When you understand what you need out of a new team member, it’s much easier to sift through candidates. For most firms, you live and die by who the recruiter brings through the door. You might get a few applications online, but you’re never sure if the candidate would be a good fit. Your vision, mission and core values should be at the heart of your interview with each applicant. You need to see each new hire as the future of your firm. If you feel this person isn’t here to make a statement and grow the firm, go with your gut. That person isn’t for you. You can’t afford to be like so many firms who hire someone as fast as possible to deal with work overflow. You’re better off contracting a temporary employee to handle that, rather than bringing in a full-time hire if you aren’t 100% sure who or what you are looking for. Chet Buchman, Managing Partner at Swindoll, Janzen, Hawk & Lloyd, CPA, actually recommends overstaffing during busy times. He says, “Hire ahead of the busy curve.” If you see a great potential fit for your firm, go for it even if you aren’t necessarily hiring. Using the pillars in this book, you will enjoy more capacity but also more clients, because you’ll be growing. Eventually you will need this person and you don’t want to find out months later that they now work for your competitor. It can be tricky to figure out a new candidate. Obviously, they are on their best behavior at this point. It’s up to you to find the forest for the trees. Look back at your core values and ask the candidate to tell stories of their work. Find those clues to tie into your values. Finding the right employee can be tough, so here are a few things you want to make sure you learn about your potential hire during the interview:- What motivates them. Is it growth? Learning? Autonomy?
- How they spend their free time. This gives you a glimpse at the candidate’s personal “why.” If they aren’t growing in their free time, they probably aren’t looking to grow with you.
- How they solve problems. Does it mesh with your culture?
- The kind of work culture they came from. It’s probably the culture they want to avoid.
- How they interact with clients. Ask about a story of working with a client.
- Kolbe Test: A personality test based on instinct. Reviewing the results, you learn about your conative abilities. In other words, how they act in specific situations. This is one test that’s becoming more common to use in the interview process.
- StrengthsFinder Test: An aptitude test in which you and your candidate learn their top five strengths. As a firm owner, you can compare these to the rest of your team to see if they would be a good fit.
- Cross-train them in various positions as a bonus so they don’t get bored and can broaden their skillset.
- Provide paid training to the candidate and even tickets to conferences they would enjoy.
- Give them autonomy on certain one-off projects they can pick.
- Pay for a professional development or educational program they can participate in. For example, a 12-week leadership course.
- Provide a slight bump in bonuses for retirement and for performance.
