayne Gretzky Force yourself to ask “what is the opportunity” What allows me to be active vs passive? What windows are opening up when the doors are closed? What do we need to do to skate to that puck? Something need to change about what your delivering (product) Or way to change about positioning, branding, communication What to change about your team? Evaluate every person. Where will people have to be 6 months from now. Top down assessment Gives the opportunity to expand & refine Decide to grow the workforce with their PPP Highest risk position is the status quo! Ability to minimize the risk by acting Business as usual is NOT viable! Start hiring for new competencies (what are we missing?) and values & mission focus! Rick’s Nuggets Now is the opportunity to double down and be able to attract strong talent People are open to talking because of the uncertainty Key Takeaways: Never too late to pivot. What is the most likely scenario for my business a year from now. Assume that there is not going to be a quick fix. Position for the worst case scenario! Do an honest appraisal of the team… Including yourself! Will the people you have be good for the business a year from now. Change is tough Guest Contact: Website: Learning Ovation Social Media: LinkedIn  Facebook  Twitter

Thank you for having me back, but you know the unwritten rule of being on a show three times? What's the unwritten rule? The unwritten rule being on the show three times is I get to ask you questions today. So I'm taking the laptop. So Kelly is hijacking the episode. Is that we're doing? I am. I'm hijacking it because I want to be host today. And I want to ask you questions. I want to find out your thoughts on what we can ask or how we can help hiring managers get better? This sprung off the ever and Dean scenario where you're pro job board and I'm not pro job board. Obviously, I'm pro job board because I've built a business that distributed 40 million jobs a year to different job boards around the world, that was Broadbean. And now what we do is we help companies with their strategy and their tactics to get the most value from every cent they spend on- So you're hijacking my show? I'm hijacking your show. And I want to ask you some questions. We often talk about the benefits of job boards versus not job boards. And I know your historically a search business. So why are you more inclined to look for a candidate or to go and find somebody proactively than spend money on an ad? It depends on the scenario. So I'm biased due to the fact that my searches that we do at my firm tend to be executive hires. And it's a very small targeted amount of people that we're going after. So we target, I've found that the sniper approach works much better than the shotgun approach. Even when I was doing contingency search at the engineering level, I've just been far more effective and made better hires when I've gone out and I've found the person and brought them to the table than when I've farmed somebody off the job board and brought them through the process. And have you ever used job boards? Have you ever spent money on them? Okay. Yeah, I have. It's been a long time. I have not probably in the past 10 years, but back when I was doing contingency search, that's when we had all the job boards. Essentially, we'd get a job. We'd pull off anybody from any sources we can get them to. And it's just a race to get those out to the company before they either find it on their own or somebody else gets it over to them. And that's the business. That's what it came out. In your opinion, you search something that's really only for C level executives or can you use it for any position nowadays? No, you can use it for any position. Search is not necessarily scalable when you have 500 roles that are available for any given time. Then it becomes a question of whether or not you have a really strong interview process. No matter what you're hiring for, you should have a really strong interview process. That way, you're bringing people in that essentially fit your culture. They fit into your values, in your organizational structure, and they can provide impact to your company. It doesn't matter where you find them. We both agree that there's four ways to fill a job. Where you run some form of search, whether that's electronic or manual, you can use a job board or some sort of advert. You can hire an agency and pay them a fee, 15%, 20%, 25% percent. Or you can use a referral. Now, there are nuances within those, but there are about your four kind of headline ways that you find people for your company. And one of the things that most line managers don't get much advice on is asking for referrals. What would you suggest that hiring managers do in terms of maximizing their referrals for jobs? The way in which you ask for referrals is more important than asking referrals. Let me explain. When you reach out to your employees or the people that work for you or people in your network who is good at a particular role or skill set or something to that effect, you can't let them present it. You have to be the one who's contacting that person. I've found that when you put it out to somebody, "Hey Kelly, you know so and so over there, can you reach out to them? Let them know we have this role that we're looking to fill." You're going to call them up and you go, "Hey, are you looking for a job right now? Because I got a friend's company or my company is looking for some people, would like to talk to you about it." Well, somebody is engaged in their current work. They're not going to be looking for a job. I'm not even going to get past that screen. It's going to say, "No, not looking." The worst thing you can do is have your employee reach out to that person and ask them if they're looking for a job. Now, if they make an introduction and you can set up a time to talk to them, then you can get past that screen. You can get to a point where you can talk about what's happening in their current role and see if there's any problems that you can solve for that person in their career, that you might be able to enhance or make better for them at your company. I want to ask you a couple of questions, but since I'm hijacking this show, let's just take a moment. This is Kelly Robinson of Hire Power radio. Just a quick 60 seconds from our sponsors. Sorry about taking over your show here, but I'm having fun here. No, I like how you just turned the tide on me. Just enjoying as we go. Okay. You've been in this business for a long time. Tell me, what is the worst opening line you've heard? You looking for a job? Come on. You must have heard worse than that. No. Normally, I hear, "I have a job..." Yes. "... That I think you'll be perfect for. I found you on LinkedIn and I want to talk to you about it." It's riddled with me, me, me, me, me, I, I, I. The worst openers or anything that they hear a hundred times from everybody else throughout the day. I hear a lot through recruiting groups and pages where people come up with the same version of the, "Hey, I have this. I'm interested in talking to you." Me, me, me, me, me, as opposed to, "What about you?" Everything is a variation of that really bad opener. And you're putting people in a mindset where they're automatically tuning you out. It's automatically negative because you don't give a shit about that person. You just care about filling your job. That's what is perceived. I agree. I think recruiters historically are overworked and undertrained. And they forget the core principle of what we work to. Our job, I think, is to explain to people why they should quit their job and work for our client. And there needs to be a reason why they're working for our client. And it's not because you have a job. But take it even a step further. You have to find out first if somebody has a pain point. You have to understand the person. I say it all the time. You need to have conversations with people. And you almost need to play the role of a bartender or a therapist in the very beginning to understand what the motivations of that person are. Now, if somebody's completely satisfied in their role and they love their company, don't try and recruit them. It's going to be a waste of your time and their time. Don't try and get them to come talk to you, but you can build a relationship. There's going to be a time when they're going to hit their end of their juncture at that company, where they're going to be open to hearing about something that's going to help them enhance their career. And you want to be the first person they think of when that happens. Absolutely. You don't want to put yourself in a position where you're pitching a job and it's just another version of the same thing that they've heard 50 times prior. Let's pick the top three worst openers you're seeing. I can almost say this verbatim. And I've had conversations with people that I've talked to. They're like, "Thank you so much for not pitching your job." It's always, "Hey, I found you on LinkedIn. I think you're perfect for this job that I have at my company. And I'd like to talk to you about this opportunity." Perfect. So whoever's listening, take notes, write that down, and start using that rather than saying- No, don't use it. I said don't ever use it. Well, or use it. You just made my job easier. I'm happy that everybody uses the same version of that. Don't pitch your job, don't pitch your company, and don't pitch yourself. See, I heard you say pitch opportunity. And I'm a big believer that you should pitch opportunity to type. You have to pitch the opportunity, but you need to know where that opportunity lies for that individual. Everybody's different. You can kind of guess for most people that are working in a role, the main complaints tend to be growth. So they're kind of stuck. They can't go any further. Somebody needs to die above them in order for them to move up. Their leadership might have made a change. If you have any of this knowledge of, "Hey, CEO just left this company and they're taking it in a whole new direction," you can guess that there's probably some people over there that aren't really super happy with their leadership. You can craft your message in and around those pain points, so to speak. And then the last one is the content of the work. People get bored with what they're doing. They're not learning anymore. If you can get them to engage with you based on those three criteria, that's a good starting point. But ultimately, I wanted to get you to talk to me about what's happening with you. Then I know how to position my opportunity for you specifically. So what I'm hearing from that is trying to avoid what everybody else is currently doing, which is a LinkedIn message that starts with, "I have a job." Focus on the opportunity, answer the question why somebody should quit their job and work for that organization. But actually, what is the growth opportunity when you get there? So not just, "Here is a position," or "Here is an opportunity to do X, but X can lead to this role." Yeah. You're connecting the dots for people. Okay. They may not even be aware of the fact that they're stuck too. So you're giving them a path to go down. You're not giving anybody a path to go down when you say, "Hey, I found you on LinkedIn. I have a job you're perfect for. I'd like to talk to you about it." And then you start going into inquisition mode where you start really asking questions where you're asking screening questions. Again, I don't think there's anything that turns a person off more than, "Wait, you called me." You start throwing up your own hurdles so that people start pushing you away. And then they're looking for a way to get out of the conversation with you. Yeah, I think that is such a valuable point there. And it also goes to my belief that when you write a job ad, we've had this debate many times, I think job advertising is a really pure form of digital recruitment, but you have to write a job advert and not share a job description. And I think it's exactly the same as what you're talking about is your explaining to people the opportunity, the benefits of working for that business, not just sending out the HR job spec that's been in the system for 10 years. And so if people were to take more time right in their adverts, they'd probably get more relevant response, less of it, but more relevant. And it's exactly the same as what you're suggesting when you present to somebody. Last time we did an episode, a few episodes back, you said, what if you just flip everything upside down, start at the top and then work your way down? Do that with your job description. So your job descriptions, you should completely flip upside down. The normal requirements and all these sections that you have in there, a lot of them are in there for compliance reasons and so you don't get sued. But they're 100% not attractive to really anybody, which is why you get so many people that just go, "Oh, that, okay. I like that title." Click. "I'll just submit my resume." When you actually create a document that's a marketing related document. You're going to get much, much, much better results and higher quality people. So therein lies another coaching point for people listening to this is understand the job description. Ask the questions. What are the opportunity? Where can this person step up? Where can they grow in this role? Questions that just generally don't get asked. We receive a job description, we get one from a line manager, we just take it as read, we don't question it. Ask questions like, "Well, the last person that's in this job, where did they go? What did they do? Did they get promoted? Did they leave? Why did they leave?" Understanding a little bit more so you could match the opportunity to the company to the person. Well, the other thing, too, is that job descriptions don't ever give you an idea of "How will I know I'm going to be successful in this role in three, six, nine, 12 months?" Building performance metrics into the job description for a minimum of three months is ultra critical. Because then you have accountability tool. You agreed you're going to do this, this, and this. And if somebody is not performing what they sign on to to perform, then it becomes a very easy transition out or a very easy reason to keep them. And there's not a lot of thought that's put into that at all. At all. I want to round up me hijacking your show today with one question, because I find this funny, because you've told me about this before. So I'm going to put you on the spot run. Explain to everybody your little car technique. Oh gosh. Unknown secrets are coming out now, folks. As a point of reference, and by the way, I didn't make this up. I think I got this from some training or a mentor that I had years ago. But when you hire people and you want people who are pretty organized, or run a tight ship, you do this little trick. There's lots of little techniques that you go out to lunch with people. So we had always set it up when you come back for your final interview, "Let's go out to lunch." I might say, "Hey, you know what? Would you mind driving?" And so I have the person drive. Well, I'm going to get a really good view of if everything meshes up on what they told me in the interview, based on their automobile. If I'm looking at somebody who is an organized sales person, who's claiming to be super tight and everything else, I can look at their car. And now, if their car is clean in immaculate, maybe it has a couple of things, they're going to run their desk the way they run their car. A clean car means you're going to have a tidy desk, and that person, I've walked into offices and I've looked at desks and I go, "This is the most productive person in here." And they go, "You're right." Just by looking at their desk. The ones who have all stacks all over the place, there are anomalies if they're super productive. But usually, if you're organized, you're going to be more productive than other people. It's quite funny you should say that because my car is immaculate inside and my friends will often make comments about I'm obsessed with keeping my car spotlessly clean. But also my desk has got a set of rules and on my desk, if it's not a right angle, it's absolutely a wrong angle. So everything needs to be at right angles. Everything is [inaudible 00:13:01] same as my car. So I don't know where that puts me on the spectrum, but it will work for me. Thank you for letting me hijack your show. I'm going to give you back your laptop, sir.

What's your story?  "Well, we are funded by Greylock and we are disrupting a $30 Billion dollar industry. What else do you need to know?"   This is good information to know but it is not your story. I quickly became a very bored audience with this CEO. Ultimately your story is what draws people in and invites us to work with you. When communicating with the people you are needing to hire it is critical that your story inspire them to join.  Our guest today: Stepahanie Paul, Founder & Head of Training & Development of The Executive Storyteller Academy Stephanie takes great pride in coaching developing executives, sales teams, TEDx speakers, Women in leadership and experts of all kinds, to become master communicators.     In fact, her proven approach, "Powerful Emotional Engaging Presentations," draws upon her  years of rich and diverse entertainment experience as well as she is a certified trainer using 5 science based assessments for  behavior and communication using Psychology and Neuroscience.   Today we are discussing: Why communicating your story is so critical from your hiring process through tenure A 3 step method maximizing your communication Communicating effectively during an interview is riddled with assumptions, bias and shallow content. Rarely is communication deliberate and with purpose.  Challenge companies face today? Developing a person to be in more of and executive leadership role Understanding your True Values because your values whether you know them or not depict your behavior and your audience define you by your behavior and actions not by what you say. Many are so busy “doing the task” they have no concept of how you show up in the process of the task! Understanding your Stimulus Value  Checking your behavior before you engage what do you want the audience to do, achieve, react in a certain way?  No one wants to tell you how you show up because everyone just wants to keep the boss happy being open to feedback is the key to a growth mindset Developing lifelong learners for value added leadership that build engagement within themselves and their teams rather than dictators who only drive the bottom line and don’t see the wealth in their people. Great leadership is looking at the possibilities not the limitations and not focusing on your “Power” instead using your energy to empower others to ignite the leadership within themselves. The way you deliver is more important than what you say Come up with a  great question to ask yourself on everything - Mine is “How do I make this more fun and engaging for the audience so they will remember?” Being hyper aware of how you show up and listening and reading your audience effectively Audience will always tell you what they need Energy you chose to bring to the table is super important!  Why is this important to the company? Immediate benefits to the team and individuals include better fits for task assignments and fewer, easier resolved conflicts. You will find these communication tools and understanding this type of developed skill set will also help you grow in your work and as a member of your field as well. The concepts we are talking about here can help you get a better understanding of yourself and your clients’ communication styles and motivations, which will help you more effectively respond to their needs. And because these are cutting edge concepts in the market space, will give you the opportunity to continue to grow as leaders in your industry. How do we do it? Y: In the first component we use a series of assessments to build understanding around stimulus value and the areas of strength and opportunities for growth in the recipient. We then teach successful behavior, memorization and delivery techniques for connecting with an audience O: The overall objective is to teach the recipient effective ways (established in science) to build storytelling, supportive images, stimulating slide decks, and content that is dynamic and influential. U: The last component of “The Y.O.U Method” and the most important is the audience. We work with the recipient of the training to guide them through  effective techniques to read and work with an audience so they develop deep engaging presentations based in our biology and how that works. Rick’s Nuggets Yourself: must be your corporate values The person you are hiring is your audience Key Takeaways: Always check in with where you are at, how you show up is a choice not a reaction to what just happened to you. Make sure that before you start communicating with your audience of 1 or 1001 you are emotionally and energetically where you need to be to achieve the results you want to achieve.. Self leadership is just as important as leading others. Learn to read the behavior or your audience, know how to check in and deeply listen to what they are communicating, research, prepare and listen to their needs and be value added. Make sure that your content supports your message (result)  with powerful emotional images, stories and delivery. Make sure your accessories support you and make you shine rather than become a distraction. Stephanie's resources: I would love for you to become a founding member of our newly formed Facebook Group Executive Storytellers and follow us on Instagram @executivestorytellers Instagram: https://vimeo.com/444640964 Facebook Group: https://vimeo.com/445080878 Here is a discount code to Stephanie's e-book that was released in February “The Why Guide To Story Hacking”  use the Code: HACK4U http://executivestoryteller.com/

But we have unlimited time off! Why would anyone not want to join a company with such a progressive time off schedule? Asked founder Sanjeev.  Two reasons, One PTO is a perk not a reason for joining a company. People will join and stay at your company when they believe in your vision and experience professional growth.  And Two, your company is a start up. No one is going to believe that with the aggressive production cycles that they can just take off and take advantage of this policy.  Our guest today: Adam Gordon & Ulises Orozco, Co-Founders of PTO Genius With over 30 years of HR tech experience and a focus on employee benefits and leave management. Adam & Ulises are serial entrepreneurs who founded PTO Genius to help companies increase job satisfaction, attract/retain top talent and lower payroll liability by re-imagining what employees can do with paid time off. Today we discuss: The pros & cons of Paid time off structures How to implement the right structure for your unique company Challenge today with Paid Time Off? Potential liability for the company because it creates an environment where not self managed, managed like a traditional policy. Too dependent on the individual manager approval. Using unlimited as a marketing tool. But there really is no unlimited Creates more legal liability People either don't take time off or too much time off The bedrock to unlimited PTO is good culture. The bedrock of trust which can NOT be managed by managers.  Why is this important to the company? Culture Trust Mutual respect Accountability Unlimited PTO looks desirable to avoid the liability of the employment contract Avoid the management  Payout at the end of employment Rick’s Nuggets PTO is not a reason why people join your organization How PTO is managed/supported is a snapshot of your leadership style (which is the root of why people stay or leave your company) Benefits & perks are icing not the cake. How do we do implement the right PTO policy? Questions to Ask First: Can we trust our employees? Do I want to give managers the authority to manage when people are away? Starts with leadership and how you value the employee Communication- transparency Being Vulnerable as leaders Start with the right culture. Most startups should start with a traditional PTO model Better to keep yourself out of a legal liability.  Can't eat the cost of litigation Employees with unlimited PTO end up taking fewer vacation days than their limited PTO counterparts (13 days versus 15 days).  SHRM source link HERE If you want to implement an unlimited PTO policy Ask yourself if you are really built for it? Don't call it a “unlimited” policy but a “Self Directed” PTO Document the policy Define non starters- set up bumpers Manage that everyone has access to time off Encourage time off Creative time off incentives Assignment & tracking should be no disruption to workflow Set up a calendar where people know when people are off Hand off before someone goes away Rick’s Nuggets Look at your company values and align your PTO policy with that which aligns with your leadership style Key Takeaways: Unlimited policy- do you meet the above criteria. Is it truly self directed? Proactive hand offs Guest Contacts: Website: PTO Genius Email: hello@ptogenius.com LinkedIn: Adam Gordon or Ulises Orozco Twitter: Adam Gordon or Ulises Orozco

“I want to work with really smart people and here is a list of schools that this person will have graduated from” said Lawrence, the CEO. “I do not want to interview anyone who has not come out of one of these schools”. My gut reaction was to simply say, “no thanks” and exit the meeting. Afterall, this CEO was going to be difficult to work with.  My response back was simply “Confirmation Bias”  We favor information that confirms our world view and this helps us to reduce any cognitive discomfort that discounts our values and realities. As Entrepreneurs, we are more susceptible to this bias because we are so focused on the task at hand. This reduces our ability to objectively make decisions that are best for the business.  Lawrence laughed, grabbed the sheet of paper and threw it in the trash. “Ok find me smart people”!  The truth is the strongest people often surface in the most unexpected ways and your bias clouds your vision of the truth! Our guest today: Bruce Marable, Co-founder & CEO of Employee Cycle, the all-in-one People Dashboard Bruce is a Philly-based serial tech startup founder. When Bruce is not helping HR leaders better use data to make smarter workforce decisions, he is making music playlists on Spotify, taking self-care at the boxing gym, or hunting for the best bread pudding around town.    Today we discuss: Why Bias needs to be eliminated from your hiring process How to deliver an unbiased, evidence based interview Challenge today? According to Wikipedia, Bias is defined as a disproportionate weight in favor of or against an idea or thing, usually in a way that is closed-minded, prejudicial, or unfair. We all have bias. It is important to eliminate it for one simple reason… Your company’s success Why is bias elimination important to the company? More diverse companies succeed More revenue Higher productivity Cannot properly market to diverse groups of people/customers Totally different backgrounds bring different ideas  More diverse individuals create more self awareness, well rounded thought process Disabilities Sexual orientation Ethnicity Ageism Re entering workforce Incarcerated Parenting  Rick’s Nuggets Innate Biases Overconfidence: Subjective confidence in ideas or decisions Illusion of control: overestimate ability to control situation or outcome Anchoring/Adjustment: past experience predicts plans for future Confirmation: preexisting beliefs- devalue contradictory information  Cognitive tunnel vision Curse of Knowledge : experts assume similar content understanding in others Optimism: See the positive outcomes… delusional optimism How do we solve the bias issue? Mindset Open to People who are different Everyone is on equal footing Allow people come in as being perceived as qualified Vs. unqualified Reinforce that they are qualified  Eliminate your assumptions- college degree Actions Recruit from a diverse pool of job candidates Remove all language in job descriptions that may have bias. Standardize the interview questions. Perform the same due diligence on all candidates whether that candidate is a referral or not Give all candidates the same level of respect  Blind the resume process Remove bias from likability Rick’s Nuggets Customer experience mindset - applicants are your customers More difficult to say No than yes Conduct a qualifying call with most Interview questions Pre-determined and assigned to the individual interviewer according to the order in which they participate Must gather evidence to support the decision either way Feedback & closure Key Takeaways: Acknowledge confirmation bias. Review the language in your job descriptions Standardize your interview questions Guest Contact: LinkedIn  or Twitter  

Key Points for Episode: Timeline for Video Interviews - 72 hours  1- 45 minutes  2- 45 minutes 3- 45 minutes 4- 45 - 60 minutes Decision  - 24 hours from Final Interview  You must have your questions pre-written and assigned to the individual Interviewer Questions designed to gain evidence of cultural alignment ** DO NOT just pick random behavioral questions!  They must have purpose and be tied to your company values! Behavioral Questions Follow up each question with the “How & What” The purpose of each interview is to get to the “truth” of who this person is and how they align with company core values. Our goal with each question is to find hard evidence one way or the other. Past performance is a key indicator of future performance. We are going granular to understand the core of who this person is to fill your gut with accurate information to make the correct decision.  The Behavioral Interview: The simplest way to learn the behavioral model is to use STAR methodology. Let each interviewee outline the Situation & Task first. This is just the background of the story that you need to know to make the story make sense. Clear context! Look for difficulty, complexity or size of the challenge. What was the person trying to accomplish and why? Approach: This is where we focus on the actions taken to address the issue, complete a task, solve a problem or improve the situation. We focus on the WHY here!  Focus in on this area the most and poke holes in the answers.  Each answer needs to be tested and must be followed up with why. Look for Key details and explore them!  Why did you take that approach?  Why was that important? Why did that work? Results: What is the positive outcome for the story? What were the issues? Where did they fail? We are looking for tangible, supported evidence.  Video Interviews (Same Day Ideal)  Ideal to line up back to back Schedule back to back or split them up 2/2 or 3/1 Build a knockout question for each interviewer Interview 1 - Cultural Value Alignment I Interview 2 - Skills Screen  Live working session to evaluate skills/communication Interview 3 - Cultural Value Alignment II (optional) 24 hours from interview 2 Final Interview - Cultural Confirmation III & Offer preparation (Decision Maker)   Decision / Offer (24 hours max) Best to give immediate feedback Time kills hires, be decisive Role Play Interview Questions Walk me through the steps you took to prepare for your last project / client presentation (preparation) What made those steps the most efficient? How did you do it specifically? Timeline set? Potential Challenges identified and how were they prioritized for consideration? What were the things you missed? What was the result? Why was this important to you? **Give me an example of something you tried that failed miserably (keep light & fun) (innovate without fear) What were the circumstances that justified the risk How was it implemented? What was the potential upside if it worked?  What was missing? What would you have done differently?  Why did it fail? What did you learn? Tell me about a time when it was necessary to admit to others that you had made a mistake. (accountability) What was the specific mistake How did you identify the mistake? How did you handle it?  Why did you choose that particular approach? What was the lesson learned?   What did you do differently going forward?  Tell me about the last project you worked on where you were major time constraints  (own it/quality effort) What steps did you take to ensure quality? What  shortcuts were taken? What mistakes were made How did the client receive the work?

We are now remote.  And we are learning so much about what it takes to keep your people engaged and productive. The balance between communication and micromanagement is often the Biggest challenge.  Here’s what we’ve learned: Consistent communication with ultra flexibility is working. Encouragement to take care of yourself first: ie: a walk, bike ride or step away is increasing productivity. Virtual happy hours are helping to forge team comradery.  Our guests today: Michael Houlihan & Bonnie Harvey, Founders of the world's top wine brand, Barefoot Wines Beginning with virtually no money and no wine industry experience, they employed innovative ideas to overcome obstacles, create new markets and forge strategic alliances. Michael & Bonnie pioneered Worthy Cause Marketing and performance-based compensation. They built an internationally bestselling brand and as a result were acquired by E&J Gallo.  Today, they offer their Guiding Principles for Success (GPS) & Shelf Smarts courses to help consumer product brand builders achieve success by maximizing the value of their human resources.  Today we are discussing: Virtual challenges today How to build company culture to an off premise workforce Off Premise challenge today? Disengagement Not routine Physical commitment Daily encouragement Why is this important to the company? Two biggest hidden costs in every business!  Reduce turnover Increase engagement Good people transform to great people through growth Improve skill sets & relationships Allow people to do the work they like to do and not do. Allow them to create their own roles.  Rick’s Nuggets Accountability & Productivity Remote causes you to really put your business under the microscope Cost of a Bad hire is 30% of individuals earnings (US Dept of Labor) Does not include Morale & Productivity loss costs How do we do it? Find good people & build great people ***** Keep people from being isolated (Team based) Culture of permission - make mistakes right. Don't hide mistakes. Hiring tactics? Overkilling Orientation Over educate Money map About understanding how the money flows to get to your paycheck 2 division company Getting into the cause & effect of the business Sales & Sales support Include people in the solutions Everyone asked to contribute their ideas Footsteps to the wine in stores from the receptionist! (recognition) Throw problems out on the table and allow people to contribute Promote the idea that everyone has a voice Rick’s Nuggets Finding good people requires work & a lot of conversations Creative ways to encourage engagement  Virtual happy hour Key Takeaways: You have a responsibility to improve your hires. Find their talents and expand upon them All companies have 2 divisions- sales & sales support All salaries start from the community not from the company! Find Bonnie & Michael here: Business Audio Theatre Linkedin  Websites: www.thebarefootspirit.com & www.consumerbrandbuilders.com

High performing individuals come in every flavor. They can not be identified by looking at a resume! They can only be discovered by understanding who the person is,  the values they hold dear and the track record of the impact they have made in the past. Every day, your company loses money when you allow personal bias to influence your hiring decisions without proper evidence. Quite often, the strongest hire is not the person you envisioned for the role.  Our guest today: Kelly Robinson, CEO of RedDotMedia. He founded Broadbean.com Inc 2001, which was acquired by CareerBuilder in 2014. Now he lead RedDot Media, recruitment advertising agency with a particular skill in programmatic advertising campaigns. Kelly has spent the last 25 years in recruitment and recruitment technology, during which time he has grown, integrated, bought, and sold businesses in both the UK and US.  Today we are discussing: Why you need to consider hiring people over 45+ How to value wisdom & hire modern elders Why don’t employers hire older people? The person they are hiring probably has more experience than they do. Oh, why would he want to work for me, They have done my job for 20 years! They don’t have the right degree. Younger workers are better because:  They have more energy. They're more tech savvy. They're more willing to give discretionary effort. They'll work for us for the next 30 years. They have less health problems. The reality is younger workers have just as many problems as older workers. Older workers are better because: They don't have kids pulling them constantly off their game (Uh oh! Parent bias!) While possibly not as tech savvy, they have experience in getting things done in different ways and they won't panic when the internet goes down for 15 minutes. They grew up in a time when work life balance meant you worked until the job was done. They're willing to by loyal to you for the next 7-10 years, which is more loyalty than you'll get from anyone else you hire. Older workers statistically don't miss work more than younger workers. In the next few years, 35% of our workforce will be 50 or older. And 8% of them—about 13 million workers—will be 65 or older. It’s hard to finance a 30-year retirement with a 40-year career - Chip Conley (Airbnb 52)  The average duration of unemployment for older job seekers has dropped sharply since 2012 (though still long); it’s down from roughly 50 weeks to 34 weeks for job hunters age 55 to 64. In other words, it now typically takes about seven to eight months to find a job if you’re over 55. About 29% of job seekers 55+ are considered long-term unemployed (looking for work for 27 weeks or more); while that’s still high, it’s down dramatically from roughly 45% in 2014 AARP surveyed 3,900 people age 45 and older, 61% said they’ve personally seen or experienced age discrimination. Among those who’ve applied for a job in the past two years, 44% were asked for potentially job-losing age-related information such as birth dates and graduation years It’s almost an acceptable bias.  Why is this important to your company? Older workers may be better because: They don't have kids pulling them constantly off their game (Uh oh! Parent bias!) While possibly not as tech savvy, they have experience in getting things done in different ways and they won't panic when the internet goes down for 15 minutes. They grew up in a time when work life balance meant you worked until the job was done. They're willing to by loyal to you for the next 7-10 years, which is more loyalty than you'll get from anyone else you hire. We all miss work for stuff. Older workers statistically don't miss work more than younger workers. The fastest-growing age demographic of employees in the workplace is 65 and older, which has experienced a 35% jump in numbers over the past half-decade. In the next few years, 35% of our workforce will be 50 or older. And 8% of them—about 13 million workers—will be 65 or older. According the U.S. Bureau of Labor and Statistics, 22.2 percent of the workforce is 55 years old and over! Research from the National Council on Aging has shown that modern elders have lower absentee and turnover rates than younger workers. Ultimately, age will be less of a factor. The Bureau of Labor Statistics projects that those ages 65 and over will experience the fastest rates of labor force growth by 2024. Many people who reach retirement age now are often healthy enough to run marathons, build houses  Rick’s Nuggets You can NOT tell if someone is good for your company via a resume! Anyone who says otherwise is delusional  Recruiters/hiring managers filter people out Ageism Overqualified Too expensive from a benefits perspective Not technically aware- can't learn new skills (stereotyping!)  Not the right educational experience Not a cultural fit (fitting in with people in their 20’s) How do we do it?   Start valuing wisdom Appreciate that you have no choice   Promote diversity & inclusion… which includes AGE D&I increases innovation Productivity Demand that those responsible for recruiting Talk to people everyone who is reasonably close Eliminate educational barriers Anyone over 5 years experience, ignore the educational background Develop a phone screen process to gather evidence of success  Judge viability by gathering accurate data Take notes Guest Contact: Email: kelly@reddotmedia.co   Twitter: @KellyJRobinson

Not having a clearly defined corporate culture document is a recipe for failure. Why? The culture document is a business plan for how your people are expected to behave, interact and resolve conflict. It is your saving grace when things go sideways! You must provide a clear and accurate picture to everyone you interview about the good, the bad and the ugly of the organization and the expectations of behaviors that result in success in their role.  Our guest today: Jeff Wald, CoFounder & President of WorkMarket Jeff Wald is the Founder of Work Market, an enterprise software platform that enables companies to manage freelancers (recently acquired by ADP). He also founded several other technology companies, including Spinback, a social sharing platform (purchased by salesforce.com).  Jeff is an active angel investor and startup advisor, as well as serving on numerous public and private Boards of Directors. He also formerly served as an officer in the Auxiliary Unit of the New York Police Department. Jeff is the author of The Birthday Rules and The End of Jobs: The Rise of On-Demand Workers and Agile Corporations. Jeff frequently speaks at conferences and in media on startups and labor issues. He is an expert at building cultures that thrive. Today we are discussing: Why it is critical to have a culture document The three steps to building your own culture doc  Why does a company need to have a culture document? Not very clear about the culture of the company First stages you hire the people that you know First months/years are the most difficult Very difficult to make sure you work well together When you exhaust your talent pool/first level network Then you branch out Do people really understand the nature of being at a startup? Terrible hire / fit amazing person, really a vanity hire Understand how to be resource constrained Amazing person, disastrous fit Why is this important to the company Resource allocation problem Few dollars, time End up giving a longer rope so the failure impact is that much greater Cost the company Millions of dollars- spending power, budget How do we do it?   You should not hire quick at the executive level They need time to succeed Creating a culture Document Start with your values 6-8 core values of the company Different to everyone Be clear with what it is you believe Who you are (mission statement), where you are going (North Star) & why you are there (purpose) Needs to be super clear to EVERYONE in the organization (repeat it again and again...when people start complaining about hearing it too often, you are halfway there!) Behaviors & Policies Behaviors to support the values How we run our business How you hold meetings, how you promote, how you do business with clients, how you communicate, how you make decisions, your social events, etc.,  all have to support your values, otherwise what's the point of having values? People What are the behaviors that everyone at the company should strive for?  Do we want people constantly learning and growing, or just doing their job well and going home?  Are they questioning things, or just rowing when told to row?  How do they disagree with a decision? What do we expect from our managers?  Are the efficiency drivers or coaches?  Are they transparent?  How do they give feedback? Key Takeaways: A culture document brings clarity to you and your team Repeat it again and again, because your team has to know it Use the document as hiring and promotion guide Guest Contacts: LinkedIn  Twitter Book: The End of Jobs: The Rise of On-Demand Workers and Agile Corporations (Amazon)

Marketing and hiring are far too often major failure points because they are started too late. The right time to start marketing is before you launch your product. Just as the right time to hire is before you feel the pain of needing the work to be done. It is never too soon to to proactively start your marketing or hiring process. The key to not failing is having the structure in place before you feel the pain! Our guest today: Andrew Miller, CEO of GrowthExpertz  Andrew is a Startup Marketer who's been traveling the world working with early-stage companies. After driving growth for 3 multimillion-dollar startup exits, including a 500startups project in San Francisco, he founded GrowthExpertz.  Andrew's specialty lies in helping companies scale efficiently in the early-stages with both growth coaching and remote consultancy.  He’s written for INC magazine, StartupGrind, and StartupNation. Andrew is also a prolific #DigitalNomad who in the last decade has visited, lived, and worked from over 70 countries.  Today we are discussing The right time to start marketing efforts How to kick off marketing for both product and people When should a startup start marketing? Start marketing right now Pre launch, start building a strategy Landing pages, call to action Even still in stealth mode Coming soon, gathering prelaunch beta email list Why is this important? Prioritize marketing too late Show investors that you have traction Do things that don't scale in the beginning Marketing drives your launch Launch with an email list  Bootstrap marketing- drive organic traffic during the early stage of the business. Before launch Rick’s Nuggets Marketing directly leads into hiring How do we implement marketing & when? Online presence- marketing foundation Create landing pages, website,  Social media pages Analytics Start organic marketing  Organic marketing channels PR - start creating relationships with podcast,  Create content with call to action Build to 500 emails of beta testers & followers pre launch Launch product  Create press release, go live Scale the marketing strategies that work Go into launch with traffic Be able to go into investors with relevant data Rick’s Nuggets With hiring: Identify target hires Have conversations, network Gain buy in to win the hire             Key Takeaways: Prioritize foundational marketing early in the game  Greenlight your organic marketing before the product launch Know your kpi’s, analytics Guest Contact: GrowthExpertz - For Funded Startups Andrewstartups.com or Instagram - For Bootstrapped Startups

Ever finished an interview with a great person and just felt unsure or maybe you need more data to make the decision either way? This all too common scenario is caused by a poorly executed interview process and not asking intentional questions designed to gain the evidence to support a decision either way. Today we will be discussing how to avoid the pitfalls of this conundrum when hiring for your company. Our guest today: Steve Pfrenzinger   CEO & Head Peformance Coach of Pfrenzinger Agency, Inc. Steve Pfrenzinger is an entrepreneur, a coach to entrepreneurs and a Hall of Fame investor in entrepreneurs.  He’s also an author, speaker, and Self-Awareness expert helping entrepreneurs, innovators and change agents solve big problems. Steve is also a Forbes Coaches Council member.   Using his decades of experience building multiple 8-figure businesses, where he hired over 1,000 team members,  Steve has helped hundreds of clients make better decisions, plus expose their career and business blind spots that can clear their path to success.  Today we are discussing Why gathering evidence is critical to support your decision What Steps need to be taken to avoid this conundrum  Why is gathering deep evidence important You have found a very good candidate, but you are just a little unsure, you want one more data point E.G., 3 said yes and one said no or “not sure”. then what? Finding out how people are “wired mentally” in DISC or Myers & Briggs might impact the decision  Why is this important Personality type is a predictor of future behavior and key to major hiring decisions Knowing one’s “preferences” is key, how they “lean” in certain situations, e.g., Thinker vs Feeler  Ask Steve to define a “preference”  4 elements to the personality Compare DISC styles to Myers & Briggs types.  Cheat sheet below.  If you know one, you know the other.  If you know neither, you need to find out.  D = ET   (Dominance = Extroverted Thinker) I = EF   (Influence = Extroverted Feeler) S = IF    (Stability = Introverted Feeler) C = IT    (Consciousness = Introverted Thinker) Rick’s Nuggets Interview questions need to be intentional Digging deeper uncovers the truth…. How & Why? Must avoid injecting your own personal bias/agenda How do we do it? Ask them for their DISC style or M&B type Have them take a test at www.16personalities.com Fast type them with Steve’s 2-page form, uses easy-to-learn computer metaphor Fast typing form, Steve has one for all that ask.  Contact him at steve@stevepfrenzinger.com What is Fast Typing? PIPO  model Power Imput Process  Output Rick’s Nuggets Proper sequence: Interview => Assessment => Interview close Assessments often done too soon Key Takeaways:  Personality Type and the behavioral preferences (tendencies) it highlights can further insure the success of key hires.   You can fast type others without a formal test in minutes, with the PIPO fast typing form Check steve out at www.coachstevep.com or email him at steve@stevepfrenzinger.com He has many coaching and educational programs for executives and management teams, from entrepreneurial ventures to major corporations. 

Why you need to hire trusted talent to build and scale your startup. Referrals are still the strongest way to stack the deck with talent for your organization. But you cannot shortcut the interview process. Just because a person worked well in another organization does not mean they will be successful at yours. Diligence in gathering evidence of value, growth and cultural alignment must be gathered to avoid making a bad hire.  Our guest today: AJ Bruno, CEO & Co-founder of QuotaPath.  AJ leads the QuotaPath team as CEO & Co-Founder. Prior to QuotaPath, AJ spent 6 years at TrendKite, the company he founded and was president of in Austin Texas.  At TrendKite, AJ led the go-to-market and sales strategy/execution and took that team from initial product inception through $20+ million ARR and 250+ employees. TrendKite was acquired by the public company Cision for $225 million in January 2019.  AJ is religious about vetting and hiring talent and has made over 300 hires in his career  Today we discuss Why trusted talent is the best option to build and scale your startup.  What to do when you don't have a strong network The steps to take to hire through referrals:  Why is hiring “trusted talent” the best route Look into your own network of people you have previously worked with or go to a trusted source to help build the team you need to take you to the next level. Why is this important Avoid running into bad hires   How do we do it? Reverse engineer your network Looking for trust and loyalty A lot of back channeling (connect with at least 5 people)  If you know the person? He needs to justify why for both parties In the Interview process Disqualification questions- do you know who Elon Musk is? Tie questions to the importance of the role Rick’s Nuggets Knock out questions  Provide a growth path to avoid a transactional experience Key Takeaways:  Backchannel with at least 3 references if the hire is very strategic (the first hire in their position or respective position) Create a consistent process (with knockout questions or frameworks) if it will be a hire you will make multiple times (sales reps). Ensure that the person is sold on working with you and learning from you as much as possible if it is a strategic hire.

Will a subject matter expert be a better solution to hiring a leader for your company? We can all agree that there are different types of leaders. I am going to contend that the wiring of the leader you are hiring is more important than the pedigree that is brought to the table.  Our guest today: Ed Tyson, CEO of PerSynergy Consulting. Ed Tyson is the chief executive officer of PerSynergy Consulting, architect of LeadershipSOPs, author of From Expert to Executive: Mastering the ABCs SOPS of Leading, and executive coach and consultant to both small niche brands and Fortune 500 companies. With a mastery of leadership refined throughout his years as a Marine, executive, coach and consultant, Ed guides executives, to key findings he has learned through intimate connections with a diverse array of leaders. Today we are discussing How to identify the right leader for your startup What steps you should take to build the right job description to find the best candidate to fill this position  What questions you should ask to ensure your candidate is the best fit for the job Why not hire a leader in your startup?  I think we can all agree…  ...leaders have a tremendous impact on your culture and process. The smaller the team, the larger the impact of each individual but particularly each leader. Deciding to add your next leader could either be that decision which propels you forward or sets you back. Leaders are more expensive and more capable of damaging your culture than individual contributors - so be certain it’s a leader you need, that you are clear about the challenge you need answered, and you are confident your candidate can indeed answer it. For example, there is a start-up client I am working with right now, just north of here in LA county. They are in the biotech space and have hired several key leaders from a much larger, global entity in the broader pharma space. The leaders they have brought on were extremely competent and well-positioned to lead the functions which they were hired to run. HOWEVER, they were not prepared to engage in both the breath of strategy and depth of tactics the job requires. Further, they are struggling with the lack of defined processes and support from other functions. Consequently, project timelines are being missed and their time-to-market will be impacted. Going the other direction on the 5, I have a client in San Diego county in the manufacturing business who is just reaching beyond the start-up phase. They have a relatively small corporate staff but almost a third of them are leaders with big titles but very small teams (with one or two subordinates a piece). Additionally, almost every leader is an internal promotion with no professional leadership experience – this founder has placed a lot of bets on continuing to cultivate raw talent but does not have the time to do it  – which is admirable but making it difficult to grow beyond his current book of business or empower these leaders to really lead. At the end of the day, the team is too big and too inexperienced to comprehend and reach decisions without its leader (keeping the CEOs nose in the very parts of the business he has to escape to hit his growth targets). Both of these companies made the same mistakes (just differently). They both failed to clarify and challenge what they needed and ensure they got it. So again, my first tip is don’t hire a leader in the first place… unless and until you are confident you absolutely need a full-time person whose primary role is to structure, operate and perfect a community of effort. If that thought makes you nervous, if you're worried who will do the work, you might need someone to lead the work, not the people. Don’t fall into the trap of mistaking a technical lead, a senior subject-matter expert for a leader. Rick’s Input Focus on correctly positioned talent  Avoid vanity hires How do we hire leaders then?  Purpose of a Leader The purpose of adding a leader to your growing team is not to add to your subject-matter expertise, it is to ensure someone other than yourself wakes up every day focused on cultivating a willing, capable and sustainable community of effort. Leaders are no longer obsessed with their craft because every step a leader takes on the career ladder is away from their craft.  Leaders are not obsessed with technical puzzles. They are obsessed with people puzzles. Their primary work functions are to structure, operate and perfect powerful communities of effort. Do they need to understand the work? You bet. But their work is different from the team’s work. And the better you understand that work, the work of a leader, the more likely you are to find the type of leader you need. Defining Your SCOPE For me, it all starts with understanding the SCOPE of the community of effort you need. SCOPE is an acronym which helps leaders remember the five most important architectural components of a community of effort. It stands for Strategy, Culture, Objectives, Purpose and Ecosystem. You can think of it as a replacement for the old mission / vision / values mantra which still permeates business schools today. In fact, Culture, Objectives and Purpose stand for exactly those same three components. The different being, the full SCOPE acronym adds the importance of understanding the players and interactions within your ecosystem and the strategies you craft by considering that ecosystem, how you deliver value to it (i.e. your purpose), the objectives you set (from both a visionary and near-term perspective) as well as the culture you have and the culture you’d like to have. Your best shot at getting the leader you need is taking your best shot at defining the company SCOPE and the departmental SCOPE for the team you want this leader to lead (and do it with your existing team if you can).  Your clarity here will allow you to differential the team’s work from the work the leader must do to be successful. This will result in a rich, leadership-focused job description based on the real work of leading. Then you can use the interview to pressure test key concepts in your company and departmental SCOPEs across a broad set of applicants (think of it as free consultation) and dig into the how. Process Not Outcomes Don’t fall into the trap of listening to canned lists of outcomes your candidates come prepared to throw at you. Ask about the how, the process. How did they refine the SCOPE at their last job? How will they do it here? How will they stay in alignment with the departments to their right and left? How will they stay aligned with you? How will they translate it into clear work methods, roles and responsibilities, how will they structure rewards and recognition; how will they secure the knowledge and capabilities you need to succeed? What repeatable processes do they use to inspire and engage people, drive accountability, evolve the team, etc.? I think the most important thing is to gain insight into their own personal LeadershipSOPs – in other words, what are their standard operating procedures for structuring, operating and perfecting communities of effort?   Rick’s Nuggets Job descriptions  Person type (builder, improver, maintainer) Performance metrics Evidence of past performance Performance tied to process  Key Takeaways: Don’t Hire a Leader in the First Place! Throw Away Your Job Description! Ignore Candidate Stories about Outcomes!

The vast majority of companies still do not have any policy in place to support work from home. As the majority of companies have switched to remote work and plan to implement this new system going forward - companies need to understand how to make an effective switch that will align with their company goals and business development strategy.  Our guest today: David DeFrancis, CEO of IT Proactive David started his first computer consulting business in 1998 and launched IT Proactive in 2015. He noticed a need for security and process in small to medium sized businesses was completely under-served.  IT Proactive is an outsourced IT Support firm that you can trust. We offer fully managed IT solutions that are simple, affordable and all-inclusive. Today we are going to discuss On boarding and Off boarding Employees Remote work policies BYOD policies What are today’s challenges when successfully onboarding and offboarding terminations? No on boarding or off boarding checklist (Directory Service Accounts, email, application permissions, devices) 1 off policies Personal devices accessing the corporate network, not having a separate vLAN (Internet Only) for employees (What is acceptable in the organization) What policies need to be in place Acceptable use for company equipment BYOD - where most companies fail Remote Access Policy- work from home Personal Device v. Corporate Device Its all about data integrity and security Equipment reimbursement Internet access/ security (remote location) VPN Firewall with Security Services BYOD- allow employees to access data Failure point - Written policy on what they can & cannot access - MDM- mobile device management software  When people leave they can put their phone on airplane mode to access shared company files (locally synced data) Rick’s Input On boarding is a continuation of your interview process. This determines your ability to retain your strongest people How do we create an effective internal policy around remote access? Questions need to be asked first Can company data be accessed on personal devices? Can data be accessed remotely via web browser. (Email, Sharepoint etc) Protocol in place for a security breach If a breach is detected, who to contact, plan to notify customers / vendors Are remote computers encrypted Are computers connected to a directory service? Mobile device management policy in place? Security protocol in place to wipe data (MDM) Now Create Acceptable use policy for Company Devices (template) Taylor to specific company (Questions to ask) Outline what applications are acceptable to use on device Can the employee access personal email, social, banking, etc… for company owned device Websites that are acceptable to access on a work device (Personal Banking, Social Media etc) Create a mobile device management policy Dependent upon server location Dependent upon BYOD or company owned devices On prem, cloud, hybrid What needs to happen when a person starts? On boarding process  Recommend providing company owned devices first! On boarding Checklist: Typically IT Managed Directory Services Account Email Account / O365 / Sharepoint LOB Applications  Permissions for LOB and File Share(s) / Sharepoint VPN in applicable Mobile Device (Email, Sharepoint, Supervised v. Managed Mode MDM) Company Policies, delivered and signed by employee Off boarding 1. Typically IT Managed Remove Access to all devices during exit interview Force Sign Out of any BYOD devices. Directory Services, LOB applications, File Shares etc Archive devices 2. Do not tamper with user date until its archived Point in time archive- home folder, desktop image, email Off boarding checklist for HR & IT Signed document that all company owned devices are returned Key Takeaways: Start Policies (even if it has 2-3 items in it) Acceptable Use Policy Remote Access Policy BYOD Policy Create and On boarding and Off boarding Checklist Be in sync with HR and the members of your team when exiting an employee Guest Contact: david@itproactive.com

A remote workforce has proven to be challenging to a lot of companies who have traditionally run operations from a centralized location. Aside from the technical issues (ie:security and connectivity) productivity, engagement and mental health become more difficult to manage. Today we take a dive into how we can utilize policies, tools and data to create a more engaged remote workforce. Our guest today: Shiran Yaroslavsky, Co-Founder & CEO of Cassiopeia Tech A startup that empowers managers that lead fully or partially remote teams to maximize workplace experience. Our solution delivers actionable insights to boost team collaboration, belonging, and mental health by analyzing communications patterns (not content) within and among teams. Shiran is an expert in all things related to data driven products and people analytics and was featured in 2019 Forbes 30 Under30 list. In this episode we cover The problems of managing a remote workforce Providing direction on how to fix it  What are the remote work challenges are companies facing today? 77% Managers feel it is harder for them  to manage their team remotely   Don't have visibility, water cooler talk  Creating a sense of belonging becomes more difficult (more than third were affected) Needs not being met.  Need more empathy (fear, uncertainty) (36% of employees would like their managers to be more empathetic to their challenges at home to improve their work experience.). Lead with an open approach  Be more sensitive to employees’ needs and how we interact.  Why is this important? Managers need to constantly asses the team pulse Remote teams are the future (GitLab report. 86% of respondents believe remote is the future) New skills and tools that help to adapt to the new environment Challenge with surveys People are fearing for their job Rick’s Input Leaders must adapt, or parish Changes operational efficiency and the need for more hands on management Cuts the need for layers of management  What needs to happen for a company to be successful in managing a remote workforce? There are 3 main domains companies should adjust in order to be successful in managing remote teams: Establish Remote Work policies & culture that are suitable for remote work. There are 3 things we need to pay attention to.  Rules - We need to establish new rules for gaining clarity Will we pay people for overtime if they work off-hours? How do we manage security and passwords?  Norms - When do we email, text, or message people? Are cameras always on for online meetings? How do we run and manage meetings? Design our broader company DNA -  How do we communicate when we aren’t satisfied with something? How can we stay connected while working remotely? Establishing the right culture will help us to foster trust Training for managers My interview with Amy Cappellanti-Wolf. Today the new leader is more about empathy. It’s still about driving for results but in a more collaborative way. Much more listening and a lot more guiding rather than directing. The new leader also needs to be more flexible and innovative to adapt to the new challenges as the world is changing very fast.   Training can help to gain these new skills. Tools needed Working remotely is not just working from the office only with Zoom. Working remotely creates new challenges for leaders. According to our data - 77% of managers indicate it’s harder for them to manage their team remotely.  There is a workplace experience gap that technology can help in closing.  Team Insights tools. It is more challenging to use Surveys for feedback tools (employees are busy and insecure while as a manager you need fast real-time insights to act on). Communication shifted to online - people analytics can empower remote managers. Examples from Cassiopeia - We analyze communication patterns to provide actionable insights to improve collaboration, belonging and mental health.  For example - create a healthy workday balance. Experience of new employees Communication platforms (zoom, Slack etc) Collaboration tools - to share documents, thoughts, goals. Rick’s Nuggets Your policies need to start with your interview process and carry through to onboarding and tenure. Not just when the person is already working for you Implement the same management tools in the hiring process. It provides a real life picture of how you work.  Key Takeaways: Be Aware of the workplace experience gap created by the shift to remote work  Design the right policies and company culture to allow your company to prosper while working remotely.  Use the right tools to boost your teams’ collaboration, communication, and employee experience.

There is a flood of great talent on the market and the competition for those limited positions is heating up. With this rise in the talent pool the ability to properly access applications is a major challenge. The bar has been raised!  Are you leaving good people on the table? Our guest today: Shawn Sheikh, Co-Founder & Managing Partner of Pivot CMO Shawn is a Silicon Valley & Beach serial entrepreneur and Y Combinator alumni. His specialty is helping companies scale from $0 to multi-millions in revenue, through both conventional paid acquisition and non-conventional growth hacks.  Apart from Pivot CMO, Shawn loves to work with founders to find creative ways to scale their businesses and owns and invests in a portfolio of small to medium sized businesses Today we are discussing The challenges in a heavy applicant reply market How to effectively screen applicants to avoid false positives What are the issues you are finding in screening applicants Quality  Response rate Don't want to do the case study Right Approach? Reply with application (google form)  Phone Screening  Report to person call screen  Rick’s Input Job description- performance metrics and call to action CTA: 3 questions for submittal - to be completed for all applications Timing of the event…. ie: when to do a test Phone screen for Purpose Current process that works Application process does work (cuts from 3k to 300) 20-30 people are qualified (phone screen) 75-80% show up for phone screen 6-8 to interview 1-2 to offer Referrals- from employees 4 all hires One referral from a person they  Process  Applicant review/application Phone screen -50% technical/ 50% fit Walk through assignment Test Interview Offer Rick’s Nuggets Interview Structure & process tied to your Company values “What are you capable of achieving?” Make the call based on the person’s answers rather than the resume Key Takeaways: Better screening questions during the process  Addressing people’s needs before money Owning who you are!

The remote work mandate is still proving to be challenging for a lot of companies. Work from home is here to stay and we have to embrace the changes - there’s more to it than just making sure your employees are getting the job done. Today we are discussing how to get your IT infrastructure dialed in to increase performance in your business. Our guest today: Greg Keller, CTO of JumpCloud Greg Keller is the Chief Technology Officer at JumpCloud. He was responsible for productizing and launching the company’s initial directory service product offering to market in 2014. Greg is a career product visionary and executive management leader with over two decades of product management, product marketing, and corporate development experience ranging from startups to global organizations. Today we  discuss The challenges of IT in our new ‘corporate’ normal Some of IT related Hiring challenges How you can get your company ahead of the curve  What are the IT challenges companies are facing right now? The brittle on prem It workforce is now forced to move to the cloud Security when outside the ‘brick and mortar’ offices For those that still *can* hire, interviewing and onboarding is challenging IT challenges in the hiring process? Obvious - you’re not physically with them Video Interviewing Time demands required over Hangout/Zoom Panel, with follow up 1 on 1 Typically done in 1 day in person COVID = smaller chunks over 2 or 3 days if needed What IT structure needs to be in place? DIY A patchwork of tools and write own automation Access control- active directory Be able to manage remote machines Governess to maintain compliance- devices Remote to on prem servers (VPN) Get clients on the machines Jumpcloud - onboarding through productivity All in one access control software Hiring process? Onboarding HR systems (bamboo, workday, etc)  Manage access to systems relevant to your role  Formats the computer direct from the vendor Key Takeaways: For IT in the new normal: Think ‘forever remote’ - Consolidating vendors will be key, as will ensuring the tooling will provide an ability for the employee to have zero dependencies to a brick and mortar office.  For hiring remotely: Think ‘Culture must shine through a Zoom meeting’ - Engineering managers and those responsible for engaging the candidate beyond ensuring their skills match or exceed the job need, must ensure they understand that employees motivations, behaviors, etc, in the context of not being physically near a team  For the state of employee mental health: Think ‘We owe our workers latitude and empathy to balance their new realities’ - Two adults at home - screaming kids, at home schooling, work pressures all add up to a degraded and intense life experience. The place of employment should do its part to assist the employee with getting through this. 

The key to successful hiring is in uncovering evidence in a person's ability to align culturally and professionally with your unique company. … None of this evidence is on a resume! How do we gather evidence? First, not short cutting the interview process. Focusing on deep behavioral questions then confirming your conclusions with data through assessments. Our guest today: Josh Millet, Founder & CEO of Criteria Corp Josh started the Criteria Corp in 2006 with a vision to create a SaaS-based pre-employment testing service that would make the highest quality employee assessment tools accessible to companies of all sizes.  Criteria has over 4,000 customers in more than 40 countries across the globe. Their pre-employment tests are an efficient and reliable means of gaining insights into the abilities and tendencies of potential employees. Today we discuss Assessments  Why and how to use them effectively A process to properly assess the person you want to hire Why are assessments important? With all the advances in HR tech in the last ten years that have transformed talent acquisition, we aren’t getting better at hiring when you look at results. 46% of all new hires are unsuccessful. The problem is we are relying on 70-year old tools, resumes and unstructured interviews, to gather info on applicants and make hiring decisions. These tools are letting us down. Why is it important?  Immense bottom line implications. Problem with Resumes Poor, incomplete, unreliable information that in the end does not predict much 85% of resumes contain falsehoods or inaccurate information Inject unconscious bias into the hiring process Boston & Chicago study Unstructured interviews don’t work much better. Highly subjective, most interviewees make decision about applicants in first 5 minutes, based on highly subjective Criteria Evaluating for good data - using objective data to reinforce your decision When you think about how to gather data to make good decisions on candidates you should be focusing on: Accurate, reliable info Objective data not subjective impressions Removing bias from decision-making Being forward-looking data: how can this person learn, evolve as job does, rather than just past experience Why are assessments the answer to resume Focus on good reliable data Things that are relevant to the job. Data that is not subjective and predicts job performance Ie cognitive ability (best predictor or job performance, critical thinking, attention to detail learning ability, problem solving) Behavioral or personality assessments - Interaction driven roles EQ/EI- overlapping Rick’s Input Confirmation of data gathered minimizes bias How to do it? Moving past the resume Use assessments early in the process (high applicant to hire ratio) Right after the application Resume submittal Link to assessment in the job post Most common after the application has been accepted Passive searches (a bit later in the process)  Assessment become a resume substitute Process for Active  Choose assessments that are job related Measuring things important to the role 30-40 minutes of assessment Tailor the testing for the role Run at the Application stage or just after (automated)  Use results to prioritize the people that are more likely to succeed Interview  Assessment can generate further behavioral interview questions tailored to the individual based off their results Process for Passive (recruits) Smaller number of people  Lower number of people interviewing Use later in the process when the candidate is more engaged Assessment after the phone screen During the interview or just before Rick’s Nuggets Must gain a personal buy in BEFORE giving tests or assessments People perform better when they want something Key Takeaways: Do things in your hiring process to get good data  Make sure everything you are using has a purpose that measures outcomes related to it

How can you tell if someone is good just through a phone screen? A BIG thanks to our guest today: John Driscoll, Co-Founder & CEO of Naked Development.  Part 1: Outlining Key Points for Episode: Phone Screening: From reviewing the application to proceed to scheduling a call should be between 2-4 days (MAX) Ideal timing for phone call: 45-60 minutes Part 2: 3 components of the phone screen (understanding the person) Why, What & How *PAIN (Why): Discussion part 1:  Pain is the person's reason for talking to you Types of PAIN to be aware of from an employer prospective: LEGITIMATE PAIN                                                                 Lack of Growth                                                                              Work Content/Technical Exposure                                                Leadership Issues                                                                           Unappreciated, Under challenged, Underutilized & Underwater Commute                                                                    SELF-INFLICTED PAIN More Money Personality conflicts Always open  John’s role “Hiring Manager” *DESIRE (What):  What is the environment that this person will THRIVE (This is the part where the employer should look into whether or not the candidate is a cultural fit) Things to consider when taking a deep dive into their desire: Their Vision for where they will thrive Fit to your company  Important note for employers: Cultural fit and Attitude are far more important than skills. Yes, More important than skills! Skills can be taught and acquired. Attitude and cultural fit are often woven into the fiber of who this person really is at their core. IMPACT (How?) (Identify Level of performance) Evidence of Success IMPACT - Do they go above and beyond (This should be demonstrated by example they give you of their past success and how they work with others) Commitment to Personal Growth Phone Screen Script: *PAIN  (Locate a solid PAIN) …. Dig, dig, dig!!! What is happening with your current role that is making you open to exploring something potentially stronger?(Very important one to begin with)  *DESIRE:   If you could create your next company, what would that look like for you? What is your vision of your next role?  What type of environment do you flourish? Culture, Size, Role, & Domain? *IMPACT: Tell me about the most significant impact you had in your current role?  *SKILLS:  What are your core Strengths? COMMUTE:  Where are you willing to commute on a daily basis? (push limits) INTERVIEWING: Currently: Interested: To properly pace out the process, where are you in the interview process? CITIZENSHIP: What is your current work authorization status? SALARY: Looking to make $ What are your minimum salary requirements? AVAILABILITY: What is your availability to interview this week? (dates/times) ***OFFER ACCEPTANCE MAIN CRITERIA: 1: 2: 3: 4: What are 3 or 4 “Main Criteria” that you would need to see in a company for you to accept an offer with them? Final Step: Connecting the Dots

We are now living the new normal.....And that normal is a mostly remote workforce, work/life/self balance and a heavy reliance on technology to lead the business. It is not about keeping what you have but changing who you are to adapt your business to the new world. Companies who will thrive are those who are embracing the change and committing to disrupting their own business. Not holding on to what was. Today is all about embracing the opportunity that has been given to us during this pandemic. “We are never going back to normal. Too much has been exposed in the inefficiencies of expensive office buildings, amenities, drive time and personal time.” - Rod Trujillo Our guest today: Rod Trujillo, Founder & CEO of International Rubber Products  A company founded in 1999 with the sale of all personal assets including savings and retirement accounts.  IRPG is comprised of three distinct facilities in Southern California focused on the Medical Device industry, Aerospace/Defense industry and the Coating and Laminating industry.  The cornerstone and key component of our success as a business is the principal that regardless of macro and microeconomic changes, the company will be run as a God honoring business that seeks to bless everyone it encounters. As a result, IRPG has been adding 25-40 employees annually the past five years and has an annual five-year compounded annual growth rate of 23%.   Today we discuss: Why this forced change is a blessing to your business Where to focus How to implement change Why the change is a good thing? Efficiency! We are not as efficient as we think we are… but more is getting done under the current environment and the company is more productive… we are finding that you don't need as many people… realizing how inefficient they have been Realization People like coming to work and appear to be more social than we thought. Along with technology we are able to touch each employee daily and track projects which we are seeing projects getting done much faster.  Question Assess what you really need? Now that people are isolated, you really start to see how productive people can be especially when you add a little fear of the economy as well as being confined to the home.   Where do we need to focus?  figure out the technology tools and track productivity. Realize we weren't managing efficiently and were over staffed.  Understand you can do more with less Realize that the office has really been used for social interaction easier to manage people through the lock down than it was   Rick’s Input Deep evaluation into what the business REALLY needs Upgrade in Performance mentality  How do we get ahead of the curve and thrive Now?  Pro-activity Get ahead of what is being shown. Be proactive and being to embrace the video conferencing technology along with project and daily touching of employees.  Encourage this change to make the workforce more healthy by having a workout as part of the daily routine for attendance etc. Establish benchmarks and data everyone can become excited about.  Tools Using Zoom- and other technologies we are improving with has really changed how we think about our administration moving forward post covid-19. Data Read up to get ahead of the curve. Gobs of information.  Transparency and pro-activity  Do more with less while selling a new vision of a healthier work balance experience driven by results and care for each employee.  Rick’s Nuggets Zoom for Interviewing Invest in educational growth (self & company) Key Takeaways: The rapid changes in hiring, retention and adjusting to a new normal. Being forced to home quarantine has shown the inefficiencies with our administration systems as well as management of personnel.   We need less and can do more. Corporate offices with amenities are monies that should be invested in the workforce and technology.  Eliminating an hour of commuting while people are more efficient without the social interruptions make the execution of projects more robust.    Adding by our estimation a minimum of ten hours a week to either personal time or work time. (AVG drive 5 hours, 5 hours of social interaction) 

Is AI the future of recruitment? Better yet, will AI replace the need for a resume? Tools are available to utilize AI in improving workflow and screening applicants. The question lies in their accuracy and viability in identifying the strongest people for your unique organization.   Our guest today: Neil Sahota, AI Expert & Author of “Own the AI Revolution”. Neil Sahota is an IBM Master Inventor, United Nations (UN) Artificial Intelligence (AI) Advisor, Faculty at UC Irvine, and author of Own the A.I. Revolution. He is one of the few people selected for IBM's Corporate Service Corps leadership program that pairs leaders with NGOs to perform community-driven economic development projects.  In addition, Neil partners with entrepreneurs to define their products, establish their target markets, and structure their companies. He is a member of several investor groups like the Tech Coast Angels and assists startups with investor funding. Neil also serves as a mentor in several incubator/accelerator programs. Today we are going to discuss All things AI, What is it, how does it help with hiring Why it is important today How to implement the effective use of AI into your hiring today Why is AI important in hiring through today’s landscape? People looking for work should be looking for more than just a paycheck.  Why is this important? People quit when you bring the wrong person onto the team Productivity plummets Ai can eliminate the need for a resume! Rick’s Input Automating workflow Sourcing/screening Good at all things transactional How do we start leveraging AI to optimize hiring in today's landscape? Using AI to eliminate ego based hiring decisions Story of Omelveney (law firm)- use pymetrics Testing for cultural value Allow you to evaluate for culture and team fit Ai tools to analyze how well code is written AI Tools Currently Available: Pymetrics: https://www.pymetrics.ai/ Paradox.ai: https://www.paradox.ai/  Ayra: https://goarya.com/  Eightfold.ai: https://eightfold.ai/  Xor.ai: https://www.xor.ai/  Pandologic: https://www.pandologic.com/recruiting-with-ai/  Rick’s Nuggets Add CTA’s into your job postings to allow the cream to rise to the top Innovation is eliminating the resume Key Takeaways: Elimination of resumes Reduced bias in recruitment Increased diversity & inclusion (by accessing “non-traditional recruitment pools) Quantifying cultural/team fit

Special Episode!  Video Interviews are the new necessity. But what is the best way to run an effective process? Today we breakdown the framework to run a strong, evidence based video interview. Through partnerships with fully remote based companies, we are sharing what has proven to produce the strongest hires. RIGHT NOW is your opportunity to elevate your companies productivity by hiring stronger talent.  Key Points for Episode: Timeline for Interview Process  Startup- 7-10 business days max Review - 24 hours from submittal Phone Screen - 48 hours  (Day 4 max)  45-60 minutes Video Interviews - 72 hours (Day 8 max) 1- 45 minutes 2- 45 minutes 3- 45 minutes 4- 45 - 60 minutes Decision  - 24 hours from Final Interview (Day 10 max) Interview steps  Phone Screen - Phone / Video conversation Your Goal Learn about the person! Understand: Pain, Desire & Impact Not to pitch your company, job or yourself Video Interviews (Same Day Ideal) Ideal to line up back to back Schedule back to back or split them up 2/2 or 3/1 Build a knockout question for each interviewer Interview 1 - Cultural Value Alignment I Interview 2 - Skills Screen  Live working session to evaluate skills/communication Interview 3 - Cultural Value Alignment II (optional) 24 hours from interview 2 Final Interview - Cultural Confirmation III & Offer preparation (Decision Maker)   Decision / Offer (24 hours max) Best to give immediate feedback Time kills hires, be decisive

Remember that person who you really wanted to hire but they took a job somewhere else? Now is the time to reconnect. Through no fault of their own, great talent is being displaced due to the pandemic. Now is the time to proactively hire and raise the level of performance through opportunistic hiring! This crisis will pass. And when it does, emerge as a much stronger organization and be positioned to crush your competitors! Our guest today: Jeff Erle, Former CEO of MobilityWare Jeff has held numerous C-level positions throughout his career.  His experience spans across start-ups, small privately-held and large public enterprises including ADP, Western Digital, MobilityWare and most recently as the COO at Blast.   Jeff focuses on building high-performing teams and evolving award-winning cultures focusing on multi-generational workforces, developing/coaching key executives, and helping companies develop strategies to scale for growth and/or exit.  Today we discuss Why it is a great opportunity to hire A-players: what are they? How to identify and elevate your company performance during this downturn Why is this important evaluate and proactively hire now? Talent is your #1 asset You now have the opportunity to upgrade your talent  Missing an amazing opportunity to settle for the first people to knock on your door Now you have the ability to find an abundance of a players Obviously, the Covid-19 virus has changed the world’s landscape like never before in our lifetimes. In particular, for businesses of all sizes, the nature of the workforce has and will continue to evolve, especially given the looming changes to the large number of workers that will be looking for work. Whether already or soon to be unemployed, or working for a company whose business model has been adversely impacted, millions of people will be applying for open positions later this year unlike anything we have seen in a very long time. What's an A-player? top 10% of experience, capability,  for the compensation you are willing to pay for the role.  Given that, for most companies, people are their greatest assets, the challenge will be to retain your A-players. And the opportunity would be to use this historic dynamic to “upgrade” your team and your organization. We’ll focus today on the latter, using the talent either already available or soon to be to assure our businesses come out of this cycle stronger than ever before.  Rick’s Input SalesForce, CEO Marc Benioff (tweet- 2200 jobs open…… prioritizing referrals of friends & family who have lost jobs.  A-player - right profile (builders/startups), cultural alignment Desire should be workable How do we start? First step is to develop a definition of what an A-player looks like for your organization. One who is among the top 10% “available” for the open (or too be upgraded) position “Available” means: they are willing to accept an offer given the compensation level offered, in a culture such as yours, in your particular industry and location, with the resources available to them, with specific accountabilities/responsibilities, and reporting to a specific person Discuss examples... Second step is to take an inventory, or a snapshot of your people assets and the level of their quality on an individual basis: Identify the “Pioneers” (A-players), “vacationers” (maintainers), and the “prisoners” (those always complaining… but they never leave; they feel handcuffed...) Methods to accomplish this include: (1) performance management tools (reviews, feedback, etc.) commonly used at year end for merit increases, and/or (2) “force-ranking” individuals either within departments, or if small enough, across the entire organization. (NB: There are numerous views/debates of the efficacy of force-ranking… but I have used it successfully, especially in circumstances such as this, when economic times demand tough decisions around headcount.) Last step is to assure your recruiting strategy, methodologies and capabilities can fulfill this goal Be diligent Shift focus to finding the best; this may mean balancing identifying and vetting “passive” candidates with “active” candidates. This means you cant be lazy. Its easier/faster to work only with the myriad of resumes and candidates that will be applying to your company this year, but they may not represent the best pool of A-players available to you. Ways to assure this include: If you have internal recruiting teams, assure they are aligned with your remit of seeking passive candidates as well as active. Get a good third-party recruiting partner to find the passive A-players and focus on presenting those people to your hiring manager(s). Embrace increased volumes and/or new modes of interviewing Phone screens Video interviews (zoom, skype, etc.) Learn best practices on how to do these; many do’s and dont’s lists now available Teach managers how to do an appropriate phone screen and video interview Pre interview prep and internal alignment amongst interviewing teams What are the top key capabilities you all want for the role? Who is vetting which ones? Who is determining cultural fit? Who is making the final decision? Is it unilateral, consultative, or consensus? Agree on Who is “buying”, who’s “selling” during the process? Remember: The more time you spend up front the less time you spend in the interviews themselves Poor managers don't want to do the work up front to coordinate You need to stand out to be the memorable company to attract the A-player.  People go to work for good leaders/managers (converse of that's what they quit), not just good companies.  Rick’s Nuggets Build a list and say Hi Key Takeaways: Now is a great time to re-evaluate your talent, your greatest asset, and upgrade as necessary  To do so, you will need to embrace new internal areas of focus and philosophies, and your org will need to embrace and/or learn new ways of defining, finding, vetting and attracting A-player candidates

Fundraising is difficult especially when you are missing a hiring process! Understanding who you are and defining your process are critical in bringing confidence to your investors. It is NOT difficult to solidify a process! Bring confidence to your team and your investors by demonstrating that you understand the importance of getting the right people on the bus!  Today’s Quote:  "You must have confidence in your competence." - Elijah Cummings Our guest today: John Yanyali, CEO of JuiceBot John is an energetic entrepreneur who jumped into the business world by investing in the agriculture, education, construction, and technology industries. He is the former COO of  Elektronet, a digital technologies provider similarly focused on the Smart Industry. With John’s involvement, Elektronet became the largest manufacturer and developer of custom hardware and software systems in the Middle East and North Africa. In 2017, he joined Juicebot as an executive board member and last year, he was made the Chief Executive Officer of Juicebot. He builds and models a great company culture while providing inspired leadership Today we are going to discuss Why having a hiring process is critical in raising funding How build your hiring process into your capital raise Why does Your Hiring process affects fund raising  Investors invest in the people more than the idea itself. A great team will turn a great idea into a great product or a service. The technical people who build the product are the key. Experienced, key players with a stake in the company will significantly contribute to the business. Besides creating a great product, they will help the management in creating new revenue streams. Technical due diligence is becoming more important for the investors. Where your product is from a technical stand-point will define its success. Therefore, the investors are spending a considerable amount of time trying to understand the technology behind your product so they can help you with the product-market fit. Technology companies need great technical people who own up to the mission of the company. We need to build not only a great company culture but also an authentic engineering culture. This will give investors the confidence to fund the company as the alignment of business and technical is necessary to succeed. Why was it important to bring technical talent first? Technical people (engineers, designers, developers) are actually turning the idea into a product. They own the design process. We need to connect them with all aspects of the business whether it is marketing, sales, or investor relations. We need to create a platform where transparency is key to getting things done. We can not and should not compartmentalize.  All the stakeholders of the company need to be aligned on the mission and the vision. That can only be achieved by being transparent and sincere. Rick’s Input Highest failure rate is after seed funding Pressure from investors Most critical hiring happens after raising seed round Critical to have a process at this point! Sloppiness kills talent attraction, without talent no future capital raise How to build hiring process to attract funding. Where do we start? We need to surround ourselves with effective advisory board members to bring in the expertise we may not have. For many entrepreneurs, the decision to involve outsiders in their business may be a wrenching step. Some simply do not want to dilute their control by establishing a board of directors with formal responsibilities and authority. However, the introduction of an advisory board can help some come to terms with this decision, by enabling an entrepreneur to feel comfortable with the business of providing information to, and accepting advice from, an external group. Get the message out there to get help from the startup community You need a lot of help. Networking at events, forums… ask for help Figure out what you don't know. Then reach out to people with the problems you are facing and allow them to join you when the time is right If people are not joining, take a step back and ask why? We need to be open to working with other people and be open to feedback and criticism. Not isolating people to their lanes. Letting everyone involved contribute at all levels. Rick’s Nuggets Outline your hiring process and timeline Phone screen, video/onsite interview, Decision/offer Key Takeaways: The future of your business is dependent on your hiring practices. Every new employee will either contribute positively to customer satisfaction, growth and profitability, or contrasting have a negative impact on the business. By adopting a structured and comprehensive hiring process, you’re taking the first step in positioning your business for success by attracting the right talent. The type of talent that will help build the company culture, drive sales and ultimately position the company as a leader in the industry. Failing to instill the right hiring process will do the exact opposite, resulting in under-performing employees and wasting resources, time and money. 

One of the most powerful tools in your hiring process in the phone interview. The challenge that we have is that it is treated as a screen just to find out if someone has the skills needed. And this process takes on average 5-10 minutes.   It is such an opportunity loss because your first point of contact should be about establishing the connection with the person regardless of the outcome. Your phone interview sets the stage for how you are perceived and severely affects your ability to hire. Today’s Quote:  "When it comes to success, there are no shortcuts."  - Bo Bennett Our guest today: Chris Wood, Director of Recruiting for RISE Recruitment USA & Managing Director of theRecruitmentCollective Chris has spent the past 15 years in the Staffing industry utilizing his background in Recruitment and Account Management to help Fortune 500 companies solve their hiring problems by recruiting top talent within the Aerospace, Automotive, Medical Device, Healthcare, Finance & Consumer Goods industries.  In 2017, he took on the role of Managing Director at theRecruitingCollective, an organization of independent, specialized recruiters and boutique firms centered around providing new, custom talent programs. His primary focus today is attracting over and retaining top talent to the Cannabis, CBD & Natural Products industries.  He previously sat on the board for National Human Resources Association – Los Angeles and is currently on the program committees for DisruptHR Orange County and San Diego.  In addition, he is an advisor to numerous Recruiting Technology platforms and emerging Cannabis and CBD companies and a member of the National Association of Cannabis Businesses.  Today we are going to discuss Why phone interviews are a critical part of the hiring process  How to conduct an effective phone interview  Why are Phone interviews more important now than ever? Understand the person Goals, skills & interests - Career path/motivations Passive recruiting - building a constant stream of qualified candidates Due to the lack of face to face; with Covid-19 restrictions on in person meetings, this is the only way to hire talent during these times Sets the tone for process Positioning of your phone interview Setting a clear objective of what you want to get from the call; feel for personality fit with team, explanation/knowledge of necessary experience, understanding of career path and long term intentions Asking specific questions that address strengths of candidate that fills a need with your team Identifying interest of candidate in role & joining your team How to conduct a phone interview Self reflection- identifying the hole on the team Understand what is really needed Identify characteristics of the person so you can create questioning to reveal if candidates fulfills your teams need How are you going to find what you need Creating the profile of the ideal hire Establishing must haves vs nice to haves Contact Asking the questions that are centered around the key things you need to know Strategic questioning  Rick’s Nuggets Purpose of the phone interview is to understand the person first Identify their reason for hearing (pain), what they want to be doing (desire) and what they have accomplished Key Takeaways: Don't just look at the resume, definitely talk to someone. Take the phone screen very seriously Really get to know what the person wants. Get to know them!

With the drastic changes in the current work environment we are pivoting a bit from hiring for today’s episode. We are discussing how to transition your staff to a “work from home” force by conquering some of the IT challenges.  Today’s Quote:  “Intelligence is the ability to adapt to change.” - Stephen Hawking I’m Rick Girard and welcome to the Hire Power Radio Show. We help Entrepreneurs and hiring managers to avoid costly hiring mistakes by identifying a specific problem and providing proven solutions to enable you to WIN the right hire. We share insights from top-performing rebel entrepreneurs, disruptors & industry experts. Like our guest today: Collin Mitchell, CEO of Monster VoIP Collin Mitchell is a serial entrepreneur who is passionate about technology and his mindfulness practice. His first entrepreneurial project was with his wife in their apartment living room which they bootstrapped together to  5 million dollars of revenue within 26 months. Most recently, he has been working on Monster VoIP, a nationwide unified communications provider that gives enterprise features at an SMB price. Personally, Collin is an early riser, consistent meditator, and swimming enthusiast. Collin runs a virtual organization that is thriving! Which makes Collin a perfect expert for today’s topic. Collin, Welcome to the Hire Power Radio Show today!  Today we are going to discuss Why it is important to pivot your workforce to work from home How to set up improve productivity and security Why Pivot to remote work now? What are the basics of what is needed? Strong Internet Connection Is home internet strong enough.  Minimum internet connection - 50 mb.  Depends on provider  Offering a stipend to cover the cost of upgraded  Laptop Dual core or higher with 4 gigs of ram north Phone Voip Company provided cell Proper noise canceling headset Possible Backup internet connection - overseas Tools Productivity Tracking Software- works as a time clock and checking employee productivity  Hubstaff, ClickTime, TimeClock Plus… Messaging Apps for collaboration  Zoom, Slack, Skype, Loom Security Active directory Jumpcloud - cloud based active directory Antivirus/malware up to date Online Training Software  Well Being Getting dressed everyday Have a plan/schedule Taking breaks Meditation Short Walks Standing Desk  Rick’s Nuggets Clear performance metrics Key Takeaways: These Things are all easy to implement They are not too expensive Focus on security and productivity by using tracking software and cloud AD

How to evaluate for good discretion in the hiring process. Discretion is defined by Merriam Webster as an “Ability to make responsible decisions”. This is a quality that all leaders expect from their people but as we know, this is not always the case. How do you interview to uncover good discretionary habits?  Today’s Quote:  "A sound discretion is not so much indicated by never making a mistake as by never repeating it." - Christian Nestell Bovee I’m Rick Girard and welcome to the Hire Power Radio Show. We help Entrepreneurs and hiring managers to avoid costly hiring mistakes by identifying a specific problem and providing proven solutions to enable you to WIN the right hire. We share insights from top-performing rebel entrepreneurs, disruptors & industry experts.  Like our guest today: Joseph Hopkins, Founder & Senior Managing Partner of The IPRESTIGE Emerge Fund, LLC Joseph is a thought leader in AI, authentication and security technologies, He leads an innovative emerging technologies firm that serves as a proprietary first-mover advantage IP incubation model that concentrates on growth opportunities in digital identity protection, security and advance encryption technologies.  Prior to Joseph’s AI and digital identity security work, he served in key executive management roles for Fortune 500 companies, including Kaiser Permanente, 3M, GSK, Allergan, and KPMG. He has hired Hundreds of people throughout his career.  Which makes Joseph a perfect expert for today’s topic. Joseph, Welcome to the Hire Power Radio Show today!  Today we are going to discuss Why it is important to Connect with people while adding value How to evaluate for good discretion in the hiring process Connecting with people to add value Listening skills No one wants to hear about your problems Pick up on a person’s cadence What makes the person tick as a person Navigate how you engage as to their preference If you miss the connection, you’ll never get it back Pick up folks who miss the 9-5 mentality Rick’s Input No one cares about the words coming out of your mouth While hiring it is critical to be more concerned about the other person than filling your role.  How to evaluate “good discretion”  Trusting the gut, instincts Less tricky the older the person is More experience, the less risk  Interest or passion in the work Experience Clear signs around eye contact, body language, smile while talking, taking themselves too seriously, jovial.  Education - important to him.  Live your life based on what you have learned rather than the exceptions The ingredients that keep people engaged in an  Balance of coolness and professionalism *Discretion - overly doing something can affect the relationship with the client The more the client is comfortable the successful the interaction will be.  Rick’s Nuggets Opener “open to hearing about something career advancing” Don’t pitch your job, company or yourself Find out what’s happening with you? Key Takeaways: Empirical stuff- education, background & skills Interpretative- talk to people that have worked with you. Subjective perspective His Gut instinct- in conjunction with the other two

The grind of being a startup entrepreneur is riddled with rejection and heartache. It is often thought that you need the money before you can build your company… And that’s just not true! The truth is there are so many ways to self fund when getting started and today we are dissecting a case study of how one company utilized the gig economy to fuel their company growth.  Today’s Quote:  "It's not the lack of resources that cause failure, it's the lack of resourcefulness that causes failure."  - Tony Robbins I’m Rick Girard and welcome to the Hire Power Radio Show. We help Entrepreneurs and hiring managers to avoid costly hiring mistakes by identifying a specific problem and providing proven solutions to enable you to WIN the right hire.  We share insights from top-performing rebel entrepreneurs, disruptors & industry experts.  Like our guest today: Keith Ryu, Founder & CEO of Fountain Keith is quietly fueling the future of work. As CEO of Fountain, the Series A-backed hiring platform for hourly workers, the Forbes’ 30 under 30 member holds the keys to the secret engine powering the gig economy. Each month, Fountain processes nearly one million applicants and enables companies like Airbnb, Chick-fil-A, Uber, and Safeway to make over 130,000 hires. Keith initially funded fountain by capitalizing on the gig economy.  Today we are going to discuss Why utilizing the gig economy is a great option to get your company started How to fund your company through problem solving.  Story of Fountain How do you hire when you have no funding?  Found a problem that customers had and started building solutions while funding the work Challenges with creative financing Creative hiring through upwork Rick’s Input Project based bootstrapping solution Take on consulting projects How were you able to build your company? Capitalized in 2 ways  financed the company initially by selling services found backup engineers on upwork Found someone to hire. Brought in work through upwork and gave the work to their engineer to pay her Emailed people who raised money on techcrunch. Offering to provide solutions for their business.  Key Takeways Be resourceful - upwork, email lists, etc. Do the hardwork - be relentless

People are your company’s most valuable asset. Yet the interview process is riddled with actions to support otherwise.  Common Transactional Interview practices like pre-tests, hurdles, hoops, and ghosting do not attract people. In fact, they repel great people. The truth is, people will judge your company on how you make them feel! … not the offer you present to them. Today’s Quote: “It takes 20 years to build a reputation and five minutes to ruin it. If you think about that, you’ll do things differently.”  – Warren Buffett Guest Bio: Marie Norman is the Director of Talent Acquisition for Adobe. She leads the Corporate Functions team which includes Global Marketing, Finance, Employee Experience, Legal and Corporate Strategy.  Marie brings diverse and innovative industry experience leading and building scalable talent acquisition teams and HR programs in the areas of Talent Attraction and Acquisition, Workforce Planning, Career Development and Coaching, Candidate Experience, Employment Branding, and Diversity, Inclusion & Belonging.  Her passion lies in motivating, coaching and building successful recruiting teams, employment branded story-telling and delivering a unique, memorable and delightful Candidate Experience to all. She is also an Adjunct Professor with the College of Business at San Jose State University. Show Highlights:  What is “Candidate Experience” Things that are downgrading your stock in the marketplace A Process to drive GREAT candidate experience What is  “candidate experience”?  Candidate experience The attraction is more about relationship Challenges facing today Managers can no longer play a passive role.  Managers disengaged Don't realize they need to be involved The ability of the recruiter to continue to market the company for future roles People Fall through the cracks as the process evolves.  When the candidate is not a top pick, things fall through the cracks and the relationship goes sour Companies Missing out on quality hires because of quickness.  Quantifiable metrics Candidate experience scorecard Explain the position Time to follow up Overall experience Hiring manager alignment with the role *** Stats for success between hiring managers Alignment between the manager & recruiter Rick’s Input: Transactional Mindset Out of sight, out of mind Give closure Talent double standard Miss-judge talent  How people feel determines how they perform. The purpose of every interview is to get to the truth of who a person is by gathering evidence to support making an accurate decision.  Ingredients for good candidate Experience How to give a good candidate experience Define who plays what part. Recruiter owns the first part hand off Hiring manager takes over Others- interview scheduler, hr admin, systems, career page, job ad itself - technology-driven, ATS systems - non-human elements  Process Easy submittal/application process Tracking system Communications set up immediately after application- within 24 hours Taking action Establishing a timeline.  Final disposition Interview or rejection- communication  Final communication- honor commitment to respond back Rick’s two cents Communicate!  Be approachable, break  down barriers, hurdles Be creative: call people who the system screened out.  Key Takeaways: CONCEDE that the Candidate Experience is a crucial part of your recruiting strategy CREATE your plan and communicate/train participants on their roles CONSISTENCY - be sure to be consistent and repeat the process for every candidate every time!

Today we are talking about building a high scale remote company.  Try this on for size, a 75-person company without an office! The advantages are different than you might think yet you really must be mindful of who you are hiring.   A remote workforce is a time to talent advantage not a save money advantage Today’s Quote: “Most of us spend too much time on what is urgent and not enough time on what is important.” — Stephen Covey Guest Bio: Ryan Malone is the CEO of SmartBug Media, which he founded to give clients amazing results and employees a lifetime of memories. Before SmartBug, Ryan ran marketing at several venture-backed and public companies. Ryan enjoys the gym, live music, people watching, and playing terrible guitar. He lives in Orange County with his wife and two amazing daughters.   Show Highlights: Challenges & benefits of a remote organization The importance of cultural fit Interview structure for hiring remote employees Challenges: Why?? Building a business is hard enough. Why make it more difficult by building a remote business?  Be part of the team and be part of the family Hire better and faster by being able to hire talent from around the country Only option to build the tribe  Talent Strategy: Recruit ahead- create a waiting list. Always interviewing.   Building a Marketing culture:  People are bought in when they join Structure work culture  Deep challenging relationships  First people hired should be a marketing/pr person. Attract people who are already qualified to the process.  Peer-based reference reviews prior to the interview. Inbound recruiting, skill survey Video submissions Benefits of building a remote workforce: The talent pool is vast Work/ life integration-  Flexibility  The world will not end if you are not at your desk Interview process: Inbound resume flow (into ATS) No headhunting ATS- kicks out instructions to make a video to submit  Schedule an interview All video interviews, mix of behavioral interviewing One person focuses on skills, values, tools, cultural Look for Clean work environment, evidence of value, perseverance, curiosity Are you an additive to the culture? Interview structure:  A 30-minute call with everyone on the team Flexible work model Psychological permission be available for your customers/ team but the schedule  Key Takeaways: Hire marketing & pr first Use video as a screening tool Reference peer review early in the process Designate people to be experts in the interview process Always be interviewing

Going old school with the title, don't judge!  STEM  (science, technology, engineering & mathematics) hiring today is brutal as there are just not enough people to support the demand. Without bringing policy into the conversation we are going to tackle the challenge of how to hire around the limitations. Today’s Quote: "To maintain their own competitiveness, workers need to attain and stay current on the qualifications needed to advance in a constantly evolving economy."  - Elaine Chao - Secretary of Transportation Guest Bio: An avid entrepreneur from University onward, Martin Herrington established a service industry business before graduation, partnered a real estate development company, and co-founded The Herrington Teddy Bear Company to move to the United States, creating a multinational sensation. As Chief Financial Officer and Managing General Partner, Martin was responsible for all aspects of the business including Sales, Production, HR, IT, and operations of the corporation before seeking additional challenges.  Mr. Herrington holds a very distinguished record of service in non-profit organizations in Canada and the U.S. with his most recent focus growing the Youth Motivation Task Force of Orange County. An entrepreneurial graduate of the prestigious Haskayne School of Business at the University of Calgary with a Bachelor of Commerce, Martin also advanced his education credentials into the Series 7 and Series 66 US Securities Licenses and held the Wealth Advisory Associate role with Morgan Stanley before becoming a Financial Advisor as part of his creation strategies.  Martin is currently a founding partner and Vice-President with TEKCORUS Consulting, a Recruiting & RPO Agency based in Orange County, California specializing in recruiting high tech talent Recruitment Process Outsourcing Services. Martin has been a Toastmasters International member for many years, and speaks regularly at community events, business meetings, and consistently competes in Toastmasters International speaking contests.  Show Highlights: What an H1 is The benefits & challenges to hiring  How to effectively hire someone under H1 status Problem: What is an H1?  Long Term but not permanent work authorization / visa that is sponsored by employer.  Benefits of Hiring an H1 Already has an h1b-  wider pool of talent 3rd party intervention Better technical skills/expertise Better rate  Things to be Aware? Beware of agents Lying Different people showing up for different parts of the interview H1B is looking for a path to Green Card only  Quirks of Engineers - Knowing the individual to prepare for the interview  Biggest challenge -Technically sound -asking basic questions -build a database of technical questions How to sniff out the quirks, personality & culture fit Problem lies where  Creating the right environment for an interview Knowing enough about your clients to be able to properly prepare candidates for interviews Rick’s Input: Hire people who are already holding an H1b- Transfer Timing is S L O W  - elimination of premium processing Steps to Hire H1’s First step - Go over resumes Watch for duplication - some resumes look too “familiar” or even identical! Look for excessively long resumes - ie. filled with same info. at each job experience Second Step - initial phone call - screening for good communication skills - can be a challenge and if you cannot understand them, then your client or the team will likely not be able to either  Go over each job experience by asking what they did and what technologies were used - making sure that it matches the resume, dates, etc. Listen for delays or background talking;  candidate should know all details her/himself Confirm relocation details - do they have friends/family in New City; what is the likelihood that they will actually show up in New City? (ie. verify “Relocation Anywhere” and vet out tire kickers.  Third step - in-person or Skype interview Making sure the same person from phone call shows up for the in-person/Skype If by Skype - Watch for lip syncing, other people in the room speaking or signalling;  Screening for communication,  Fourth step - get commitment for duration of contract;   If necessary, contact Agency holding Visa to confirm   Rick’s two cents Communicate!  No assumptions Key Takeaways: Be diligent in your communications Find out Visa details; request copies of Visa/paperwork; allow extra time! Coach candidates through interview process

The usefulness or uselessness of AI & Employment branding in Recruiting.  Today’s Quote:  "This is what Steve Jobs understood: Brands are defined not by the best thing on the product but by the worst thing."  - Robert Scoble Guest Bio: MJ Shores is a Chief Marketing Strategist and technology trends analyst. With a rich and diverse professional background in public policy, business, and technology, she is sought out for her far-reaching, cross-industry and cultural insights. MJ has been a panelist and keynote speaker at industry and special interest events around the globe. She has been featured  in Business Week, Financial Times, Wall Street Journal, MSNBC, China Post, and other media.   MJ developed her expertise through a career that spans working as a policy analyst at a think tank, serving in leadership roles at top global business schools (e.g., Wharton School of Business, UCLA, University of Moscow – Russia), and leading marketing efforts at technology firms (e.g., SaaS software, digital streaming or OTT), and others. She is involved in the local business community, where she is an acting Senior Strategic Advisor for Executive Next Practices (ENP). Show Highlights: The role AI plays in employment branding & hiring What works & what doesn’t  A road map of where & how to invest your time  Problem: Challenges: What is the relationship between AI & employment branding? Your brand is created by the experience people have with your brand. AI helps you determine the truth between your perspective and what the market thinks.  How you brand your company and serve your prospects.  Where is it working? Routine functions *** open up time for HR to engage with People *** Extracting data Automated process for scheduling & auto response Monitoring your brand for good/bad feedback  Where does it now work? Tasks that require judgement Inferences between intent and keywords Still really in beta, not quite ready for primetime Rick’s Input: Administrative tasks Resume screening- Both fail here Does not engage people Solutions: How to best use AI Roadmap Spend $ on Training HR to identify and use technology.  Rely on IT to identify and recommend tools. But IT does not understand Recruiting problems Start with a simple chatbot to automate scheduling and response to website querrys/candidate questions Social listening tools- candidate identification/sourcing Red flag/background check piece as a final step ethics & morality of this step Rick’s two cents AI cannot replace human interaction! You still need to pick up the phone and find out the truth Do NOT rely on tools or resumes to filter people in our out! Key Takeaways: Brands are No Longer Owned by Companies (in an era of skepticism of companies and traditional marketing, the voice of potential candidates and the public are central to your brand) AI Enhances the Candidate Experience & Talent Acquisition AI Will Enable HR to Become Human Again

The Battle between your Need to fill a role vs. hiring for cultural alignment.  More thought needs to go into “Who” you are going to hire than “What” you are going to hire. Meaning proven performers with transferable skills, not shiny objects. Today’s Quote: “Acquiring the right talent is the most important key to growth. Hiring was - and still is - the most important thing we do.” - Marc Bennioff, Founder, Chairman and co-CEO of Salesforce Guest Bio:  Ben Mones is the co-founder and CEO of Fama, an AI-based solution that identifies problematic behavior among potential hires and current employees by analyzing publicly available online information. He founded Fama in 2015 to address the needs of organizations everywhere that are grappling with the challenges of protecting their workplace culture and preventing harassment. Prior to Fama, Ben held a number of executive roles at a variety of startups in the Bay Area, including Acceleprise, an independent accelerator focused on enterprise technology, where he served as Entreprenuer  in Residence as well as Lanetix, a leading provider of cloud-based customer relationship management platforms as director, revenue operations. He also spent two years at content analytics and insights company Chartbeat. Ben has been tapped as a guest lecturer at MIT Sloan School of Management, UCLA Anderson School of Management and USC Marshall School of Business, and has also been featured in CNBC, Fast Company, Los Angeles Times, TechCrunch and the Wall Street Journal. He holds a Bachelor of Arts from Vanderbilt University and is based in Venice, California.  Show Highlights:  Why & How culture shapes your business Ego over common sense- Hiring rock stars Lessons learned and a structure to follow Problem: Why is it important to invest in culture? Shaping the culture of your business. Human behavior drives business outcomes. The virtue of power, ability to destroy or drive excellence  When you need a function desperately filled, how do you balance your need to fill with the cultural value People want to align with products and services that they are passionate about Why does Ego make decisions over common sense? Anybody with a legitimate amount of responsibility makes a difference.  Rockstar engineers, leaders, need to fit into the organization, not the other way around *** first-time founders Story:  They decided to bring in some rockstars. Someone to groom.  Didn't really fit the culture, demographics, hustle & grit. They went for the big dog name! Knew almost immediately and he took a position of superiority Hostile, no empathy… what they thought was not the reality Lesson Learned Hired but got rid of that person quickly. Rick’s Input: Cultural alignment/values alignment increase productivity One wrong egg  Hire Performers, not “Rockstars” Rockstars  Solutions: What road map should leaders follow? Get to know yourselves first. What is important to your business to ensure your success, mission & values to drive success. Team-based decision Structured interview process. Strong candidate experience, all voices/perspectives are heard in the decision process… treat each person like a new hire from the very moment they get in contact with you If you think you have talked to enough people, talk to a few more.  Confirmation bias Be swift. Hire slow, intervene quickly! A closer look on the first 60 days. Course correct early on!  With more transparency Driving synergy is more important than putting a rockstar in a seat Rick’s Framework Treat each Person as if they are your only person mindset eliminates bias Key Takeaways: Human behavior drives business outcomes Before identifying the talent that can help drive your business forward, critical to dig-in and understand the values and culture drivers within your business. Intervening and course correcting is an easier option than you might think...terminating a person is a last resort.

That's right people, today we are talking about our ABC’s! The reality of the talent market. Creativity and Contact are the keys to winning talent. We are going to clue you in on where the gold nuggets are and why you are missing out on great people.  Today’s Quote: "Great vision without great people is irrelevant." - Jim Collins - Author: Good to Great, Built to Last Guest Bio: Lorraine Ladd is the Associate Director of Talent Acquisition for alliantgroup. She is an experienced sales and Talent Acquisition executive with a demonstrated history of working in the staffing and recruiting industry. Strong professional skilled in Customer Acquisition, Sales, Executive Search, Customer Relationship and Executive Coaching. Lorraine started her career while in college in radio and was a successful radio morning show personality before deciding to go into the world of staffing and recruiting.  Show Highlights: Why you should always be recruiting The Truth about responding to your job postings Where to find great people now! Problem: Bold Statement:  Recruiting is easier today than it ever has been! Why is it important to be continuously recruiting? Creative ways to recruit talent Not enough talent - Why? Low unemployment, not tapping into the right pools Active candidates  The Truth:  where you are missing people … about responding to Ads There really is enough talent, people are just not tapping into it A lot of people that are out of work 50-65 can't really find a job as a white male. Perception: Less flexible , set in their ways Rick’s Input: Requirements are FLEXIBLE Look for reasons to screen people IN My experiment…. Sent out resumes  Solutions: Where to find good people now? Unexpected places to recruit talent Retail, cold calling, conferences Using every tactic you can Pick off the 50-65 talent pool Rick’s Answer You are missing the people closest to you Applicants, former applicants, former employees Target Passive Talent Requires different positioning All about “what’s in it for them” Key Takeaways: Always be Recruiting Hire people, not roles Network

Engagement!  Well, not the type of engagement you might be thinking of.  Engagement in the business sense. Employee engagement is the one critical element that leads to the success of your business!  Which I believe starts from the first point of contact with your organization… yes before someone is hired!  Today’s Quote: “Not what you say, not what you do but how you make people feel.” - Maya Angelou Guest Bio: Steve Higginbotham is the Branch Manager of Volt Workforce Solutions. As an executive business partner and inclusive leader, Steve brings two decades’ of experience leading organizational transformations with leading companies. Changing the way Staffing Companies engage with their customers is vital. Having a deep connection with your business and an inclusive approach will continue to add value through a Total Talent Management partnership. Steve has expertise in Technical Recruiting, Business Development, Technology Consulting and Human Capital Solutions. He continues to deliver immense value to companies and business leaders through his strategic partnerships. Steve believes in a customer service approach for business success. Steve has experience leading multiple types of organizations from Fortune 100, mid-market, private equity, & VC backed start-ups. In addition, Steve has developed 15 different divisions within eight different businesses while managing large business units & increasing enterprise accounts. His track record includes leading, coaching, mentoring and developing people into highly successful business leaders. Steve has spent his career aligning business professionals with career opportunities. The value that he brings to companies identify with their strengths and opportunities for growth. Steve's experience coaching individuals helps improve communication. He has also conducted numerous presentations to board members and C-Level professionals with highly respected clients and industry associations. A people oriented leader who drives business collaborative to maximize team performance while mentoring & coaching individuals through aligned approaches to achieve desired results.  Show Highlights:  What Engagement is, what it isn’t Why engagement is critical today How to engage people to create emotional attachment! What is engagement and why is it important? Engagement How you communicate with your company Hiring managers - I want to hire the best talent, retain top talent What happens in the middle from what you want vs what you are getting The company gave 3 hours of training, no orientation, on the job training. Employees responsibility - Who owns engagement?? Problem 3 sides of the engagement - Who’s responsibility is it these days  If a person is not engaged correctly, they are going to bounce quickly… first 30 days.  The company needs to train leaders to be better leaders The dual partnership between the company's & managers People leave quickly or they stay and are just there because of the paycheck Belief in mission, vision values.  Outlining issues that you cannot control Employee: losing engagement with the job… nothing more that is being contributed Rick’s Thoughts Engagement starts with your job posting, email or phone call Critical in attraction & retention When you care, you win Human Contact is the key 1:75 people call back.  There has to be a personal approach.  Steps to maximize engagement Sources are not recruiters…  Everyone with at least relevant experience NEED to be called  train recruiters on what needs to be asked Discuss career worth Poor career planning. No mentoring, support or growth  Once they start: Not scaling back on your onboarding process Social media posts are not onboarding Clearly, have a process Train your recruiters What information to gather The importance of a conversation Reward finding gold nuggets! Create a hiring bonus for people who were passed over because of a resume but are actually good Pick up the phone and call people! Key Takeaways: Differentiate yourself from the standard hiring process Create a structured and standardized interview process Train your employees to be Talent minded Remember in engagement – how you make the candidate feel is more important – please be genuine in your approach, efforts and ensure timely and responsive feedback – always

Offers do not get turned down because of the MONEY… They are turned down because you failed to Understand who the person is and then demonstrate a mutual alignment of career & personal goals to your organization. The Truth is People turn you down because of the lack of care!  Today’s Quote: "Truth is, I'll never know all there is to know about you just as you will never know all there is to know about me. Humans are by nature too complicated to be understood fully. So, we can choose either to approach our fellow human beings with suspicion or to approach them with an open mind, a dash of optimism and a great deal of candor." - Tom Hanks Guest Bio:  Dr. Deena C. Brown is the founder and CEO of DC Brown International, a leadership and growth company created to pioneer innovative strategies that transform organizations into culturally diverse ecosystems. Dr. Brown’s trademark C3 Blueprint for Success provides a strategic roadmap for organizational leaders to communicate and connect across a multi-generational workforce. Dr. Brown’s body of work includes identifying and remediating leadership gaps that are barriers to innovation and growth. After identifying a significant deficit of women in key leadership roles, Dr. Brown founded The Leadhershift Movement. The Leadhershift Movement is designed to help women shift the way they think about themselves as women and how they develop and respond as leaders. The Leadhershift Movement provides a safe-space for professional women to get clear about their Why, confident about the What, and consistent about the How. Show Highlights: Our approach How we humanize the process to gain greater engagement Process to Engage Approach to talent What is the problem? Ignoring the root of hiring. The human factor, the relationship capital Mindset Ignore the obvious Organizational view- transaction We need to fill the hole Disconnect on the level of importance for the person they are hiring. Simple things are ignored… Dealing with a new population of employees that are looking for more than just a paycheck Why Offers are really Accepted or Turned Down We lie Arrogance & Ignorance Rick’s Input Our approach is Selfish We have become conditioned to believe that the company is the PRIZE Not the case in this market Positioning is a one size fits all …. Centered around perks & benefits Listen to understand, not to respond Solutions Being aware transparent  What have we done about this? Training Using the data to support the discussion Awareness Brought to the attention & proper training Learning to remove ignorance Identify the gaps (pain) Education shift in mindset The 3 C’s Clarity in Vision, Mission, and Organizational Values that paint a clear picture for potential hires. Consciousness about what today's workforce values such as authenticity and relatability which is more influential than a paycheck. Consistency in regards to expectations and responsibilities of your workforce. Rick’s Contribution Engagement starts before the hire is made Too much focus on the money & perks What a person desires is far more powerful  Key Takeaways: Care about the Human relationship Having clear values … are you who you say you are Provide growth opportunities to augment or improve a person’s life

Ghosting has come full circle now that it is a talent-driven market!  There is no excuse for ghosting someone on either end of the hiring spectrum. It is a vicious circle that just breeds ill will.   Frankly, as a recruiter, company ghosting helps us to lure your best people out of your company.  Why do companies engage in such behavior? We are going to figure that out today!   Today’s Quote: Your brand is your public identity, what you're trusted for. And for your brand to endure, it has to be tested, redefined, managed and expanded as markets evolve. Brands either learn or disappear.  Lisa Gansky - She was the co-founder and CEO of Global Network Navigator, the first commercial website, which was acquired by America Online   Our guest today: Ken Middleton, DevOps Recruiter of yourdevopsrecruiter.com   Ken M. Middleton spent 10 years working for the largest IT staffing company in the world before deciding it was time to bet on himself. He started YOUR DevOps Recruiter to focus on connecting the best DevOps candidates to the best DevOps companies while evangelizing DevOps to the masses.    One way he accomplishes this is through his YouTube channel, The Dhub Repository, in which he posts weekly DevOps career tips, rants on what bugs him about the recruiting industry, and interviews DevOps SME's on different DevOps topic, in a segment known as DevOps Defined.  I have heard Ken rant about ghosting which is what makes him a perfect guest for today’s show!  Today we are going to cover What Causes Ghosting? How to Stop Ghosting  What is the problem?   Clients ghosting candidates. No feedback or super slow feedback after long extended amounts of time with no updates along the way.  Why might companies’ ghost? Litigation fears Running too fast to pay attention Just lazy, inconsiderate or Arrogant …  What are the causes? HR representatives being overworked with numerous positions. Not considering quick and timely feedback is important to the candidate experience. Not have a clean process in place to follow up with ALL candidates, not just the ones they want to hire. Not giving a sh*t about candidates who they don't want to hire and just letting it fall by the wayside b/c of a feeling of superiority and snootiness towards candidates that apply to them. (i.e. they came to us for a job, right?) Rick’s Two Cents Communication Ghosting occurs on the company side when companies are unsure about a person. Interviewers do not know the right questions to ask, how to dig so they did not gather enough evidence to make a decision. The key indicator of a bad hiring process. No clear structure on the information that needs to be extracted Without direction, people fall back on what they know. Side Note: Your Bad Glassdoor reviews are a recruiter's best friend… How to treat people interviewing at your company  Solutions Stop having your HR representative work on so many positions at one time - Prioritize what's important...not what you MIGHT need down the road or later. Create an automated process to respond to applicants - There are CRM's that have this functionality where you can send multiple emails to candidates.  Avionte, what I use, is able to do this. Create a better follow up process for quick feedback - Schedule the feedback meeting within 24 hours of the interview. Don't let it happen by chance. It needs to be planned and everyone has to understand the importance of it. Create standards for feedback to all candidates and an update process/rhythm - Just because you don't have an answer doesn't mean you shouldn't communicate with your candidates. At least once a week is a good rhythm that will keep them engaged and protect your company's brand to not be a "ghoster." Give a sh*t - Not Just because it's the right thing to do but because it protects/helps your company's brand and ability to recruit in the future.  Understand that feedback is part of the candidate experience (some would argue the most important since primacy and recency (first and last) is often what people remember about most experiences)   Rick’s Process to eliminate ghosting Eliminate the transactional mentality Protect your company brand Understand the Reality of the Talent Market Breed the right culture Communication, gather feedback quickly  *** Realtime Feedback!! Process for quick decision making & feedback Lead person monitoring the interview (founder, HR, Recruiter, Admin) Build in Knock-Out questions Debrief each interviewer as they exit the interview. (Max 10 minutes) - add that to the managers calendar Evidence to support a “No” If they dont pass the knockout, let them go   Key Takeaways Feedback (good or bad) is super important to candidates and if you want to attract the best talent and protect your company brand you need to get great at delivering this in a timely manner. This doesn't happen unless you make it a priority as part of your candidate experience process, and if you don't think you have a process, you actually do and I'm pretty sure it's BAD. We all need to CARE more.  Looking for a job is sometimes one of the hardest and most difficult times in someone's life, and we need to treat people with that in mind in relations to our interactions, as opposed to just focusing on fill another job for your company.  

Here’s a shocker for you guys today… Hiring Good People is Hard! Or is it? Maybe we just make it hard on ourselves because we make compromises based on need. Today we are going to take you on the hiring journey of one startup who have managed to beat the odds to build amazing teams. Today’s Quote: “The pessimist sees difficulty in every opportunity. The optimist sees the opportunity in every difficulty.” - Winston Churchill Guest Bio: Anderee Berengian is Co-Founder & CEO at Cie Digital Labs, an interactive development firm and Managing Partner at RezVen Partners. With more than 20 years of experience steering corporate and product strategy, Anderee is an accomplished entrepreneur, technologist, and investor passionate about driving progress through digital innovation. At Cie, Berengian is responsible for building a world-class execution-focused team and growing Cie’s digital transformation ideas into sustainable, profitable companies.   Show highlights: What really makes hiring hard How to make hiring easier Problem: “Organism rejects the thing that doesn't belong” So why do we hire people that are wrong for our companies? Used to screen - look at Skills first Are we truly interviewing and hiring for culture? *** Biggest pain point is time- Interview 10-12 to get a hire. Streamlining the process to save time *The top dictates the culture Check for cultural & skills fit Make people comfortable .. Casual setting, get a much better sense of who they are and how they will fit. *** Bring back for social interaction Foster a lot of team-based interactions -heavy screening for culture Promoting people who propagate the way they think and execute Rick’s Input Difference between Culture & Perks Culture is what happens when no one is looking- how people interact, treat others The icky stuff  Solutions: What needs to happen in the interview process? The shift in recruiting to tell the story very clearly. The person can self select very quickly if they want to join. A structured process, lead drives the process The interview process for onsite Technical- screened, test- Artistic- Recruiting team- Bring in to interact with people. Meet with people in their department, adjacent teams, Offer stage- Had one candidate they really wanted, lost to another offer Rick’s Input: A deeper level of understanding/vetting on the front end… ie: phone screen, recruiting call, introduction Target no more than 3-5 people to bring onsite for an interview. If #1 is a fit, hire! no need to comparison shop Key Takeaways Build right so the organism rejects what doesn’t belong. Look for the cultural fit first Take your time hiring. Hire slow and then if you need to make staffing changes, do it quickly.

Attention comparison shoppers... waiting to see a “few more people” to compare before deciding to hire?  Bad Idea, Time kills hires! Riddling your interviews with randomly placed hurdles is just madness. Making the interview process challenging is essential but there is a correct order to the journey you create. Each step in your interviewing process must be intentional. Today we are going to help you bring order to your interview process. Today’s Quote: "Comparison is a thug that robs your joy. But it's even more than that - Comparison makes you a thug who beats down somebody - or your soul."  - Ann Voskamp Guest Bio: With the resurgence of Big Data and AI, Shane Bernstein realized the tools needed to scale the effective outreach approach were finally available! His C-level customers were continuously frustrated with no viable and consistent solution, and unable to build the teams they needed in order to have the global impact each of their businesses required. So Shane founded Rolebot. Utilizing the power of AI, he and his team have developed software enabling companies and staffing firms to reach their goals and measure ROI.  As a result, Rolebot eliminates the way in which we traditionally pre-qualify talent, from days/weeks to seconds, and increases recruitment output and engagement results by 10x. Show Highlights:  What is making it impossible to hire Great people Over Interviewing- How much is too much Efficient Solution to come to a decision quickly Problem: Over interviewing is a direct result of Not having a solid hiring Structure Clarity of Intention Clarity of Values, Cultural & Skills Alignment Not Knowing how to ask the RIGHT Questions to gather clear evidence to support a decision  Where are the Obstacles? Over interviewing makes it harder to get the hire. Timing (time kills placements) Too much time kills interest. Time allows time for competitors to steal… not an if, but a when Feedback channel  HR prescreens HR assesses for culture fit. The Team should screen for culture, not HR Take home assignments- Give BEFORE you get…  mentality Pre-screen is a big waste of time. What is Over Interviewing? Reality vs. Perception Comparison Shopping Hurdles - Mindset Issue (You are not the only pretty girl in the bar) Demonstrates weak leadership Feedback channel. Is slow when the process is slow  ****people hire on gut feeling… Rick’s Input Why? Company does NOT have a strong interview structure Treat each person as though they are your Only option! Solutions The Set Up Recruiter - recruit & ask questions Is the recruiter/hiring manager bringing value? Manipulate time to gain accepted offers Someone needs to own the process  Interview Process Two step process Phone interview - lead, manager (not recruiter or HR) Credentials Technical skills assessment Skills-based conversation run by a team member  Onsite Get it done in 1 day… do not bring them back Has to be vesting on both sides. Have a hiring team & a process in play Put the decision makers and the people who will have to work closely with them Make sure the people can sell the position & the company Be able to sell: Why should I take this role? Rick’s Input What’s in it for me???    Phone Interview Establish -Why, Cultural Alignment, Impact Point person (CEO, Founder, Recruiter (not a farmer)  Onsite Timed Structured (3-5 person Interview team) Challenging Knock Out Questions- aligned with Core Values A decision in 24 hours!  Key Takeaways: Assess the current process, does it align with the current marketplace, what ROI does each component bring, what is % of rejected offers, etc… Figure out what must stay, what can be omitted, or moved around and integrated The goal is to strike the right balance for your organization

Alternative ways to hire salespeople when your company is getting started. Sales are the lifeblood of a company but what do you do when you need to grow revenue but have a limited budget? You get creative. Today we are talking about an interesting alternative to driving sales in the form of Independent sales reps. Today’s Quote: "Pretend that every single person you meet has a sign around his or her neck that says, 'Make me feel important.' Not only will you succeed in sales, you will succeed in life." - Mary Kay Ash Guest Bio: Marinela Gombosev   is the President & COO of Evoke Neuroscience, a commercial-stage diagnostic company focusing on early detection of Alzheimer’s and other dementias with a vision of ultimately eradicating dementia. Marinela is a roll up the sleeves leader who strives to work across all levels of the organization, lead from a place of authenticity, and effectively represent the company to its clients, partners and investors. Over 50,000 patients have been assessed using Evoke’s technology and under Marinela’s leadership, the company has twice been ranked in the Inc. 500|5000 fastest-growing private companies.   Show Highlights: The good bad & ugly of hiring independent sales reps How to hire them in the most efficient manner Problem: Why hire Independent sales reps? Independent manufactures reps? Upside No money to spend, a great way to get growth Don't pay anything until they close a deal Fast Rephuner.net Downside Control or visibility Way to monitor, don't want to be managed Misunderstand the product, regulations, Get burned a lot Can put you in a legal liability Misrepresentation of contacts & skills Solutions How do you hire them? Dirty secret: You are buying their relationships Hiring because they are trained. Many are pretty bad. Where she has been successful are the ones with relationships. Once they sell their relationships. Similar types of products. Who are your call points? Personal network? Other reps that work with you? Place an ad and make sure profile is written for reps Who are you selling to, what are you selling, how much $ am I going to make Schedule call Evaluate call points Level of interest Product Understanding Amount of time they can invest How many other clients they have Where am I on the priority scale Hire Sign NDA Disclose comp plan Sales rep agreement Comprehensive Training Plan On boarding program & test Access to all the training materials  Rules No exclusive territories Lead registration program / lead protection Demo product Short term play once the network is exhausted they usually burn out Internal expertise helps to close leads *One to Two phone call hire 3-4 hour time investment per person Product margins to support it A revolving door of recruiting. Have to constantly recruit Need 50 because most of them are not selling 80/20 rule *** Prepare for a love/hate relationship

We are hard-wired to follow a routine. This is why we perform certain tasks better throughout various times of the day. So designing your hiring routine to follow a person's optimal performance is crucial making the right hiring decision. Understanding and evolving your personal and company routines are vital for attracting talent! Today’s Quote: "Celebrate life in all its glory - challenge yourself to let the routine sing, and the new dance." - Maximillian Degenerez Guest Bio: Conventional wisdom suggests the best way to navigate our noisy new world is to accept change: Open up to novelty. Go with the flow. Embrace the relentless pelting of content minute by minute. Dr. I. is here to say this is not the best way to journey through our lives — and in fact, may go against our very nature. Dr. Angel Iscovich is the President of Inflexion, LLC and the Author of his new book: Routineology: the Art and Science of Routine. Find out more on his web page www.angeliscovich.com and Routineology for Instagram and Doctor I on Twitter. The crux of Dr. I’s book is that humans not only require structure, they thrive in it. From the womb to the tomb, we create and recreate numerous dynamic “Time Bubbles,” offering us meaning, fulfillment, and purpose. He is excited to show how implementing routine in one's life can lead to better, health, joy, and fulfillment. Show highlights: The science of a routine Benefits and negatives of a routine Build a strong routine into your hiring practice Problem: What is a routine and why does this matter? The science of a routine We are wired for regularity Change is not necessarily good for us. Routine is boring because you are doing the wrong things, wrong habits Leadership Importance to develop regularity, routine & structure Routines become rituals and rituals drive the culture of the company Doing things regularly enhances performance Solutions: Personal Routine Make a routine of spending 45 minutes alone - reflecting Turn off the data, social media Especially if you are being creative or making a big decision Wired to regularity: being smart about what we do and when we do it Knowing your Circadian rhythm Technology is not able to replace Humanity, “Techmanity”, or how we are wired, is important in hiring talented people. Company rituals need to be re-engineered to meet the needs of the people Interview & work productivity routine Task-related activity 8-10 am People Engagement 10-12pm (people are most social) Postprandial dip after lunch recovery time (task-related) Cortisol levels drop by 3 pm (Starbucks coffee, tea time) - Innovation time Least productive time - the body needs an energy boost Good time to meditate NOT a good time to interview! Great time for Innovation though... brainstorming Another hour of productivity 4-6pm Send people home at 3 pm and log on for another hour of work at 7 pm *Optimal interview time between 10-3 Rick’s Input Hiring routine with the purpose of being impressive Interview people when they are most Key Takeaways: We are wired for Regularity and our unique Routines in themselves give us meaning and purpose. Our Circadian Rhythm provides us with when we are at our best and when we can be most productive. We need leaders to make for stable environments for our team members that create Routines, Rituals, and our Company Culture.  

Is it a good or bad idea to hire former employees back? In today's job market, people may exit a company to experience life at a startup, change industry, or even go back to school. So why would you have a no-return policy? Jack Dorsey left Twitter to found Square between his two stints as CEO of Twitter. And Steve Jobs was a boomerang hire. We need to start treating departing employees as future brand ambassadors, potential customers, hiring references, and even boomerang — returning employees. Today’s Quote: "There is nothing like returning to a place that remains unchanged to find the ways in which you yourself have altered." - Nelson Mandela Guest Bio: Lee McEnany Caraher is the founder and CEO of Double Forte PR & Digital Marketing, a 15-year-old national agency that works with beloved and up- and-coming consumer,technology, and wine brands. An acclaimed communication strategist, Lee is known for her practical solutions to big problems. Lee has a reputation for building cohesive, high- producing teams who get a lot done well and have fun at the same time. She is a straight talker who doesn't hold too many punches, although she does her best to be pleasant about it. Her big laugh and sense of humor have gotten her out of a lot of trouble. The author of Millennials & Management: The Essential Guide to Making it Work at Work, Lee based the book on her experience with epically failing and then succeeding at retaining Millennials in her business. Her second book, The Boomerang Principle:Inspiring Lifetime Loyalty From Employees, published in 2017, is a pragmatic and actionable guide to creating high-performing work cultures ready for the future (available on Amazon). Lee is a popular guest expert on leadership, intergenerational workplaces, public relations, crisis communications, social media and integrated marketing. She splits her time between San Francisco and New York City, and puts her medieval history degree to work every day. Show Highlights: What a boomerang hire is Why you should absolutely integrate this practice into your talent acquisition process How to acquire boomerang hires Problem: Why would you hire someone again? If they come back to you it means they liked it there Not going to hire them for the same job They will be even more valuable to your company the second time bring something of value to your company Take less time for them to come up to speed 2-4 months  (up to 12 months for new hires) Boomerangs are the highest performing hires at google More than 45% of millennials say they would absolutely return to a former employer What would make someone eligible for rehire? Anyone who leaves in good standing Building loyalty beyond employment Rick’s Input Already familiar with the culture Boomerang trend pioneered by millennials Rehires are less risky- would not choose over someone outstanding (rockstar) The decision should be made based on the exit interview Solutions: Mindset: Understanding why people left Take a long view When they leave Be happy for them Never counter Ask “how can I help you?” Steps to create a re-hire program: Create a program or environment - keep in touch with the people who left on their own volition Set up an Alumni program (company run)  facebook group (not a Linkedin group) Content engagement Keep the universe up to speed with what you are doing….media relations Birthday card Share wins Interaction… stay close to the universe of potential Hiring- share new roles with the alumni group letting them know that hey can came back. How is Onboarding different? Rick’s Input: Why did people leave in the first place One survey found 70% of employees say job related training and development opportunities — or lack thereof — impacted their decision to stay at their job. Growth & training Leadership does not have their back Trust - transparency, communication, investment (not perks) Consider re-hiring people who left due to a poor leader (toxic executive) Key Takeaways If we aren’t open to hiring former employees you are SHRINKING your potential talent pool of great employees Everyone who leaves you can hurt you or help you. Do everything you can to let them help you! Help you find new employees, help you spread the word, help you find good partners. Take the long view – your business will be BETTER all the way around if your employees are loyal to you – NOT because you pay them but because they WANT to. And then every time someone leaves the company you are actually GROWING your footprint not shrinking it.  

Not making a decision quickly is one of the biggest mistakes a hiring manager makes. Often the fear of making the wrong hiring decision leaves people in limbo and ultimately turns them off from working at your company.…....Wanting to see a “comparison candidate” is a clear indicator of a broken interview process! Today’s Quote: "Passion provides purpose, but data drives decisions."  - Andy Dunn - CEO of Bonobos Guest Bio: Mitch Balzer is the Co-Founder & Executive Vice President of Agema Technology Inc, an Orange County based Professional Services focusing on enterprise business systems like Oracle and SAP, Virtualization, and IT Security.  Since starting Agema in 2012 he has overseen many of the Fortune 500 clients in the Information Technology, Government, Insurance, Finance, Utilities and Oil & Gas industries ultimately delivering a 77th ranking on the Inc. 500.  Prior to Agema, Mitch started his career with a national, publicly-traded technical services firm rising quickly through the ranks.  In 2002 he helped start another staffing company driving revenue and delivering a top 100 Inc. 500 ranking before departing to cofound Agema.  Mitch Balzer and Agema also hold a Secret Clearance. Show Highlights: The Comparison Syndrome Why this is detrimental to your business How to structure your process to avoid this costly mistake Problem: Why is this important? FEAR Fear of a bad hire for a mid-level manager. Want to see another resume, comparison candidate **Making a decision on the hire - biggest mistake a hiring manager makes! Setting expectations- pre-commitment, you trial close a candidate (at least you should be) when you have them interview by asking will you take this job if offered? You need to do the same with the hiring managers, if a great candidate that fits X, Y, and Z comes in tomorrow can you offer them the job right away? Ham & Egg - one good resume with one the recruiter knows isn’t a great fit Resources Why this is Bad for your business? Ramifications of waiting – time kills all hires Outcome - sent lesser people Prioritization of the roles – your openings will be a much lower priority whether its an external or internal recruiter Rick’s Input Stalling the process kills Momentum, Interest & Engagement Result of poor planning Defining “WHO” is needed   The reason you are unsure is due to the poor interview techniques/process Gathering the right EVIDENCE in the interview Solutions:  How to Structure for a decision Who has the ultimate authority to make the decision? Disconnect in communication and should be involved in the process Clearly defined process. Get commitment to timelines on resume review, interview scheduling/process, and feedback and final decisions on a candidate. Feedback channel (ghosting) Pulling the trigger!  Close, Close, Close Everyone wants to go to heaven but nobody wants to die -Tom Delaney… you all want the best candidate but you can’t be afraid of making a decision. If you are not sure… try contract to hire or hourly w2 consultants Don’t treat people like everyone else. Keep it tailored to the individual As a recruiter or service provider ask your clients what turns you off and then make sure you don’t’ do that? Also, make sure you know how you can provide the most value to them. Rick’s Input Mindset: Approach each person with Intention to Hire Only Choice Easier to say Yes than No Plan & Know what you need Structure the interview to surface: Cultural / Values alignment Evidence of transferable accomplishments/impact Skills Behavioral interview structure to make a data-driven decision Communicate: pace, timing & what happens next Unsure?... follow up call to address the issue (next day) Key Takeaways The harsh reality is that all sales/hiring processes have a cadence.  If you have properly qualified your target, and then stay within that cadence, there is a reasonable chance you’ll get to “yes.”  But if not, you are almost certainly going to, eventually, get to “no.”

No longer can you, Mr. Hiring manager, get away with bad behavior in an interview and think you will be able to hire the person across the desk from you. When your offer gets turned down and you think it was because of a higher offer, know that was probably not the case. It’s you, not me! Today’s Quote: "Etiquette means behaving yourself a little better than is absolutely essential." - Will Cupp Guest Bio: Diane Lee is a foremost expert in providing professionals, specifically millennial workers, with the business etiquette best practices needed to successfully present themselves in the workforce. Diane founded Street Smart Etiquette in 2011 to empower millennials beyond the theoretical, offering hands-on workshops and individualized etiquette courses to help them master business soft skills, and ultimately achieve career success. She has conducted business etiquette classes on California State University campuses at Fullerton, Long Beach and Northridge, along with El Camino, Long Beach and Pasadena community colleges. Diane has been a featured speaker for many Los Angeles and Orange County community, civic and business organizations. This venture builds on Diane’s successful career in journalism and business marketing. After graduating from California State University, Long Beach, with a degree in public relations and business, Diane made a career in Maui, Hawaii, where she played many roles in the hospitality industry and television, and was a freelance writer. In the consumer food product industry, Diane expanded the production and distribution of many Hawaiian brands throughout the Pacific Rim and western United States, and achieved millions in annual sales for her clients. After relocating back to the Los Angeles/Orange County area in 2008, Diane found herself at the Disneyland Resort, where she discovered her passion for training and development in the Guest Relations department. That’s where the light bulb went off and the urgent need for interpersonal communication skills was identified. Diane earned her credentials as a certified trainer at The Protocol School of Washington, and is also a certified training designer through the Association of Talent Development (formerly ASTD). Show Highlights: Why it is important to develop your interviewing etiquette Provide a checklist on what to do first Problem: Why is this important? The market is demanding it Evidenced by turn downs How should you treat people in the interview? How do you get someone in the right mindset for your interview Get people comfortable Mindset: get the best out of the person by giving them the most Charismatic listing Good first impression & look credible Duschene smile - smile with your eyes! Offer a drink of water Be punctual: Discuss & contrast - 10 minute cutoff Story Bad experience: Kept waiting 45 minutes & had Dodger game on the whole time Rick’s Input The people you are trying to recruit are the decision makers (Sellers Market) An accurate picture of what daily life is really like. Own your culture Be present Solutions: How does a hiring manager use Etiquette to their advantage? Here is a checklist of what to do to maximize your interview experience. Greeting Personal presentation- etiquette is making the other person feel comfortable An air of credibility, one chance to make a first impression Remember the person’s name 5 minutes of small talk Ease the nerves Then get into the meat of the conversation Art of listening- leaning into the conversation Your Physical Cues Body posture, body language, 70% of people fail the interview due to lack of eye contact & smiling Charisma- everyone should walk out feeling like they really want to work for you Setting the person up for success - preparation, sending email re Parking. Rick’s Input Approach each interview with Candor & Curiosity Hiring manager needs to set the example by being prepared No cell phone  Key Takeaways: Prepare for the interview, read & organize your info & questions. Check your personal presentation Make a genuine smile, positive body language, eye contact and active listening techniques automatic habits Get the most out of your time by ensuring the candidate is comfortable and you are relaxed & focused Set your candidate up for success with appt details, beyond time and place, such as expectations, as well as,  traffic & parking tips to alleviate pre-interview stress                                                                                                                                                                                 

Do personality assessment tests really work? We are going to discuss the why, when & how to give assessment tests. Personally, I am not a big fan because they do nothing to develop the human connection which is so important in today’s hiring landscape. Today’s Quote: "Body language and tone of voice - not words - are our most powerful assessment tools." - Christopher Voss Guest Bio: Founder and original software developer, David Ferguson, was born into a manufacturing family by virtue of his father, the owner/operator of a fabrication job shop that still operates today. Now, with over 25 years of experience working in and writing software for the fabrication industry, David is considered an expert in the job shop arena. A sought-after speaker, he has consulted with numerous manufacturing companies around the globe, guiding them to become more efficient and cost-effective. In the early 80’s, David created and sold his first computer program, Arrow Data Systems, a CAD/CAM system for the Apple IIe computer. During this time, he observed his father coming home late each night, only to begin the estimating process for his shop. David saw an opportunity to automate the estimating process using technology. As a result, the “Quote It” estimating package was born, becoming one of the leading sheet metal estimating packages in the world. Shortly thereafter, wanting to expand its capabilities, David developed the FabriTRAK Production Control Package. Over the years, it had been licensed to both METALSOFT and Amada America. By the end of 2007, David had regained control of all FabriTRAK licensing agreements, completely re-wrote its production control offering, creating MIE Trak Pro. MIE Trak Pro is a state-of-the-art ERP system ideally suited to manufacturing businesses. It was designed to accommodate most production cycles and optimize the capabilities of repetitive, custom, quick-turn, and mixed mode operations. To launch his newly optimized program, he partnered with Don Clutter and founded MIE Solutions. Since its inception, MIE Solutions has grown over 500 percent. In addition to North American sales and support locations, MIE Solutions operates offices in Australia, Mexico, New Zealand, South Africa, and the United Kingdom. Show Highlights: Are personality assessments worth the time? What are the true results you can expect Problem Personality Assessment Tests - Why should they be given Measuring against what you are looking for in a person. personality, Based on traits they think will be successful. Screening tool Do they damage the personal connection? Cultivate the transactional relationship? Create a lazy interview process? What if you are wrong about the traits? Judge against the company values? Rick’s Input Assessments are not an identification tool The best tool is still a conversation Assessments are Transactional If used too early in the process, kills the human connection Personality traits do not ensure a successful hire Great to tell you how to manage after they have been hired! Solutions Order in which tests should be given & Why? When should tests be given For skills, onsite after talking to a live human and engaged For personality, at the end. How should they be given PXT test - cultural fit Provides more confidence in the hire. Felt confident in a hire even though the personal side was not as clear Additive to what they feel they can do Flags people who give contradictory answers Willingness to take the extra step has really amplified the level of quality and the people they hired Results for David’s company Lower attrition Better employee treatment based on their understanding of the individuals Management tools for the tenure of the employee The exam is essentially the behavioral test? Rick’s Input To Judge against a cultural fit, you must know your corporate values first! HUGE mistake - when company’s use it too early in the interview process. Must have a person emotionally engaged first Key Takeaways: The assessment is just another tool in your arsenal If you are not comfortable with it, don't hire the person (rash decision) Don’t be rushed. Hiring is not an emergency

The average annual turnover in sales is 25 to 30%. That is the equivalent of hiring & training the entire Sales organization every 4 years! How do you know you are hiring a good salesperson? Why you look for evidence of success that is transferable to your organization. Today we are going to really help you sniff out the correct information to hire the right talent. Today’s Quote: "There are worse things in life than death. Have you ever spent an evening with an insurance salesman?"- Woody Allen Guest Background: Anthony Camacho is the Founder & CEO of Top Producer Factory. Having worked with start-ups to $40 million ‘small businesses’, Anthony is a sales and performance mentor to everyday entrepreneurs as well as Fortune 500 companies. He has personally cold called millions of dollars in sales, using techniques and strategies which he freely shares from the stage. A former Dale Carnegie Coach and certified sales coach through the Institute for Professional Excellence in Coaching, Anthony, 37, has 20 years of experience in cold calling, generating new prospects, bringing in new business, closing deals and managing sales teams. Working with corporate clients, executives and small business rockstars; Anthony is currently on tour in the United States and Australia, delivering sales and leadership seminars and keynote talks. Based in Southern California, Anthony – a father of four girls – is also a yogi, pursuing the lifestyle of Bikram Yoga in his downtime. Anthony is the Author of 3 x best-selling books (Buy them on Amazon.com ») Anthony Camacho® has presented at more than 500 live events including TedEx style talks, workshops, seminars, Expos & industry-specific conferences. He has been a speaker/emcee for: Habitude Warrior Conference (Erik Swanson) Evolution Seminars (Matt Brauning) Free to Bounce (Paul Cummings Worldwide Enterprises) Guest lecturer (University of California, Riverside) Miss West Coast Beauty Pageant Corporate America including Fiesta Insurance Corp and Excellence Real Estate Empire REEMA Beauty Charity Events Various Chamber of Commerce Show highlights:  How to identify great salespeople How to sniff out the frauds What to do in the interview process Problem: How do we identify great salespeople Both parties need to be prepared. The interviewee should be asking about growth, opportunity, and professional development. Rate people on the quality of questions they ask. How they interview? No structured interview process. Sometimes they just want a body… mentality about hiring the right person… run on Turn & Burn. Companies don't consider how much how much they really lose by making the right hire. Ultimately, hurts the company morale and customer base. Referral hires - no shortcuts. Managers take a Narrow view or let complacency set in Unrealistic High bar…. Looking for “rock stars” Status quo is a business killer ***Sales management -The reason bad sales hires are made, bad leaders hiring bad people. The biggest challenge is Mid-level Management. Mid managers are delegated. *** Making people managers without training. How do I duplicate myself? Letting middle managers learn & grow… giving someone a shot. (hope strategy) Clarity on job description/expectations or even a clear compensation plan (not defined or clear) How they get paid…. They lose their enthusiasm Is the C- level is setting people up for failure? Rick’s Two Cents: Be wary of Stars! Research indicates an A player at one company doesn't necessarily transfer to another Train your leadership before they start hiring. I failed miserably when I was promoted to manager Test answers Solutions: What to do in the Interview process First prepare people & be prepared What to bring, and prepared questions to have for us Show the person that you are serious. Private office, punctual (preferred early), Observe how they present themselves, time frame. Note: Starbucks & Denny’s are for MLM pitches. What to look for:  Anthony’s Ingredients of a good salesperson Integrity- trust with the customer Above and beyond in serving the customer prior job experience/history Loves door to door salespeople- most grueling job ever Manual labor- if they know how to sweat, making a phone call is easy Life goals, financial goals/aspirations = hungry for themselves Closing ratio/formula to make a sale. Day to day sales activities break down (know their numbers, how do you get to that? Hiring Management: Promoting managers- good salespeople need to be trained to be a leader. Training received before becoming a manager. Time to learn before accepting the responsibility- learn how to delegate, motivate, lead Get a curriculum for leadership  Companies managers/ not leaders Rick’s Insight Focus on behaviors- Look for evidence Understand how customer relationships are developed Hire for core Values Alignment Cultural fit Look for transferable skills to provide growth opportunity Locating transferable skills requires creativity Training Key Takeaways: Benchmarks  •Know your closing ratio and understand the closing ratio for your team Desire  •Does your sales professional and the team have a “BIG WHY” You can teach everything but you can’t teach desire Buy-in  •Sell the objective to your sales team

Diversity & Inclusion is critical to your company’s success but it is not a strategy. Here’s why... D&I needs to be built into the DNA of your company instead of being treated with kid gloves. Besides, hiring like-minded people is bad for business! Today’s Quote: "Our diversity is our strength. What a dull and pointless life it would be if everyone was the same." - Angelina Jolie About the Guest:  Mike “Batman” Cohen is the Founder of Wayne Technologies, a recruitment training and search firm.  Mike has over a decade of experience placing technologists, recruiters, and business development professionals, and has conducted training for Corporate and Agency Recruiters. Throughout his career he’s learned several things that he’s committed to paying forward: We can’t make it on our own - we need community There is no “secret sauce” - we should be sharing our skills, tips, tricks, etc. openly Data is extremely important Being a good human is more important than data He has worked with a diverse group of clients ranging from GIPHY, Spotify, TripAdvisor, Digital Asset, MacDonald Miller, etc. He contributes articles to SourceCon, has a chair in the Program Committee with ATAP, helps run SourceHouston, and is a Brand Ambassador for ERE. Mike has spoken at: Talent42 (June 2019) TechRecruit Los Angeles (July 2019) TechRecruit Chicago (September 2019) HireConf (October 2019) HRTX Dallas RecruitCon ATAP Webinars TalentNet SourceHouston ERE HR Houston Scala Up North Scala.io Show Highlights: Why Diversity & Inclusion is not a strategy How to embed diversity into your Company's DNA while staying true to your company values Problem: Why is Diversity & Inclusion such a hot topic? Diverse communities are growing and matriculating faster than any other Organizations are realizing that diverse thought doesn’t just come from people who went to different schools or studied different subjects, it comes from background, upbringing, etc. We all want females, minorities & orientations. Candidates are placing a large focus on organizations that put a value on D&I - if you want the best candidates - this is one of the things that’s important to them! Why is this important to organizations? Are we hiring because of D&I to check off boxes? Shouldn’t we be looking deeper into diversity of thought rather than physical characteristics? Hiring people who are different from you and are included in your culture Shouldn't we just be concerned with hiring the best person?   Just start hiring people who make you uncomfortable Embrace the differences Hiring like minded people is bad for business What about the alignment of core corporate values? Define corporate culture. Solutions: If Diversity & Inclusion isn’t a strategy, how do we accomplish it? You don't want to hire someone just because they are a certain classification It has to go beyond “skin deep” - this isn’t about the way someone looks, it’s about integrating all different walks of life or trains of thought or images into your brand.   Not to diversify to make things different, but to create a culture where diversity is the norm - that is how you create inclusion The desire to have different people is not a business strategy It is a top-down mind-set as to how the business operates and what it considers important, successful, and a good fit Vetting issue- how does one determine who the best person is. Not the values or mission Grey area- Defining the gray area or you will fail. Focus for cultural alignment vs skills Perks that attract like-minded people, like Ping pong and foosball tables & kegerators, reduce D&I. The Strategies to achieving D&I are merely the execution of a goal. Companies aren’t built on strategies - they are built on vision and mission - Strategy is simply how we get there - is your company built on top of a foundation (mission and vision) that doesn’t celebrate diversity, but instead values it as a competitive advantage? These values and mission themselves should come with a very diverse perspective. The more avenues of thought the quicker and higher quality it will take you to that mission. Rick’s two cents: What should be your strategy? Hire People who perform Hire People who bring different perspectives Hire People who will challenge you Key Takeaways: D&I isn’t a strategy, it’s a business mindset Dissonance is a good thing! Just be respectful Diversity is a mindset, Inclusion is turning that mindset into the norm

Erik Huberman, Founder and CEO of Hawke Media, Managing Director of Nest Equity Partners, and Operating Partner of Arrowroot Capital Management

What are the biggest challenges in building a distributed team as a startup? Today we discuss how to Hire, build process and lead in a distributed model. We will learn that uncovering the right people hinges on the Individual's desire and their emotional intelligence. Today’s Quote: “Completing one another is more important than competing with one another." - John C. Maxwell Show Guest: Mark Angel is the CEO and Co-founder of Amira Learning, the company reinventing learning to read with AI.  Amira is a rapidly growing, venture-funded startup bringing the first intelligent reading assistant into K-3 classrooms. Mark formerly served as Chief Technology Officer at Renaissance Learning, where he led the R&D organization and worked on the two most successful reading apps in the United States – Accelerated Reader and STAR.  He has worked for 30 years in the Silicon Valley as a CEO, CTO and General Manager for innovators in the realm of Artificial Intelligence and Natural Language Processing (Ernst & Young, Nuance, KANA Software). Mr. Angel is the founder of three successful start-ups.  He is a chief inventor on more than 10 patents in the areas of search. Episode Highlights: The Story of the Challenges faced when building a distributed company 3 biggest issues you struggled with Tools & solutions that worked best for your team Problem: Challenges in Hiring a Distributed Team: Hire for the distributed model Learn to screen for people who are truly able to function in a distributed environment People not really self-aware. Build process around the distributed model; Challenge: creating infrastructure and culture of behavior to help people to collaborate Choices in tooling that turned out to be wrong Have to "servant-lead" for the distributed model. What issues have we struggled with around hiring? Where they will Thrive!   People are not self-aware around work mode… The focus seems to be around the technologies they want to use or the comp they want.   Discuss the Model Need to put the issue up front before people get excited about the rest of the story and fool themselves and consequently us Core Values alignment We need to be conscious that some folks like talking/collaborating and for others, it’s not the most pleasant part of the day.  We aren't going to change a leopard’s spots. Creating a situation where there is a balance of work and not having too many meetings. Keeping people in a place where they are getting constructive work behavior. Getting that work done but also helping others to get the work done. People are happiest when you find the “groove”. Rick’s Challenges An issue of Upfront Expectations alignment Continually ask “Why”  Solutions What have we done about this? Put this issue front & center in the interviewing process Getting out of the skills-based mindset. Screening - needed to find people who are able to cope with the nature of the model. Intentional about the need for people who are wired to work in a distributed environment. -talk about the distributed issue up front. Hired a recruiting expert Learned to screen for being at least somewhat "outgoing" and "opinionated" "Servant-leadership" for the distributed model. How do we manage work? Baking collaboration into everyday environment. Tools like google suite/slack/zoom/github/atlassian -- basically emphasis is on creating the norms around the tools. Understand when they should be using the tools Slack, Zoom, Gmail suite,  Google docs works really well, hangouts did not for them. tools around design thinking. Set of heuristics and norms around the tools. Allow people Flexibility Work at home or at Wework, Techspace What went right & wrong in the process? right -- took a "team experiment" approach right -- recognized they needed help & hired an expert wrong -- didn’t push hard enough to create norms Rick’s first step Take the time to understand a person’s desires before you “Pitch” the company People will tell you what they want. You just have to ask. "If you could design your ideal company, what would that look like for you?" A company where you will Thrive! Key Takeaways: Hire people who are self-aware - Hire for EQ & cultural fit first Experiment with popular tools to find the tools that “best fit" for your team Recognize you are fighting human nature and hire to overcome

Beerud Sheth, Co-Founder and CEO of Gupshup

Non-verbal communication and digging for clues to get to the root of who people really are.  93% of our communication is delivered non-verbally. Extracting the correct information starts with your openness and then observing how things unfold. Today we are going to hone your ability to read people better in an interview! Today’s Quote "You don't have to tell me what your limits are when the decisions you make, your actions and body language says it all."   ― Marlan Rico Lee Show Guest Ernie Basulto developed an early interest in cultural and human relations as he grew up in two separate countries.  He was inspired by his father to develop the ongoing needs of the Hispanic workforce, and has done so by providing support and guidance to both business leaders and employees throughout his 26-year tenure in Human Resources.  Ernie holds a Bachelor of Arts in Business Management from the University of Phoenix. Recently, Ernie was a Senior Human Resources Business Partner at the 5th largest retail mortgage lender in the nation, and is currently the Director of Human Resources at Antis Roofing & Waterproofing. At Antis he provides leadership in all aspects of HR including hiring practices, establishes company culture, and guides employees to find their Purpose at work.   Episode Highlights How to build rapport Reading verbal and nonverbal cues (body language) Problem Focus on “Skills” clouds our vision so we misread people. Why is this such a problem? First, we need to get people comfortable in a manner that is congruent with your environment Open interaction Ask a Basic question: walk me through your resume to gather a baseline. Settle the nerves, get comfortable Observe & Mirror to build rapport Listening to them Experience questions where they tell him stories to evaluate thought process, how the person treats others, react under stress. You can tell a lot about a person by the way they tell a story Depends on the type of role they are hiring for.. Look for little signs, hints Example: story- stories focused on complaining about their company throughout the story. Pivot into what did you do to fix the problem. Tone of arrogance. He released him from the process and gave him the feedback. Solutions How do we structure the interview and what should we be looking for? Opening question to behavioral Company values, requirements of the position, Fit with the team (cultural fit) Hiring Manager > on occasion they meet with the team. So important at all levels, especially where you are exposed. Raising the bar on performance  Reading Body language What to look for? Depends on your culture/environment Positive body language  Body Language flags Rick's Points Be Aware of your own body language! Open & Positive Past nervousness, fear & discomfort Important to make people comfortable first Get past Mirroring- Unconscious sometimes person trying too hard to build rapport Shoulder movements communicate emotions Positioning & movement Uncertain or lying -slow rise - lack confidence Extreme behaviors- pay attention  Key Takeaways Observe & Mirror Get past the nerves Shoulder movement tells all!

Brian Frankel, Marketing Consultant of Ignite.Consulting, TiE Charter Member, and Founder, of Mentor Matchmaker

Ravi Sharma, Co-Founder & CEO of OOtify, TiE Charter Member, Investor, and Mentor

The mistakes we, as entrepreneurs and hiring managers, make when building our companies. Often our need to fill overrides our logic in determining the fit between both parties and as result Core Values are often ignored. Assumptions, unclear expectations, and lack of diligence make for a perfect storm of a disastrous hire.   Today’s Quote "Hiring people is like making friends. Pick good ones, and they'll enrich your life. Make bad choices, and they'll bring you down." - Jason Fried Show Guest  Erik Huberman is the founder and CEO of Hawke Media, the fastest growing marketing agency in the United States. Launched in 2014, Hawke Media has serviced over 1000 brands of all sizes, ranging from startups like Tamara Mellon, SiO Beauty and Bottlekeeper to household names like Red Bull, Verizon Wireless and Alibaba. Hawke Media has taken home numerous industry awards including inclusion on the Inc. 5000 2017 list of “Fastest Growing Companies”, Fortune Magazine’s “50 Best Workplaces in Southern California” and Forbes’ “Content Marketing Companies to Check Out in 2018." "Prior to Hawke, Erik founded, grew and sold two successful e-commerce companies. Huberman is the recipient of numerous awards including Forbes “30 Under 30,” Inc. Magazine’s “Top 25 Marketing Influencers,” and Best in Biz North America’s “Marketing Executive of the Year.” A regular contributor to major publications like Forbes, Entrepreneur and CS Q. Huberman is also a well-known keynote speaker. Episode Highlights Break down one of your early hires and talk about the decisions that were made and why What we learned and how you can avoid making our mistakes Making a wrong Hire: Walk through the story Hired an executive, all-star, great background “Why would you buy a dog if you're the one barking on the corner” Discussing expectations, but not the HOW. Had a budget, revenue numbers, really clear… Takes time for executives to ramp up Hired from a large company- a different mindset Taking people through a more formalized process. Properly frames the mindset as a professional environment You are taken more seriously *Onboarding Process  Didn’t have a process. Throw people to the wind Unprofessional entrance + people didn't view it professionally Made the mistake of selling perks  Hired 7 people in the beginning, only one stayed past 6 months.  Bridging the gap with the business. * Post hire, you are not done once you made the hire. Once someone is hired, real-time investment into their success. Rick’s Hiring Mistake Hiring Friends without clear expectations created an expectations document  Key Takeaways Stick to a hiring process - It must be Professional The more senior the hire, the more time investment to align expectations - May take up to a year to come up to speed

We don't hire for human competency but for skill set.  Our language is inhuman in spite of the very real experience of working with HUMANS. People want Connection and Authentic Interaction. We need to understand What makes you, you?  Today’s Quote: “Learn everything humanly possible about everyone you do business with." -Harvey Mackay (Swim with the Sharks) Show Guest: CEO of Balance Integration Corporation | Advocate for Corporate Culture & Employee Engagement Tevis Trower is a pioneer in optimizing corporate cultures. Heralded in bestselling Megatrends 2010 as “corporate mindfulness guru for the new millennium”, Tevis has assisted powerful organizations ranging from Disney to Morgan Stanley in optimizing their most precious assets: human beings. She has created and facilitated global executive immersions for prestigious organizations including Harvard Business Review Events, Young Presidents Organization, PWC, Bloomberg LP, Viacom, Google and The Economist on issues including mindfulness, executive lifestyle, personal mastery, innovation, and the role of consciousness in creating radical success. You can find profiles and expert advice from Tevis featured in respected media outlets including Forbes, Fortune, BusinessWeek, Glamour, YogaJournal, CIO, Pink, RealSimple, Crain’s, New York Post, Financial Times, WWD, New York Observer, MSNBC, FoxBusiness, NY1 and Martha Stewart. As NYU Faculty teaching Business Creativity & Personal Mastery, Tevis has also served as worklife expert to WebMD and Huffington Post. Tevis lives what she teaches spending time in NYC, Montauk and Woodstock, enjoying surfing, snowboarding and entertaining friends at home with her dachshund, Ruby. Episode highlights: Why it is important to re-humanize your hiring process Changing the mindset by shifting the language The formula for a successful shift Problem: Why is this important? Because we focus upon skill development to get into the roles we aspire to, we buy into the notion that work and life are separate. But the reality is that we are only one person, one being.   Through this buy-in to self-abnegation, we leave ourselves out of the workplace and all but guarantee to burn out and disillusionment. When we approach interviewing that way, we’re bound to forget that the person across from us is first and foremost a human being. Impostor syndrome of the interviewers (hiring managers!) IS-is there a place for me here? Everyone feels a little like a fake/fraud. Myth: This person is only as good as their resume. Truth: Most of the best people, have the worst resumes Mindset Creating a corporate culture happens one conversation at a time. Talking about what you are passionate about, what matters to you. Work is home It is a demand market. * we forget we are hiring a human being… not filling a seat. Bring an entire life into the company Rick’s Thoughts Stay away from “stinkin thinkin”  - Transactional thought Judging people based on a piece of paper Restructuring the recruiting department to touch those who apply Solutions: By shifting the language we begin to shift the mindset. Changing the language - humanize What does it mean to be human at your company? Don’t talk headcount, filling a seat life count, heart count. Talk about finding the “right new colleague” Not filling a seat or role, rounding out our community Shift to human terms The breadth and depth of this person.   Talk about the eulogy and not the resume Think of everyone in terms of a peer Values - The framework is in the questions, not the answers If the adage is that people leave managers, not companies, they probably refuse offers from managers as well. Foster a culture that supports the value for success. Are they Google-ly?  And what happens when being googly becomes a weakness? Homogeneity can be a downfall. Rick's Plan Cut out words like “candidate”, Job Description, industry terms Key Take Away: Tune into your own Humanity Humanize the language Slow down the interview process to give more room & space

Employer branding is a very hot topic! Today we are here to challenge conventional wisdom and say that people pitch their company and themselves wrong. They pitch what the company does and the perks they offer rather than the problems they are solving first. Talented people want to solve challenging problems! Now I am a huge believer in looking at what everyone else is doing and doing the opposite… it works for me! Today’s Quote "A problem is a chance for you to do your best." - Duke Ellington Show Guest As a global Keynote Speaker and Managing Partner of InfluenceTree, Ryan Foland helps executives harness the power of vulnerability and authenticity to build better, more relatable, more profitable brands. Recognized by Inc. Magazine as a Top Marketer and named a Top Personal Branding Expert by Entrepreneur Magazine, Ryan is the inventor of 3-1-3® Method, a discovery process that helps communicate ideas into three sentences, which is condensed into one sentence and then ultimately boiled down to three words.  His book Ditch The Act: Unleash the Surprising Power of the Real You for Greater Success, will be published in October 2019 by McGraw-Hill. When he is not speaking, he is likely sailing.   Episode highlights Why the positioning of your messaging does not attract people to your company Share our methods for engaging talent to be drawn to your company Problem No one cares what you do or who you are. Try instead promote the core problem you solve.   Lack of Aspirational influence. People not Inspired by the impact your company will have on the world Psychology The mindset of the person you are talking to when presenting your opportunity Reptilian brain- in charge of our survival Fight or flight, sexual behaviors, anger & fear reside Keeping people out of the fear zones Rick’s Switch theory The words that you chose to come out of your mouth either turn people on or off Solutions 3-1-3 process - Tease out the problem you solve to uncover the actual pain! Solve the problem of..... 3-problem you solve in one sentence  (problem, solution, market) 1- condense to 1 sentence 3- Words (Marriott of marketing) Pain being solved by the position & pain of the company that they solved by their customers. Alignment of pain points.   Eliminates being another me too company Example of a good 3-1-3 The difference between success and failure hinges almost entirely on a company’s ability to hire the right team. One bad hire can destroy the company. We provide a step by step process that eliminates wrong hiring decisions. Startups need a competitive advantage when fighting for talent. Rick’s first step Open with a slap in the face by Locating a career wound! Locate the pain first. Match the problems solved with the solutions the person can gain by joining your company. Lead people down a path and let them draw their own conclusions Key takeaways Nobody cares about the words coming out of your mouth People are attracted to the problems you solve Change your messaging! Problem, Solution and  Market Ryan's Social Media Instagram  Linkedin  Twitter  Facebook

"Post and Pray" yields mediocre results and yet It is the go-to method for most companies, especially startups. Look, dating apps have evolved so let's take a page from them and figure out creative ways to attract talent. After all, your companies success or failure hinges on it! Today’s Quote: "Pleasure in the job puts perfection in the work." - Aristotle Show Guest: Chris Russell is the Managing Director of RecTech Media. He is a digital recruiting expert. He began his career as a job board owner where he first learned the craft of attracting talent online. He's also a former corporate recruiter with real-world experience in the recruitment process and technology implementation. As as a recruiting technology/marketing consultant he advises both employers and vendors on how to attract candidates or clients. He frequently blogs on the news site, RecruitingHeadlines.com, podcasts a weekly show called “RecTech” and conducts live video training on recruitment marketing tools and tactics at RecTechLive.com. Episode highlights: Why you should look at approaching job postings differently The best ways to market your opportunities Tools available to help you automate the process Let’s talk about the approach almost all companies take Write “job descriptions” (wish lists) Do Not copy old ones! Post on job boards Farm the Job boards Passively work employee referrals The Job Description Format -short 300 words or less - According to Linkedin? Employer value proposition Q&A job descriptions Video Cybersn.com Harry joiner - long form job Rick’s Format: Build your job descriptions around uncovering a Career Wound Build in Performance Metrics! - Let people know how they will be evaluated in their first 90 days Tools to Use Ripl- social media video slideshows Buffer, deliverance, smarterqueue Legend.im- turns text into animation gif clipomac Where & How to Post Indeed- biggest board out there. - active candidate pool Linkedin- Facebook job board-blue-collar, hear Google for jobs - Take advantage of all the free avenues Take an Omnichannel approach- you need to be on all the channels. Be where your candidates are and continuously add content Automate the flow of content out. Be resourceful - text or email creative pictures (you next to a whiteboard with the person’s name written on it) Angelist? **Pushing out to facebook, twitter & LinkedIn. Video gets the most engagement and exposure Times to post 4-6 pm at night FB- 3 pm on Wednesday Key Take-Aways Go Short or Go Long! Re-format your job descriptions to Attract people! Define the % of time spent on tasks as well as performance metrics Market your jobs by taking an omnichannel approach Get Creative & use Tools to automate getting out your message

Today we are discussing the Steps to building & scaling headcount in growth mode. Making sure that execution & time to fill are aligned. Today’s Quote: "Growth is never by mere chance; it is the result of forces working together." - James Cash Penney Show Guest: Brendan Rogers, Co-Founder & Leading Recruiting of Wag Labs, has raised over $360 million in venture capital, most recently $300 million from Softbank's Vision Fund. Wag! connects pet parents to dog walkers and is currently live in over 110 U.S. cities. He co-founded a social discovery service to meet new people which grew to over 50 million users in over 10 countries and was acquired by IAC in 2014. Brendan's next big event will be speaking at the ERE Conference on April 22-24th. Episode Highlights: How to ramp up from 0 to hero Steps to put in place to avoid making hiring mistakes You company closes your first round of funding 10 -12 roles from Nothing no resources & no systems in place Spreadsheets, manual task-oriented, process Preparation before go mode Building out pipelines, similar spaces, consumer-related companies. How to avoid making the wrong hire. How to scale for maximum impact Tools needed. Process in place, a foundation to scale. Get really good at identifying the right people, connecting the dots, sourcing- research He does a ton of research, knows his space. Strive to keep quality really high. Target specific businesses. Action Plan & Execution First hire should be a recruiter Identify what is needed & write job descriptions Right messaging Tackled building pipeline, hired.com Spreadsheet Hired a recruiter, brought in an ATS (applicant tracking system) First: Get an ATS system first! -like Newton, Google (hire with Google) Greenhouse, lever - take open requirements and intake with each hiring manager. Know the roles from top to bottom Second: Build a pipeline, training managers on how to use the ats, become partners with the hiring managers Third: Hire a recruiter only after 5+ open roles. Admin- for cost savings Having a foundation will only help you to scale. Key Take-Aways Be best friends with your Hiring Managers Be on top of everything Always be available Invest in the right tools

A great hire happens when Career & Hiring objectives are in alignment. Now more than ever, people want to feel whole in their careers and personal development has taken the lead in the decision-making process. Today we are going to look at hiring from the Interviewee’s perspective. Today’s Quote: "The things that bring you the greatest joy are in alignment with your purpose" - Jack Canfield Show Guest:  As a Success Mentor, Shannon Johnson's passion for people has been the common denominator of her success throughout her 25 year career in corporate America. Today she is founder of her company, Stand Out and Get Hired, inc...taking one of her most successful achievements in launching best-in-class products to market, to now, launching the most exciting product of all...our future leaders. Shannon worked for leading Fortune 500 companies in the retail, staffing, and pharmaceutical industries. Holding positions in marketing, management and sales, she has always been attracted to innovation and addicted to influencing others to think differently and get better every day.   Her mission is to inspire ambitious, driven, college students to take action in preparing to embark on their careers where they will thrive. She knows that Everything is possible when you believe in YOU FIRST & take action! Episode highlights: How to hire & get hired in the right role The 3 pillars to “Stand Out & Get Hired” Mindset Getting your game plan together to successfully get hired Settling for a “job” How do you get the interview first? Preparation Not performing at 100% in an interview kills your confidence Interviewing burns people out, then you lose momentum Emphasis on the Resume- important but not The resume is really a screening tool for the company! Why is this important Being sold on the Mission! Bring your value and strengths to life Mastering the skill of interviewing Prepare for what will happen Practice- mock interviews Put your “Game face” on How does a person/company stand out to make the right decision Know your values Your Why Target what you Desire Take Action Shannon’s plan Building your Brand Expert in You… values, vision, strength building   Strength dashboard- strength finder assessment Grow your quality network Linkedin network, utilizing, leveraging and maximizing relationships that already exist Sharpen your Interview Skills Skills to beat your competition Fundamentals:  approach the opportunity, preparation (dress, execution) Interviewing is a behavioral test. (highlight stories around 10 different behaviors) Practice, follow up (stand out and be memorable) Be relentless with follow up! Rick’s Input Identify target companies (no spray and pray) Utilize Linkedin, Separate yourself from the pack (rise above) Be pleasantly persistent & ask for the Interview Key Take Aways Align with your purpose Take action to beat your competition Self Awareness, Grow your Quality Network, Sharpen your Interview Skills

Today we are talking about Workforce Planning and our goal is to provide Clarity of what is really needed vs. what you think you want.  Evaluating Your Internal Team and Your Mission is crucial to get the right people in the right seats at your company! Today’s Quote: "Never look back unless you are planning to go that way." - Henry David Thoreau Show Guest: Katie Weber, Founder & CEO of KMW Recruitment Consulting, a recruitment and coaching firm specializing in high-growth and transition scenarios for small to mid-size companies. With nearly 20 years of diverse recruitment experience, Katie has worked around the world with early stage start-ups to Global Fortune 500s. She now utilizes that experience to quickly assess recruitment challenges, recommend and implement best practices, and find creative solutions ranging from engaged search to plug and play recruitment teams for her clients.  She has developed a Recruiting Search Framework with supporting tools that facilitates organizational communication, reinforces recruitment branding, eliminates bias, and attracts the right talent. With the addition of High Performance & Career Coaching, she ensures that the candidates she places change the game with levels of confidence, employee engagement, productivity and influence that are off the charts. Her hires are often the company's best hires and top performers. The company motto is: It's not just about filling a position, it's about fueling your mission! Katie serves on the Advisory Board for London-based start-up, Grad DNA, holds a BA in Psychology from Elizabethtown College, and has a coaching certification from High Performance Institute.  She is available for speaking engagements or workshops and will be a speaker at the April ERE Recruiting Conference in San Diego. Episode highlights: What happens when you don't plan? Where to start How to implement your hiring plan Why is it important? Run Lean- Instagram sold for $1B to Facebook with just 13 employees (2013) Cost of a Bad Hire Kills Morale, productivity Disengagement is contagious Planning & Kicking off your hiring plans for 2019 Evaluating the Mission Defining what needs to be accomplished Think about leadership first. Evaluate the team that is already in place (workforce planning) Budget & Timeline The volume of positions needed to be filled, vs lack of internal leadership to manage them- open headcount before leadership. Invest in hiring / promoting strong leaders To chose the right recruiting strategy (partner, in-house recruiter) Define who “We” are and Who we need First Who, Then What - Jim Collins Dare to Go From "Good to Great" - “First the people, then the direction” Get the Right people on the bus, In the Right seats Get the Wrong people off the bus Evaluating your internal team Cultural fit (Values, Attitude, Mission Ownership) Education & Training required Provide resources Work Performance Current Growth Accomplishments- Recognize even the small wins Fulfillment- breeds engagement > Increased Productivity Employment Branding/Messaging Define the 3 things that are most important to them in terms of the job search (open leadership) for greater collaboration Top 3 trait alignment What does that mean Usually describing a company challenge Transparency Take Aways Evaluate your mission, evaluate your people Over communicate everything! Fit people into your Company and not your Job

What do perspective Employees really want? A Personal connection or an automated interaction? I argue personal connection!My hope is that AI will be the disruptor that eliminates the transactional relationship from the recruiting process. AI is here and already starting to affect the way in which people interact with potential employers.   Today’s Quote: "Automation is going to cause unemployment, and we need to prepare for it." - Mark Cuban  Our Guest: Liran Kotzer, Founder & CEO of Woo.io. A serial entrepreneur, Woo.io is Liran’s third startup. For the past decade, he has been immersed in helping redefine and advance the online tech recruiting and hiring market sector. Liran spotted a market gap for helping employers and tech talent find each other much more efficiently, without all the hassles and wasted cycles between the two groups. Show hightlights: Where AI is already having an impact & where it is REALLY useful Should you Leverage AI to maximize your impact (employment brand awareness) What AI can and cannot do NOW in terms of recruiting very interaction is totally transactional- can not be humanized...yet Can’t yet fake a “Personal” connection The nuances of human interaction @scale- need technology to do the heavy lifting Continuing an ongoing relationship Automation using AI & ML What do people (candidates) really want? Personal connection to release or an automated release? Communication, feedback & closure Cultivate a relationship for relevant skills for future Can automation REALLY cultivate relationships?? No- Neither can email or texting What recruiting functions is AI replacing Transactional components Sourcing, Gathering intel (contact information), Farming Process Where is AI in recruiting relevant now AI & ML to keep a pipeline warm. Ability to create communication with the candidate in a unique & personalized way to help them to keep them engaged. To be able to recognize changes in behavior. Understand your relevant audience. Can do the job and feed the culture (flexible) Expand your target audience ("official" resume vs. True Skills) Content? Skills-based recruiting Take Aways Shifting from transactional recruiting into a long term relationship is a critical component for winning the right talent ahead of the competition Technology can mainly assist you in maintaining long term relationships with your pool of talent and also with scouting the right people at the right time Technology will not replace human interaction.

Conversational Capacity is the ability to balance Candor and Curiosity under pressure. Critical elements to every entrepreneur and business leader who are building an organization. And yet this element is often overlooked in the hiring process. The great news is, it can be taught! Today’s Quote: "The single biggest problem in communication is the illusion that it has taken place." - George Bernard Shaw Show Guest: Craig Weber is the author of the best-selling book, Conversational Capacity: The Secret To Building Successful Teams That Perform When The Pressure Is On (McGraw-Hill, 2013) and Influence In Action: How to Build Your Conversational Capacity, Do Meaningful Work, and Make A Powerful Difference (McGraw-Hill, 2019) (Amazon.com). He is also the founder of The Weber Consulting Group, an alliance of experts committed to helping people build more resilient, healthy, and agile organizations. He helps people and teams dramatically improve their performance by treating dialogue as a discipline. He works with people and teams from such diverse organizations as Boeing, The Royal Bank of Canada, Kaiser-Permanente, PWC, The CDC, the Pancreatic Cancer Action Network, and Los Alamos National Labs. He’s also working with legislators in an expanding list of states to help them engage in more constructive policy debate. Episode highlights: What is Conversational Capacity & Why is it important How do you interview someone and accurately evaluate their conversational capacity What our audience can implement today to hire & manage stronger What is conversational capacity?      Definition 1: Constructive, learning-focused dialogue about difficult subjects, in challenging circumstances, and across tough boundaries. ·      Definition 2: The Sweet Spot. Where candor and curiosity are in balance. Open, honest, direct, yet open-minded, humble, and eager to learn. This is where the best learning occurs. Smart people working smart. Elements / Communication Traits When triggered: MIN Low candor.  WIN Low curiosity. Need the ability to remain balanced. Everyone struggles, but often in very different ways. Why is it important? Defines teamwork. A team that can’t communicate when the going gets tough isn’t a team. Why good intentions are never enough: The gap between how people believe they behave bow they actually do. Work the issue on both sides: Hire for Attitude and personality (fit) and then build your team’s conversational capacity. o   Hire right, then create a “Conversational Code of Conduct” – clear behavioral norms; formal or informal– to align team behavior with organizational strategy. How do you recognize and evaluate Evaluation of the process Well thought through the process Preparation emphasis- prep call beforehand Interviewing for Conversational Capacity Locate evidence of past experience Personality Assessment Behavioral Interview - questions Tell me about a time you had to give negative information up the chain to your boss. How did you handle it? What did you say? With a colleague? To someone who you managed? Tell me about a time you were really wrong about something or someone. What was your family dinner table like growing up? Mock Interview! People can learn to converse in a more disciplined, balanced manner. There are skills. To be good at working in the sweet spot, everyone needs to do some work. If someone is UNWILLING to do that work, well, let’s just say there are some people you’d prefer were working for your competition. CCOC Key Take Aways: conversational capacity needs to be on your management dashboard It affects every aspect of your organization’s performance from decision-making, to managing change, to running meetings, and implementing strategy. Hire the right people and then make sure you manage them in a way that allows them to bring their best work to your business. Get the right people around the table (ability to learn; right temperament, etc, and then build CC of team. Each person will have to do some work to stay balanced.

A true partner has your back! Look for the person who shares your values and invests the time to understand the intricacies of your company.  Today’s Quote: "Destiny is no matter of chance. It is a matter of choice. It is not a thing to be waited for, it is a thing to be achieved." - William Jennings Bryan Show highlights: Reflect on your internal process Walk through understanding & managing expectations Provide you some tools to evaluate the right partner for you Be honest about your internal process What are your main hiring challenges moving too slow? Too many cooks in the kitchen. Recruiter relationship Type of search you choose makes a huge difference Clearly define & communicate Expectations Partner for process Partners ask for a slide deck & messaging collateral at a minimum Diligence Ask for a synopsis of what they think they heard, what the positions about what methodology and the messaging they are going to use How you are being represented is crucial Candidate Management expectations What will I become? Make it easy for the individual. Make it easy for the person to plug in. put together a landing page, catered toward the person. Ghosting is unacceptable on either front Live document to get them to lean in. Recommendation for evaluating the best firm for your needs Evaluation of the process Well thought through the process Preparation emphasis- prep call beforehand Ask for references The last 3 candidates placed- How well did you service the people who did not get the job How did you represent your candidate on behalf of your client? Agility and endurance Learn about the liability of the organization How do people handle information Over-indexing toward behavior way too far to the left Stability is really an illusion, It doesn't exist Words of Wisdom Compensation goes up and down due to interest level. Cadence- value of cadence Provide a flex deck tease Joe Mullings is a serial entrepreneur, Founder, and CEO of The Mullings Group (TMG), the world’s leading executive talent acquisition firm in the medical device industry. TMG specializes in cultural transformations for emerging technology start-ups and has placed over 5000 people in over 500 companies. Joe is an innovator and thought leader who has been featured on CNBC and in The Wall Street Journal. Joe’s philosophy ‘Build, Inspire, Teach’ has guided his work over the past 25 years specifically through his establishment of The Mullings Foundation, a non-profit with a focus on supporting veterans of war during times of transition. Joe recently served on the board of MassMEDIC and holds a BS in Engineering from the University of Dayton.

The One change you must make for 2019. Overcoming hiring failures. Spoiler Alert: it is your Interview Process… 1950 called and they want their process back! Today’s Quote: "I can't change the direction of the wind, but I can adjust my sails to always reach my destination." -Jimmy Dean Show highlights: Divulge the secret of an effective interview Halos & Horns Layout our interview structure Up front, What is the secret to an effective Interview? Process Alignment Engagement Halo’s & Horns Bias, Conclusions & Assumptions Your attitude determines your altitude Gut decisions Coin flip methodology Effective Interview Structure Brenan’s Format Plan Build Decision Scoring methodology Practice Rick’s Format Structure (Organized, Timed, real time feedback) Pre-determined questions Give & Receive Feedback Differentiate your company by closing the process with Everyone you decide not to move forward with! Brenan German is Founder and President at Bright Talent Resources, Inc., a boutique Human Resources Advisory, Project Management, Training, and Recruiting Services firm. As lead consultant, Brenan acts as an advisor to organizations wanting to re-engineer or develop a high performing, measureable, technology enabled, human resources function. Brenan has over 20 years of hands-on Human Resources leadership experience developing intelligent and successful talent management functions within some of the country’s most respected and well-known companies such as The Gallup Organization, Edwards Lifesciences, and Black & Decker. Brenan’s particular expertise involves the alignment of talent management strategies to business goals, and the implementation of systems and processes to reach measureable objectives, demonstrating clearly the bottom line impact expected of strategic Human Resources programs. A graduate of the University of California, Irvine, Brenan is an active participant in a number of organizations: Chair of the Orange County Employment Managers Association (OCEMA), Founding Board Member of the Talent Acquisition Group of San Diego (TAGSD), Member of the Society of Human Resources Management (SHRM), and Advisor to Sigma Pi International Educational Foundation.    

After years of experience in the challenging world of executive search, Christian Spletzer founded Clockwork Recruiting to improve how search firms and their clients work together on retained search projects. He designed Clockwork to help recruiters demonstrate their consultative value to their clients at every stage of each project. Prior to founding Clockwork, Christian worked as a recruiter and in operations at CT Partners, a Top 10 Global Executive Search firm. Previous to that, he worked within the Private Client Group of Merrill Lynch, and in an e-commerce start-up, 86.com, where he met his Clockwork co-founder, Jay Greene. Christian has a BA in Economics and a Juris Doctorate, and is a licensed attorney in NY, CT, and SC. Today is all about Timing! Managing expectations for time and performance to make a key hire is more important than ever. The data is in and we are going to give you performance benchmarks of what your expectations should be. Today’s Quote: “If you are going to achieve excellence in big things, you develop the habit in little matters. Excellence is not an exception, it is a prevailing attitude.” - Colin Powell   Show highlights: The challenges and data to support today’s hiring challenges Measurement for performance and what a Great search looks like Measuring your search performance Data from over 30,000 search projects Placement rate Days to Placement **Missing: Quality of Hire Key hires are taking an average of 123 days with a 71% placement rate on retained search People don't know how to pick a retained search firm. Most buyers of a retained search run off of bad data. No objective criteria to measure a search firm. Time matters- the longer it takes to get the seat filled, the shorter the ROI. Amazingly costly if a search fails. 22% failure rate Motivations may be wrong. The company is 50% of the equation in a successful outcome Companies can go to:Benchmarks - Clockwork Recruiting What good search looks like and how to choose the right partner Detailed analysis Great- Average under 115 days and over 83% success rate Seniority Managers- lowest placement rate, 80+ days to place C-Level 130+ days, 78% placement rate Department Industry Region New York City - 60% success rate with longest days to hire What to look for in a search firm Judge on time/success rate. Buy based on the experience and track record of success. Access to that information. Pick based on the one best suited for the search. Do not bet on the relationship only. Find the company with the track record- if you don't know where to look, you don't want to be sold. Getting more data before buying Track record Specialization in that particular department Inquire about Success rate/Stick rate: good hire vs. bad hire. Still around after a year, two years. Expectations: are very different than contingency search Meta data on actual projects. Who does it the best Hire the firm who brings value above and beyond just presenting candidates

It’s all about Purpose... Why? Because if your model exists just to make money, you won’t be relevant anymore. What is your companies purpose? Today we are going to help you discover your purpose and share ways to build purpose into to your hiring process. Today’s Quote: “When you're surrounded by people who share a passionate commitment around a common purpose, anything is possible.” - Howard Schultz Show highlights: Discovering your purpose Getting others to rally around your company’s purpose (super power) How to hire Purpose-driven people Let’s start by talking about how you discovered your companies purpose Origin Story: Reason to exist other than making money you have to have a Why “We exist to keep families safe and dry” - Antis purpose Why is it important to have a purpose? The purpose of a company is to make money! Involved in changing people’s lives Benefits of Purpose Retention Increased productivity Hiring with Purpose Have a reason why Getting others to buy in Knowing your “Why” and building it from the inside out. Helping employees discover their “Superpowers” Tribal leadership- when the culture goes wrong. survival Demonstrating that as a leader, you are there to serve them Interviewing for Purpose Messaging Clear and consistent with how the leaders lead Interview Core values alignment Hire for alignment over skills Discovery of superpowers in the interview Results 20% culture lift in a month- gift card that they can donate to a cause that is near and dear. To someone who did Retain 93% Melt away silos builds a stronger bond between individuals and departments Charles Antis, Founder & CEO of Antis Roofing & Waterproofing is a well-respected and widely known roofing expert, entrepreneur and humanitarian. Charles began his career as a roofing professional in 1984. Since then, he has become one of the most trusted names in the Southern California roofing industry, as well as an inspirational business leader championing social corporate responsibility. Charles has been the recipient of many prestigious awards over the years and was recently honored with the 2017 US Chamber of Commerce Foundation Corporate Citizen Award, Small and Mid-Size Business. In 2017, he was also named as National Philanthropy Day Honoree, Outstanding Corporation or Business, Mid-Size; the Civic 50 Orange County Honoree; and received the top honor with the CNA Insurance/National Roofing Contractors Association (CAN/NRCA) Community Involvement Award.

Sourcing! Knowing who to target is far more effective recruiting strategy than casting a wide net when it comes to hiring correctly for your company. Even without a recruiting team, business leaders must be sourcing to engage and hire the right talent. Today’s Quote: "Finding good players is easy. Getting them to play as a team is another story." - Casey Stengel Show highlights: What is sourcing and why is it so important Sourcing strategies How to execute on your strategy! What is sourcing? Sourcing Definition according to SHRM “Sourcing is the proactive searching for qualified job candidates for current or planned open positions; it is not the reactive function of reviewing resumes and applications sent to the company in response to a job posting or pre-screening candidates.   Sourcing is typically part of the recruiting function performed by the HR professional, but it may also be conducted by managers within the company. Sourcing can identify either candidate who are not actively looking for job opportunities (passive job seekers) or candidates who are actively searching for jobs (active job seekers).” Identifying your players Building your ShortList Collecting data needed to engage them Figuring out your Positioning Where is time best spent? Most important capital investment is your people. Good hires always provide ROI  Sourcing Strategies ATS (applicant tracking system) /Database … Job boards are recruiting databases Social Media Job Postings Misc. (recruiter networks, internal, alum networks)  Referrals  - Should be the place you start Where does Sourcing fit into the recruiting process? Brian’s formula Kick off meeting- Identifying needs Sourcing -a place (ats, rolodex, spreadsheet) First Contact Rick’s Formula Understanding your core values Benching needs of the work to be done Sourcing - building contact collateral  How to Source (Small company sourcing/business leader sourcing) *** Plan and develop the relationship before you need to hire the person. Database/Referral Network first- Best Methods for sourcing: Under limited resources (self-recruiting) Identify competitors - Your Talent competitors Connect and network with everyone to become known and build brand awareness Give before you take Do your homework on the person, let them opt out then ask for referrals Best tools for Sourcing Referrals - internal/external    Linkedin, Twitter, Facebook, Instagram Sourcing Tools: Hiretual, Entello Resume Data Bases - Internal ATS, Angellist Archives Portfolios - Carbonmade, Github Creative sources Meetups Here’s How I source Identification of Source companies Target list Define what to look for in potential people Contact directly outside of social platforms and augment with social connections Personal email, text messaging - Highest response rates Engagement Marketing/Messaging aligned with company values Job Descriptions with clear performance metrics Application process…. RESPOND! Brian Breth is a talent acquisition leader and US Marine Corps veteran with proven of experience forging, adapting, and applying best practices to complex business challenges in recruiting.  He has a proven track record as an entrepreneurial leader whose ability to align teams, enact change, and build sustainable frameworks enables businesses to attract top talent and become more efficient, productive, and competitive.  Brian currently leads recruiting for the Publishing and Esports teams at Riot Games. Not only is (Brian etc) speaking at the ERE Recruiting Conference in April in San Diego but yours truly is too! Join both of us there.

The good and great results of full company transparency.  There is a growing movement for full openness within companies which is pretty common in Tech startups. The more open you are, the more engaged your people become! Today’s Quote: “A lack of transparency results in distrust and a deep sense of insecurity.” - Dalai Lama Show highlights: What is Transparency & Why it is important What works & what doesn't Transparency in the hiring process Let’s start by talking about your experience at Tint How was the company transparent? Open door meetings Open Financials Employee compensation Group decision making Different levels of Transparency Extreme transparency What works and what doesn't? Ownership Decision-making process Compensation Transparency Reduces distractions Open venting/surveying Open transparency to customers did not work so well Process for transparency in the interview process Structure for Transparency Preparation for roll out Engagement Job postings  Personal awareness with an assessment to determine the data Contact - demonstrate transparency Managing expectations- positive experience… expect to hear from us by x date Interview Interview process Discuss people challenges Product/company challenges Preparing the candidate, What happens when & time frame Lower the barrier of nervousness - must get them comfortable Sang Huynh is a Mentor at Quake Capital Partners and former COO for TINT (tintup.com), A marketing tech startup in SF that recently exited. One of TINT’s guiding principles is to “cultivate transparency both internally and externally.” From open door meetings, exposed financials (including compensation) and group-based decision making.  Prior to TINT, Sang was a VP in the Global Security Group at Bank of America Merrill Lynch which has the traditional corporate culture. He’s here to share his experience as a former leader at two organizations with polar opposite approach to culture.

The Immigration Mess  ie: Immigration 10.142! Turning away great people due to immigration issues is just tragic.   Today’s Quote: “The U.S. immigration laws are bad - really, really bad. I'd say treatment of immigrants is one of the greatest injustices done in our government's name.” - Bill Gates Show highlights: The current immigration landscape Changes in policy for 2019 Creative steps to navigate today’s immigration laws Quick breakdown on the different types of Visa: Hirable visa categories E1, E2, - investor visa F 1 Visa- Student visa practical training H1B – Specialty Occupation (Cap vs. non-cap)  65,000, plus 20,000 for US masters/PhD last year 190,000 petitions filed.  Highest in 2017 236,000 filed (historical: annual cap to 115,000 for Fiscal Year 1999; 115,000 in Fiscal Year 2000; and 107,500 in Fiscal Year 2001. The cap would return to 65,000 starting with Fiscal Year 2002. J-1 Visa- exchange visitor can work, receive training, study or do research L-1A/B- Intracompany Transferee (manager, executive, specialized knowledge) O-1 Extraordinary Ability in the arts, science or business. TN Visa- NAFTA R-1 Religious Worker Immigration policy April 18, 2017 Executive Order Buy American, Hire American – seeks to create higher wages and employment rates for U.S. workers and protect their economic interests Allows for rule-making, policy memos and operational changes.  Ensure H-1B visas go to only the highest skilled and highest paid. The H1 B Visa Changes Focus on wages is a Level I wage a specialty occupation? Challenging if a degree is necessary for the job… specific degree required?  Can you prove alternative eligibility requirements? Computer Programmer Analyst – March 30, 2017 Rescinded 2000 memo.  Now stating that Bachelor’s not required for job. What other computer-related occupations could this extend to? Third party worksite/direct employer/employee relationship.  i.e., even accountants at an accounting firm. February 22, 2018 policy memo supersedes prior memo Rescission of guidance allowing USCIS to defer to prior *Change in the information required for approval Policy changing almost daily and hurts smaller companies most Just last week, the DHS and the DOL proposed new regulations: Electronic Registration for Cap subject petitioners by next April.  Initially Proposed in 2011 Only open two weeks? Multiple registrations? Elimination of work permits for spouses of H-1B workers waiting more than 6 years for green card (taking more than 10 years for certain countries) Hiring challenge- Foreign workers need H-1Bs Missing out on A-players What we need to do to navigate this mine field: Consult your attorney before investing too much time What to ask? What to look for? Does the position require a degree and does the applicant have the specific degree? Will the employer be required to seek a work visa?  H-1B employers required to pay for attorney’s fees and filing fees.  Can employer wait until October 1 (or beyond) for the employee to begin working? If transferring from a previous H-1B – how many years on H-1B, do they have an approved immigrant petition (could extend time beyond 6 years).  Premium Processing suspended until at least February. Will employee risk transfer? Will the employment be “off-site”?  Must show proof of right to control the employee and cannot “bench”  Can you provide SOWs, itinerary, etc. See itinerary requirements. Creative solutions to still be able to hire the person your company needs! Is the applicant from Chile, Singapore, Northern Mariana Islands, Canada, Mexico, Australia?  May be other alternatives. Is spouse on a visa category which extends work authorization to employee? (E-3, L-1, etc.) STEM OPT extension to 36 months. 3rd party firms as a protective layer? Offshore options - Canada or Mexico? Work remote As a founding partner at U.S. Immigration Law Group, LLP, Monica Lukoschek’s practice focuses on employment-based immigration law, assisting businesses in hiring and retaining foreign personnel and managing their immigration compliance programs, assisting entrepreneurs and investors in the United States, and providing advice to employers and employees with all aspects of immigration law compliance.

In today’s hiring market, People have options, know they are in the driver's seat. It is really not entirely your choice anymore! Here’s the kicker, People are totally willing to walk away from your opportunity if you can not effectively communicate value above and beyond a paycheck.  “What’s in it for Them”. Today’s Quote: Your pain is the breaking of the shell that encloses your understanding.   - Khalil Gibran Show Highlights: Why, in today’s market, people are willing to drop your company in a heartbeat What to do to stop the madness Provide a framework What is it that people want? They don't want to be sold! want to know what’s in it for me? How are you going to make me better, train me or develop me? How are you going to recognize me? Understand their needs & desires People with options know they have options If we don't answer the question correctly, they move on Unearthing motivation for change. Experiential learning. Listen Emotional engagement Heal their pain Fulfill their desire Provide growth Three Truths: Nobody cares about you, your problems or your company You are just adding to the noise- Good people are busy Adapt or Perish What to stop Making the conversation all about you. Hiring Managers & Recruiters want the easy work. Structure to attract rather than repel: Personalized toward the candidate Preparation of the questions asked Think through the solution for each individual person Fitability- don't push the wrong candidate into the wrong role Pacing Fast but still check off all the boxes, Pacing according to the candidate. Let the candidate drive the search. Be adaptive, meet them where they are. Recognize how they want to be recruited Make it about the person Positioning Give before you take Gain understanding of the person first Understand their career wound Stop thinking - “how can I close this person” Let the person close you Play devil’s advocate Connect the Dots! People will tell you “Why” they want to join your company William Tincup is the President of RecruitingDaily.com. At the intersection of HR and technology, William is a sought after Writer, Speaker, Advisor, Consultant, Investor, Storyteller & Teacher. He's been writing about HR related issues for over a decade. William serves on the Board of Advisors / Board of Directors for 20 HR technology startups.

The Anatomy of a Recruiting Call. People do not respond to you because you are sending the wrong message! What do You Say that is Triggering a person’s Fight or Flight Response? Today’s Quote: “Human behavior flows from three main sources: desire, emotion, and knowledge”. - Plato Show highlights: What happens in the brain when someone is trying to recruit you What Triggers Fight or Flight response Techniques to approach the conversation to avoid triggering negative responses I call you to recruit you for a new job. What happens in the brain What is naturally desired by people - intrinsic desire What choices or options mean to a mind. What too many/too few options means What motivates people - primal instinct, reptilian brain Tune out to the sales pitch How do I get rid of this person? What triggers Fight or Flight response? Recruiting is disruptive to the brain. It breaks safety Create environment of loving, self esteem, self actualization The Conversation Creating a process that creates a sense of Familiarity & Achievement Authority (achievement) Daniel pink's Drive $ is a motivator up until $70k Positioning: Purpose of the call is to get to the Truth It’s not about you! Listening: Stop Fishing People are busy and don't care about what you are selling “What's happening in your current role…” Test the waters - Question the timing & the Why Lead the Path: What problem needs to be solved? How they desire it to be fixed? Wound, Desire, Achievement - like Plato’s emotion, desire, knowledge Celebrate their wins Lindon Crow is the President of Productive Learning. As a workshop facilitator and trainer, he has helped more than 2,500 clients achieve higher levels of emotional awareness, self-mastery, and personal fulfillment. Lindon is known for his provocative, straightforward, and compassionate communication style and his keen ability to forecast potential outcomes. This helps his clients make better educated decisions about their current directions and opportunities for growth.  

Did you know that according to LinkedIn “83% of talent say a negative interview experience can change their mind about a role or company they once liked, while 87% of talent say a positive interview experience can change their mind about a role or company they once doubted.”  Candidate Experience Matters! Today's Quote: “The only source of knowledge is experience.” - Albert Einstein Show highlights: The impact of candidate experience on your ability to hire AI Our solution to create a positive candidate experience What is candidate experience? Why is it important: Job descriptions Application process Interview Experience Feedback/Closing the Loop Nearly 60% of Job Seekers Have Had a Poor Candidate Experience & 72% Talk About It (GlassDoor) The VALUE of AI: AI- Recruitment Automation Sourcing            58% Screening          56% Nurturing            55% Scheduling         42% Engagement       24% Interviewing        6% AI will eliminate the transactional pieces of recruiting but it won't solve the most critical portions….Engagement, Interviewing Let’s lay out our structure for creating an impressive candidate experience: Engagement: Marketing/Messaging aligned with company values Job Descriptions with clear performance metrics Application process…. RESPOND! Interview: Set Expectations Structure (Organized, Timed, real time feedback) Pre-determined questions Give & Receive Feedback Closure: Professionally release each person from the process Do Not Ghost Listen to your bad glassdoor reviews Brenan German is Founder and President at Bright Talent Resources, Inc., Which is a boutique Human Resources Advisory, Project Management, Training, and Recruiting Services firm.. Brenan’s particular expertise involves the alignment of talent management strategies to business goals, and the implementation of systems and processes to reach measurable objectives, demonstrating clearly the bottom line impact expected of strategic Human Resources programs.

Do you and your company have a strategic hiring plan? If you are like most companies, you don’t. Today we are going to help shift your model from a reactive to a proactive hiring model and change your world! Today's Quote: “Everyone chooses how to approach life. If you're proactive, you focus on preparing. If you're reactive, you end up focusing on repairing.” ― John C. Maxwell  Show highlights: Why you hire poorly A structure to build a strategic hiring plan The problems with a reactive hiring process (why you can't hire): Transactional Paying too much for people Not solving a problem Your company is just a paycheck High failure rate 67% of people earning $100K+ plan to make a job change in the next 12 months. Companies in React mode all the time Forecasting recruiting like you forecast your finances Creating a Strategic Plan for Talent Five elements you must have to develop a solid strategic plan: 1) Define your value agenda – what is the source of value in your business?  Is it in operations How you structure the teams, Where the highest value resources are in the organization? How are you dealing with automation, big data, AI, innovation, customer satisfaction. 2) What is your leadership agenda? Do you have the right people in the highest impact roles 3) Strategic priorities – what is the hottest priority for success given where the value will be most critical? Does the leadership team agree on these? 4) A Winning culture – with this focus, is everyone ready and believing and   behaving in what it takes to win? Energy required – where is the energy and if there are “vampires” sucking the energy from the team, truly evaluate the pay off or drain 5)  Road map Specific & Actionable… Need to get some early wins Send a message to the organization Accountability & results Ricks Input: Know who you are- Company values Break down the work that needs to be accomplished & timeline Establish Performance metrics 90/180 day Establish Interviewing strategy and process -Closing the hiring managers and candidates for mutual success Sherry Benjamins has over 25 years of experience in business management, HR, consulting services and helping companies solve for their talent challenges. Her expertise is helping clients shift from the old model of reacting to talent needs to starting a new conversation that is forward looking and focused on adding value to their business. Sherry is the President of S.Benjamins & Company. Her company does three things; they find management talent for their clients, they help clients create a strategic talent plan and lastly, she brings talent together in quarterly executive learning sessions.  Her experience includes work in the HR corporate world, P&L leadership of a regional career services firm, and founder of her own firm for the past 21 years. She has an MBA from Pepperdine and speaks frequently to new MBA graduates about the world of work today.

Congratulations! You closed your first round of funding, what's next? To scale, you better have a plan, a structure and commitments for who’s on board.  Today's Quote: “If you're trying to create a company, it's like baking a cake. You have to have all the ingredients in the right proportion.” - Elon Musk  Show highlights: The importance of having a structured plan Stick to the plan Layout structural elements Stick to the defined plan! Cause, Mission, Vision Should have an active pipeline ready to go Key positions in place, partners, hr strategy in place Hiring without compromise- values and mission driven alignment Investors should have dig into core company values and compromise levels of hiring Just a bunch of people winging it… you won't be able to hire right in today’s landscape Create a team that investors will continue to invest in No, no’s Knowing the difficulty creating a team Hard for people to find a good technical people Don't hang out in the same places Setting Expectations & writing them down What happens when it doesn't work? Structure… Have everything lined up! Company values in cement Define your Road map Set the stage for what happens next All documents & agreements in place Getting people to join before you have funding or a product Leverage university talent, students, - easier to get people to resonate with them Students: finding the ones who are doing research in your particular field Develop the relationship with the professors Reach out directly to the student *attractive to investors Takeaways: Do not make compromises! Goals of the company first Hire with the end result in mind Nicole Washington, Director of Innovation and Growth of OCTANe OC, focuses on engaging with strategic partners to accelerate the growth of early to later stage ventures and small to medium size business throughout the entire Southern California Ecosystem.   She currently serves as Chair of the Academic Committee and Trustee of the Board of Education for Samueli Academy. A (STEM) high school that delivers state of the art education to a large population of underrepresented youth. Nicole is a member of the Ohio TechAngel Fund, the 2nd largest Angel Investor Network in the United States, where she served as the due diligence team, technology lead for several years.   

Define and build your core company values. Companies with clearly defined values & purpose consistently outperform their competitors by as much as 10x. Today’s episode is focused on helping you define who you are. Today's Quote: "Effectiveness without values is a tool without a purpose." - Edward de Bono (1933 - ), Author and Inventor Show Guest: Rocky Romanella is currently the Founder and CEO of 3SIXTY Management Services, LLC, a management consulting firm specializing in Executive Speaking, Leadership Development, and Consulting Services.   Rocky is an experienced CEO who led one of the largest rebranding initiatives in franchising history – The UPS Store, revolutionizing the $9 billion retail shipping and business services market. He steered UPS’s entry into the healthcare industry and created the mantra, “It’s a patient, not a package. ®”   He also led the integration of more than 20 acquisitions to improve financial performance, capabilities and global network footprint. Rocky has the rare ability to see a clear vision of the changing business landscape, the passion to develop strategies, tactics and metrics to drive desired results. He is the Author of Tighten the Lug Nuts: the Principles of Balanced Leadership(Amazon.com).  Episode highlights: Who you are? Defining your company values How to align your hiring with your values “Without a strong set of values, the best leadership strategy can go awry. With a good value structure in place, the worst leadership approach can right itself and eventually lead to the desired outcome.” - Rocky Romanella Why is this  Important? People desire a sense of purpose to really thrive Core values are the Foundation for defining your Mission & Purpose Attrition issues/bad hires *small business don't believe they need to have values well defined... Wrong! How do you define who you are? Start with your personal brand “Your true character is defined by your honesty of purpose” Ask peers Company Survey What won't I compromise Step by step of how to define and build your core company values: Rick’s process: Start with Personal values first KPI driven VS. People driven Established Leadership Team Define everyone’s core values and build from there. Prioritize top values Own your Values! Understand your values? You must: Articulate clearly in writing. Test your values through daily decision-making. Rocky’s Structure: Mission Vision Strategy Roadmap  How to transfer your values into your hiring: Values Alignment Values drive hiring Behavioral interview process Assessments: Disc, Predictive Learning Don’t compromise on hiring!    

Are you shocked that your offer was turned down? Today, We are discussing the reality of the current hiring landscape.Spoiler Alert: It is ultra competitive and it is a employee’s market! We are going to teach you ways to capitalize on the current conditions and have your offers accepted. Today's Quote: “You can design and create, and build the most wonderful place in the world. But it takes people to make the dream a reality.”  -Walt Disney  Show highlights: The current talent landscape Where your company is screwing up (why you lose great hires) Teach you how to take advantage of the current market to land great people What is the current landscape: Unemployment rate All time low (3.9% in US) OC 2.9% -Mar 2018 Job Satisfaction 51% people looking -all time high 71% disengagement Where companies are missing the mark: Not understanding the person …. Just the demographics Job descriptions not in alignment w/ actual role Engagement with candidates Interviewing strategy and process…. It sucks! Closing is a transactional process How do we take advantage of this disparity to dramatically improve YOUR ability to hire talent: Change your mindset It’s Not about you!  -You are not that special Flip the script Making a person whole in their career Locate the Pain (Career Wound) Growth Content of Work Leadership Engagement of the candidate How You Represent your company 1st contact with the candidates   -Interviewing strategy and process   -Closing the hiring managers and candidates for mutual success Kathy Dawson serves as Founder and CEO of Dawson & Dawson, Inc. She is the firm’s Nonprofit Liaison, and oversees the Executive & Retained Search, Temporary & Contract Staffing, and Business Development practices.  She is a CSP (Certified Staffing Professional) with over 36 years of experience in the local and national market place. Prior to establishing Dawson & Dawson, Kathy served as a Regional Vice President for a National Search and Staffing firm. She managed 120 employees with revenues up to $120M while developing a forte in the search and staffing industry. Kathy has had the pleasure of helping thousands of business owners hire the right employee at the right time. Her business approach involves a genuine understanding that every client is unique and every candidate is an individual. Her years of experience in making great connections consistently is a highly sought after skill. Her clients get to enjoy quality matchmaking at the highest level. Her hands on involvement and partnership approach makes her a sought after talent broker and business partner. What sets her apart is an innate ability to develop long-term growth oriented strategies to make lasting placements as though it is her own firm. She is a well-known speaker and trainer in the industry, traveling locally and nationally.

In honor of this weeks DisruptHR, today we are talking about disruption. Disruption will impact your business and it is coming faster than you think! You can either eat your own lunch or someone will eat it for you. Are you prepared? Today's Quote: "Disruptors don’t have to discover something new; they just have to discover a practical use for new discoveries.” - Jay Samit Show highlights: What is disruption & are you prepared  Confirm that someone is going to eat your lunch for you How to disrupt your business starting with how you hire What is disruption? Term synonymously used with both innovation and transformation Disruptive innovation is happening at a staggering rate. (uber, airbnb, facebook) Where does disruption come from? How will it affect your business? Blindsided disruption? Self-disruption Technology (ie: AI, ML, Blockchain, Automation) Why it is important to start by innovating the way you approach hiring? Values Live & breath your values business strategy What can I eliminate Reduce Need to expand What to create Automation is making recruiting more Transactional Less engaging Problem-solving is the Key! Solve a real problem for the candidate / heal the career wound Desire: What does someone really want? Listen …. Channel potential How to disrupt your organization Not forcing the talent to the job specifications but hiring talent and allowing them to innovate.    Building a Tiger Team Change your mindset!   The game has changed…. Adapt or Perish! Approach Solving a problem for your customer- potential employee (Career Wound) Desire alignment Accomplishment- evidence of success Do the Opposite of what you are doing now! Shift the focus from the work to the person Organize- Build hiring process like your sales process Scott Hamilton is CEO of the Executive Next Practices Institute, a large C-suite research and forum organization that is a community partner organization located at the University of California-UCI Applied Innovation. He is also NextWORKS Strategy (2018 Innovators of the Year nominee- Orange County Business Journal), a premier provider/advisors of strategy development, alignment, talent management, board effectiveness, and executive performance programs to middle-market companies. He serves on the boards of several organizations. Hamilton is a well-known thought leader & speaker in the field of “next practices” improvement of leadership and organizational performance for the Global 1000, emerging and mid-market companies. Scott helps leaders and organizations be more effective in how they strategize and perform.  

Why should we care about Emotional Intelligence when building a company today? People with high EQ, work better with others, manage customers more effectively and cultivate an accepting company culture.    Today's Quote: “Emotion is more powerful than logic” - Albert Einstein Show Guest: Dr. Shawn Andrews is a keynote speaker, organizational consultant, and the founder and CEO of Andrews Research International. She serves as adjunct professor at Pepperdine Graziadio Business School, where she teaches courses on Organizational Behavior, Women in Leadership, Diversity in Organizations, and Leadership and Ethics. She was the 2017 Diversity & Inclusion columnist for Training Industry Magazine, and is the author of the book, The Power of Perception: Leadership, Emotional Intelligence, and the Gender Divide (Amazon.com) Episode highlights: EQ, What is it? How to you get it? Incorporate into your hiring What is EQ? Set of emotional and social skills that collectively establish how well we: Perceive and express ourselves Develop and maintain social relationships Cope with challenges, manage stress and make decisions Use emotional information to guide our thinking and action Managing emotions Manage stress Overcome obstacles Inspire toward collective goals Self perception, Self expression, interpersonal, decision making, Stress Management Tied into core company values Why is it Important? Low Emotional Intelligence breeds bad cultures “Hire hard, manage easy” What if you don’t have EQ? How do you get it? Get EQ assessment Read a book EQ for different roles: Leadership: Interpersonal relationships Assertiveness Self-awareness Sales: Self-actualization Assertiveness Happiness Marketing / Creative: Optimism Reality testing Independence Customer Service: Stress tolerance Assertiveness Happiness Product Development /Manufacturing: Flexibility Problem solving Independence Interviewing for EQ Behavioral Interviewing Comfortable candidate- feel conversational, warm & informal Start: difficult challenge that was solved, commend… then go granular “Hire hard, manage easy” Deep reference checking Evidence of low & high EQ behaviors  

Why is it that we put more thought into lunch choices than we do our career or hiring decisions? Today we are going to discuss the top three bad habits that both candidates and companies do throughout the hiring process that kill their ability to make a smart decision. Today's Quote: “To change habits, we must study the habits of successful role models.” – Jack Canfield Show Guest: Darrell Gurney is a career expert, executive coach and authority in supporting people through successful transitions. He brings back the power of social connection by teaching professionals that you’re simply one face-to-face relationship away from your dream job life. He is the author of the Amazon bestseller “Never Apply for a Job Again: Break the Rules, Cut the Line, Beat the Rest." As founder of both CareerGuy.com and TheBackForty.com, Darrell’s motto for both career and life is, as Frank Sinatra sings, “the best is yet to come, and won’t it be fine!” Episode highlights: The top 3 bad habits we need to stop right now! Why these habits are so detrimental Good habits to replace the bad Hiring bad habits from both sides: Darrell’s top 3: 1. Looking to see what jobs are available & Going through the front door by applying for open positions.           Take charge of their career path vs be at the effect Get out of your box: the house, the computer screen, the phone, and get in front of people. 80% of all jobs are filled before they are ever advertised by the people in the know bringing in the people they know 2. Failing to develop relationships beyond the job search process. Never submerge in your job or your life. Get out, be making connections, be talking to people about your interests and passions 3. Not treating yourself like a business Realize that you have your own business, and you always have -- you simply lease out your employable assets A business owner is always concerned first and foremost about two measures: ROI (Return on Investment) and ROE (Return on Equity). You want to similarly always watch, manage and monitor your own Return on Individuality and Return on Effort. Rick’s top 3: Winging it- company values -clueless Not clear on what the business needs Work that needs to be accomplished Listening! Interview Process Not clearly defined Following the pack - Accepting the Status quo Testing people before engaging Transactional relationship Not understanding the person across from you Focus on skills Protective of the culture Why are these habits bad? How can you get where you are going when you don’t know where you are? How do we fix these habits? Winging it- not clear on what the business needs Build preparation time into your schedule Define what the business needs (not your wants) and who you need to take you there Interview Process Structured, Organized, Timed & Purpose Driven Get to the Truth! Transactional relationship Heal the person’s wound with your opportunity  

Founders need to build the cultural foundation before building the product! Building the right team is more important than just any team. Today's Quote: “Alone we can do so little; together we can do so much” ― Helen Keller Show highlights: The importance of taking the time to select the right team Recognizing the team challenges How to set the right foundation for building a great team Challenges we see with teams: What you really need in a team...Taking anyone is not the right thing to do  Hiring anyone or for skills dramatically increases the likelihood of failure. Founder need to develop their muscles to make smart hiring decisions The foundation- transparency & culture Purpose- What's in it for me? How and who makes decisions?   Most importantly, How does the team solve problems? Develop the EQ to have the difficult conversations Framework for Building the Right Team from the Beginning: Establish mission, vision & values (as a team) Communication standards Foster transparency Business Model Canvas (product driven) Establish process Define who you are BEFORE you make your first hire Only hire people who mirror your core values and align with your vision Great things often come out of conflict Takeaways: Culture first Transparency Hire people who will take you where you want to go Melinda Kim is the Executive Director, co-founder of PeopleSpaceOC, an incubator and workspace located in Irvine, Ca. She is a proven executive/entrepreneur who facilitates collaboration and innovation between developers and business entrepreneurs from around the world. Aside from her responsibilities, Melinda is also a Startup Weekend Facilitator and NASA Space Apps Lead. She specialize in Statistics Driven Product Analysis, Business Strategy, Growth, Community and Social impact.  

Culture has a profound impact on company performance, often there is a disconnect between what management thinks the culture is and how your people perceive the culture. Most business leaders don't understand it so they are disconnected from their people. What is your culture? Today's Quote: “There’s no magic formula for great company culture. The key is just to treat your staff how you would like to be treated.” – Richard Branson, Founder, Virgin Group Show Guest: Chris Dyer is a recognized performance expert. Constantly intrigued by what makes some businesses and individuals more successful than others, Chris has dedicated years of research to uncovering what drives productivity and profits. As a sought-after speaker and consultant, Chris works with leading organizations to help them transform their cultures to boost performance and gain an even greater edge in the marketplace. A certified SCRUM Master, Chris is highly adept at helping teams work through obstacles and find solutions quickly and effectively. He leverages this experience in all aspects of his work. Chris is the author of The Power of Company Culture, which was released in 2018 (Amazon.com). He is also the Founder and CEO of PeopleG2, a background check company that has appeared on the Inc. 5000 list of the Fastest Growing Companies. A passionate talent management enthusiast, Chris is the host of TalentTalk, a popular business podcast that features interviews with top executives about their strategies for hiring and promoting talent. Chris strongly believes in community involvement, and he is active with a number of organizations. He regularly serves as a judge at entrepreneurial showcases and contests, such as Miller Lite Tap the Future. Additionally, he runs two book clubs for Senior Level and HR Professionals in Southern California. Chris also serves on the board of Working Wardrobes, a non-profit organization that empowers people who are overcoming difficult challenges, such as abuse or homelessness, to confidently enter the workforce and achieve self-sufficiency. In his free time, Chris enjoys traveling with his wife and kids, and playing live music with his band. He resides in Orange County, California. Episode highlights: Explaining what culture is How to analyze your culture How to attract the “right” people to your organization What is culture? Corporate culture refers to the beliefs and behaviors that determine how a company's employees and management interact and handle outside business transactions. Often, corporate culture is implied, not expressly defined, and develops organically over time from the cumulative traits of the people the company hires. 7 pillars of culture: ****Transparency- the most important element of a GREAT culture *Positivity Listening, **Recognition  Uniqueness Mistakes *Measurements terrible decisions are made because of lack of data The Weinstein Company vs. General Motors Every company has a culture, good or bad Ways to analyze your company culture: Great team (according to Google) Determine what makes a success, what equals a failure and how do you deal with conflict Employee Survey -one question a week! Will impact the results How is the CEO messing up your job? Open your eyes! There is nothing wrong with having a bad culture (just hire accordingly) Changing your culture: Exposing to the 7 pillars *Transparency- more you give the better off things are going to be. Holding information breeds bad ideas. *Recognition *Positivity Weekly improvement with a weekly survey Embracing your culture: If you have a harsh culture, hire harsh people Plenty of successful companies with harsh cultures (Weinstein, Wall Street, *Kraft, sears, Xerox, Forever21 -Huffington Post Own it Amazon - Nice but intense, side of intense Not all cultures need to be serendipitous - They need to be honest Hire for fit into your culture    

It all comes down to your messaging in everything from your job descriptions to how you contact people. Today we are tackling this issue! Today's Quote: "Words empty as the wind, are best left unsaid" -Homer The problems with messaging, specific to recruiting Hard part is getting a response How to not be boring *** Messaging. Pure copyrighting... translating HR speak into people speak Getting your message right Job Descriptions are taken from compensation documents - messaging is not getting people to convert why? Positioning zig when everyone else zags. learning agility. Move in the opposite direction Key is getting someone to opt in to communication. Client: the two most effective searches were billboards & radio. Another was linkedin. Framework for fixing your messaging Marketing perspective Turn hr speak to plain English. Targeted messaging.  *** 1 shot to attract a person. crafting 121 communications. Headline & lead matter most... read the first 140 characters. Topic header- Twitter Text messaging - sms automation tools! Use of Humor ***Opening a wound Performance metrics The actual content of the work (Uniqueness) Call to Action Pick up the phone and call- differentiator! Managed perception on both side Tools: Spokeo, Icims, text recruit Takeaway- volume is not a good thing. Talent trends are real Matt Charney is the Executive Editor and Partner for Recruiting Daily and the Chief Content Officer at Allegis Global Solutions, the largest staffing and recruiting firm in North America. Matt focuses on the intersection of human capital and technology; his blog, Snark Attack, was named one of the top 20 business blogs in the world by WordPress, and his work has appeared in publications such as The Wall Street Journal, Wired.com, The Harvard Business Review, Outsourcing Magazine, HR Magazine.  

Invest the time to really get to know the people you are going to hire. Especially in the beginning stages of your company. Be picky! Your companies success hinges on your ability to hire people who will help push the car uphill. Do not let your need to hire override the fit for both parties. Today's Quote: "Chaos is inherent in all compounded things. Strive on with diligence."  -Buddha Show highlights Experience hiring at the early stages Hiring challenges as you grow Provide solutions for hiring through the various stages Your experience when you first started hiring & received the funding, what happened next? Hard to hire- Keys: networking & due diligence First 60-70 people came from referrals Plan out company needs Build, cultivate and maintain a candidate pipeline Utilize your Referral network The challenges you faced Attraction in a tight job market Company’s mission vs. $$ Think in a bigger way Ignoring people’s bias Ways to measure ownership in an interview needed big thinkers & doers Desperation takes over & bad hires result Your need overwhelms your reason sometimes Hired a person hastily, due to desperate need and it was not a good fit for either party.  Start with your Core Company Values Why these values? Integrity Comradery Customer Centric Relentless Solution finders Knowing & Living your company values! Interview process: Garnering accurate information! -The Truth!  Interview process: Interview tools for vetting- culture index Interview- multiple times, 3+ interviews-* test endurance  … up to 5 people interviews - own agenda. Due diligence & vetting Checking references! Backdoor references Leading people down the path Betterment of both parties -healing a wound Preparation for the desired outcome  Take Aways Use outside resources to hire Ask for help... people are willing help you! Believe in and listen to your Gut Planning for the desired outcome Hiring is not a sprint, it is a marathonResult of proper veting is a great company Lori A. Torres is the founder and CEO of Parcel Pending, the nation’s leading provider of innovative package management solutions. Prior to Parcel Pending, Lori was SVP of property operations at The Irvine Company. She has been recognized on multiple occasions for her leadership, including being named 2017 “Innovator of the Year” by the Orange County Business Journal and chosen as one of 13 entrepreneurs admitted into the EY Entrepreneurial Winning Women™ 2017 North America class.

Don't underestimate the power of giving and receiving feedback in the interview process. Feedback helps your company improve your hiring process and it provides a positive “candidate experience” for the interviewee! Today's Quote: “Feedback is the breakfast of champions.” – Ken Blanchard (one minute manager books) Show highlights: The Whys’ of interview feedback Giving & receiving feedback Provide the tools to create feedback channels into your Interview process You must first have an interview process: Feedback is process improvement Candidate Experience Time management & Candidate Attraction Feedback Challenges: Don't have it - Go get it! Have it but not sure how to deliver it Companies not required to provide feedback Legality of feedback - fear of litigation Fear of Discrimination lawsuit Not everyone can accept feedback - low EQ CASE STUDY: 70% of  companies do not provide unselected job applicants with any feedback Make feedback a constant throughout the process- give & receive Is there any reason why you would not hire me Is there any reason why you would not accept an offer with our company *Mystery creates distrust What you can and cannot give as feedback: Skills Problem solving abilities Interview Preparation Alignment with Cultural/Values Evidence based feedback Discriminatory in nature Your too Old Never give a woman feedback that she is not assertive enough Body odor Aaron’s process for giving & receiving feedback: Balanced Build in feedback time (10 minutes after the interview has ended) Feedback based on competency - bullet points, not short stories Rick’s process for giving & receiving feedback: Feedback starts at the first contact  (gauge ability to give/receive feedback) discuss concerns & fit between career & company goals Ask Questions: What are your thoughts? How do you feel about that? Why is that important? Assign a facilitator of Feedback Ie: recruiter or admin Provide something constructive Give & Get feedback in Real Time -interview wrap up How to professionally release a person from the process: Call Them! A 5-10 minute phone call to ensure a positive image of your company. Be specific. Facts without any value judgment. Help people to learn. Focus on improvement & help them to find the right fit Be empathetic. The candidate experience: Integrity & Transparency in the hiring process creates less likelihood of a lawsuit, especially when you leave the door open. Erin Wilson is the Co-Founder & Talent Engineer of Hirepool, Inc. He has personally interviewed more than 10,000 job seekers. Erin has helped build a company that exited for $640M, and just released a consumer Interview preparation software product (Hirepool.io) being used by job seekers around the world.  

Today we are talking about the chemistry of your team! Look, you can have the greatest product in the world but without a strong team chemistry, your company will ultimately fail. Today's Quote: "Skills are Cheap. Chemistry is expensive" ― Mal Pancoast Show highlights: Why chemistry is so important How to Monitor your team chemistry What to do to encourage or change the chemistry  Elements of good team chemistry: Constructive Chemistry *Good chemistry, Your brains produce more Oxytocin, which is the hormone that helps us feel more connected to other people. Higher levels of Oxytocin produce more pleasure, deeper trust, and stronger intimacy. Warning signs of bad chemistry: Destructive Chemistry Identify bad chemistry early on… disrespectful, not being productive, dropping the ball, personal issues. Adding value or afraid of adding value Lieing,  false information or not saying anything. Personal Issues- ie: How do you deal with someone involved with drugs? (JC’s Story) Monitoring your chemistry: Proactive, Honest Best Monitor: Praise is the most important element of a team. People will give more because they feel valued checks and balances, always questioning Interviewing to uncover chemistry: Understanding Yourself & Your business needs…. Vision - opposing working styles How to identify in the interview - Wound, Desire, Accomplishment Best job in vetting people. Honesty is not that common. People can turn in a heartbeat Optimistic pessimism  Behavioral Questions - Evidence & Knockouts! Ways to omit bad chemistry: Communicate Identify & change with minimum impact to the organization Hire slow, fire quickly  J.C. Ruffalo joined the OCTANe OC team in June 2014 and is the Director of LaunchPad SBDC and Investor Relations. JC Mentor's hundreds of companies each year and has assisted LaunchPad companies to achieve over $750 million in capital infusion and, as a result, create over 3,500 new jobs in Southern California.   Prior to Octane, JC co-founded a small startup (Double Splash Media), which was involved with email marketing. He also worked for LKQ, a large corporation that is the world’s largest supplier of automotive replacement parts, as a buyer and general manager.

 According to Wikipedia, Gamification is the application of game-design elements and game principles in non-game contexts. Gamification commonly employs gamedesign elements to improve user engagement, organizational productivity, employee recruitment and evaluation, and more. We are all used to being gamefied. In fact, our lives have been programmed to do things based on reward. Everything from our GPA to buying a new iPhone pulls from principles of Gamification.  A lot of Companies Gamify pieces of the organization, mainly those associated with revenue.  It is not commonly implemented throughout the whole organization, especially the operational side of the organization. Full organizational gamification has increased employee engagement by 92% and productivity is hitting record strides! Today's Quote: “The Game gives you a Purpose. The Real Game is, to Find a Purpose.” ― Vineet Raj Kapoor Show highlights: Discuss the benefits of gamification to your business What's needed to gamify your company? The structure to implement gamification into your company Why did your company decide to gamify? Our lives are gamified Isn't gamification a form of behavioral modification or conditioning? Skinner’s Radical Behaviorism or Pavlovian response Benefits to the company? The gamification you use at iPlace. How does it work? Launchpad Customer, Employee & Company goals *Launchpad: each person earns a star each week for successfully completing tasks. Each week mini performance review- Agile sprint? 40 stars = pay raise, 120 stars promotion. Why does gamification work in terms of Engagement? Build a culture of performance and healthy competition UNDERPERFORMERS CAN NOT HIDE Put management on auto pilot. Unscheduled leaves have declined over 93% since they have eliminated by escalations (they and all of team loses stars) Sets expectations up front Hank Levine is the President and CEO of iPlace USA, which is widely regarded as the highest quality company providing professionally managed sourcing and recruiting services for US-based companies from India. Over the past twelve years, he has helped over 240 American companies establish offshore recruiting operations. Hank spearheaded the development of a very innovative “company operations system” based on gamification. He was the keynote speaker last May at the StaffingTec conference where he spoke about how progressive companies are using gamification to scale their operations, align company and client goals, improve the health and wellness of their employees, and even eliminate performance reviews.

 Student loan debt is certainly a major issue and yet it is not often addressed in the hiring process. Some would argue that the overwhelming pressure to start paying back the loan often results in a person making the wrong career decision out of necessity. Companies could do more to alleviate some of that pain by targeting talent out of their specific industry and creating benefits or incentives to help with this burden. “When you get in debt you become a slave.” - Andrew Jackson Show highlights: The effect student loans have on career choices How companies might capitalize on debt to help attract talent Ways in which an individual can reduce the amount of student loan debt: Planning Cost reduction programs Hidden gems of free money? What are the inherent challenges related to student loan debt: Default on the loan -7 million people are in default Limits ability to get a job- ie:govt related License suspension -nursing, teachers, lawyers, realtors emergency technicians Shackled to what you hate to pay the bills When people make poor career choices because of necessity it impacts the company that they join. The regret over poor job choice does not only impact the employee but the employer as well. Job regret leads to: Apathy Low motivation Poor employee performance Spend work time searching for other employment How might companies be able to attract the right people by helping to alleviate the student loan debt wound? benefits Recruit people from outside industries (look outside the box)- accomplishment based hiring Opportunity Provide an avenue Look at the debt as an opportunity to provide performance incentives to offset the debt Dane Petchul is the Founder and President of Oracle College Planning. With a long history of helping people with their retirement in the finance world, Dane shifted the focus to help families – parents and children – identify the best path to take for a financially responsible college experience.. Dane committed himself to helping families carefully protect their life-savings from soaring college costs while ensuring that a proper financial pathway would be in place so that students wouldn’t be saddled in debt after graduating. Therefore enabling them to make better career decisions.  

 A majority of the most talented people have terrible resumes. Why? Because they are busy making things happen! Companies miss out on great people because they never make it past the resume screen. Automating the process and screening for buzzwords is just not an effective tool for finding the right people for your business. We are in the people business when we recruit. So, pick up the phone and judge based on your conversation and not the resume. Today's Quote: "Insanity is knowing that what you're doing is completely idiotic, but still, somehow, you just can't stop it." - Elizabeth Wurtzel Show highlights: Positive points of resumes Everything wrong with a resume Alternate solutions to resumes - solve the resume black hole What resumes are good for: Contact information Career History The “white space” What is wrong with the resume: Keyword dependent -wrong keywords or no keywords Designed to match with wish list of skills Too heavily relied upon in the interview process People lie  Alternate options to a resume: Video clips Video talent snapshot (resume) - Why is this a good idea? -discrimination bias? - how can a 1 minute video give you an accurate picture? AI Actual assessment - conversation Wound, Desire, Accomplishment Effective use of a resume and how to identify great people: Just a tool, not a wall A  guide to formulate skills based questions - Transferable skills Anita Kanti is the Executive Talent Manager of Huawei Technologises. She is a global business partner and senior manager supporting executive leadership deliverables' for leadership talent acquisition needs for the US and China marketplace. As both a motivational life coach and strategic talent manager, Anita Kanti offers progressive solutions to help her company and clients optimize their strengths and create a pathway of success. Anita is a proven expert in  talent recruitment, both in leading corporations such as Broadcom Inc., and United Healthcare, as well as building a company of her own, Anita K Solutions. Anita K has combined her expertise in talent development and leadership with her training in motivational techniques to create a unique and effective life coaching philosophy.  

Public sector VS private sector!  We put on the gloves in an epic showdown of today's episode, to settle the differences and find out the better career option. Let's see who will come out victorious! The 3 rounds for the undisputed championship: Round 1: Brenda - bashes up the logic behind joining a startup Round 2: Rick - negatives of the public sector Round 3: Each counter the punches from their opponent Round 1: Why do you think it is silly to work for a startup? No career security Lack of stability Round 2: Cons of working for the public sector (federal, state, county, city) Slow moving Not entrepreneurial, Doesn’t attract the strongest people Clamored with politics and red tape Ability to innovate severely limited Mediocre Pay / No Stock Options Not sexy… at all (unless you are an officer or firefighter) Round 3: Counter Punches! Closing argument Evidence  Pace Innovation Career Growth Challenging Compensation & Benefits Attractiveness- to attract talented people Engagement- the perception of each worker  Brenda’s Knock out Punch! *Interview Process -  You probably do NOT have an effective process!  Brenda Diederichs has been serving as the Chief Human Resources Officer for the County of Orange since June 2016. Brenda began her HR career at San Bernardino County, while earning her BA in Political Science, from California State Polytechnic University Pomona. She next worked for the Southern California Rapid Transit District for 10 years in both HR and Labor Relations. While there she earned a law degree from Loyola Law School. Brenda went on to practice labor and employment law providing and serve as the labor and employment law department chair for two major public law firms for 10 years, before returning to public service as the Executive Officer for Labor and Employment, Human Resources and Training for the Los Angeles County Metropolitan Transportation Authority. She opened her own law firm in 2007, which she operated until returning to public service in 2014 as the Human Resources Director for the City of Riverside. 

As an Entrepreneur or business leader, it is crucial in this market, to brand yourself to attract talented people! One company is developing their managers to become thought leaders and influencers. A fantastic example of how your company can increase engagement and retention.  Making your company safe from guys like me!  Show highlights: Your journey @ Alteryx Why it is important to brand yourself as a hiring manager How to make yourself attractive to talented people What were the challenges you faced when you joined Alteryx? Lack of candidate flow, people not responding Low awareness Lack of engagement felt it was a TA problem not a business problem Did not know what to do with people when they had them in for the interview Managers not involved in the hiring process, not engaged, not sharing, not networking- not taking an active role in hiring & attracting Disjointed Internal/organizational solutions: Candidate flow- posted jobs to get recognition Ownership of glass door Updated LinkedIn recruiter page, moved careers on the website to show the importance of careers Open houses- the Wrong time of day. First one bombed. Changed to a networking event for developers- Huge success- resulted in 6 hires. Leadership alignment. Making yourself attractive to the talented people you NEED to hire! Start by listening! Demonstrate high EQ Helped to understand through education & enablement that TA is a joint effort. Marketing yourself Leveraging networks, networking as a tool for talent attraction & career development Communicate: Linkedin & employee referrals- let everyone know Develop a Thought leader mentality- sharing content, pictures of the team in a team meeting, sharing ideas, etc. Personal Brand- thinking broadly about the needs of the company, not just their roles.  Career Focus: Own your career development, 20 minutes a week to share interesting content, pictures, write new content. Elevate those around you to achieve more! Partnership with other thought leaders- both parties are interviewing each other. Successful managers connect people. Strong Process: Tight interview plan, no overlapping questions, interview team prepped, own and respect the process. Structured, Timed & Impressive Meredith Fish is the Global Director of Talent Management for Alteryx, Inc (NYSE: AYX). With over 15 years of Human Resources experience, Meredith has worked in a variety of industries and organizations including retail, finance, real estate, and information technology companies. She has the proven ability to build strong relationships and obtain organizational results. Meredith is an approachable and effective leader who motivates employees to maximize productivity. Her areas of expertise are Talent Acquisition, learning, and development and employee relations.

Today’s show is all about Preparation! Preparation is the first step in conducting an effective Interview. Both interviewer and interviewee parties need to be prepared. Just showing up without an idea of where you are going is the quickest way to lose an opportunity. An Interview without Preparation is really just PreparationH! In this episode we stressed the importance of preparation and how it needs to happen. Show Guest: Mark James is the Founder and President of Hire Consulting Services and the author of his new book, “Keys to the C Suite”. (Amazon.com) Mark is a Certified Personnel Consultant and has been providing executive career transition coaching and executive search consulting services for over 20 years. He is also a Certified Partner with the Predictive Index suite of behavior assessments. Mark coaches executives in career transition on a daily basis which makes him an expert in today's topic. Episode highlights: Interviewee/candidate preparation Hiring manager preparation Provide a process for how each party needs to prepare  Why is it important to prepare for an interview? Preparation puts you in the right MINDSET … sets the tone, eliminates surprises Set proper objective - get the offer/make the hire Being prepared = being impressive- demonstrates success  Interviewee: Research the company to determine something that the company may not know themselves Not prepared to tell their story Ask for the interview schedule & format  Hiring Manager (company): Research the person Knowing what needs to be accomplished Prepare your interview team  The dangers of not preparing for the interview: Wasted time, frustration Inaccurate picture of who you really are Lose the person Increase the likelihood of making a bad decision  How to best prepare to get hired: Self-assessment, presenting yourself, researching the company Research company Ask targeted questions Know how to showcase your accomplishments to make them relevant to the company mission Proactive  Best preparation practices to attract the right talent: Schedule time to prepare - assuming all else has been covered Review assessment notes, LinkedIn profile, social channels, resume- look for commonalities, interests &  data points to cover Prepare interview team- provide targeted behavioral questions Look for cultural fit, evidence of success & transferable skills: Performance Metrics- what needs to be accomplished Have a plan: Connect the dots- competitive advantage Give & receive feedback -in real time  

Maryam Rofougaran, Co-CEO/COO & Founder, Movandi Panel member on the topic of the Anatomy of Success.

We are putting on the gloves in an epic showdown today. Answering the age-old question of Why we can't just get along.  3 rounds for the undisputed Podcast championship: Round 1: What Human Resources dislikes about Talent Acquisition Round 2: Recruiting issues with HR Round 3: Solutions to get the two working together  Round 1: Issues that HR has with Recruiting Fixing problems or adding to the problem Spray & Pray Transactional Low hanging fruit Clear expectations of what is acceptable Understanding our business Round 2: Recruiting perception of HR HR doesn't really understand or care about hiring Relationship with Hiring manager(s) No understanding of the Job description Failure to Communicate: Blame game Market conditions (low unemployment) Round 3: Working effectively together Control Restructuring HR bonus structure (cost per hire) Separating responsibilities Trust Structure Nicole Arvizu is the Chief Human Resources & Compliance Officer for MeriCal, Inc. She is a very progressive and disruptive HR leader! Nicole is a change Agent who joined Merical in January 2017 and has done an amazing job of transforming the organization to bring in HR as a business partner rather than an administrative arm. She loves to geek out with her quest for scientific knowledge and is also a surfer!

Paul Pickle, Former President & COO, of Microsemi & MC of Octane OC's 2018 Technology Innovation Forum. We discussed the future of Semiconductor and whats on the horizon.   

Ryan Permeh, Co-Founder & Chief Scientist of Cylance!  I had the pleasure to sit down with Ryan for a quick interview at Octane OC's Technology Innovation Forum Event. He shared some great Insight on Leveraging the Cybersecurity hub in SoCal.

Picking the right recruiter partner is not easy. Today’s episode is all about the different options available and how to find a search firm who has your company’s best interest at heart. Start by establishing the following. Show highlights: Defining & understanding your company - values, culture, & plan Expectations of your team, company goals, needs How to evaluate a search firm and chose the one that best fits with your organization Begin with the root of where we should start. As a company, who are we? Company’s core values Culture Plan for success Understanding your Company’s “Needs” and defining expectations: Needs vs. Wants - your company needs trump ego Speed vs. quality Recruiting mentality Driver vs. Order Taker Determining the best type of search for your specific needs: Staffing Contingency Retained In House How to pick the right recruiting partner: Process Cultural & Business understanding passion Tom Chaparro is the Executive Vice President and General Manager of The Newport Group - Executive Search Consultants. As EVP & GM, Tom is responsible for firm-wide management of day-to-day operations and quality control, as well as providing leadership and training to managers and staff. Mr. Chaparro combines deep, hands-on expertise in a variety of verticals, with an uncanny business insight for the international marketplaces in which his business partners operate. With proven executive search experience, and an unmatched knowledge of the real estate development, construction and oil & gas industries

On Average 20% of your company provides 80% of your value. Which poses the following questions that we covered on today's show: How many A&B players would you need to produce 100% of the productivity generated now If everyone in the company were A&B players what would be the capacity? Solutions to transform and/or hire top performers On Average how many people at a company are A players? 20% produce 80% of the work… Startup should be flipped Can we transform people by just moving them to a different seat? How? Aligning passion & growth Why is important to shift people to a different seat rather than letting them go? Shows commitment to people in company and doesn't downgrade the morale of the company If everyone in the company were A&B players what would be the capacity? Increase ROI by 300-400% with the same people every time. Just moved people in the right position. Most people are in the wrong seat How do we transform current under performers into A players?  Job description process: be able to show what is really needed in each role What needs to be accomplished and when it needs to be done Growth, Attitude & Passion Clear statement about the most important contribution will the person make and how much $ does that turn into with an A-player. Prioritize responsibilities & percent of time doing each tasks. Where are they, what do they have as tools, & the biggest task (4-5 kinds of tasks) of everyday-functioning at the task level Type of communication- break down (telephone, data) Who I am matched with these areas- deliver core value energy Weave CVI and detail the How Lynn Taylor is the President and CEO of Taylor Protocols, Inc.  He is a business optimization expert in the areas of human capital, C-level performance, executive coaching and organization design.  Lynn is a creator of the Core Values Index (CVI), the only assessment to identify the unchanging human characteristics that dictate future job performance and align these with the responsibilities of a given role for guaranteed success. Lynn stakes his company and his reputation around his “right person, right job” mission. He has performed more than 200 successful turnaround projects over the past 20 years.

Is your benefits strategy the right one to land great people? Highlights discussed on the show:  How Benefits drive Retention Effective vs. Ineffective benefits How Benefits can help land Talent How benefits drive retention Hard for employees to leave when employers demonstrate the value. Employee feels like they can not get as good of a package somewhere else. Total compensation statements- powerful tool What benefits are Effective? Ineffective? What people expect & at what level? Strategy for different company sizes Botique benefits- pet insurance, Financial well being. How do benefits help land talent? Reduces days to fill Impact cost to hire associate Strong release pitcher role. Medical needs Ron Herrera is Vice President of Consulting Services with the Precept Group, a national employee benefits consulting firm and insurance brokerage.  Precept offers a variety of services including health and welfare consulting, health management programs, benefits administration and technology, retirement plan services and more. Ron partners with employers across the United States to reduce healthcare expenditures and stimulate organizational culture.  Prior to joining Precept, Ron led Human Resources operations in Vice President and Director roles with multiple healthcare organizations.   Check out the Blog on the Stride Search, Inc site for the supplementary “show recap” article with detailed takeaways/insights from the interview.

Bad hires are the negative effect of a unstructured hiring practice and will manifest itself in the performance of your company. So how do you minimize the risk of bad hires? A hiring structure needs to be in place to drastically increase the chances of making a great hire. Show Guest: Rick Franzi is the Founder & CEO of Critical Mass for Business. He is the author of the best selling book “Killing Cats, Leads to Rats” -Mitigating the unintended consequences of Business Decisions.(Amazon.com) Rick currently chairs CEO Peer Groups® throughout Los Angeles and Orange County, CA through his partnership with Renaissance Executive Forums.  He is the host of Critical Mass Radio Show & Podcast here on OC Talk Radio. He is a nationally recognized thought leader on the power of peer learning for CEOs and business executives. Rick's work has been featured in national media forums such as Forbes & Inc.com Topics covered in “unintended consequences”: Symptoms Diagnosis: the disease is not Hiring with a process Secure Model for Hiring Prescription What are the symptoms (issues)? Company’s hire for Skills Winging it Asking the wrong questions Down hiring The diagnosis: disease is not having a hiring process. Why? Repels great talent (unstructured is unimpressive) Unstructured interview (only a 6% chance of making the correct hire) Bad hire will infect 30% of the people around that person - drop in performance Prescription/solution - implementing the SECURE Model   S stands for slow down the decision-making process. E stands for expand your knowledge. C stands for clarify the desired outcome. U stands for unify the team R stands for retain control of the process. E stands for ensure you stay outcome focused. Check out the Blog on the Stride Search, Inc site for the supplementary “show recap” article with detailed takeaways/insights from the interview.

True transparency maximizes trust and enables a company to thrive! Vincit promotes proactive leadership and a bottom up leadership approach. The results: a rediculously successful business with no attrition and incredible engagement and productivity.  Episode highlights: True Transparency- what it looks like to a company that is thriving Proactive leadership How this structure attracts outstanding people! Explain what transparency looks like in you company Publish Salaries openly- colleagues nominate for raises. Twice a year Satisfaction guarantee for new employees. Pay people to leave within first two months Eliminated middle management Company credit card How does transparency Maximize Trust? Bottom to top approach to leadership - focus on listening and reacting. Leadership as a service- created a platform. LaaS Increase Management workload? - lowers load because you are not predicting situations to handle situations. Individualize the model. People end up managing themselves Transfer into your hiring process? What do they do in hiring? Screening to eliminate the mediocrity? they test interviews in teamwork based situations. Look for collaboration, skills and cultural fit. Have to be able ask questions, “having dialog” Results? Attrition Engagement Productivity Ville Houttu is the Founder and CEO of Vincit California, Inc. Previously, he helped to take it public in Nasdaq First North marketplace. After the IPO, Ville moved to California to start Vincit’s local subsidiary. During the first year of operations he built a team of 20 developers in Irvine and acquired OC’s hottest digital branding agency, XTOPOLY. The team operates in Irvine and Palo Alto, where they help companies such as Logitech and Yamaha to develop their mobile apps and digital services. Ville is passionate about creating lean working environments and scaling operations without creating policies. He is also one of the few Ironman triathletes who plays steel guitar on several albums on Spotify.  Check out the Blog on the Stride Search, Inc site for the supplementary “show recap” article with detailed takeaways/insights from the interview.

We all have unconcious bias. It is important to recognize and identify them, especially in the workplace.  When we acknowledge these biases, then they can be  eliminated in the interview process, creating smarter hires for your business. Episode highlights: What Unconscious bias is How to acknowledge it Eliminate it from the hiring process What is Unconscious Bias? Relative to gender, race, age We all judge but the key is not to pass judgement until… Unconscious (or implicit) biases are learned stereotypes that are automatic, unintentional, deeply ingrained, universal, and able to influence behavior How do we recognize and identify our bias? EQ, Self Awareness Roots The value of Bias in the workplace Diversity in thinking Leverage Enlightenment How do we Eliminate Unconscious bias from the interview process? Understand the value around bias in the workplace Harvard Business Review: Seek to understand- “Organizational conversation”, Job descriptions- perception words, gendered words-balance:”build and create” Blind resume review- ignore the name Accomplishment focus Structure Interviews Value fit Diversity goals Chris Steely is the Managing Director of GPS Business Group. He is a transformational business leader, author, trainer, and business coach, who has trained thousands of business leaders worldwide on how to refine and apply optimal capabilities to their business.  Chris focuses on delivering business effectiveness services to clients across the globe. He’s co-authored two books, and has been featured as a business expert on countless international stages. Check out the Blog on the Stride Search, Inc site for the supplementary “show recap” article with detailed takeaways/insights from the interview.

Insights on Proper Interview Communication and the ways to incorporate them effectively for the Hiring Process: What are the broken issues in the Interview communication Fix the crucial areas  Utilize Solutions and Tools that are available to enhance communication and overall candidate experience With all the technology & tools available, Why is this still a problem today? We try really hard to take out the human element from the process Lost art Transactional Where the challenges lie Recruiter & Interviewee Recruiter & hiring manager Interviewee & hiring manager Forms of Communication & Issues Video interviewing vs phone interviewing, Video cons: implicit bias Chatbots- engagement /screening tool Text messages How do we make interview communications effective? Recruiter & Interviewee Recruiter & hiring manager Tools Interview Data/Evidence Remember your Conversations Reduce misinterpretation and bias Remove redundant interview steps Other Tools:videos, Chatbots Technical tests Take home tests Nick Livingston is CEO of Honeit Software. He has been scaling recruiting teams and companies in San Francisco and New York City for 15 years. Nick started his career as a technology headhunter in NYC. After a successful IPO at TubeMogul (now Adobe) while attending business school at UC Berkeley, he co-founded Honeit Software to rethink interview communication and simplify the hiring process. At MTV, Nick was the Recruiting Director responsible for digital media and interactive technology talent. Nick worked at HR Technology companies Taleo and NextSource. He received his MBA from Berkeley, with BS in Applied Mathematics.   Check out the Blog on the Stride Search, Inc site for the supplementary “show recap” article with detailed takeaways/insights from the interview.  

Companies complain that they can’t find people yet they do a lot of alienating of potential hires through their actions. Identifying and fixing what drives people away in each stage of the interview process, looking at data of where the best hires are produced, and learning the trends in the Industry will increase the pool of better candidates for your business. Episode highlights: What drives candidates away? How do we fix these issues What drives people away? Job description- selfish, not engaging, First contact - too selling job focused Interview - prepared, structured, Format Follow up process Hurdles in Applicant tracking systems/Interview process Tests Missing human connection Job boards are getting less traction   Evolution of video interviews & ai… matching Candidate experience- cannot do @ scale Automated process & gaming Look at your data. Where are the best hires produced? Changing the mix of were you recruit.  *do the opposite of what you are doing now! Job ads- alienating people….need to Engage people, *contact & follow up Blind resumes?  *eliminate bias Messaging- party environment Getting past bias What needs to be fixed? Job description First contact Interview Follow up process  Trends in the Industry What’s working & What’s not Todd Raphael manages global publications and conferences for ERE Media, a global community of recruiters and others in the talent field. He has appeared on Sirius XM, VoiceAmerica.com, Wall Street Journal, Time, Forbes, and more. Todd was named DevSkiller's 2016 "50 Most Game-Changing Influencers In Recruitment." Named Glassdoor's "2015 HR & Recruiting Thought Leaders" and HR Examiner's "Top 100 Influencers" list in employment/human resources and its top 25 Online Influencers. He was listed on Mike Vangel of TMP's "60 Or So True Influencers In Social+Mobile Media and/or Recruitment." Check out the Blog on the Stride Search, Inc site for the supplementary “show recap” article with detailed takeaways/insights from the interview.

Brenda Diedrichs, Chief Human Resource Officer and Hilda Gracia, Employee Relations Analyst of County of Orange

Ryan Logan, Certified Financial Planner & CEO of RAL Financial & Insurance Services

Tom Hobbs is the Founder and CEO of Atlas Commercial Cleaning LLC

 The 3 keys to transformation and how to apply them for success: -Understanding of yourself (past) -Awareness (present) -Compelling vision (future) Leisa Reid is a presenter with Productive Learning, a boutique personal growth company founded in 1992, and has trained thousands of people on the power of the mindset. After 20+ years of Management, Sales and Executive Leadership, Leisa dedicated her life to assisting others invest in their personal development. Why? Because she personally experienced the powerful results as a client of Productive Learning. She loved the company so much she joined them in the pursuit of living an extraordinary life. Leisa is also the Author of the book “Manage to Success: A Guide to Cultivating Happy & Productive Employees” (Amazon.com) Check out the Blog on the Stride Search, Inc site for the supplementary “show recap” article with detailed takeaways/insights from the interview.

It is important to have a proactive talent strategy when planning and building your pipeline for your hiring process. Know when and how to tap into the pipeline. Developing a solid foundation, always recruiting by using your referral resources, and utilizing the tools and changes that companies can make promotes successful hiring searches. Show Guest:  Ken Schmitt grew up in an entrepreneurial household with a father who was a Jack in the Box franchisee for 25 years, and a mother who left the accounting world to become a real estate agent.  After spending 9 years working for a local boutique firm and one of the world's largest Executive Search firms, Heidrick & Struggles, he launched TurningPoint Executive Search in 2007. The past two Years, TurningPoint has been ranked one of the Top 150 Fastest Growing Private Companies in San Diego (SDBJ). Ken is also the Founder and CEO of the Sales & Marketing Leadership Alliance (SMLA), and the annual Sales & Marketing Leader of the Year Awards (SMLYs). Ken is a thought leader in executive search and takes a high touch, concierge-style approach to placing first class talent. Which makes him the perfect guest for today’s topic! He is the Author of LinkedIn Hiring Secrets for Sales and Marketing Leaders.  (Amazon.com) Episode highlights: The importance of a proactive talent strategy Building your pipeline When & How to tap into the pipeline The Why… Process is Reactive Starting at Ground zero (Avoid reinventing the wheel with each new search) Pre plan questions Organize- time, pace, resume/profile Foundation -  Developing The Plan Proactive mindset Always be recruiting (ABC….) Consistent message, not being transactional Look at recruiting as a revenue generating or sales process. Building the pipeline. Always be Recruiting Employee referrals Industry leaders Top performers Tools & Tweaks that companies can make to succeed Simple spreadsheet on excel Poor job of mining their own data. Someone owning the process. Employee referral program- on going notification   Check out the Blog on the Stride Search, Inc site for the supplementary “show recap” article with detailed takeaways/insights from the interview.

What is needed to attract investors, the importance of a team, and how to enagage the right people for your company.  Develope a plan that will scale. Hire the needed technical, marketing and leadership expertise to raise capital and to build the business. Episode Highlights: What is needed to attract an investor The importance of the team How to attract and scale your team The Foundation -  What really needs to be in place to attract seed round investment? Pick up 1-2 key customers with a working prototype Seed round: Have team, some customers, some revenue, working model. & need funds. What is typically the right scenario for a TCA investor? TCA- a 20-40% small percentage are open for execution delivery role. *Understanding, awareness & belief What is the biggest hurdles you see from entrepreneurs? Giving up equity is often the big issue. Angel members open to teaming up as a co-founder. Building the Team - How do we attract the right person? Resources How to scale a team. Long term engagement, needs of the business. Operator, needs to give up “control”. Use advisors to vet talent, first reluctant to bring in the help. Scale When to start? Evaluation & Planning Analogy of championship sports teams- key pieces of the puzzle but not all the right pieces at the right team. Hicham Semaan is an experienced CEO, GM, senior executive, angel investor, senior, and board member to CEOs, management teams, private equity, startup companies. He is a respected leader with strong vision, value creation, turn around, and acquisition expertise, and has successfully grown and exited businesses. Hicham is considered an expert in the technology, education, and real estate industries and has been a featured speaker at several industry events. He is the newly elected Tech Coast Angels-Orange County President and has received the “Excellence in Entrepreneurship Award” from the OCBJ and was recently named “New Investor of the Year” by Tech Coast Angels. Check out the Blog on the Stride Search, Inc site for the supplementary “show recap” article with detailed takeaways/insights from the interview.

All interviewees should be treated with the same positive hiring experience, rather they be an active or passive job seeker. When you eliminate pre-judging and biases, build rapport, and follow up with your candidates, it creates positive results: brings the truth, leads to referrals, and produces positive reviews.   Episode highlights: How to treat all candidates Contact & Feedback Results What is a Active job seeker vs. a Passive job seeker? Why do we treat an active job seeker and a passive job seeker differently? What are companies missing? Eliminate: Pre judging & Bias The Resume… laziness by not calling. Leads to referrals if not a fit. Why no feedback when I apply to an ad? Eliminate: Pre-judging & Bias Act as if you are the candidate… Process for relationship building. Looking for value in the conversation. Follow through… set timeline, being considerate Results The truth Referrals Positive feedback (Glassdoor) Deborah Kantor is the President of Kantor Sales Associates. She has mentored and trained countless sales professionals in her four-decade-long sales career path. Deborah has been a student in every aspect of the sales cycle, from prospecting to close, and in the building of trusted partner relationships along the way.  She has been a top performer in the staffing and real estate industries prior to her current coaching/training business. Beyond the sales skills necessary to open doors, Deborah is passionate about knowing how to present VALUE PROPOSITION, and communicate the WHY. Check out the Blog on the Stride Search, Inc site for the supplementary “show recap” article with detailed takeaways/insights from the interview.

What should a proper Interview Structure should look like, how to Prepare and Plan the candidates for the Interview, and the right way to Execute the interview process. Having the right hiring structure will audition the interviewee for the company's cultural fit and determine those that may or may not be congruent to your organization's core values. Episode highlights: What a proper Interview Structure should look like Preparing & Planning for the Interview How to Execute an outstanding interview process The Foundation - How should an interview be Structured? Timed with a person leading the process 3-5 individuals, auditioning for cultural fit Preparation Pre plan questions Organize- time, pace, resume/profile What does an interview plan look like? Share the plan with the candidate before hand Executing the Interview Alleviate the pressure … keep congruent with your environment Conversational Knock out questions Testing & digging Wrap up… set timeline Checking References & Referrals Challenge the white space Scott Kuethen is the CEO at Amtec, Inc., a professional recruiting organization specializing in placing professionals in Contract and Regular-Full-Time positions with companies ranging from small entrepreneurial start-ups to the fortune 100. He is an avid teacher, and writer in the areas of talent acquisition and selection, organizational planning, and business management. Scott’s life purpose is helping people find meaning in their work. In his spare time, Scott enjoys photography, SCUBA diving, swimming, drone flying, and other activities that keep him young-minded. Check out the Blog on the Stride Search, Inc site for the supplementary “show recap” article with detailed takeaways/insights from the interview.    

A 5x tech entrepreneur and his unique approach to hiring great people for his  companies, using the 3 C’s: Culture, Capacity for Mastery, and Craft. Utilizing this interview methodology can take your company from good to great! Episode highlights: What the 3 C’s are? Apply this methodology to your hiring for your company A really unique approach to hiring, the 3 C’s Culture: Values- evolution of culture, Ethos (montrose), Traits Capacity - critical thinking & problem solving skills Craft- skills (not defined by) How to apply this methodology Narrative arc interview White space interview Jordan Ritter is an accomplished entrepreneur and technologist, having co-founded several companies including music company Napster, messaging security platform Cloudmark, labor-as-a-service platform CloudCrowd and most recently, personal digital search engine Atlas Informatics. He also served as the CTO of entertainment company Columbia Music Entertainment, as well as fan interaction platform Zivity.  Jordan is also a regular open-source contributor, having authored free software commonly included in modern Linux distributions as well as Windows software licensed by Microsoft.  Several of his projects have been featured in well-known publications and books, and incorporated into University-level curricula. His works have won numerous nominations and awards spanning across Comdex, DEMO, SIIA, PC World, PC Magazine, and WIRED. Jordan speaks at technology conferences around the world on topics ranging across entrepreneurism, startup culture, AI, computer and messaging security, and the music industry. Check out the Blog on the Stride Search, Inc site for the supplementary “show recap” article with detailed takeaways/insights from the interview.

The benefits of fractional help in your organization. Fractional work can bring important value while companies are experiencing change, such as a new leadership, merger and acquisition, or a resignation. Knowing when and how to engage a fractional person will provide the solutions needed for your company. Episode highlights: What is Fractional  - High end Temps! When & how to engage fractional help Jean Latu is the Founder & CEO of Ingenio Solutions, a consulting firm focused on accounting and finance. She leads a talented team of experts in finance and accounting who work with clients to solve problems, create efficiencies, and improve the bottom line. Jean has worked on projects for companies like CarrAmerica, Coldwell Banker, and Marriott as a consultant.  She joined Jefferson Well as a Director of Finance Operations and led their finance and accounting practice. She grew the practice to 40 consultants from 5 and increased annual revenues to $10M from $1M in 3 years. Check out the Blog on the Stride Search, Inc site for the supplementary “show recap” article with detailed takeaways/insights from the interview.

How to use analytics tools to first understand the role you are needing to fill. The importance of placing the right language to attract the right person to your job description. We share a format to make your company stand above the pack in impressing and engaging passive talent! Robert Curtis is the Founder and CEO of Alpha Quantix, a leading provider of people analytics, metrics, performance solutions, and consulting and training. Alpha Quantix is a certified partner with Predictive Index. Robert actively engages business owners and senior management, both direct to management and jointly with industry-specific consultants, in a variety of capacities focused on: hiring the best people, developing employee engagement and delivering employee performance, and generally shaping organizational culture to help companies be the best they can be. Check out the Blog on the Stride Search, Inc site for the supplementary “show recap” article with detailed takeaways/insights from the interview.  

Gamification is leading by using the best ideas from games. Companies are using loyalty programs and behavioral economics to drive performance and engagement in their employees. Gamification in the workplace has been around for a long time but what's new is the introduction of tools, technologies, design disciplines and frameworks that are allowing us to do gamification in the workplace in a more scalable and repeatable way.  Brian Andersen is Founder and CEO of Telecomprehensive Solutions, a telecommunications & technology brokerage headquartered in Orange County. Brian is a keynote speaker and Chair of the Business & Workforce Development Committee for the Greater Irvine Chamber of Commerce.  He leads Business Attraction & Retention efforts to unify our local Startup Ecosystem, connect business & provide education to empower Orange County's Workforce and other strategic Economic Development initiatives. In addition, He also serves on the Advisory Council for the Southern California Hospice Foundation. Check out the Blog on the Stride Search, Inc site for the supplementary “show recap” article with detailed takeaways/insights from the interview.

Ineffective communicators can shut down an audience in seconds! Especially with nervous, outdated or too technical presentation styles. This translates throughout your business and can definitely kill your ability to raise funding and hire top talent.   Stephanie Paul is the Founder and CEO of Stephanie Paul, Inc.. Stephanie has an expertise in Working with people who have a significant message that needs to be inspirationally transferred to a variety of audiences. Helping clients get away from "Selling" to Storytelling and turn facts and figures in to "Edutainment". All this with a professional, entertaining, funny and unique style of coaching. Her clients have FUN while being coached ultimately learning how to communicate on a deeper more connected and entertaining level. Bringing a new refreshing air to the culture of the traditional corporate "Bored Room". From an international background as an actress and a comedienne, including producing and directing Stephanie Paul has combined her knowledge and experience with writing, acting, presentation and production for both on camera and the speakers stage, to bring the “Mastery of the Message” to her clients. Executive Producer and Co-Organizer of TEDx Mission Viejo 2016, Official TEDx Orange Coast Presentation & Connection Coach 2014, 2015, and Official TEDx - Kish (Iran) Presentation & Connection Coach April 2015/16. Check out the Blog on the Stride Search, Inc site for the supplementary “show recap” article with detailed takeaways/insights from the interview.

It is imperative to have comprehensive job descriptions! Robert Yonowitz and I discuss why this is important and how they are used in the workplace. Lawsuit prevention, ADA accommodation, Performance Reviews and disciplinary action are the cornerstones of why.  Learn the components of an effective "defensive driving" job description and a description that attracts top talent! Bob Yonowitz is a partner in the Irvine office of the national law firm of Fisher Phillips, one of the oldest and largest firms in the country practicing exclusively in labor and employment law representing management.  Prior to practicing law, he also worked for the United States Senate Judiciary Committee Subcommittee on Courts. Yonowitz has proven expertise in many aspects of labor and employment law including litigating harassment, discrimination, retaliation, wrongful termination and wage hour class action claims, drafting key executive employment agreements and incentive compensation plans. Robert developed and is the co-chair of the firm’s nation-wide Unfair Competition and Trade Secrets Practice Group and has published numerous chapters, articles and lectures on the benefits of arbitration, drafting employee agreements, and prevention of employee theft of trade secrets.   He is a member of the California Bar, and the Labor and Employment Law Section of the American Bar Association. Check out the Blog on the Stride Search, Inc site for the supplementary “show recap” article with detailed takeaways/insights from the interview.

Emotional Intelligence, or EI, describes an ability or capacity to perceive, assess, and manage the emotions of one's self, and of others. Our EQ, or Emotional Quotient, is how one measures Emotional Intelligence. EQ is the Motivation, Empathy, Self Awareness, Self Regulation, and  Social Skills. Emotions have the potential to get in the way of our most important business and personal relationships. But understanding the importance of EQ and having an in-depth process in place to evaluate each component, will  uncover the truth and reveal any red flags of your candidates, preventing a hiring mistake for your company.  Rodney Burris is the President, COO and Co-Founder of Care Partners at Home. Founded in July 20, 2016, Care Partners At Home and its parent company, Post-Acute Care Partners Inc., was a career-long vision of Rodney's, a healthcare leader looking to turn his personal stories of caregiving and love into a completely different approach. His professional philosophy focuses on compassion and love, yet is built on a foundation of skilled associates with true expertise, delivering exceptional care. Over the past 15 years, Rodney has had the opportunity to serve as a leader in Regional, Executive and Board Member roles across a spectrum of Healthcare organizations.  These ventures have spanned from large corporate structures to small start-up companies. His intensity, drive and passion to care for others is a derivative from playing the role of “patient” many times throughout life.  These events have inspired Rodney to build high performance teams that desire to broaden their positive impact through creation and innovation. Check out the Blog on the Stride Search, Inc site for the supplementary “show recap” article with detailed takeaways/insights from the interview.

How do you REALLY discover if the person you are trying to hire is competent? Great incites shared by today's guest to avoid this major hiring mistakes that those before you have made. Besides having a Hiring Plan in place, providing in-depth evalution of your candidates, and implementing the right questions, will help hire the right people for your company.  Craig Cooke brings more than 20 years of interactive, marketing and management experience to Rhythm. As CEO, Craig drives the direction of the company through his vision, strategic planning and execution. He is actively involved in marketing initiatives, research and development, business development, vendor selection and strategic partner development. He also participates in hiring and producing high-quality solutions that deliver true value to clients. Craig takes a consultative approach to problem solving with clients. Essentially, he believes in helping people, delivering quality, demanding excellence and being accountable. Craig’s leadership has driven Rhythm to be recognized as a fastest growing private company for five years in a row by Inc 5000, Orange County Business Journal, as well as a “Top Places to Work” in Orange County by OC Register and Orange County Business Journal.  Check out the Blog on the Stride Search, Inc site for the supplementary “show recap” article with detailed takeaways/insights from the interview.  

It is pertinent for companies to manage properly the rate of their spending through the varies stages of the business life cycle.  Each level of growth, development/seed, startup, growth, expansion, and maturity has its monetary and talent challenges. But incorporating specific plan of expectations at each stage, hiring and delegating experts, and monitoring the burn rate accurately will encourage growth and success of your business without breaking the bank. Karl Hardesty is the CEO and Founder of Hardesty LLC, a national executive services firm providing both executive search services and on-demand executives to companies.  The Hardesty firm has built their reputation in the CFO space based upon their rapid deployment of experienced financial management resources through interim and project based engagements.  Hardesty also specialized in other C-Suite rolls including CEO, COO, CIO and VP of HR. Hardesty has grown rapidly since its inception in 2011, making Orange County’s Fastest Growing Company list for 2014 and 2015.  The firm and it’s affiliates currently have offices in 10 major markets in the US. Check out the Blog on the Stride Search, Inc site for the supplementary “show recap” article with detailed takeaways/insights from the interview.

To build an outstanding Company, you need to start caring about your people. That is to listen, understand them and achieve mutual loyalty. Caring about your employees can be incorporated through Leadership, Investing time to get know the person at the Interview Process, having an Interview Structure with Behavioral Questions, and focusing on Engagement and Growth. When you really appreciate your employees, it transfers to your customers and the business! Paul David is the founder and CEO of Identified Talent Solutions, an Irvine, California-based recruitment and human resource consulting firm. Paul has been featured in numerous business publications, and his firm was named one of the "Fastest Growing Private Companies” by the Orange County Business Journal and listed on the “Inc. 500” by Inc. Magazine as part of its annual list of “America’s Fastest Growing Private Companies.” Check out the Blog on the Stride Search, Inc site for the supplementary “show recap” article with detailed takeaways/insights from the interview.

There are two types of engagement, before the hire and while employed. Recruiting is not about you or your needs anymore. The proper engagement in the recruiting process is focusing on work life balance, social consciousness, benefits… opportunity for growth.  To retain talent once you have a person as an employee, you need to build the right cutlure by providing growth, communication, and having a Purpose, Intention, and Execution process in place. Deena Brown is an Executive Director and certified speaker, coach, and trainer with The John Maxwell Team. She is an international best-selling author, The A-Z Guide to Mindful Leadership (Amazon.com) and has been featured on ABC, NBC, CBS, and Fox as a highly sought keynote speaker, business and leadership growth expert. She is affectionately known as The Millennial Whisperer. Her clients have identified her as The Catalyst because she makes Shift Happen. She is the founder of the Millennial Leadership Institute that provides leadership development and lifestyle coaching to Millennials. Her signature C3LeadershipTM Program helps professionals have more Clarity, Confidence, and Consistency by teaching how to Communicate with Influence, Connect Authentically, and Collaborate Strategically. Dr. Brown’s expertise helps organizations and individuals build a clear path to significance that bridges their philosophy, vision, mission, and goals to their optimal organizational identity. Check out Blog A and Blog B on the Stride Search, Inc site for the supplementary “show recap” article with detailed takeaways/insights from the interview.

It is important to have a strong technical leader for the success of your company. Entrepreneurs often make the mistake of bringing in the wrong type of person. Today we discussed best options for technical leader for your business.How do you get a strong leader to join your company? You need to know what a strong technical leader looks like and have a plan of action to make sure the right ingredients are present in a person to ensure their success. Scott Krawitz is the Founder and CEO of People Driven Solutions (PDSI), a technology services firm specializing in fractional technology leadership, curated technology solutions, along with talent acquisition and retention. For over 20+ years, Scott has consulted executives and lead teams through all project phases from strategic planning, analysis, design, and development to implementation, iterative improvement and ongoing support. Industries served include: Financial Services, Healthcare, Software, Retail, Business Services, Legal, and Education Technology.  In addition, Scott passionately serves on the Technology Advisory Board of the National Foundation for Autism Research supporting a software quality assurance training program. His greatest satisfaction is creating a win-win situation orchestrating the hiring of graduates. Check out the Blog on the Stride Search, Inc site for the supplementary “show recap” article with detailed takeaways/insights from the interview.  

As of January an employer can no longer ask a person's salary history. They also can not ask about any form of compenstion and benefits. This includes 3rd party recruiters and reference checks. Companies with 5 or more employees will also be required to Ban the Box on job applications. This means that the criminal history section will be omitted and can no longer be asked during the interview process. With over 15 years in the “People Business”, Karen Bajanov is a seasoned Human Resource Compliance Specialist. After graduating from Cal State Los Angeles with a degree in Health and Human Services, Karen began her career as Director of HR for a major corporation that had over 500 employees.  While in the corporate environment, Karen realized that small and medium businesses had a real need for human resource solutions in order to grow and protect their business. After 13 years as the Director of Human Resources with a corporate firm, she began KEB Business Consultants. KEB Business Consultants now serves small and medium businesses, across a variety of industries, with all of their human resource, talent management and benefits administration requirements. Check out the Blog on the Stride Search, Inc site for the supplementary “show recap” article with detailed takeaways/insights from the interview.

If you can find a purpose for your company above and beyond just making money… You will ignite passion in your Influencers & Advocates. YOUNGRY™ - an united community of entrepreneurs that hustle, profit, expand, and inspire with original content, events, and e-commerce. Ash Kumra, CEO and Co-Founder is an award winning entrepreneur, author, speaker and syndicated radio show host. He has been recognized by the White House and President Obama as one of the top 100 entrepreneurs in the country under 30. He is the author of book series "Confessions from an Entrepreneur" (Volume 1) & (Volume 2) (Amazon.com), spoken to over 10,000 people on entrepreneurship, over 100 articles and conducted over 1000 interviews with business mavens, entrepreneurs and celebrities. John Reed is the COO of Youngry. Check out the Blog on the Stride Search, Inc site for the supplementary “show recap” article with detailed takeaways/insights from the interview.

We learned about a company that was truly built by: Valuing people more than anything else. Invested in people first. Foster education first, allowing room for growth. Doesn't cut corners and gives benefits freely. He caters to the company and is big on creating value for company and clients. Dalip Jaggi has been recognized as a young entrepreneur, an active soul who is always looking to do more and do better. He is the founder of the respectable brand and digital agency, Devise Interactive. Inventor, he co-founded the world’s first smart shower device, EvaDrop Smart Shower and an interactive kiosk for brick-and-mortar shops, Fraxtion. He co-founded Forge54, a non-profit, that hosts a  54-hour hackathon weekend to provide a marketing makeover to one non-profit every year. Dalip enjoys spending time with his family and friends, playing chess or even the saxophone, and snowboarding. Check out the Blog on the Stride Search, Inc site for the supplementary “show recap” article with detailed takeaways/insights from the interview.  

Most companies look to HR for Compliance and today we take a look at how Human Resources can positively affect profit rather than holding down costs.  Rod Swartwood is the Founder and President of HR Prime, a full-service HR consultancy specializing in the strategic and tactical creation of best-in-class talent management practices and world-beating teams.  From HRIS roles with government agencies in the early days of LAN based business computing through his strategic HR leadership roles at startups and Fortune 300 companies. His 26 years of practical HR leadership in a wide variety of verticals, coupled with his degrees in organizational psychology and business give him the unique opportunity to guide both young organizations and established entities to greater productivity and profits.   Check out the Blog on the Stride Search, Inc site for the supplementary “show recap” article with detailed takeaways/insights from the interview. 

This is a bit different of an approach to investing where the investor takes a much more active advisory role in the company and is often adopted into the leadership team. Hiring challenge- How to solve your issues when the root of the issues is YOU! Focus not on what you want but what the company needs. Robert Davis grew up here in HB , started in Aerospace, to a snowboard manufacturing , Thermal Snowboards. Thermal snowboards made products for companies like 5150 & Joyride. The company was acquired in 1995 by RIDE, a publicly traded Company and then obtained by k2.  At that point, Robert was the VP of Operations.  In 1997 Robert left and started Avid Ink. He effectively built the company from one employee to over 250 and $24 mil in revenue.  This all from a 25k loan from his family! He successfully exited the company in 2015. Today,  He is Founder and CEO of both Y7 Collective and his newly acquired company, Communities For Cause, a mobile app that works with local merchants and allows the merchants to give money to specific non profits chosen by the user. He is also Member of Tech Coast Angels, Orange County &  OCTANe's Launch Pad Panel. Check out the Blog on the Stride Search, Inc site for the supplementary “show recap” article with detailed takeaways/insights from the interview.

One of the most critical elements to being funded is the team who are leading the charge. Know your weaknesses and have a plan to fill those gaps! Be honest in your approach and realistic in how your company will grow. Points covered: - Importance of a strong team - Having a Plan & When to Pivot - Strategy for how and when to engage a recruiter - Position your team to be attractive to investors Peter Polydor is the CEO and Founder of ERGO Capital and the startup accelerator Ergo Accel. In 2014, he founded the Eureka Building, a three-acre startup and tech community based in Irvine, California, designed to foster innovation and house entrepreneurs. The site is home to over 30 companies ranging from startup to a large public company. Peter sits on the Boards as well as Advisory Boards of a number of portfolio companies and startups. Further to his work at ERGO, Peter is a Professor of Practice at the University of Wales, is a Charter Member of the Canadian C100, recipient of the Greek 40 Under 40 award and the Power 30 Under 30 award. He received his BA from Occidental College and his MBA from the University of Oxford, Said Business School. Check out the Blog on the Stride Search, Inc site for the supplementary “show recap” article with detailed takeaways/insights from the interview.

The results can be astonishing just by giving people the opportunity to learn & develop new skills! Take Aways: Maintain “family culture” & Creativity Daily/weekly engagement, focus on keeping people involved Promote creation of games through contests. Pitch ideas, if they are not interested, the IP is the employees to develop on their own. Use the company’s resources to build. Winning with uniqueness: family environment,  they play where the big companies can not offer. Ambidextrous, ie: take and engineer & teach rendering, AI, leaders are willing to teach. Career manager- making sure people are learning what they need/want to learn. Brad Hendricks is the CEO and a serial entrepreneur/business development specialist who started up Blind Squirrel Entertainment, Inc. in 2010, a AAA game studio that creates original content and provides full game development services to various publishers and developers.  Under his leadership, BSE has quickly become the top collaborator for industry leading titles such as Disney Infinity 3.0, Bioshock: Infinite, XCOM: Enemy Unknown, Borderlands 2, Sunset Overdrive, and Evolve. Check out the Blog on the Stride Search, Inc site for the supplementary “show recap” article with detailed takeaways/insights from the interview.  

The trials and tribulations of when a founding member of a team should step away from his company in order to let it grow.  When to exit and how to do it in such a way to benefit the company! John R. Crittenden, is the Founder and CEO of Mondigi. He is an entrepreneur with broad experience across asset management, sales and marketing, consumer financial brands, and digital wealth management platforms. Prior to Mondigi, he was one of the first four employees at Acorns and  earliest executives as Director of Institutional Services, one of the first and most successful robo-advisor platforms focused on wealth management. Check out the Blog on the Stride Search, Inc site for the supplementary “show recap” article with detailed takeaways/insights from the interview.