Don't Hire Idiots!
Don't hire idiots to work with you!
I recently started a team to work with me on my website to grow faster.
Some of them have been great! But some have been terrible. I've had to let a few of them go, and I could not be happier.
I read a book a while back called Good to Great. The idea of the book is teaching people how to bring good companies to the level of greatness, and showing how many CEOs did this with their companies. One major idea in the book is "getting the right people on the bus".
Getting the right people on the bus is about hiring people that are great. Great men and women on your team translates to a great company. My brand, after getting the people that should not have been on the bus to get off the bus, is better for it.
So, remember: if and when you get people to work with you, make sure they are the right people to have on the bus. It doesn't matter if you don't have a position for them yet; the right people will do the job they need to do.
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I just finished Good to Great. Other than getting the right people on the bus... I also liked... Hire 5 people, work them like 10 and pay them like 8.
My best suggestions would be to set up a hiring funnel.. much like a sales funnel.. ask for key tasks to be completed throughout the hiring process..
you know, small tasks that have zero significance to the role they are applying for. Like putting the word ELEPHANT in the subject line.. things like that...
This is how you catch people who are just mass applying and not paying attention to what they're doing..
This can help weed out the fools..... trust me, many will fail and only the ones worth spending more time on will make it through..
I would also recommend making people go through multiple steps before employment... When hiring content writers I make them fill out 2 forms, submit a sample article of topics I choose, take a typing test, do an internet ping test, screen shot them both and email them to me as well as a couple other small things...
My theory is, if they are willing to do all of this before even being considered for the job, they are the kind of people I want to employ..
If you do get the job, I pay well and teach you more than your role requires and give you regular bonuses and pay rises.. Good VA's are worth their weight in gold :)
Wow that's intense. Is that a program that you use on your site, or do you have them email you if they want to be content writers?
I totally agree with the putting them through the ringer mentality. I love it.
How do you pay them? From profits made on your website?
I know what you’re proposing might seem remarkable to some, but going through multiple rounds of rigorous testing is the norm for mostly any kind of job I’ve seen.
I recently mentioned a little brother who career-jumped from being a marketing manager to a certified UX guy for various multinationals. Going in to each UX role, his paper references were not enough: there were complex, 15-hour digital simulations for him to show his stuff on. Real-time evaluators observed his progress.
Musicians reading this will think - yeah so? Because their lives are one live audition after another. They are constantly proving what they have, but I think it’s not a way that many office workers are accustomed to being tested.
There’s all that. But then I also wanted to raise the idea (for anyone considering building a team or outsourcing):
How do you all advertise yourselves and your brand in a way that ensures you are drawing ‘your kind of people’ to the job?
A stellar performer is not going to apply for some shabby offering on Craigslist. How do you appear, as an employer, to everyone else? Why are you so good to work for? How do you communicate that? Why should someone fabulous work for you, and not for Apple?
I know some fabulous IT innovators who rove around on itinerant contracts looking for great teams, startups, and interesting propositions. They’re picky. They’ve already worked for the giants, and unicorns though they are, they might even work for you if you’re the right person.
In a competitive market, it’s the companies who are competing for the talent, and not the other way around. I’ve seen in-person the handwringing this causes executives looking to hire. And your being a ‘giant’ is not enough these days. The best applicants will choose a little guy over an industry hegemon ‘if you are the one’.
100% true Ivy, it is the companies who are competing for the real talent out there. How you present the offer has to be enticing and where you present this offer has to be in the right place. And yes, testing peoples abilities to preform should not be a new concept for anyone.
It really isn't too intense lol..
I use a lot of Google tools to push people through my employment funnel. Google forms, google docs, canned gmail responses etc... I want this as automated as possible... Only once automation has filtered the results do I then set up video calls and spend more of my own time. Having said that, my first initial VA's who came on board and show promise, are trained in a lot of the processes I use, are also assigned part of the vetting/onboarding process.. A pay rise generally encourages them to strive for more responsibility!
I pay people differently, depending on their role.
Some people are only hired to do a specific task. This could be a one time event (until the task is complete), generally over an allocated time frame. An example of this would be a content writer who is to write my pillar posts and a handful of supporting posts for a new site launch.
Some are hired part / full time and are assigned regular tasks which all have time allocation. An example here would be content curators who are assigned established sites to curate relevant content and post on a regular schedule. Another example would be someone who's role is to do keyword / niche research using parameters I set. All my SEO workers are generally hired this way.
I pay everyone through PayPal. It works well enough for me.
Something you have to pay attention to is the level of access each person has to your info. Don't go giving the keys to the mansion to a complete stranger! Some people are wolves in sheep clothing and try to sabotage or worse yet, steal from you.
That is something that you are going to come to find out as you start looking to acquire help in your business. Not everyone works hard, not everyone is competent, and in your words, there really are some qualified idiots out there.
Sometimes you don't realize this until it is too late and you end up spending more time undoing your "bad hire". All part of the learning process and every more reason to do your due diligence and offer small contracts before hiring on someone full time.
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Good reminder. And also applicable when outsourcing something. Thanks for the generous share of idea.