LONG FORM WRITING SAMPLE
Sports aren’t my cup-o-tea. I played sports in high school due to the fact that there were only 150 students, far too many teams, and dance class only became a viable option for a PE credit my senior year. When I was voted team captain of the junior varsity basketball team it was more of a personality-thing than a skill/talent/ability-to-score-points-thing. Anyway, in that blip of time when I partook in competitive sport this old chestnut got thrown around quite a bit: “the best defense is a good offense.”
I had absolutely zero grasp of what that meant. Offense = shoot the ball? Defense = wave your hands in the air like ya just don’t care? I’ve come to understand this strategy more with age—And never more so than in my experiences in human resources. Wild, right?
Growing a business is exciting and it’s easy to get caught in the crossfire of “too much to do” and “not enough people/time/money/energy to do it.” In the face rapid growth, I have seen managers franticly filling positions with the first qualified candidate that comes along—I can just feel my awkward high school arms defensively flailing in the face of a 6’3” power forward from our arch rival, Cardinal Newman High School. I believe these managers’ thought process went a little something like this:
“Hoorah! Our business is growing fast! But, oh no, we don’t have the resources to keep up. Hire the first person who’s basically qualified and they need to start work yesterday! If they don’t work we’ll find someone else.”
Although this puts a Band-Aid on the immediate issue of understaffing, this defensive strategy will hurt your company’s pocket book, culture, and overall client satisfaction. Check out this infographic for cold, hard facts about the monetary cost of making bad hires. Making offensive hiring decisions will take more time and upfront money, but they are crucial to the long-term health of any organization.
A few tips for offensive hiring practices:
1) Plan ahead
Establish a timeline for the ideal hiring schedule. Allow plenty of time to go through every step of your recruiting process without cutting corners. If you don’t find the perfect candidate at the end of your timeline be flexible and keep on keeping on. It will pay off in the long run.
Now, if you take a good, long look in the mirror and you determine that your issue really can be solved by a quick hiring fix, think about the pros and cons of hiring temporary employees.
2) Know what you want
Clear, honest job descriptions will help filter your initial candidate pool. In addition, once you find the perfect fit, they will know precisely what to expect of the job, allowing for a smooth onboarding process and less room for unexpected unhappiness.
3) Read between the lines
Resumes are probably the most prevalent source of propaganda since the Cold War. Learn to read between the lines. A candidate who went from intern to associate to manager all at a former place of work might have something truly special. If there are huge gaps between the lines, ask about them.
*Ascends soapbox.* Do not hire someone who does not submit a cover letter. That is reading-between-the-lines red flag number one. I am shocked by how often applications are submitted without one. Call me old fashioned, but if an applicant does not take the time to craft a letter to you specifically they are not worth your valuable time. *Descends soapbox.*
4) Wooing
Once you’ve found that perfect candidate (they exist, I promise!), make it worth their while. Who doesn’t want to be wooed?? They should know that they are a great fit. After all, they are interviewing you as much as you them. Get to know them on a personal level to be sure they understand the culture of the company. Take them out to lunch and introduce them to other employees even before they receive the offer.
All in all, remember that your hiring strategies are some of the most important moves you can make. The people who work with you can make or break a great company. Your best defense is a good offense. Confirmed: I did learn something from high school basketball.