Category: Blog

I was in a sales meeting with a well-known company that was touting its latest AI tool. One of the sales people (there were several in the room) casually mentioned that recruiters only look at resumes for six seconds. I bristled at his comment and suggested that the statistic he offered did not ring true for me.

I’m a talent acquisition professional who has led large teams and hired for vastly different industries, organizations, and position types. And it’s true that a resume may not get much attention beyond an initial evaluation for all sorts of reasons. However, I fear that this statistic has perpetuated the idea that recruiters are shallow thinkers who only look for keywords or job titles as a way to assess a candidate. And that couldn’t be further from the truth.

The 6-Second Origin

The Ladders first conducted an eye-tracking study in 2012. Findings showed that recruiters spent six seconds scanning a resume.

They redid the study in 2018 using a two-stage process. They focused on speed in the first stage and in the second stage, through eye-tracking technology, they focused on what recruiters paid attention to when reading a resume. They found that the time a recruiter spends on a resume increased to 7.4 seconds.

A closer review of the study’s results shows that the report is essentially a how-to guide intended to help people make their resumes easier to read. And sure enough, there emerged plenty of online resume templates to “pass” the scan.

A simple Google search of “6 second resume scan” yielded thousands of articles that referenced this metric. Essentially, this measurement was used as clickbait, and many of the articles that I saw referenced “studies have shown” without a link or other details about those studies. Interesting, I thought.

Also “interesting”: The majority of these articles 1) were not written by recruiters or 2) were selling something.

One website even offered the chance to “take the 6 second challenge.” I took the challenge. What recruiter doesn’t like a challenge? It turns out that six seconds goes very quickly when trying to read and comprehend a resume.

Meanwhile, the Ladders 2018 report does not specify the types of positions or lengths of resumes that recruiters were scanning. It also doesn’t state how many recruiters were in the study, their experience, or how many times they repeated the two-stage study to reach their conclusion.

What Do Recruiters Think?

I posed this question in a recruiter Facebook group. There were three camps that seemed to emerge:

1. Recruiters who took pride in evaluating resumes very quickly
2. Recruiters who qualified that their time spent reviewing resumes was dependent on the complexity of the position
3. Recruiters who agreed that six seconds was not enough time to make a thorough evaluation

My empirical evidence was inconclusive except to solidify further the idea that the six-second scan is not a hard metric that speaks for the talent acquisition profession. And it shouldn’t be bandied about by salespeople or well-meaning websites as a standard.

What’s more, it damages the profession. Like many broadly consumed and lightly understood beliefs, it does more harm than good by perpetuating the idea that recruiters lack critical thinking skills or that they are just out to make a buck.

Plus, in these days of unprecedented separations, it does little to build trust in one of the most important relationships a candidate can have because it supports the “I just need to get past the recruiter” mindset. It also fails to position the recruiter as an advocate for the candidate.

So Now What?

If it were true that recruiters will only review a resume for six seconds, would that mean they should be expected to review 10 resumes a minute? Perhaps 300 resumes in 30 minutes? I realize that this is part of the reason that an AI vendor would tout this metric.

I’m not sure if the folks at The Ladders intended to produce anything more than evidence to help people see the value of an uncluttered resume. And if a 2012 study’s results demonstrated a six-second scan and then a 2018 study increased to a 7.4-second scan, do you suppose that a 2020 study would have different results?

I also wonder what the recruiters in the study were told. Did they think they were being assessed on how quickly they were able to size up a candidate?

The Real Deal

Recruiters are faced with time constraints, ill-defined positions, and outdated job descriptions. They are asked to review all incoming resumes and profiles, source effectively, build candidate relationships, pipeline passive candidates, and in many cases, manage the administrative duties that come along with these responsibilities.

No surprise, then, that sheer volume of resumes can sometimes cause recruiters to panic and feel that they “must” evaluate them quickly to keep from falling behind. Though of course, there are also times when a candidate’s background is clearly unsuitable for a particular job and a recruiter won’t spend much time examining its contents, regardless of the layout.

These realities may make the idea of a six second or 7.4 second scan more believable.

But regardless of exactly how long recruiters spend reviewing resumes, all this belies the true profession — which is that recruiters are expected to quickly produce a complete and unbiased assessment of a person’s background based on a few sheets of paper. It’s a tough assignment. And it isn’t easily accomplished in just seconds. It often requires an understanding of a broad range of industries, professions and even companies. (For example, a VP title at one company may equate to a director level position at another.) It also requires a deep understanding of the jobs they are recruiting.

Ultimately, the six-second metric reminds me of what I call vacuum metrics. Sometimes a simple metric can be repeated often and applied in different situations based on what someone is trying to accomplish. The metric can become a talking point because it’s easy for a wide range of people to understand and for someone to recall when needed.

But it’s no more meaningful than a random number. It just sits there, void of any context or contingencies as people attach their own assumptions based on what they know or think they know about the topic.

As an alternative, if there were a study of the average time a recruiter spends on a specific job type, I think we’d see a range of results similar to the comments in the Facebook group. If we evaluated the time an executive recruiter spends on a resume review or a recruiter who is part of the academic hiring process or a recruiter who hires for retail positions, I think that the average results would be different in each instance.

My simple point is that the factors that determine how long a recruiter spends on a resume are as varied as resumes themselves. And it would be difficult to sum up those variations with one measurement.

Still, if a study like the one I suggest, is conducted, I’ll volunteer.

Is talent acquisition and recruiting the same thing? It’s a question I’ve gotten repeatedly and some would say it doesn’t really matter. I disagree, allow me to explain.

Talent acquisition is proactive; whereas, recruiting is reactive. Recruiting is a short term, need-based approach. Talent Acquisition is a long-term, comprehensive approach to adding talent to your business. It’s the super power a growing company needs.

Recruiting is one element of a talent acquisition function and it could be plucked out. That means that hiring happens when the need arises. Easy enough, right? Probably not. First, the financial downside of recruiting can be significant. Greater costs to contractors, agency fees, extended position vacancies and, most upsetting, lost revenue. Further, people who are readily available may not have the skills and values that you need to continue to grow your business.

Below are a few key points about the importance of a talent acquisition function for your business.

1. Your employer brand is your talent brand.

What is your business’ reputation? A brand, at its core, is how your business is perceived by your customers and by your employees. Have you checked social media or platforms such as GlassDoor or LinkedIn? In addition to providing company-approved content, these sites allow employees to share their points of view.

The people you want to hire check these sites (among others) to assess your brand’s authenticity. Authentic brands are attractive to candidates and when they become your employees, authenticity is necessary to maintain a positive employee experience.

2. Your hiring problems are business problems.

Talent needs aren’t separate from the business, they are intricately woven together. I have worked with dozens of hiring managers who think that the talent acquisition process is an HR function. The truth is, if you don’t have the right talent, you have a serious business problem. Aside from increased costs, when positions remain empty or you hire the wrong people you will, undoubtedly, have static. You know, that distracting crackling sound? That is the sound of your current employees wondering how long it’s going to go on and quite possibly, they are updating their LinkedIn account.

3. Talent Acquisition works best with a team mindset.

When a hiring manager collaborates with an internal talent acquisition partner (recruiter), she or he can immediately add value to your business. If you want to attract top talent, invite your TA partner to your team meetings and inform them of upcoming projects. TA partners will better understand your team’s strengths and business goals. And, you can get their input on what’s happening in the world of talent attraction and engagement. In the course of a year, your TA partner will speak with plenty of people that you NEVER will. Shouldn’t they be armed with all the best information about what differentiates your team and business?

4. Talent acquisition is not one-size-fits-all

Depending on the size and maturity of your business, an internal talent acquisition structure can look very different. Understanding the short-and-long-term business goals, revenue targets, and talent gaps will be key. Talent Acquisition can function effectively in a centralized or decentralized (or blended) model, but it should always be aligned to the goals of your business.

Additionally, TA partner skillsets can vary greatly. It is unlikely that a successful high-volume TA partner will have the necessary skills to be effective at finding and engaging executive candidates.

5. Talent acquisition is a specialty

I appreciate my HR generalist friends; they have a tough job. And, while I have never met an HR generalist who enjoys and is proficient at talent acquisition, that doesn’t mean they don’t exist. Even if they do have the experience, chances are they don’t have the time to properly focus on TA. PwC recently published their 23rd annual survey of global CEOs. It revealed that 80% of CEOs are concerned about the availability of skills. Another recent study suggested that 73% of today’s workers are not actively looking for a job, but they would consider a new opportunity if the right one came along.

This leaves companies with a greater need to attract and engage candidates regularly, authentically and proactively.

Final Thoughts

This is not an all-inclusive list. It is a starting point to think about the value of an in-house talent acquisition function. If you have an internal TA partner already, that’s great. Leverage their knowledge of the talent market and your business to make valuable hires. If you don’t have a TA Partner and you plan to hire people for your business this year, seriously consider hiring one or two. TA partners who have the skills and tenacity to help you build your business aren’t always easy to find, but their impact is undeniable.

I’ll admit that some days feel like the world may never be the same. I was watching an older episode of Lip Sync Battle.…in bed…on my phone. It was early this past Saturday morning and I wasn’t ready to get up and start another day yet. The celebrities on this episode were Anna Kendrik and John Krasinski. And, as John entered the stage, he gave several audience members a high five. And, my first thought was, “oh my gosh, that would never happen NOW!” That’s when I knew, we may never look at human interaction the same way again. And, toilet paper. I vow to never take toilet paper for granted.

The somber truth is that we are quickly realizing that the economics of COVID-19 is far-reaching. The hospitality, service, airline, retail and food services industries have been rocked to their core. The government has stepped in an unprecedented way with a 2 trillion-dollar stimulus package and still, we’re wondering if it will have the impact we hope it will have.

For talent acquisition partners, I think it’s the opportunity to build and deepen our professional connections.

One Size Does Not Fit All

I’ve never ever been a fan of a one- size-fits-all recruiting strategy. There are a finite number of channels that you use to market any position. I’ve counted ten. That’s it. For all the social, hosted, and niche social platforms out there, a recruiter at any point in time for any position has 10 channels to create their outreach strategy. The channels you choose are like a deck of cards. You’ve got 52 cards and must decide how you want to divide your deck. The cards represent where you’ve decided to post your position. Job posts are a one-way street. Though you should never under estimate the power of a well-written ad, they simply push information out into the market.

The diversity of your strategy depends on where your potential candidates hang out (meaning, where their profiles and/or forums are online). Take a look at one of your strategies for a current opening. Have you stacked your deck and put all 52 cards in LinkedIn Recruiter because it’s what you usually do? Have you considered professional associations or college alumni channels? What about your own ATS? Remember, those are warm leads since they’ve already applied to your company.

A Measurable Strategy is a Smart Strategy

Source data is your friend. Some TA partners get too attached to a particular channel to identify potential candidates. Never choose a strategy because it worked last time, things are changing too quickly. Don’t be afraid to try something new and adjust the strategy as you go.

The bottom line is that in order to build a powerful network, you must have an understanding of your target candidate to know where to find them. And, start a search with a strategy that you assess along the way.

The Fun Begins

Once you have decided on your strategy and posted your position, the real action begins when you start to identify candidates.

While it’s true that scores of people that have been impacted by COVID-19 and unemployment numbers have spiked, the companies that are going to come out ahead are those that prioritize a candidate’s experience. And, the best candidates, the seemingly elusive A players, are successful and you’d better believe that they have options, even today.

Your Focus

Your focus is to move candidates into your company’s ATS. It doesn’t matter if you manually add them or they submit their information online, your first order of business is to get candidates into your ATS.

Don’t get me wrong, it’s a great idea to connect with people on professional social sites. Right now, your number one job is to identify and engage with the candidates for the positions you are managing. If your company doesn’t have an ATS, social professional sites have similar ways to connect and engage with people.

Your Attention

Time is your most precious commodity. And, one of the most effective ways to manage relationships is through your ATS or similar relationship management platform because you are funneling everyone to one system. This provides you the greatest likelihood of finding the ideal candidate and being able communicate regularly.

Continue to be intentional with your candidate follow up. How (phone, email blast, text) matters less than the fact that you communicate. A brief message (even if it’s just that the job is still paused) can yield significant results. And, it may be the difference between hope and hopelessness. Don’t underestimate your ability to make an impact.

The Big Picture

As you build your network within a system that you control and regularly communicate with people, you may be the person who encourages someone who was recently laid off or provides the chance for someone to get into the field that always wanted to be in. Prioritize communicating well with the people in your network because they are paying attention to how you communicate with them.

This seems like a straightforward question, but it has a few layers to it.  Let’s take a look at each layer, one at a time.

Hiring someone, in any capacity, requires a plan.  A hiring plan must fit into your business strategy.  This doesn’t have to be a long, drawn-out process like those hefty business plans MBA students write.  But it does have to be specific to your business.  It can be answered with just a few key questions and simple guidelines.  And, fortunately, it can evolve with you as your business evolves.

The first layer is a question to ask yourself: Do I need to build, borrow, or buy?

This isn’t intended to make people akin to products sitting on a shelf.  Rather, it’s to help quantify a hiring need.  By quantifying a hiring need, we start to remove the debilitating emotions of fear and frustration that hamper our ability to make an informed decision.

When it comes to hiring, build indicates that you are going to train someone currently on your team.  The upside is that you already have confidence and trust in their capabilities, they just need to learn something new.  The downside is that it will take time for them to build their knowledge and develop a degree of expertise.

Buy indicates a decision to hire an employee.  The parameters can vary, it can be full or part time; temporary or regular (I don’t use the word permanent since most employment falls into the at-will category).  The upside is that you gain an immediate injection of their experience, skills, and abilities into your business and they quickly add value to your team.  The downside is that it can be difficult to find, assess and hire someone with all the skills and qualities we seek.  A “bad” hire is a costly mistake. Some studies put this cost at $15K per hire.

Borrow is when we temporarily engage a contractor to do work on our behalf.  The upside is that we can make a decision quickly and with little effort.  The downside is that we don’t always know what to ask in order to make an informed decision.

This leads us to the next layer of our hiring plan: understanding the nature of a contractual relationship.

Contractors are highly specialized experts in their field.  They are often hired for a specific outcome and yet, it can be difficult to assess the skills of one contractor to another.  In part, because they market their offerings in different ways.  And, in speaking with my clients, they sometimes hesitate because they don’t want to make a mistake.  This is where I remind them of the next reality of the nature of hiring a contractor…

The truest contractor relationships are transactional in nature.  We hire someone to create a website, for example.  They are a specialist who has the expertise and we only need them to do this one thing.  The specifics of the engagement can be determined through a discussion, but the end goal is clear, in this case, to create a website.   Consider another example.  If I saw my neighbor power wash her house using a high-powered washer, I may ask her to borrow it. I wouldn’t use it to wash my car or water my lawn, but I will use it for the specialized thing I need it to do, power wash my house.  This transaction exists regardless of my relationship with my neighbor.  She could say yes or no and they’d still be my lovely neighbor.  If they were kind enough to agree, I would use it carefully and provide the appropriate neighborly payment for their generosity.  The transaction would be defined during our discussion: when I wanted to use it, what type of soap to purchase, how long it might take, and other questions related to the transaction so I can get the result I want.

This leads us to the third layer and another question: What do I ask a contractor?

This is where the “rubber meets the road”.  If we’ve done our homework and considered the first two layers, they are most useful when we are face to face or Zoom (as the case may be) with someone we are considering hiring as a contractor.

Sticking with the website example, it’s plain to see that on any given platform, like Fiverr or Upwork, there are dozens of potential contractors and it would be easy to feel a little overwhelmed.  Contracting isn’t new and it’s only gaining popularity.  Sometimes, it seems like everyone is getting in on it as a “side-hustle” or full-time gig.  Or, if we just toss the proverbial, who do you know, question out to friends and family, there’s a good chance that someone knows someone who thinks they have the perfect person for the job.

The first key to having a productive conversation is to well, decide to have a conversation.  It’s not likely that making a decision based on their marketing or their references (as good as they may be) will provide us the most benefit without an interview.  An interview is a critical step in this process and should not be overlooked in the name of expediency.   Here’s a brief overview of a productive interview:

1. Make them comfortable. Comfortable conversations are productive conversations. Steer clear of any personal questions, but you can ask other get-to-know-you questions such as how they got started or what they enjoy most about the work they do.

2. Ask everyone the same outcomes-focused questions. Outside of my work as a recruiter for my entrepreneur clients, I’ve interviewed contractors for my business.  Recently, I was looking for a Facebook ads specialist.  Even with all the Facebook ads specialists out there, it was easy to zero in on a handful because I knew the outcome I was seeking.  I asked the same set of questions in all 5 interviews.  In the first 4 discussions, it was clear early in the conversation that they weren’t going to be a good match for me.  The 5^th conversation was great in both skills and communication.  Hiring was a cinch at that point.

Outcomes-focused questions are different than task-focused questions.  I didn’t ask them to list for me the things they did (I’m not a Facebook ads specialist, I assume they know how to do their job), rather I asked about the types of outcomes they got for their clients.  We discussed project specifics, timeframe, industry, results, and communication preferences.  By asking simple, outcomes-focused questions, I was able to silence all the marketing speak and ask the questions I really wanted to be answered in order to gain the clarity I needed.

3. Finally, don’t hesitate to ask questions that get down to the nitty-gritty. How many clients do they have?  What is their preferred method of communication?  How often do updates occur?  Is there an option to contact them after hours?  What type of guarantee do they offer?  What will they need from me in order to be successful? What additional costs may come up in the project? What steps can be taken if there’s a change in the project?

All of these questions help uncover potential issues before they become a problem.  Thus, increasing the confidence in a decision.

If you’re an entrepreneur who seeks to be a CEO of their business and not simply trade one full time job for a slew of part time jobs, hiring contractors is a relatively easy way to get help as you grow your business.

With one large looming caveat: how do we make the most of a contractor engagement?

When time is precious (as it always is) and we decide to hire a qualified contractor, we quickly feel a sense of relief because someone will be doing the things that we didn’t make a priority or didn’t know how to do. However, we are faced with the dilemma of making the most of this new relationship that while being transactional in nature, as we talked about here, it’s still a relationship.

And, relationships can easily go awry.

Fortunately, there’s a recipe that will help make sure that your business doesn’t become one of the statistics in the growing number of entrepreneurs facing hiring regret.

The formula is: Ready, Set, Go.

Getting ready to onboard a contractor is the equivalent of getting ready to plan a trip. You have a destination (the agreed upon outcome) and you’ll need to decide what roads are you going to take, what clothes you’ll need and what stops you may make along the way. The plan to get there (the goals and milestones during the engagement) will make or break the relationship.

Those lovers-of-lists who plan a trip may enjoy this part of the recipe. The I-still-need-to-do-laundry and when-are-we-leaving-again travelers may not find as much joy in this part.

The first step of the formula is GO. This is a thorough discovery of what you’ll need for the journey, if you will.

Here’s a list of questions to get your ideas flowing: How much access they will need to you/time during the project will you need to carve out to ensure a successful completion? What systems access will they need? (this can be very time consuming). What passwords or other sensitive information will they need to access? Will they need images from your marketing arsenal? Will they need your brand style guide? And, since there’s an end to the engagement, you may want to limit the level of access they have to your systems and be aware of the sensitive information that they may put on systems that you don’t manage.

The contractor will likely be able to give you an idea of what they’ll need, but it’s useful to do this assessment ahead of time so you aren’t spending valuable contractor time trying to figure out how to get them access to your information/accounts/platforms/programs.

The second step is SET.

Set is the check-in. This may occur right on the heels of ready. But, if you run into a snafu or if there’s a delay before they start working, you want to have a check-in to ensure that nothing has changed and that you’re still on track for the project completion. A lot can happen in just a week for either party. You can avoid any early misses in communication by confirming that everything is set to go.

If the project is relatively simple, this can be brief. If it’s more complex or a long-term engagement, this is where you can confirm your priorities, milestones and end goals. One of the possible struggles with a contractor is that they take on more and more clients and you don’t get the time and attention you thought you would receive.

And, the final step is GO.

Go is when you shift into the most critical aspect of any relationship, communication. This is where you find out if all the questions you asked during the interview gave you the answers you were seeking. This is where you find out if the contractor follows up and follows through on their commitments. And, it goes both ways. I’ll admit, I’ve been the roadblock to getting something done with a contractor. They needed me to make a decision and I was still working through the answer. I didn’t ignore them or assume they’d figure it out, I shared the reason for the delay and we adjusted. Crisis avoided.

I recommend a face-to-face meeting weekly or biweekly as part of the “GO” step. These regularly scheduled meetings prompt a great conversation and help answer lingering questions or brainstorm new ideas. If the contractor finds reasons not to attend these meetings or seems unprepared, you’ll be able to see this red flag and address it quickly.

The beauty of business is that it connects someone who needs something with someone who can help. Hopefully, using this simple formula with a contractor will help you and your business experience the beauty of this exchange.

This is the second most asked question I get. I’ll share the most asked question in a moment. But, this one is actually a more difficult question to answer so let’s dive in.

First, let’s tackle the subtext of this question. There are a few ways this has played out in clients’ minds. It’s usually some combination of: will I make a good decision? Will I be able to afford them? And, of course, what will they do?

The scary statistics about hiring gone bad and the story you heard from the friend of a friend who had a horrific hiring experience can send chills down an entrepreneur’s spine. We resolve that we’ll just do it ourselves. We’re a bootstrapping sort, anyway. We’re not afraid to get our hands dirty so to speak. And, I’ve even met a few entrepreneurs who proudly proclaim that they don’t need to hire anyone because they can do it all with some great tools and a couple of contractors.

Here’s the trouble with that scenario, that entrepreneur has placed on themselves under a ceiling and chances are they aren’t going to break through it. No one has simply automated processes and cut costs on their way to a wildly successful business. Each and every person who is or ever was a successful business owner has made investments in people. If your big dream is to impact the world with the work you do, the problems you solve and your unique contribution to your industry, I applaud you. It’s not easy to stand up and be counted among those who take a big swing and even when we miss, we get up and try again and again.

If you’re asking yourself when you should hire an employee, you’re already ahead of the game. So, how do we create a structure that’s simple, repeatable and gets results?

Figuring out when to hire is different for everyone which is why it can seem confusing. My business strategy is different than yours and my current growth trajectory is unique to me. I don’t believe in cut and paste hiring strategies, but I do believe there are a few simple principles that will get you started on the right path and provide peace of mind as you consider this important question.

Principle One: Have Money in the Bank

This may seem obvious, but the first principle is ensuring that you can afford to hire an employee. A simple way to do this (thanks to Mike Michalowicz) is to have three months worth of wages in the bank before you make a hire. This makes sense for many reasons. My take on this principle is that it does two very powerful things: it removes the fear that we won’t be able to pay someone and it gives us the time to focus on setting a new hire up for success. A study by the Society for Human Resources Management found that a new hire who went through an onboarding process was up to 50% more productive. In my view, that makes it worth every minute of my time. 

Principle Two: Understand that You are Making an Investment

You’re probably familiar with the cost vs value equation. The cost is what we pay, the value is what it’s worth. Value can go up or down over time. 

In context of hiring, we can say that the cost is the sum of wages + benefits. Value is the degree that they are able to provide expertise, experience, perspectives and knowledge that we otherwise didn’t have in our business. Hiring, even someone in a part time capacity, is the single most effective way to grow your business. 

A secondary part to this principle is that we’re not good at everything and that’s a good thing! Specialization is part of the beauty of business. Making the most of being a specialist, even if we’re not ready to hire an employee, can be found here. 

And, like most good investments, hiring provides a return over time. It’s never too early to ask your new hire about their goals. One of my favorite parts of being a corporate recruiting leader was to have one-on-one discussions with my team about their goals and aspirations. Sometimes it fit into my long-term plan and sometimes it didn’t. Those conversations created a path for us to have a durable, productive relationship and I definitely received great returns on that investment.

Principle Three: Realize that It’s a Dynamic Relationship

Contrary to the transactional nature of hiring a contractor, hiring an employee is a dynamic relationship. 

This third principle also takes a little soul-searching. The transactional nature of hiring a contractor asks the question, what can I get? And, that’s the value of that type of employment relationship. Before hiring an employee, the question to ask is, what can I share?

In order to create a durable, long term relationship, we have to realize that the investment happens in both directions. As long as someone can see themselves growing professionally and developing their career with you, you’ll be in a much stronger position to retain them. 

Principle Four: It’s Part of Your Growth Strategy

This principle is one of my core beliefs about business: we have to build in growth. Building in growth happens when we expand our products, create repeatable processes and hire a team (even you + 1 = a team). By developing each one of these areas we have the opportunity to be creative, develop new strategies, focus on quality interactions with clients and foster new relationships. And, of course, generate more revenue. 

Contrary to what you may have heard, it’s not about hiring someone for the things you don’t want to do or feel like you don’t have time to do. Your first or next hire has to be the person who will help you to continue generating revenue.  

I’m all for operating on a budget and taking advantage of automation, and as mentioned previously, no one has ever cut costs and automated their way to achieving their dreams and changing the world. Increased revenue is the single most critical factor in business success. And, one of the best ways to continue to increase revenue is to hire a top performer who will support the growth and mission you’re on.

However, this fourth principle is a different kind of readiness than money in the bank. This principle requires us to do things differently than before. It may include creating processes (better yet, ask your new team member to do it after onboarding!). It most definitely means delegation. Delegating responsibilities is part of your growth strategy and a principle that requires a CEO to be aware of their own mindset and ready to tackle the work of getting things done through other people. 

There’s plenty of good reasons to hire an employee. The guidance I give my clients is to hire someone who can handle the revenue generating tasks that aren’t getting done or that need to be done more frequently. 

And, we know that when a client or customer has an issue or a concern, they want to talk to someone. If we’ve got the right processes and people in place, they quickly realize that it doesn’t have to be you, the CEO. Isn’t that wonderful to think about? You don’t have to be running around putting out clients’ fires. 

As CEO, developing a new offering or creating a new strategy requires the ability to step away from some of the day-to-day responsibilities and have a trusted delegate manage things on your behalf. Choosing to build in time to be creative and having the energy to develop an innovation you’ve had in your mind (but just haven’t gotten around to doing) is another great reason to hire. If you don’t have time to listen to your clients and customers in order to solve their problem, trust me, someone is!

Being a CEO doesn’t mean Chief Everything Officer. And, these hiring principles are not as tactical as they are strategic and I hope they provided a jump start to thinking about your business strategy and hiring plan.   

Finally, you may be wondering about the question is that I get asked most often. It’s “where do I look?” To answer that query, I’ve developed a simple tool called, The Pick and Post Playbook. This Playbook breaks down the top 10 places you can use to get more high-quality eyeballs on your job ads. And, you’ll get the Pick and Post Matrix so you can track your success.

Beginning with the end in mind is a not just a good habit, it’s the starting point for a great hiring plan.  

My hope with this 3-part series on hiring, whether a contractor or employee, is that CEOs will be empowered with a deeper understanding of the purpose of those relationships and corresponding outcomes.