You know that great employee who goes above and beyond, sending emails on the weekend with an idea, proactively suggesting improvements for the company, or just spreading goodness about your brand? This kind of employee is what makes a business, and I have had the good fortune to work with many of them.
What I have learned more than anything in my four years running Sircle Media is that the right hires mean everything. Without good people who work hard and believe in the cause, it’s very difficult for a business to succeed. The wrong person, or worse, an unhappy employee, can be crippling. (Trust me, I’ve seen that side of the coin, too.) The time spent on your staff recruitment and personal and professional development is critical if you want to win.
Interested in learning how to hire the right people? I’ve noticed that the best employees at Sircle fall into two categories.
1. The farm system
An intern at our company continued to work with us over multiple semesters, knowing deep down that this was definitely the place for them. The nice part for me is that I was able to assess their skills and sense of responsibility. We had the chance to pick the cream of the crop amongst many candidates seen side by side. Most of my best employees have come to me this way.
2. The grass-is-greener system
I have also found success in bringing in people who have worked at other social and digital agencies for a year or so. They have a good feel for what they like and don’t like in an employer. When they feel it deep down in their core, they work harder and they become amazing advocates for the company.
I am a big believer in hiring based on the person, and then training them on the skills. Many other companies will use headhunters to find the individual with all of the boxes checked and the experience in specific areas, but if that person is not a hard and motivated worker and doesn’t play nicely with others, then they are useless in my book. Every company is a community, and that community needs to be comprised of good people who care and contribute positively.
That is one of the things that attracted me to WeWork when I signed my lease in February 2015. I loved that the values at WeWork mirrored mine, and it offered credibility in what I was promoting to my staff. The mantras of working hard, always hustling, and doing what you love are very close to the core ethos at Sircle Media. I have a small company of 10 employees, but now they feel part of a bigger organization thousands-strong and one that espouses the same belief system as mine. It has actually helped me recruit new, great people, as they get the upside of working for a small company that is housed within a larger one.
Photos: Lauren Kallen