As you might have picked up, we have borrowed a couple of ideas from this great book by Geoff Smart & Randy Street.
Especially the concept of continuous hiring is one that we believe every company with an ambition to grow and become a better version of itself should embrace.
The crux is the following: when your start to look for someone only when a position opens up you are missing out on a lot of opportunities to actually find the best person for that position. You are betting that the perfect candidate is jobless or searching for a new splot just when you start looking for them.
To combat this pitfall, companies should be putting their feelers out and be in dialogue with top talent at all times. No problem you don’t have a clearly defined vacancy – for a true gem that fits your culture you will always find a suitable place sooner or later. And the other way around: if a person has an intrinsic motivation to work for you company, they are more likely to look at the long term perspective rather than their initial position.
Which brings us to the next reason to recruit continuously: the dynamic nature of your organization. A person that perfectly fits the bill for a job now, might not fit the requirements that the same job entails in two years’ time. It is important to hire people with development and adaptation potential and a true cultural fit to your culture. They may be able to grow with their job or be placed at a different position in the company they love.
The book also gives some great tips on interviewing. The best way to get hold of the book is to meet up with us, because we will bring you a copy and give you our context.