How to Hire and Retain the Best Employees: Personal Experience

2024 Author: Malcolm Clapton | [email protected]. Last modified: 2023-12-17 03:44

Operations Leader Viktor Efimov shares his experience and talks about three recruitment and management strategies that have proven to be effective.

History 1. Catherine the Great

In 2012, I headed the iOS and Android software testing department at a growing company. There were 4–5 people in the department. The floating figure here is due to the fact that undergraduates with no experience went to work, who quickly learned and quit if they did not join the software development cycle.

The average salary was $ 300 per person, which is a pretty good amount for a student. Therefore, I always asked for a budget for an intern, who would act as my insurance if someone decided to leave. Sometimes I just increased the staff and got the right person.

I perfectly understood that such management is stressful and it is imperative to motivate employees not only financially, but also to make them universal specialists who could be paid higher salaries.

Once I appointed a team lead. He received 15% more than everyone else, since he had more responsibility than other employees. But disagreements arose between the team lead and his subordinate (let her be Katya). I tried the standard methods for resolving the conflict, but never got a result.

Then I decided to take a chance and try a method that completely breaks the management paradigm: I swapped them.

At the same time, I saved the team leader's salary, because we sent him to a more responsible project as a performer. And he also raised Katya's salary by 15%, providing an opportunity to grow not only in material terms, but also as a specialist. As a result, the costs amounted to $ 50, but the return I received several times more than I expected.

A month later, there were two strong specialists in the team who understood each other's motives. This decision strengthened ties in the department and reduced the risk of the team lead being fired. At the same time, Katya grew up as a leader, and later the department was transferred under her sensitive management.

Story 2. Mass interview

The second case is finding and hiring an accountant for a small IT company that operates in Delaware (USA) and has an office in Russia. I needed to replace an accountant who could not cope with reporting for all legal entities. This is a very important position, so I couldn't take anyone.

I started by writing an honest job description, checking it out with the CEO, and posting it on HeadHunter. Since the vacancy is popular, I received enough feedback. I immediately weeded out those who responded by accident, added to the bookmarks the resume of those who almost came up, and called for an interview those who arranged for me on all counts.

To make the meetings fit into my work schedule, I used the Doodle service, where I indicated when I was free. After that, I sent the link to all candidates, and they themselves chose a convenient date. I waited for everyone to decide on the timing, and confirmed the meetings.

Then I prepared an interview script for 30 minutes, 20 of which the candidate talks about himself. Another 10 minutes is spent on questions and answers and my story about the vacancy.

To evaluate candidates, I formed a scale of four indicators:

• Burning eyes.
• Knowledge of the required software.
• An experience.
• Distinctive features.

In a week and a half, I did 35 Skype interviews. In the end, I selected three people, one of whom did not respond, and agreed with the CEO on a convenient time for an interview, for which the two remaining candidates came. The rest of those who wanted to, I immediately sent a refusal.

So I was able to find the right person in two weeks after 342 reviewed applications and 35 interviews. A systematic approach, flexibility of thinking and lack of free time helped me in this, which makes me do everything efficiently and in a short time.

Story 3. Full-time interview

The third story is about hiring an HR specialist and an office manager in one person. Since there were few tasks in the company, it was possible to take one person to two positions at once.

I wrote truthfully and in detail about the vacancy and posted an ad on social networks and on HeadHunter. To everyone who responded and whose CVs I liked, I sent a letter in which I offered to come to the office for the whole day and show themselves in business. Naturally, it was paid - half the amount of the rate per day.

This strategy has its advantages:

• The interview takes place in a real working environment.
• On the first working day, a person tries to prove himself 150%.
• The applicant immediately sees what he has to work with.
• The team itself can choose the person with whom they are most comfortable to cooperate.

I saved time on conversations and paid for half the cost of labor with no risk of loss. At the same time, the candidates completed all the tasks that had to be completed in two weeks.

The experiment was successful, everyone was happy. Someone came, tried and received money, someone did not try, but still received it. However, work was in full swing all the time, all tasks were completed on time. And the employees themselves were able to choose a person who will be with them in the team.

The hired candidate met all expectations, is actively working with the increased salary and independently controls many aspects of the work. This is due to the fact that the company was not afraid to take risks and spend not half an hour, but eight hours on the selection of a candidate.

Of course, you cannot apply the same approach for every job or company. Any position and company is unique in its own way, so you need to assess all the risks, carefully select employees and correctly set trial periods. The main thing is not to be afraid to experiment and be responsible for your project. After all, this is the only way to do everything efficiently.