#72: Hiring great talent in remote & scarce times

In today’s podcast, I will be talking about hiring great talent in remote times. I just hired a new employee and I am proud of the process I managed to use to find that great talent. I will be sharing that process and talking about where to find talent, but more importantly, how to keep it!

RELEVANT LINKS:
Barrett Values Test:
https://www.valuescentre.com/
Videoask
https://www.videoask.com/
Workable
https://www.workable.com/

REBEL LEADER WITH A HEART SHOW NOTES:
https://rebelleaderwithaheart.com/72
REBEL LEADER WITH A HEART COMMUNITY:
https://www.facebook.com/groups/rebelleaderwithaheart
LINKEDIN:
https://www.linkedin.com/in/murielle-machiels-ab09621/

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Connect with me on LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/muriellemachiels/

Transcript

Murielle Machiels: 0:00

Hello there, everyone. Today I wanted to talk about how I hired great talent in remote times. And in this podcast episode, I'd like to focus on a couple of points. First of all, where do you find talent, because when I listen to my customers, a lot of companies, a lot of leaders find it difficult to hire talent. And then once they hire talent, they might find it also difficult to keep it to keep the people motivated. Secondly, often when you need to hire someone, it's probably because you have so many things to do. And so there is often not so much time to hire talent. So how can you hire in remote times when you don't have a lot of time to spend on the hiring process? How can you also make sure it's a match? Because so many people want to hire somebody, and then starts with person invest in that person, only to see that person leaving a couple of weeks or a couple of months afterwards? Because it wasn't really a match? What about the costs of hiring? How can you hire cost efficiently? And in remote times, of course, hiring or in hybrid times hiring has become different? So do you need a different profile when you're hiring in digital times? So these are all the questions I'm going to answer by explaining to you how I hired my last talent, which I'm really happy about, and how I did it, how I managed to do it in a very time efficient way. Where did I find talent? How am I making sure it's a match, of course, you're never sure, but we have a process here in place. That really helps us attract great people and start great collaborations from day one. And I'm also going to share which tools and platforms I use to really have a very efficient hiring process. So listen to this episode. If you're curious about how to attract and keep talent in remote times. I'm Murielle. CO mom, an educator, I used to work really hard and sacrifice the important things to me until I lost my motivation. Fast forward past many failed attempts and lessons learned. And I found a way to reach great results while working less. Today, I'm obsessed with helping other leaders build meaningful lives. So each week, I'll be sharing inspiration to change your life and organization. This is rebel leader with our hearts. Two years ago, I hired Daphne as my marketing and social media manager. And we had a great collaboration together, we started a lot of things, we started this podcast together, we built a great lead, funnel together. We've also launched a social media. So we did a lot of great things together that really brought the organization and key leader at a higher level. But now Daphne wants to start her own company, she has learned the ins and outs with me on how do you launch a meaningful business. And I always knew from the start that her plan was to one day launch her own business. And so now she's doing it. So we are parting, she's going to start her business in a couple of weeks. And so I needed to hire a new person. Of course, I didn't have a lot of time to hire that new person because I was in the middle of launching my new course. And I had a lot of other things on my plate. And the first thing that was really appealing to me is that one of my customers scattering, she puts me in contact with someone she worked with. And she said she's really a great person. She was my marketing assistant, she grew to become a marketing manager. She's also very operational, I think she would be a great match to your business. And indeed, she had a wonderful CV and I talked to her had a great first contact, and she ticked all the boxes. And then after this first contact I also thought okay, let's tune in to my intuition. What is my intuition telling me? And my intuition told me a big no, no, you shouldn't hire her. And I was really annoyed by that because it was easy. She was competent because she was referred to me by someone who was really happy about her. She ticked all the boxes on her CV She was available, she talks three languages. And so I was thinking, but why is my intuition telling me no. And especially in hiring, I have learned that I should always listen to this intuition, or at least check what my intuition is telling me. Because in the past, I've hired great people as well, that my team had chosen. And then I had a last interview with two persons. I remember with two people, I remember those two specifically. And in both cases, everything seemed to be okay. The CV was great. The conversation went well. But my intuition was telling me no, and I didn't listen to it, because I felt who am I, the whole team has seen this person, okay, I might be the CEO. But if they want to hire her, who am I to not hire her? And twice that person had to leave after a couple of months, because there were some issues. So now I learned to really listen to my intuition. And so this time, my intuition was telling me no. And I was very tempted to ignore it. Because of time, it would be really easy for me to simply hire her. And also, because I didn't want to start the whole hiring process, which we all know takes some time, some money. It's, it's it's quite an investment. But then I thought, Okay, why is my intuition telling me no. And in our hiring process, we have an assessment in place. And in that assessment, I started to see why my intuition was telling me no. And what does this assessment consists of, by the way, these are all free tools we have or free questions, but it's very useful. I used it when I hired my sister, I use it when I hire Daphne. I use it when I'm partnering with other people. And I've shared this process also with a lot of other entrepreneurs, that we're really interested in it because it's very useful. So the first thing I asked people to do is to do a values test with Barrett the tool from Barrett value center. And there I can really see what are the values of that person, but also what is the consciousness level of that person, then I asked people to do a strength and weakness test with a high five test, then we do a 16 personality tests. Because there, I really believe that we need to have a diverse team, I'm not looking to hire somebody that looks like me, of course, it would be really nice, we would click from the start. But then we would really miss some key competencies in our business. So here, I'm specifically hiring somebody that is quite complimentary to my personality. So these are the three tests I asked people to do, it doesn't take that long to do them. And then I asked them also what gives them energy at work, what's cost them energy, because I believe this is really important to know from the start. Because in our team, if you've listened to other podcasts, you know that we all try to work in our energy zone, so to do as many tasks that give us energy and as few tasks as possible that costs us energy. Then I also asked the question, what do you need to function well, in an organization, what are your needs? What is your work with them, because for instance, we all have different rhythms. I work in Sprint's so I can be very efficient for one or two hours, and then do nothing or procrastinate for the next two hours or two next two days, and then be very efficient again. So I'm, I'm not very consistent in my time. And so I like to work when I have a lot of energy. So that means that I can work early in the morning, late at night over the weekend. And sometimes I can go running in the week, or do something completely different because I don't have the energy at that moment. But I know other people, they really like to have a fixed set of hours. So they like to work from nine to five, and with a break from one to two and a little break in the morning and in the afternoon. So everyone is different. And I believe we really need to know what do you need to function well, but also, I need a lot of contact. I need a lot of people around me, or I need a lot of freedom to do my work very well or I need a lot of instructions. So we also asked what do you need to function well, and Of course, why do you want to start at a key leader and to work with us? So these are the things that we asked in our assessment, the values, strengths and weaknesses, tests 16 personalities test, what gives energy, what do you need to function well. And when I got the answers back from that potential candidate that was really referred to me as a great person, I noticed she had a very big need for social interactions. And of course, we all need social interactions. But I find mine when I go to my co working space, at night with my friends, when I'm giving workshops with my customers, and of course, a little bit at work, but we are a remote company. So we work most of the time remotely, and then sometimes we see each other. But now, this woman I was planning to hire Well, she was a single mother with a young child. And she spent a lot of her time alone with her child. So she really needed a workplace surrounded by people, because she didn't have that at night with her son alone, or during the weekends. And so that's what my intuition was telling me, she wouldn't be a good fit with us, because I couldn't offer her that I wasn't going to change my policy and start working in an office every day, just because a person needed that. And I understand that need, and you need it till a certain point, but I could feel that she had a big need for that, that I couldn't fulfill. So we talked about it. And she also sense that it wouldn't fit because of that reason. And so I had to start now, a formal recruitment process. But I didn't have a lot of time, I was very busy with building a new course with workshops with customers with new keynotes with building my team empowerment assessments. So I was very, very busy. So what did I do then. And if you listen to me a lot, you should know what the first thing is, that I always do when I'm very busy. That's when I stopped. So I stopped. And I really took the time to analyze and design a very efficient process that I'm happy to say I'm quite proud of. So I listened to podcasts while I was walking about how you should hire people from all different kinds of people and organizations. I analyzed some tools, and I really thought about it. And I thought, I don't want to interview a lot of people, and then have a final interview and go, I don't want to spend all that time. Because I don't have that time. And, and secondly, of course, I'm still a startup. So I don't have this big budgets, I cannot promise a car, a very big salary, I cannot offer all those things. I'm still fairly small. I don't pay myself that much yet. And so I wanted to hire really a person. But with a budget that was probably a little bit lower than the market price. The other thing that was challenging, because here again, being in a startup, what I was looking for wasn't easy, because in fact, it's a combination of two functions, I have more and more operational work. So now that we have grown as an organization, now that we have so many processes in place, we also have more follow ups, or recurring tasks, we have more lead management to do so we have much more operational work than we had at the start. But we are still scaling our organization. So I also needed somebody in marketing and sales to think and implement a commercial strategy. So that wasn't easy, because of course, these are two different functions that when we grow, we will definitely separate. But no for the start, I was ideally looking for somebody that could be operational that could also help me with the implementation and the strategy, but that would also be willing to do some of our recurring tasks. So I started by describing for myself what the ideal person I was looking for looked like. Then I also made a description of our organization. And the tools I used for my recruitment are in fact three tools we used, workable, workable helps with defining the job function, the company profile. And it really helps you with the whole recruitment process. So It centralizes all the CVS you get from all the different platforms, you published, your job description. And then you have different stages, you can reject somebody at every stage, of course, and then you can move from one stage to, for instance, next stage is assessment. Next stage is interview, then we make an offer, and then it's hired. So you can really move people from one stage to the next, there are email templates for each stage that you can personalize, the whole team can give comments on everyone at every stage. So we can share the profiles with the team. And it's also publishes your job opening two different sites. So this is the main platform that we used, workable, we didn't publish our job offer on any paid sites, we only use the free ones that were available in workable. And so our main recruitment pool was on LinkedIn. And so I received, I think it was more than 100, CVS. And all the CVS arrived on workable, we scan them very rapidly, me immediately send them to stage two, most of them. And in this second stage, I had prepared an email that I could send out automatically to all these people with three assignments. So the first one was that I asked them to do the 16 personality test. And then I sent them to a video ask. So video asked is a platform where I made a video, it was in fact a little interview. So I asked them one question through my video. And I will put the link to that video in the show notes of this episode so that you can have a better idea of how it looks like. So the people then what, watch me and see me ask a question, then they have a couple of minutes to record their own answer through a video. And they can do as many takes as they want. And once they set it, they are satisfied, they can then push send, and automatically the video is centralized in one place. So I asked the people why they wanted to work at a key leader, why they thought they were a good candidate. So that was my first double question. They sent me their video, and I really tried to put them at ease. I said, this is not about your video, because of course I know not everyone is comfortable with video. But not everyone is comfortable with an interview online neither. So I told him. So really take your time, you can make as many takes as you want. It's not about your video, it's not about the lights, the sound. It's just about your answers. That's what matters to me. Then they had a second question. And that was about how they organize themselves, because I really need somebody who's very well organized. So I asked them for an example, where they faced a challenging situation with several deadlines and ask them how they organize themselves to solve it. And that second question, they could choose to answer it through video again, or they could send me a text. And the last question, they just gave me the results of their 16 personality tests. And so by doing that, it took me half an hour to set up these interview questions with a video. I think I got 40 to 45 videos of people applying for this job. And then it was really easy for me and my team to go through it because some people you could immediately see it wouldn't be right fit because they didn't speak English very well and perfect English is very early as is a requirement if you want to work in a company, where English is the main language of course, and where we will interact with customers who speak English. But there were also other things that I immediately saw that the answers weren't structured at all or you can see a lot from these mini interviews about a candidate. And during this process. Also some people even didn't even take the time to send their video so if they don't even have the time or want to invest in the process. It also means They're not that motivated. Or maybe they find the process. So scary that it wouldn't be a right fit for a remote position. Because when you work remotely, of course, everything will be or a lot will be also behind a camera or doing things on your own from your place. So that's what we did. And when we looked at all the profiles, there was really one that stood out. And that was way better than all the wrists. And in my team, we were three to assess that person. We all thought this was the best candidate. But also, we all thought we probably couldn't afford her because she was very experienced, she worked in a large organizations that pay very well. And so we thought, okay, I'm going to interview that person, but I'm going to immediately say, Okay, we are a startup, please note that we will not be paying you like you were paid in a past. So if that's a problem, we shouldn't waste our time together and do the interview. So I made that clear from the start. So we had the interview together, I shared that with her. And then she told me, but you know, I really thought about that. And for me, I met a stage where money isn't that important anymore, of course, I still need to make a living. But I didn't like working in those large organizations anymore. Because I was spending all my time in virtual meetings, I didn't have the impact I wanted, I was exhausted, I wasn't completely aligned with the values anymore. And now I really choose to have a great life with my family with my son, and with a company that is completely aligned with my values. And so I'd rather have debts, a great work life balance with a meaningful job where we change people's lives, then to have a high paying job, where I don't feel happy anymore. And so I, I put a lot of thinking into that. She said to me, and I'm really willing to give up my highest salary to have a great job. And this is something I see world wide. So I spoke to a leader two or three weeks ago, and she told me in her team, that three of the eight people from her team had resigned to had resigned to travel around the world, and one had resigned, because she wanted to do research again. So we are now facing what we call the Great resignation. Because people have been exhausted. They don't want to work like we're working now in most of the companies for many years. That's why I have this great purpose of changing the way organizations lead the way people lead the way they organize themselves. Because currently, we are making people sick, or we are making people unhappy. And when I was in Kenya, two weeks ago, I was giving a workshop there. I also met two young, brilliant people that told me we don't want to work. We have worked in organizations, they had tears in their eyes, they said it was making us sick, I don't want to work in an organization anymore. I prefer being poor, not having children. Because if I have children, it means I have to make a living, I have to work in an organization. I prefer being poor, living very simple life than working in these organizations that are making us unhappy. And so this is happening across the world's so if you want to attract talent, it's not about changing your hiring process or doing some marketing from HR to say how great your company is. It is about changing your DNA. It's about having values and a purpose and really processes in place that are making people happy and productive. So that's why I believe I managed to attract great talent at a low cost or lower costs than average. Because our DNA is all about having a great work life balance and changing people's lives. So if you want to attract talent, please change your DNA. It's not about changing Some things in your symptoms, it's about making your organization a great place to work in. And that requires a big shift in mindset in habits. And also in teamwork, the way you organize your teamwork in in your business techniques. So in the end, we had more than 100 CVS, more than 40 videos, I did one interview, and hired Saverin who started yesterday. And so for all the people that weren't hired, I had prepared a very nice email with also a link to a podcast episode. Because I know that hiring is not an easy process. You ask yourself a lot of questions about what is the career you want, what is the life you would like to have, you might be very uncertain about yourself, you might lack confidence, because you're being rejected a lot of time. So I found it important to send an email to everyone to just say, you know, it's not because we didn't hire you that you aren't a wonderful person. It's just that we found someone that was a better fit. And please here, find some podcast episodes that might help you in your hiring process. And I got a couple of great answers back from that process as well, because of course, it's never easy to be rejected. So as a conclusion, if you want to hire, first of all, spend some time to design a simple time efficient recruitment process. And you can hire a synchronously like what I did, I didn't spend all my time in interviews, I just spent one day organizing my hiring process, my job offer, what I wanted, what the the tools where I was going to choose the videos I prepared. So it took me I think the whole hiring process took me eight hours to hire great talent. So design a simple time efficient recruitment process. And there are a lot of great tools out there to do that. Secondly, hire for values. Look at the strength of people and the complementarities, you need a diverse team. So hire for values because so many people hire for competencies, and then they end up firing people because it wasn't a match on the values. Look at everyone needs also to function well and discuss that. Because yes, you need a different profile. When you're hiring in remote times. Not everyone can find the drive and the motivation to function well, while working remotely, you might have to have a good support system or go work in a co working space to find your social interactions. But you find you need to find empowered people, independent people that can work very independently and autonomously from you. And then if you want to attract talent, look at how you are organized look at what your habits are, what your mindsets are, and change your business techniques, the way you organize yourself. Your empower your teams, for instance, pay attention to the well being of people So change your DNA so that your organization becomes a great place to work. And by doing that you will automatically attract talents. So that was it for the podcast today. Let me know if you have any questions. I would be happy to answer them. You can find me on most social media. And also let me know if you found this podcast inspiring. So bye everyone. Yeah, you finished another episode of rebel leader with a hearts if you want more, go to rebel leader with a heart.com For show notes and past episodes. If you love the show, subscribe, leave a review and share it with a friend the more the merrier. Thanks for tuning in and have a great week you rebel leader with a hearts