What is the secret to hiring exceptional team members who significantly impact your organization? Always be recruiting for character.  When I say recruiting, I mean you are always observing people you come in contact with, both your business and personal life.  You're looking for people even when you don't have a current need for a new employee. By searching at that time, you will focus less on filling a position and more about whether this person is a cultural fit. Here’s a fun example of what I’m talking about: 

A law firm we work with has an amazing paralegal who conducts their initial meetings with potential clients. They recruited her from her position as a Starbucks barista! How can you go from making lattes to becoming a paralegal? The skills transfer was natural:  She was very personable, hardworking, smart, fast, had a great memory and was service-oriented. All they had to do was train her on the industry vocabulary and the job tasks. They are thrilled and so is she because she gained the status of being in the legal profession, works more traditional business hours and doesn’t have to stand on her feet all day!!! 

When you provide an opportunity for an individual to make an improvement in their life through a meaningful career path you’ve hit the jackpot. It’s a good idea to develop a pool of candidates that you've recruited, so when a position comes open, you have some immediate options. Not many companies say we have too many great candidates. If you have four or five great candidates for each position, when one comes opens, you’ll have several really strong candidates without having to panic! You can also move more quickly through the process because you have done the prework in advance.  The second benefit of developing a pool of candidates is your ability to quickly replace underperforming employees.  

Managers tend to hold onto underperformers because the hiring process is so daunting, time-consuming and seemingly not a great use of their time. But if you continually recruit and have a pool of qualified candidates, how long would it take to replace an underperformer?

What is the impact on your team to see non-performers replaced quickly? Isn’t that how our customers think and act if you don’t perform?