"No Experience Wanted"

A common frustration that I hear often from business owners is how difficult it is to find and keep “good people”. Conversely, “bad people”, those who regularly commit one or all of the Seven Deadly Sins, seem to abound. And, once “good people” are hired, it’s only a matter of time, usually less than 90 days, before they somehow mysteriously turn out to be “bad people”. The lament is often “they interviewed so well, but …”

When I ask how they would define “good people” I hear “they really fit into our company, they get it.” In other words, they’re the Right People. Interestingly, “bad people” are described as “they never really fit into our organization, they just didn’t get it.” Rarely are the Seven Deadly Sins mentioned. So what happened? Were “bad people” masquerading as “good people”? Or, did “good people” suddenly have a life-changing experience that turned them to the dark side?

Some time ago I had a conversation with a business owner who was hiring sales people. His ads for the position contained the headline “No Experience Wanted”. He told me that his focus is hiring people that share his values and will be a good fit for his company. Although skills are important, he’s more concerned about fit. “I can teach them the necessary skills but I can’t teach values.”

He has a very rigorous interviewing process where candidates meet with key people in the company, each of whom asks specific questions designed to determine how well the person will fit into the organization. And, the owner shares the company’s values with every candidate. He’s learned that by starting with the right people, training goes more smoothly and new employees get up to speed faster.

Sadly, hiring decisions are often based exclusively on two components: technical ability and work history or experience. The component that generally gets missed is core value alignment. That’s because most companies have not discovered their core values. These core values already exist, but they are buried deep in the organization. They need to be discovered, communicated and used as a guiding principle for how employees, customers, vendors and shareholders are treated.

What goes wrong when people are not aligned the company’s core values? They place personal career goals before the company’s goals, pursue what’s good for their departments versus the greater good of the organization, infighting and politicking, etc. Ultimately people leave the company. But, often times, it’s the Right People - the ones that share our values, who leave first. When they see leaders not walking the talk, not living the values, they’ll find another opportunity where values mean something.

“Experience” may be an asset, but it can’t be a value. Discover your core values and make them work for you. You’ll attract the Right People and expunge the Wrong People. You’ll discover that the Right People are your most valuable asset.