The Staffing Conundrum: Finding the Right People

We Google everything. It’s a company, a noun, a verb. While going through my reader this morning, I happened upon an interesting piece from Forbes discussing how to get a job at Google. While I’m not in their industry or even sector, it piqued my interest so I hopped over to see exactly how to get a job at Google if I so desired.

Funny thing happened: I realized I didn’t want to work at Google. Ever.

Barriers to Entry

Google apparently has quite the test for potential employees to take. I’ll assume that the tests vary depending on position, but, well, I guess tests can be good. It’s a huge barrier to entry, however.

Every industry has its nuances and demands, but what kind of barriers to entry are you setting up in your hiring practices that might be keeping quality applications out of the running? We all have to put exclusionary criteria into our hiring practices, but when we’re in search of that elusive, incredible, invaluable asset to the team, shouldn’t we be thinking of ways to tap into talent we might not have found through regular channels? Google’s barriers to entry, to me at least, seem excessive. I have plenty of people in my circle whom I’ve known for years who are incredible business owners, colleagues, and leaders yet were lacking in the test taking department.

Ongoing Hurdles

When you set up the barriers to entry – whatever they might be – you have to set up ongoing hurdles or objectives for employees to meet. It’s how we evaluate their ongoing contribution. It’s through them that our companies can grow. While not every employee aspires to advance, there’s something to be said for a hire who meets or exceeds expectations on an ongoing basis. I can only imagine what Google’s hurdles look like if they’re wanting me to sequence numbers in my head during the hiring process. As leaders and business owners, however, we should be considering the ongoing hurdles in advance of making a hire as opposed to on the fly when things aren’t going our way. An employee not meeting expectations is generally one of three things: not a good fit, unclear about expectations, or has never been offered expectations.

The Bus

Jim Collins, author of “Good to Great,” says that it’s imperative to get the right people on the bus. That’s staffing and team building. So the thought I’ll leave you with today is this: How are you mapping your route? In order to get the right people on the bus, you have to know where to look and be willing to go out of your way to pick them up. Sometimes traditional job searches don’t work, so the onus is upon us to leverage our relationships to find what and whom we need to take our businesses beyond where they are today. So it’s not just about getting people on the bus, it’s about driving the bus, too.

Posted by: John Cushman on January 10th, 2012 // View Comments
Posted in: News
Tags: Business Productivity, Business Tips, Google +, Hiring Practices, Management, Staffing
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