Starting from McDonald’s, gas stations, and pizza places, all the way up to high-level companies, everyone is searching for employees these days. Not just that, but benefits are being offered to people that weren’t offered before, and the pay rate is increasing. That means that a lot of people out there won’t settle for 9 dollars per hour jobs when they can go and make 12 or 14 or in some states 17 or 18 dollars per hour. In the climate of 2021, it’s easy to ask yourself: how do we find and how do we keep good people?
Core values are oh-so-important
When thinking of finding new employees, a lot of employers will firstly think about skillset and resume that they would like to see from people applying for a job role. However, there is a fundamental piece of the puzzle that needs to happen before, and that is a question of core values.
To start the journey of finding the perfect fit for a job, you need to ask yourself:
What are your company’s core values? What are your mission and vision values?
If you think those are not important and you don’t have them listed, you need to do it ASAP. Without core values, we don’t have any foundational motivators and substance that would drive us forward.
I suggest you create a couple of core values that would round up what your company presents towards clients and what is it requesting from employees. In my company, Solor Inc. (medical billing company), our core values are:
- Integrity
- Clients first
- Teamwork
- Take the next step
Let people know about your core values before they even apply
Having core values listed is one thing. Communicating them is a whole other story. At Solor Inc., we explain our core values to potential new employees before they even apply.
Whenever we post a job opening, after obviously saying what the job is, the first line of description says: These are our core values: integrity, clients first, teamwork, and take the next step. If you don’t agree with these or these don’t fit who you are as a person, stop reading now.
Simple as that. Because if someone is not aligned with these, we don’t want them to read on. Without the alignment in core values, there will be slim to no chances that the work would be enjoyable for them or for us.
What this simple question is creating is a self-selection out of the equation. We want to have people who will tick all the necessary boxes as they move down the line, but it all starts with core values.
You have your core values. Good. But what are theirs?
Once you identify your core values and communicate them with a potential candidate, it’s time to see how they are thinking.
What we do is, as soon as someone applies for a role, we will send out an email to thank them for their application and give them the first step of the process. And that is to send to the company their personal core value statement.
What are your core values and how do you live them out in the workplace?
This task will get us the following:
- We will find out if there is a core value alignment; did they take the time to read our ad, do they believe in integrity, serving others, teamwork, etc.
- We will find out if they can communicate. If they will not take the time to pay attention to details, capitalize words, use punctuation, if they just throw something down quickly, the question is: do I want those kinds of people on my team? Honestly, I don’t. I want people who have attention to detail because of the positions that I hire for demand that. If they didn’t even check what are they writing, they won’t be able to communicate with my team or with our clients. So, I am mindful of this.
Once you get core values aligned, it’s time to move on to step to of the hiring process.
Don’t forget: without core values, people won’t stay for long so what would be the point in hiring them? No one wants to spend anyone’s time having an employee whose commitment to work would feel like nails on the chalkboard all the time.
If you want to have employees that will work well in your team and who will stay with you for the long run, you need to build the foundation of a good team. Get to know how do people live out their core values in the workplace. The easiest way to find that out is to simply ask.
More secrets of successful hiring can be found in the upcoming articles. Also, check out these great courses for creating good team in your company, based on Emotional Intelligence and DISC method.
