Recruiting – love it or hate it, it’s all part of a day’s work when you are growing a successful business. Done right, it’s an amazing experience for both the business and the candidate; done wrong, it can be an absolute disaster all round. Michelle Hoskin of Standards International shares her experience and insight, bringing practical tips you can use to make sure that your team thrives.
A few years ago, you would have found me knee-deep in writing job specifications, posting jobs online and sifting through CVs. And that’s without running the dreaded interviews, which would have taken up so much of my time. We just hoped that not only would everyone turn up but also that the chosen candidate would actually make it past their probationary period. Today it is a whole different ball game. Over the last six months, as a business, we have prepped for, promoted, interviewed for and offered three positions within Standards International, and I have only been involved in 10% of the process.
Why?
1) As a business and as a team, we have clearly decided on and articulated our vision. It sees us to 2030 and way beyond – we all know what we are doing here, and we all know why we ‘bounce’ out of bed each morning. With a vision this clear, it is easy to establish when candidates fit the bill or are on the same page.
2) We are a team-led business. This was a shift we made about two years ago. We are a group of professionals who are equally committed to doing our personal best in everything that we do – all of the time. With this as our mantra, everything we do has to be a team effort.
3) It’s now bigger than me! Standards International, standards and the power of WOWW! are everything to me: it’s my life! I have grown and nurtured everything that this business has become for nearly 25 years – it’s like my baby but with a BAN on the words ‘me’, ‘my’ and ‘I’. We only have ‘we’, ‘our’ and ‘us’. Of course, I continue to play a key role in the business; however, I am not the only person in the business and – while I may have the thinking and behaviours that have got us here – I don’t single-handedly have the thinking and behaviours that are going to get us ‘there’.
4) Processes to die for. As you would expect, we don’t only talk the talk – we walk the walk. Our processes are nothing short of military! Structures, guides, procedures and supporting templates and check lists – they are all there ready to be used. They have been improved to perfection – tested, amended and relaunched. They work – time and time again – the results are proven and mean that not only have all the best bits of the process been captured to then be repeated, and all of the not-so-perfect aspects have been improved upon, but also the whole journey needed little involvement from me. Heaven!
I appreciate that these things don’t just happen overnight but as we/you grow and find ourselves sitting eyeball to eyeball with the next member(s) of our work families, we need to know exactly what we are looking for.
Now, we all love that feeling when we are chatting to someone who clearly just gets it. The person who is on the same page as you, who knows where the business is heading and is committed to doing all that they can (effortlessly) to help it get there. Sadly, these types of people are few and far between so – when you see one – make sure you grab them with both hands. And when you get one, treat them so well that when that recruiter calls to try to pinch them from you, it wouldn’t matter what offer was on the table – they will not go!
Self-motivation is one of the ultimate drivers of what makes someone extra special, and I believe it’s one of the most important attributes you can find in a person. And I am going to take great pleasure in sharing some insights on this with you in my next article for IFA Magazine– but, for now, what are the magic ingredients to look for?
So, what does it take?
The key behaviours and principles we identified are:
- Professionalism – this rather goes without saying, but you must love this profession and everything that it stands for more than life itself. Financial services is a calling: it cannot be done half-heartedly.
- Moral values and ethics – a person’s moral compass must be bang on point. No wavering from the innate desire to do things right for the right reasons. Can this be taught? I am not sure it can… but when you look hard enough you will find it and only then can you harness its power to unleash its potential.
- Honesty and integrity – we always talk about this as a ‘must have’ but I rarely see this being set as a benchmark during the hiring process. Sadly, people can be dishonest for various reasons, so we need to flush these people out before we even let them in. Integrity on the other hand is a whole different kettle of fish and in my opinion is right up there with the need to breathe!
- Dependability and accuracy – they must care about what they are doing and how they are doing it. No cutting corners, no broken promises. Dependability and accuracy build trust and without trust there is nothing.
- Prioritising the client’s interests – not just your clients but also any other person you are serving in any given moment. That could be a fellow team member, the boss or one of your firm’s clients. Service can turn into serving, when done right, by the right person.
- Due care and diligence – this links to some of the qualities above. We should always come back to care and attention to detail. There is nothing more frustrating than a person who just cannot be bothered to do the job properly.
- Compliance – we can’t escape it! It is our essential baseline platform which we have to meet. An appreciation of the rules and a willingness to follow them goes a long way.
- Conflicts of interest – a confident person will have no issues with raising a concern or flagging an issue head on.
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