Howdy GirdleyWorld!
A quick one today — New Years is my busy season!
- Why New Years is my busy season
- 10 cheap or free ways you can improve your hiring process
Sometimes the simple answers are the best ones!
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What I’m up to
One of my companies is Alamo Fireworks, the family business.
In Texas, we’re only allowed to open Dec 20 to Jan 1, and June 24 to July 4. That means that it’s mission-critical for operations to run smoothly, since we have to make half the year’s income in 13 days.
And Alamo has over 200 locations. So you can imagine I haven’t had a “normal” New Years or July 4th pretty much ever.
Everyone else’s holiday is our Super Bowl. And I’m not complaining! Just… busy. Very busy.
All that is to say: Happy New Year and go buy some fireworks!
Now, on to today’s topic…
10 ways to hire better & cheaper
1. Copywrite your job ads
Most job posts these days are written like it is 1995, when employers still had leverage.
That time is over.
Now you get candidates with:
- clear and exciting writing, that
- speaks to the employee’s emotions/desires, and
- sells the mission.
Because if YOU’RE not excited about the job, why should they be?
2. Be honest
Most employers paint the company as perfect.
Instead of selling the candidates, it makes them suspicious.
Want candidates to trust you?
Be transparent about your good and bad.
If your employees start running into unpleasant surprises as soon as they join, your relationship is off to a very bad start.
3. Get HR out of the way
Great people choose bosses that inspire them.
So don’t have HR or recruiters pitch candidates.
Let you or your managers do the pitching, ideally as the primary point of contact for qualified candidates.
It takes more time from the senior people, but you want to sell them on the job as much as they’re selling you.
4. Apply for your own job
Many CEOs spend hours working on their customer experience, but never do the same for recruiting.
Apply for one of your jobs.
You’ll quickly see how to improve the process.
You don’t have to do it undercover boss style… but you could.
5. Stop looking for “unicorns”
Too many companies try to hire people that JUST DON’T EXIST.
Do you want an expert programmer, people leader, and salesperson all in one?
Good luck.
Design your job so lots of people can fill it. That lets you pick from the cream of the crop, rather than waiting for someone that will never come along.
And if someone claims they CAN do all those things, you’ll want to do some digging.
6. Set a shot clock
If you want to get candidates these days, you have to move quickly.
Your 1995-era 12-week hiring process ain’t going to cut it.
Set a short target timeline for the whole process. A few weeks, max. If not days.
Candidates don’t owe you patience.
7. Have a hiring process
At most companies, different managers all run their own processes. It leads to uneven results.
Write down your process with best practices.
Train managers to run it. Tell candidates what it is. Get everyone on the same page.
Run it well.
8. Allow the process to fail
I’ve run many searches where I failed to hire anyone.
I could have hired someone who wasn’t great.
But we let the process fail instead. And tried again until we found the perfect fit.
Hiring the wrong person will cost you a lot more than waiting another few weeks.
9. Use assessments
Pre-employment assessments are controversial.
But more people are using them all the time (me included).
Done right, they can save you and your candidates hours of time. You’ll get a sense of their fit for the job.
I do two: a personality assessment (I use Culture Index) and a cognitive assessment (Criteria Corp).
10. Be public
A lot of CEOs don’t post anything real on social media.
But it’s the world’s best recruiting tool.
Get on Twitter, be your real self, and candidates will show up.
(If you missed it, last week’s newsletter was about exactly how to do this like I did. You can check out past issues here!)
That’s it!
To recap — improve your hiring process for next to nothing by doing these 10 things:
1. Copywrite your job ads
2. Own your weaknesses
3. Get HR out of the way
4. Apply for your own job
5. Don’t hold out for unicorns
6. Set a shot clock
7. Have a consistent hiring process everywhere
8. Let the process fail
9. Use assessments
10. Be public about it.
Do these and you’ll build a better experience for both sides. It’s all part of a healthy hiring practice.
The old ways of finding a business to buy just don’t work anymore.
So I made a course. You’ll learn:
1) How to build a tight thesis to find the business that’s right for you
2) How to maximize your surface area to find the most deals
3) How to run an amazing funnel to filter down to the best deal.
It’s absolutely packed with value, in 18 video lessons.
Click the button below to learn more (or buy)!
How to Find a Great Business to Buy
3 things from this week
- Appetizer: My friend A quick video (2 minute watch!) from my friend Cam Houser on the 4 magic words that land you more meetings than any others. I’ve used this technique, and it works!
- Main: I think I found the greatest cash flowing video of all time. It’s right here in San Antonio. Near my house, actually. And it’s called San Antonio Airport Security Park.
Check out my breakdown of the business! (12m video)
- Dessert: Warren Buffett’s shareholder letters are the stuff of legend. And now they’re online in a cool searchable database. Check it out!
That’ll do it for 2023! Happy New Year, buy lots of fireworks, and see you next Saturday!
Michael
