Three Keys to Hiring the Best at Any Size

Posted on July 19, 2010 by Danton

Almost every small to medium sized has focused a great deal of energy lately on just staying in business. Recessions, layoffs and health care seem to dominate every discussion. However, things are changing. Smart companies are rebuilding and upgrading their work forces with the wealth of talent that is currently available. So how do you get your share? No matter what the size, every company in America claims that it hires only the best. Unfortunately, most don’t.

Our company has attracted over 140 technology employees to Livingston, Montana by focusing on three key things:

Key 1: Enforce a top down philosophy of recruiting, hiring and retaining only the best. In today’s world most goods and services are viewed as commodities. All levels of your organization must understand that having the best employees is what separates you from your competition. If any manager in your organization thinks that just any warm body will do you have a problem.

Key 2: Create organizational alignment with regard to hiring criteria. If you don’t know what you are looking for, how can you find it? Get your key people together and make sure you all identify and agree upon hiring criteria. You will be amazed what a difference it can make when everyone agrees what qualities make a great employee for your company.

Key 3: Develop and adhere to processes to ensure that only the best are hired. You can’t just hire from the gut – no one is that good. Develop and adhere to a process from the first contact through the offer letter and beyond to make sure you get only the best, every time.

Big or small, three steps are all it takes to get the employees you need to succeed in hiring the best in any economic environment.

It’s the Jobs, Stupid.

Posted on June 30, 2010 by Danton

I work in a small town in Montana that has struggled for years to solve the problem of “economic development.” It seems like everyone wants to talk about the issue as if it is something you can magically solve with more meetings, focus groups or quasi-governmental agencies. I disagree. It is the jobs, stupid. Create more jobs and the concept of “economic development” goes away. Jobs give people money, money gives people economic freedom. That is what economic development looks like to me.

Throughout the history of the United States job creation in mass has come from a few key areas. One solution has been to go to war. During World War II for example, 17 million jobs were created (it effectively ended the great depression). However, I’m doubtful I can convince our small town to invade the next town over as a job creation tactic.

Another solution has been to spend money on infrastructure. Our federal government is currently spending boatloads of money to stimulate the economy and job growth. I hate to be a downer but the last major study of Federal Highway funding (2004) showed that the equivalent of 34,000 jobs were created by a $9 billion expenditure (about $264,000 per job). Not a great return on an investment in my book and I am doubtful our town wants to borrow $26.4 million to create 100 jobs.

The best solution to job creation has historically been small businesses. Small businesses have created 60 – 80% of all the new jobs in this country over the past 30 years. If that is still the case (I have no evidence to the contrary), why don’t we focus on creating an environment that encourages small business job growth? That environment to me would include lower taxes, less regulation of business and better access to capital for people who want to start or expand businesses. While not revolutionary ideas, they certainly seem out of favor now.

So I think I will stop engaging in the endless loop of discussion about “economic development” and start trying to convince my small corner of the world to create an environment favorable to job creation. To me, it’s the jobs (stupid).

3 Tips for Smart Hiring

Posted on June 2, 2010 by Marne

How many of you fell in love and asked your future spouse to marry you all in the span of 45 minutes? I would venture to guess not many. For those who have, congratulations–you are rare. So my question is why you consider interviewing a prospective employee to be any different? I have spoken to many companies out there that interview a candidate for about 45 minutes and maybe check a couple of references, hire and then they wonder why they are disappointed that the person wasn’t who they thought they were.

It is important to spend the time to get to know your future employee. You have to dig in and bypass the nice suit and the canned interview answers to see the real person. Here are a few things to watch out for when looking for that perfect hire:

1) Are you desperate to fill your position or is the person desperate to get a job? Either one is fraught with peril, not to mention very unattractive. Both parties will usually see and hear what they want to and ignore any potential warning signs that it is not a good match.
2) Does the candidate bad mouth their former employer? Even if it might be warranted this is a big red flag for many reasons. One being if their former employer was so bad and they were so good why did they stay there? Two, you may as well sign yourself up to be the next in line for the bad mouth train.
3) Don’t hire with your gut. You hear employers say “I went with my gut on this one”. Well you may as well throw a dart at a wall full of resumes and hire that person. Your gut may give you some inkling about someone, BUT you have to follow that with doing your due diligence to prove or disprove what your gut told you.

So when you interview the next “A player” for your company, remember to start off with the goal of really getting to know that person and determining if there is a long term match there, not just filling the empty chair in your company. Everyone will benefit from it.

3 Tips for Smart Hiring

Posted on June 2, 2010 by Marne

The Lesson List – What I’ve learned

Posted on May 10, 2010 by Danton

The Lesson List – What I’ve learned

I’ve spent more than 20 years working in rapid growth small businesses and recently had a MBA student ask me one of the most interesting questions I’ve had in some time. What have been the 3 most important lessons I’ve learned? It is a great question and harder to answer than I thought. After sleeping on it, here is what I came up with:

Like a shark, you have to swim forward or die
Innovation is the key to any young business. If you are not looking to improve your service or product at all times a competitor will do it and you will lose your advantage and go out of business.

You should be willing to do anything for money as long as it is legal, ethical and moral
Too many people in start up businesses get fixated on their ideas and don’t make money when they can. If you run a painting company and someone asks if they can buy brushes from you, why not make some extra money even if that is not your main business?

Stupid people cost you money
While this seems harsh, it is true. Failure to hire and train the very best people you can is the death of many businesses. If you hire someone who just does not get the job done, cut them lose as soon as possible. You are doing both parties a favor.

It is not often that you get a request to share your hard earned wisdom in a short and concise manner. I’d suggest that everyone try the exercise even if you don’t share your answers with anyone. You might be surprised with how useful your lesson list can be as you deal with your day to day problems.

PrintingForLess.com’s Newest Puppy

Posted on May 7, 2010 by Jessie

One of the best things about working at PFL is that we can bring our dogs to work. After loving everyone else’s dogs for almost three years, I finally convinced my husband to replace our dear departed Corgi, Sadie, with a new pup.

Allie started coming to work with me at 8 weeks old. She was a bit tentative at first, huddling under my chair, but now at 16 weeks she rules the Marketing room. She gets a steady stream of visitors, both human and dog, who want to take a stress break and play with her. She is starting to get a bit rambunctious so if anyone has any good tips on teaching “Come” and “No Bark” I would appreciate it. I wouldn’t want her to get banned for being a little trouble maker.

Our dog-friendly policy helps make PFL a great place to work. If you work for a dog-friendly company let’s hear from you. If not, why not try to implement it. We would be happy to send you our dog rules and policy!

Here is a list of the dogs that roam PFL on a daily basis:

Allie   - Welsh Pembroke Corgi
Bear    - Labrador Retriever/Weimaraner
Bodie – Malamute
Daisy   – Labrador Retriever
Jax       – Boston Terrier
Jessie – Border Collie
Louey - Boston Terrier
Lulu    - Dachshund
Resi     - Deutsch Drahthaar
Shelby – Springer Spaniel