What Makes YOU So Special?

A bad hire can cripple, even destroy your business, while a good hire can take your business farther than you ever imagined the business could go. How do you distinguish between the two?

Growing a company can be both exciting and worrisome. Excitement comes with the opportunity to expand the business. Worry comes with the new responsibility of being an employer and all of the possible unknowns that may lie ahead as a result of being an employer. Even with solid policies and procedures in place, there is still a worry about whether or not you are hiring the right people.

A bad hire can cripple, even destroy your business, while a good hire can take your business farther than you ever imagined the business could go. How do you distinguish between the two? May I suggest that you start by asking yourself ‘What Makes You So Special’? Look at your virtues and your values. Then consider how these tie into your company culture, your company drivers. Once you determine these company drivers, incorporate them into your company vision and mission. Let it be known why you do what you do.

How does this help in the recruitment process?  When you look beyond a candidate’s skills and abilities, you can also look at what makes the candidate so special ... look at their drivers.  Does this person understand what makes your company so special?  Do they connect with the company’s principles?   This is not to say that you must hire a clone of yourself.  It merely means that people who understand and buy into the company’s values will be more likely to succeed and thrive in your organization.

When your company has core values, these values provide a focus for the workforce, a means to measuring the success of the business. Screening candidates for talent, as well as their ability to not only understand why these values are a part of the company, but strive to emulate these values in all they do at work, will more often than not result in a more engaged and, ultimately more productive employee.  And all because you took the time to ask, “What makes you so special?”

About the Author:

Darlene Fenn is a Southern California HR consultant with over 20 years of experience in HR and the development methods a business needs to minimize risk and achieve Company Optimization through Human Resources.  You can find out more information on Darlene at www.cohrconsulting.com.