you. If they survive this step, consider an in-person interview. Final candidates should have at least a second interview with you and other key members of your team. If the team is only you, see if you can find a suitable individual to join you for the interview. I’ve found that involving a second or third person provides a unique opportunity for the hiring decision maker to observe how the candidates handle themselves answering questions from someone else. Listen carefully for inconsis- tency or alerts. You could also use a professional recruiter to find candidates, but smaller firms view this as unaffordable, and recruiters may not be interested unless the endeavor is lucrative enough. Nonetheless, it is an option and may not be as costly as mak- ing mistakes or striking out. How much is your time worth? When you arrive at the final list of candidates, you might want to consider using one of the various employment-matching tools that are available at very reasonable cost, especially when compared to a professional recruiter. If you are unfamiliar, these are pre-employment tests developed by industrial psy- chologists to help reveal candidates’ work-related profiles and relevant characteristics. They are usually simple and quick to administer and can be surprisingly informative. Sometimes, the accuracy is best described as “scary.” You should never rely solely upon such tests, but they can be very effective, efficient and affordable candidate-screening tools. Larger companies also use these to identify manage- rial styles and understand how managers approach issues and decision-making. We are all wired a bit differently. Indeed, you’ve probably met some with hazardous “faulty” wiring. (Yes, I know. Far too oſten, those with some faulty wiring are the boss! Who knew?) Attitude Rules the Day Having been involved in the recruiting process (on both sides) far too many times, if I can share one thing that I have learned, it is that “attitude” rules. Of all the factors and desirable char- acteristics that we can and should consider in the recruiting process, give me a candidate with a good attitude. Of course, candidates must be reasonably qualified, but the one thing that can’t be taught and is extremely unlikely to change is the candidate’s attitude. Watch out for people who openly bad-mouth past employers (although, sometimes their complaint may be legitimate) and especially those who suffer from CVS: Chronic Victim Syndrome. Don’t bother to Google it, because I just made it up. Some individuals just seem to go through life followed by a dark cloud and a perpetual conspiracy against them, in virtually WWW.ALOA.ORG “Unless you do lots of interviewing and have had some relevant training, you’re probably not very good at it.” every place they have ever worked. Sniff this type out quickly and professionally jettison this potentially poisonous baggage. Now, let’s move on to the topic of employee motivation. Why Don’t My Employees Think Like I Do? Wish I had a thousand dollars for every time an owner has asked this question. Let’s explore this one a bit further in the context of motivation, although it also has retention implications that will be discussed later. Here’s one answer: “For the same reason you don’t think like they do.” Or, “And what was your attitude when you worked for someone else?” How soon we forget! At the risk of sounding obvious, that’s why you call them “employees,” whereas you are called the “owner.” Unless you hire someone who has been a business owner, you’re not likely to have employees who think, act like or fully appreciate what it’s like to be an owner. They have never had to struggle to make payroll and, despite what you tell them, they probably think that you are rolling in loot! For many, they see the spread be- tween what you charge customers versus what you pay them. But they are usually clueless as to the high cost of running a business and such considerations as overhead, cash flow, etc. But you can have some employees who sincerely care about the business and come close to acting like an owner, to some extent. Legitimate, well-designed incentive programs based on the com- pany’s performance can be a strong motivational tool. Remember, the only reason you know how expensive it is to run a business is because you see and have to pay the bills. This brings us to a discus- sion of how much information should be shared with employees. To Share or Not to Share Data? That Is the Question. If employees don’t see what you see, why would you expect them to know what you know? Should you share any numbers? How much and what should you share? Somewhere between sharing DECEMBER 2019 KEYNOTES 25
