Gear up for New Year’s hires

Merit Gest //January 11, 2013//

Gear up for New Year’s hires

Merit Gest //January 11, 2013//

All the folks who made New Year’s resolutions involving making a change in their work life are back in the office.  They may be in your office.  Or maybe they didn’t wait around for the end of the year bonus check and they already left, giving you an opportunity to hire someone better.

If the thought of hiring leaves you anxious and overwhelmed, you are not alone.  Many managers, business owners and key executives are apprehensive about hiring new talent because they are not sure what they will do with their new hire once that person shows up to work.

This is your wake-up call.

While people are actively engaged in making changes in their work life, you can be actively engaged in creating a process for them to follow so they get ramped up in their new role quickly.  Just as a person re-evaluates their current job at this time of the year to see what may be possible for them, so should you, the employer, re-evaluate your situation.

First of all, take stock of the talent you have on your team right now.  Who is about to retire and take their know-how with them?  Who is ready for a promotion leaving you with a void?  Who will be transferring to or starting a new territory?

If you have a seasoned team, or you are building or rebuilding a team, start with clear job expectation agreements and descriptions.  Know exactly what a top performer would look like, what they would do and where they would be in terms of actions and results at specific time milestones.

Next, consider your culture.  It’s important that you hire with culture in mind and build into your Onboarding strategy some specifically designed experiences that communicate your culture effectively.

Take the opportunity of a fresh start in this new year to commit to starting each new person you hire on the right foot with these two simple action items:

1.Clarify job expectation agreements
2.Create 3-5 activities that demonstrate evidence of your strong culture
If you can do both of those things, you’ll be in pretty good shape . . . and isn’t that on everyone’s list at this time of year?