david hieatt

 1, Imagine the worst.

 

If you can imagine how painful it would be to have to fire this person, both for them and for you, you would do everything you could to make sure they are the right person for this job.

 

2, Separate emotion.

 

You want them to be a good fit. But fit is one thing and the ability to do the job can be quite another. Separate the fact that you like them from whether they can do the job. Ideally, they would be both. That’s the aim. But failing that, they need to be able to do the job first.

 

3, Hire slowly.

 

Make the interview last a month. Spend time with them. See them over a weekend. See them in different situations. Let the team spend time with them. The more time you can give here, the less time you will spend regretting things later.

 

4, There are no bad CV’s.

 

People are great on paper. People are great in interviews. Maybe the best way to determine how good they would be at the job is to get them to do the job. So set them a project. Make it a real project with a real deadline. That will give you a good steer.

 

5, Expensive is cheap.

 

Hire the best, always. They may be more expensive, but there is a reason for that. They will save you money in the end. If your budget is small and have to hire enthusiasm over experience, make sure you have someone who can guide them while they learn on the job. If you don’t have that person, they will cost you a lot of money. Money you could have spent increasing your budget to afford someone with experience.

 

6, Hire hunger over talent. Hire integrity over hunger.

 

The most important thing is to know that you can trust them. If you don’t have this, you don’t have anything. Once you are happy and settled on this, then you would ideally find a very hungry talented person. If you can’t find that person, hire hunger over talent. Hunger will keep working at their Talent, until one day they have more Talent than just Talent alone.

 

7, Better to wait.

 

You will be under pressure to get people on board as soon as possible. And you may be tempted to compromise. But if you are not sure at the beginning, it rarely gets better with time. Then you will have real pressure because you will have to tell that person to leave the company. It is much easier to hire than to fire. So take your time and be sure. If you are not sure, wait.

 

 8, Teams win.

 

You are building a team. And a great team will build a great business and it will be fun along the way. If you have one person who respects his time and his talents above everyone else’s, it will be difficult. The fun will quickly go. One prima donna can stop the team being a team. And the most important thing is the team.

 

9, Can the business afford to hire?

 

Your business is growing and because it is growing you think you have to hire more and more people because that’s what you what you do, right? But before you do, it would be good to give the business discipline to justify that hire. How much will they increase sales by? How much will they increase profitability by? If the business stops growing, will it still be able afford them? Make sure the numbers add up before you give the business more costs. Otherwise pretty soon you will have to let them go. That’s no fun.

 

10, Let them fly.

 

Once you have given them the job, then you have to give them something even more valuable: your trust. Sure they will make mistakes, sure they will mess up here and there, but deep down you know have really thought long and hard about hiring them and you will keep trusting them because your instinct tells you that is the thing to do. Back them. And keep backing them.

Let them fly. Provide an environment for them to thrive. Give them the space to shine. Then sit back and watch them grow. It’s the best feeling.