NFIB

The Importance of Hiring First-Rate Employees
03/ 28/ 2002

Charles Schwab, founder of the vastly successful online brokerage firm, once said: "All successful employers are stalking men and women who will do the unusual, who think, who attract attention by performing more than is expected of them." In today's Workshop, contributor Jeffrey Moses shows why this is more important than ever today for a small business.

The largest corporations understand that having even one or two first-rate businesspeople at the top is key to long-term success. This principle is underscored every time a large company offers a potential CEO or president both a substantial salary and generous stock options.

If large corporations with thousands of managers and employees value such individuals, think how much more important first-rate employees are to a small company, which may have as few as a half dozen or dozen staff in total. Often, small business owners have great expertise in their chosen field, but it's difficult for a company to grow beyond a certain point without bringing on additional experienced, talented employees.

An employee's potential must be determined BEFORE HIRING, during interviews and meetings with owners and company executives. The right questions need to be asked, and previous experience needs to be evaluated accurately. If you or your associates don't have experience hiring key employees, there are numerous excellent books on the subject. Among them are:

Adams Streetwise Hiring Top Performers: 600 Ready-To-Ask Interview Questions and Everything Else You Need to Hire Right, by Bob Adams and Peter Veruki, paperback, about $15.

High Impact Hiring: How to Interview and Select Outstanding Employees, by Del J. Still, paperback, about $24.

Hiring Winners: Profile, Interview, Evaluate: A 3-Step Formula for Success, by Richard J. Pinsker, hardcover, about $20.

Exceptional workers almost always have demonstrated excellence in their education or prior job experience. When a company is looking for top-flight new staff, those who are handling the hiring must be instructed to focus only on those who have already proven that they are of the desired caliber. Often such potential new employees are working in upper-level positions at other companies. In most cases, the type of company for which they're working isn't as important as the individual's success within the company. Management, marketing or sales ability almost always translates from one type of company to another. That's why large corporations hire top executives with proven ability, even in vastly different industries.

Think about how Charles Schwab described such individuals: those who do the unusual, who think, who do more than is expected of them. Such people are often hard to find, but they are out there if an employer is willing to make the extra effort to find them and is willing to do what it takes to hire them. Attracting and keeping such individuals almost always requires offering them higher salaries, higher sales commissions and added benefits and perks. Once this is accepted, the search can begin.

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