Building a star team is essential to growing your company and increasing your success.
However, if you’ve ever tried to hire the perfect candidate for your team, you know it takes hundreds of hours, dedicated resources, and expertise to find the right fit.
And once the candidate is hired, your job doesn’t end there. You then have to devote time to onboarding, ongoing training, and implementing strategies to keep your employees engaged.
And even after all that work, there is still a chance for turnover or for your employees to underperform. But despite these possibilities, there are ways for you to increase your chances of hiring success.
In its 16 years of recruiting experience, Naviga has worked with hundreds of companies that initially struggled, but found ways to successfully grow their teams, and thus their profits and sales. What these companies have in common are leaders that do whatever it takes to overcome five common challenges that cause many businesses to stumble, namely STARS:
- Selling the Opportunity
- Time to Recruit
- Access to Top Talent
- Retaining and Elevating Star Performers
- Selection Skills
Below, we outline 5 of the biggest challenges companies face today when building a star team, and include suggestions for overcoming these obstacles. It is possible for any business to build a star team, but only if leaders look at the time they spend on recruiting and employee retention as an investment, and not just another task to check off their list.
OBSTACLE 1: SELLING THE OPPORTUNITY
Star candidates will not apply to companies and job opportunities that are not attractively positioned. Just as you would sell your clients and prospects or your products and services, you must sell current and future employees on your company.
Below are a few suggested actions you should take to help you position your company as an attractive employer to highly qualified candidates:
- Research the culture, compensation, perks, and benefits common in your industry
- Create a crisp elevator pitch of why star professionals would want to join your firm
- And, sell candidates throughout the hiring process – don’t just evaluate them. Successful companies know that star candidates have choices – including staying where they are!
DO YOUR RESEARCH
To sell your open positions, you need to understand the market environment around you. For example, right now we are in a candidate-driven market with a low employment rate. The number of job opportunities in the U.S. exceeds the number of qualified candidates in many industries. Also, job titles and cultural expectations are changing frequently so you need to stay up-to-date with the current trends.
Start researching trends in other companies in your field or industry with regards to salaries, titles, responsibilities, and other benefits. Really dig deep to find out what your competitors are doing differently to attract top talent.
Once you identify the overarching trends, realign your offerings and carry the thinking through to your hiring process. For example, if you are planning to build a team of millennials who value a collaborative team environment, don’t emphasize (or build) a culture of hyper-competitive individualism.
CREATE AN ELEVATOR PITCH
Next, you need to create an elevator pitch that would entice star candidates to leave their current employer and join you. Use your research to come up with a pitch that is both concise and appealing. Do you have excellent benefits and bonuses? Are you located in an up-and-coming segment of the industry? Is the culture amazing?
Get into the mindset that you need to meet or exceed what others in the market offer (culture, compensation, or culture, but not all three) to attract star candidates. The bottom-line – you should be able to answer the question “Why should I work here?” In answering this question for candidates, don’t forget to think about how you are going to present your strengths as well as your weaknesses.
ALWAYS BE SELLING
Throughout your recruiting process – from the job description to the job offer – follow the old adage “Always be Selling”.
Today’s top candidates are often thriving in their current role and have recruiters and companies reaching out to them daily about new opportunities. Your biggest challenge is to convince them to leave their current company for the great unknown.
And even when you do convince them to leave, their current employers aren’t going to let them go easily. Counter-offers are common with this crowd! You have to build excitement to the level that a person is willing to risk their own well-being and the well-being of their family to join your company.
You must perform a balancing act when recruiting for a star team. You are evaluating the candidates to ensure they fit your needs, but you are also trying to provide candidates with enough information so they can make an informed decision about a career with your company.
Also, it’s important to stress this mindset to your entire team. It only takes one person in your recruiting process to unsell a candidate. We have too many examples to count of interview team members intentionally undermining the process, mistakenly sharing information better left unsaid, or thinking their job is only to evaluate and not answer candidate questions.
Honesty and openness are important to talented candidates. The good ones know how to ask questions to help understand the environment and they know when they aren’t getting the whole story. If you’re misleading or make promises you can’t keep, just know a top candidate will easily be able to find a company that can meet their needs.
OBSTACLE 2: TIME TO RECRUIT
One of the biggest challenges to building a star team is time to recruit top talent!
Dealing with the day-to-day business of working with clients, managing your team, maintaining the HVAC equipment to create the ideal room temperature, and performing your own job duties often encroaches on the time needed to hire new employees.
On top of that, the hiring process is time-consuming. From reviewing resumes and conducting interviews to checking references and making an offer, the length of time between a job opening and the candidate’s start date can be months. And the best candidates are off the market within 10 days!
So, how much time is actually required to properly execute a recruiting process?
On average, the time it takes to fill a given position is 42 days, according to the 2016 Human Capital Benchmarking Report. And, those days aren’t spent sitting idly waiting for candidates to apply for your position. You’re working the entire time on the following tasks:
- Creating the job description and advertising online
- Searching LinkedIn or other sources for top employees in related fields
- Reaching out to targeted candidates and applicants multiple times via phone and email to sell the opportunity
- Scheduling and performing in-depth interviews with interested and qualified candidates
- Conducting in-person, team interviews
- Checking professional references
- Scheduling and reviewing online assessments for candidates
- Crafting and extending the offer
- Engaging with the candidate during their notice period, and planning for a successful onboarding experience.
If you don’t dedicate sufficient time and resources to doing all of these activities, you risk hiring the wrong candidate for your open position. Even worse, you could delay the hiring process, losing out on potential revenue while the position goes unfilled.
You really have two options to address the time to recruit obstacle, namely:
- Do it Yourself / Internally
- Pay a Professional
Here’s what to consider with each of these approaches:
DO IT YOURSELF
With a solid plan and execution, it is reasonable to hire star candidates in 45 days. However, it’s going to take time, money, and effort to achieve great results. The table below summarizes some of the costs associated with Do It Yourself:
| ACTIVITY | TIME FRAME | POTENTIAL COST |
|---|---|---|
| Advertising Jobs | 4 hours per position | $200 – $1,500 per position |
| Identify 100-150 Candidates on Target Databases | 10-15 hours per position | $1,200 to $6,000 annually |
| Screening Potential Candidates for Fit and Interest | 30-40 hours per position | |
| Team Interviews with Finalist Candidates | 12-15 hours per position | |
| 3rd Party Sales Assessments Tools (DISC, OMG, Tri-Metrix) | $100-400 per candidate |
While we outline the tactics and costs associated with doing it yourself, the other considerations include the skill of the person or persons that are completing the tasks and their relative availability to put sustained effort on these tasks.
Recruiting star candidates takes professionalism and responsiveness. If time is not applied consistently and professionally, you risk losing the interest of top talent due to delays or lack of follow-up.
HIRE A RECRUITER
Your second solution to the time challenge is using a recruitment specialist. This approach will also cost you money, but you won’t have to devote nearly as much time or effort to the process.
Just from the quick snapshot above, you can see that hiring a recruiter will easily save you 50 hours of time and energy on promoting the position, reaching out to targeted reps, and screening potential candidates for interest and fit.
The benefit of using a recruiter is that you’re paying them to do all the heavy lifting – leaving you time to focus on your business. With a recruiter, you will also know your expense as most recruiters tie their fees to the pay for your hired candidate.
Another consideration is the expertise you get when using a recruiter. A professional recruiter is searching and interacting with candidates every day and has become an expert at what to look for and who to weed out. They will even have an understanding of the latest trends in the industry and what it will take for a star candidate to accept a new position at your company.
Also, many recruiting firms specialize by industry, position, and even location so you can be sure to partner with a recruiting firm that meets your specific needs.
Finally, a recruiting firm will manage all the steps it takes to close the candidate. From the offer stage to checking references, all of these tasks will be completed by the recruitment firm.
OBSTACLE 3: ACCESS TO TOP TALENT
Even if you have the time and resources to find top candidates, you still have to know where to find them and how to reach out to them to encourage a response.
Many businesses rely on job ads to attract top performers to their positions and will choose their employees solely from this candidate pool. However, the chances are small that star candidates who meet your specific requirements will apply to your position.
Top employees are most likely employed and being rewarded for achieving results – so they are not likely seeking other positions or looking at job ads.
Instead, you need to take action to find these top candidates.
There are generally two ways you can do this, and both involve expense and connections:
- Pay LinkedIn for access to advanced search capabilities to find targeted candidates and assign dedicated resources to reach out to candidates
- Hire a specialized Recruiter to access their database and connections
PAY FOR LINKEDIN RECRUITER OR SALES NAVIGATOR
Many owners and professionals already use the free or premium versions of LinkedIn to connect with other professionals in their industry. However, LinkedIn only gives you visibility to a slice of the database – generally, those closely linked to your own network. In order to find the best professionals, you will need to look outside of your own network as well.
To go beyond your network and to get an advanced search for finding candidates by industry, seniority and other key factors, you will have to upgrade beyond premium to either LinkedIn’s Sales Navigator or Recruiter editions. In addition to advanced search abilities, these licenses include the ability to send messages (InMails) without being connected.
While LinkedIn Recruiter or Sales Navigator are great options to find top candidates, there are some things you need to consider first. The paid version of LinkedIn Recruiter is expensive and could cost you up to $6,000 a seat, and Recruiter Lite is over $1,000 per year.
Also, you’re going to need a lot of time and resources to reach out to these candidates. On average, you will need to contact 100-150 candidates for a new position multiple times, screen them for interest in new opportunities, and move them through further discussions if they express an interest. This outreach effort takes extensive time and experience to properly engage and sell a candidate for your position and company.
PARTNER WITH A RECRUITING FIRM
Hiring a recruiting firm is not just about avoiding the significant time required to find star candidates. A recruiter’s existing network, connections, and subscriptions are part of the cost-benefit analysis.
A professional recruiter will already have subscriptions to LinkedIn Recruiter, other 3rd party databases, their own established network, and an internal database of thousands of pre-screened candidates. Plus, they have already gathered personal contact details such as phone numbers and email addresses that aren’t readily available on LinkedIn.
Not only do recruiters have access to a database of qualified candidates, they also have experience in gaining the interest of candidates that are not actively seeking positions. Whether it is proven scripts that work, methodologies that have been refined over time, or understanding of how to request referrals, specialized recruiters know how to use their access to engage the right candidates for your position.
OBSTACLE 4: RETAINING AND ELEVATING STAR PERFORMERS
Hiring and recruiting top employees is only one piece of the puzzle when building a star team. Leading your team in a way that retains star talent and elevates the performance of your players is critical to building an enduring and thriving business.
In our experience working with many different organizations, there are a few key actions companies take to retain and elevate their star performers, including:
- Providing strong dedicated leadership
- Providing training opportunities and coaching
- Pruning your poor performers
PROVIDE STRONG LEADERSHIP
I’m sure you’ve heard the saying, ‘People don’t quit a job – they quit a boss.’ And while a bad boss is not the only reason people leave a company, it still plays a huge role when an employee is deciding to leave their current role.
As a leader, it’s your job to provide direction, instructions, and guidance for your team. You need to support your employees in ways that will enhance their success, not just your own.
Try to spend more time with your team, really get to know them, and find ways to motivate them. The more you pay attention to what’s important to them and their success, the better your chances of keeping them engaged and retained at your company.
ONGOING TRAINING
Just because you have a team of top employees doesn’t mean they won’t need any training or additional coaching.
You should provide training programs – internal or external, accountability meetings, and the right tools and technology for them to be successful.
Talk with your team and ask them what type of training they need or which skill set they want to improve on. If you don’t personally have the skills to train them, there are plenty of online courses and certifications that can help get them the training they need. Training not only improves a team member’s skills, but it will also keep them engaged.
Also, initial job training is essential, but you should also have a well-thought-out onboarding plan. While the new hire orientation can be done relatively quickly, onboarding is a process that can take up to 12 months. With a robust process, the right tools, and effective measures, you will help your team become ready quicker and start contributing faster. Failure to provide strong onboarding training leads to a higher level of turnover in the first year.
PRUNING POOR PERFORMERS
One of the biggest impediments to building a strong team of star performers is the presence of poor performers on your team. Poor performers pull down the morale of your entire team and consume valuable leadership time.
The longer you leave poor performers on the team, the more risk you have of losing the top performers you want to keep. Top performers will grow increasingly frustrated at the lack of leadership in dealing with others who aren’t pulling their weight or are cancerous with their attitudes.
However, we recommend you have a departure plan in place first before terminating any employees. You don’t want to be left scrambling to cover their job responsibilities while looking for a replacement.
If you’re worried about your current team finding out about a potential new hire, partner with a recruiting firm. A recruiter can find you top talent while being discreet and never having to post an open job on your website.
OBSTACLE 5: SELECTION SKILLS
It’s impossible to build your star team if you or your team lack experience selecting star professionals.
Oftentimes, the first place you will get tripped up is when reviewing resumes. If you don’t know what to look for or the right follow-up questions to ask, then a resume can be very deceiving. Also, interviews can be difficult to navigate as well. Candidates present the best version of themselves at interviews and it can be hard to determine if they’re just charismatic, or if they’re actually a top performer.
To be successful at the selection process, you and your team need to become really strong in a few key areas, namely:
- Understanding the requirements of open positions
- Involving the team in the interview process
- Asking the right questions during interviews
UNDERSTAND REQUIREMENTS
You first need to identify what that ideal candidate looks like and have a solid understanding of what requirements and characteristics are needed for each position.
For example, what characteristics best match your company culture? What type of experience do they need? What are the most critical factors for success? If you’re clear about these requirements upfront, then you increase your chances of hiring the right candidate the first time around.
After you’ve identified the requirements, make sure everyone on the interview team has a clear understanding of what they are. You and your team should evaluate candidates against these requirements and drill into their experience, along with daily and weekly behaviors, rather than relying on personality and charisma.
INVOLVE YOUR TEAM
Many companies don’t involve their team during the interview process and that is a big mistake. Involving your team helps you get a broader, unbiased perspective of your candidate. Plus, who knows the culture of your company better than the people who work there?
One thing to keep in mind when using your team is that not every member of your interview team is going to have experience hiring for that particular role. Make sure to create an ideal candidate profile for your team members to review, meet with your team before the interviews, and set expectations for during the interview.
We recommend assigning specific requirements to individual members of the team so that you don’t overlap what you are covering and you get all your requirements covered by someone.
And finally, schedule a time to meet with your team to discuss their candidate evaluations shortly after the interviews are finished so everyone’s thoughts are fresh on their minds.
ASK THE RIGHT QUESTIONS
After your interview team is set and everyone knows which requirement is assigned to them, you need to choose the right questions to ask during the interview. Each interview team member should ask questions based on their specific requirements.
For example, if you want your new employee to be goal-oriented, you could ask them “Are you doing a good job in your current position? How do you know?” Or, “How have you gotten around obstacles that prevented you from succeeding in your role? Describe the obstacle and how you got around it.”
Also, these questions should be open-ended so your team can probe the response and look for behavioral examples.
CONCLUSION
A company’s biggest asset is its employees. After all, they’re the ones selling your products or service, representing your company to clients and prospects, providing customer support, helping your revenue soar, and much more. However, many business owners take their employees for granted and don’t put in the necessary effort to build a strong foundation of star performers.
Building a star team should be a top priority for your company. You will undoubtedly run into one or more of the obstacles mentioned above, but now you have the knowledge of how to conquer them and help your team succeed.
Which obstacle(s) is preventing you from building a star team that achieves your desired results?
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