RANK 24: Building a Winning Team: Effective Recruitment Strategies Including Successful Onboarding inside MBS Accountants

Join us as we explore the world of effective recruitment strategies and successful onboarding in building a winning team, with insights from the experts at MBS Accountants.

• Introduction to the importance of effective recruitment strategies and successful onboarding in building a winning team
• Discussion on the various techniques used by MBS Accountants for effective recruitment strategies, including job postings and social media outreach
• Insights on the importance of values and personality fit, in addition to qualifications and experience, when recruiting candidates
• Overview of MBS Accountants' successful onboarding process and clear understanding of company culture and expectations
• Advice for other businesses on how to improve their recruitment and onboarding strategies, including the importance of clear expectations, tools and resources for success, and a warm welcome for new employees
• Conclusion on the importance of effective recruitment strategies and successful onboarding in building a winning team and how MBS Accountants is leading the way in this area.

Transcript

Liv: 2:35

Thanks so much for joining us again on the Leaky Bucket Podcast. Today I wanna chat with Ian about recruitment and onboarding. So let's get started. So we've just welcomed two new members of staff, and in my opinion, they've integrated really well into the team, and that made me think about how our recruitment process facilitates that and those times when maybe it hasn't worked so well. So I guess my first question is, could you just give a quick summary of our recruitment process at mbs?

Ian: 3:05

Yeah. So our, our recruitment process now is, is very different than it has been in the past, and maybe we'll dive into that a little bit later on. But now the process very much works that it goes out onto, um, platform At the moment we're using, um, indeed, Do you have to do that? People are then applying in and we are resisting the, standard urge to go straight to CV's Curriculum Vitae So as soon as somebody's applying, we want to just get a base level of their skills to be able to do the job. So they go straight to a skills test. Yeah, from there we try as much as we can now to ignore skills and experience and focus on culture fit and attitude. So, We have then two interview stages. Yeah. That are around, around culture and attitude and how that will fit within our organization. And then a little bit of testing to go. Okay. But does, does their experience and their attitude and their culture fit all align up together? Together? And can we really see, see them slotting into mps? Yeah.

Liv: 4:15

So what are some of your main focuses during that time? If you could kind of have a checklist, if it were, what would they be?

Ian: 4:21

Um, the main focus, I think is don't get distracted by somebody's skills and experience. Yeah. It's, uh, it's so hard because obvious you are recruiting somebody to do a job and so it's so easy to go, oh yeah, but look, they can do the job. They've done it for this long, they, but. You are judging and getting that from a, from a cv. Yeah. Which ultimately anybody can write anything they want on a cv. Curriculum Vitae Yeah. It doesn't have to be true. Um, so it's test the base level of skills and make sure that we've got that there. And then it's just keep reminding ourselves and go, is this person living our values? We know our values, we see them every day. And great people that we have here, are they showing up like those great people and. It's just constantly reminding ourselves of that. Just hire on attitude. Hire on

Liv: 5:08

attitude. Yeah. So how has the process kind of evolved? Like what are the main changes? Like how was it at the beginning?

Ian: 5:16

Um, hugely. There probably wasn't a process at the start. It was just, we need people just get them hired. Um, But I think probably makes no sense. Going to the point of where we learnt the attitude was, was key. It was then how do we make sure that we get that right? Yeah. And there's been a number of occasions where we haven't because we've been distracted by skills and experience. Yeah. So it's, yeah, it's, it's just making sure, like actually it's a very good reason, right. That I'm. I'm Not majorly involved in the recruitment process. It's because I will get distracted by skills experience skills. Yeah. So as you're aware, we use, we use Georgia and Sam heavily. Yeah. Within our recruitment process. And that's because they are naturally very good at parking the skills and experience and just looking for, but where's the culture? Yeah. Where's the culture fit here? And they will see different things and they will bounce off idea ideas off each other in terms of going, yeah. But I saw this while you were speaking. Um, and, and, and I suppose that's an important factor. It's not always what the person's saying. Mm-hmm. It's how are they behaving when you are talking

Liv: 6:31

to them? Yeah. Because I guess you can say all the right things, but then how are they actually talking to you?

Ian: 6:36

Yeah. Yeah. And actually we've, we've got, there, there was a key element actually with, remember our team, Jason, which we, we may end up talking about later that. The first question to Jason, and I hope you you won't mind me saying it all, but the first question to Jason was, um, getting him to tell us about like what he enjoys in his spare time and everything now. Yeah. And he, he was clearly nervous and he just sort of went for like this brief sort of life history. Yeah. And, but he had the presence of mind that he, as he come round to, to finish up and just go, oh, okay. So that's my thing. He went. Oh my God. That is not even the question you asked. And it was that presence to go, hang on, I, I'm gonna own this and go, right. I'm really sorry for just wasting your time and telling you all this stuff. Yeah. That you didn't need to know. What I enjoy in my spare time is, it's that like awareness, isn't it? Like Yeah. Yeah. And it just like, it went from, you went from like, Ooh, let's give this person a chance. They haven't quite understood the question. Haven't listened, but that's nerves to. Wow. Like that's living our culture. Yeah. Being open and honest. Taking responsibility. Yeah. That like awareness

Liv: 7:45

that you've Yeah. Completely

Ian: 7:47

gone over the question. Yeah. And it was just the turnaround within, within five seconds just went from that this might be challenging to Wow this person's potentially really, really good. Yeah. Because yeah. To, to feel those nerves in that moment and then just go, but I need to own it. Yeah. Yeah. Um, yeah. Was. We knew we were onto something at that

Liv: 8:08

point. Yeah, because I've never experienced a work environment that focuses so much on culture. It's always been, can you do the job and can you do it well? So why is that so important in recruitment? I know you've gone over it a little bit, but maybe just a little bit deeper. Why is it crucial?

Ian: 8:26

Um, because we've had, you know, everybody's had that situation where they work with somebody who's great at doing the job, but they're just an A*****E And you, you just don't, nobody wants to be around that person. Nobody wants to help that person out. Yeah. When they're struggling or that you sort of like, you just know that they wouldn't do the same for you. For you. Yeah. So it doesn't bring you to do the same for them. Yeah. So if we became, I think actually it's the complete opposite then of a team. If we had a group of individuals who are just looking out for themselves, it's not

Liv: 8:57

gonna work. There's no like bond?

Ian: 8:58

No, no. Like if, you know, if you had somebody else, if somebody else in the team came to you because they're struggling. Chancellor, you are gonna help them out. Yeah. Because you know they'd do the same for you if you were struggling. Yeah. If you don't have that, because people don't live the culture, it's just disconnected. Yeah. And we've definitely been there. We've had that pain of having people who, who don't fit. And I think the important thing to note here is that doesn't make that person a bad person. No. Just, it just means they're not right for us. Okay. Yeah. Yeah. And, They can go off and they can be amazing somewhere else because they, they end up in a culture that everyone else sees things the way they do. Uh, and that's great and that's fine. But for us, we need to remain strong to your values. Yeah. And, um, I'm comfortable that I know, even though I might not have massive, massive exposure to everybody in the team, I know I can get along with everybody in the team because I know. I know what they believe.

Liv: 9:59

Yeah. And you said earlier that you obviously do a skills test. What does that kind of involve? Cause obviously it's different skills, tests, different roles.

Ian: 10:10

Yeah. Um, I think it's very easy if you are so like, um, let's taken my position. I suppose it's very easy for me to go and look for somebody who has similar strengths to me. So if I'm, my role naturally is that the client manager role. So it's coaching people, moving people forward to where they want to be and holding them accountable. Those skill sets will not show up in somebody who, if for example, does your role, right? Your role is about structure, organization, um, sort of being nosy, knowing everything that's going on and dig all those bits. That's naturally not me. Yeah. So the skills test is there to go. Has this person got those underlying skills? Because if I tried to do your job, I can do it, but it's gonna be so painful because I'm, I naturally won't double check or triple check things. I'll just be like, it's done. Once it's done, it's fine. Yeah. Yeah. Um, that doesn't work. Yeah. Like you can't, like if somebody says they provided the right ID or the right information, whatever you need to check and make sure that that's the case. Yeah. Otherwise it'll come back round and be a problem later on. Yeah. So the skills test is each of the skills tests are written by people who are in those roles and they excel at those roles. Ah, okay. And therefore, they're the best people to test if people can do that role. Yeah. The important thing, however, is we are not looking for perfection because attitude has to win. Mm-hmm. If you can get somebody with the right attitude, you can teach skills. Yeah. As long as there's a baseline. What you can't do is take somebody who's got excellent skills and then effectively reparent them. Yeah. To have the right attitude in the organization. Yeah. Yeah. But there's no point. So the reason we test skills first to voice, cuz you need to have that baseline. There's no point in us going, this person's amazing, but they're just miles off being able to do that job. Yeah. Um, because how do you train something for what, a year, two years, three years? Yeah. Um, you need to be comfortable to go. They can do the base level and then we work to get them to, to a high level.

Liv: 12:20

Would you ever say that implementing the skills test kind of affects the extent to which culture is important? Like is it kind of finding that balance between both of them and is that difficult?

Ian: 12:31

Yeah, I think it's very easy when you do that first review of the skills test that you just want to, you just wanna go, oh, that, that person's like amazing and they've really hit the skills and that person didn't quite hit that level. Maybe they've only hit. 70 or 80% of what the other person hit. But then you go, hang on. You just gotta remind yourself and go. If we just hired based on the skills test and we only allow people through who got perfection, the real excellent culture fit, people might not make it. Yeah. So it's not step one must score a hundred percent or must get near a hundred percent. It's, it's very much that baseline, which is quite loose. Yeah. But it's just to go, okay, we can work with that. Um, we know how we could train and improve that person. Now let's have a conversation and see what they're like. Yeah. So

Liv: 13:19

Jody's just joined us. Yes. Um, like last week, I think. Yeah. And what aims do you kind, what, what do you aim to fulfill in that first week of someone joining? Like how do you really implement that? Like, integration into the team I guess?

Ian: 13:37

Yeah, so I think key step first of all, is. No matter what character we bring in day one is scary. Yeah. Because you are the new person. You are going, we're aware now, like we're a team of 12. I think at the moment, if you are the one person coming in, you feel like the elephant in the room. Like Yeah. Yeah. So, um, historically what we've always done is like some online quizzes through like Cahoot or something like that. Um, but actually you've always experienced recently that we've switched that up to a work appropriate. Would you rather? Um, but it gives everybody an opportunity to talk. You don't just get the loud people. Yeah. And it also gives the new person opportunity to understand a little bit about how people work within the team, understand the people they're gonna be working closely with, and also an opportunity for them to speak. But it feels like, um, they know the parameters in what they're speaking with. They don't have to like, Like shout up and go, Hey, I want, I wanna make a noise. Yeah. If they're a bit quieter, a bit more introvert. Yeah, but they can just go walk. Okay. I'm just answering the question. So it's much more controlled. I think that's massive in terms of takes the pressure off on, on day one. Yeah. Then there's a quick introduction, um, usually with me about this is the vision of the company. This is where we're going. We, we do strategic planning. Um, and actually it's probably worth reversing. Slightly before that, before somebody joins, they're already sent a bit of a welcome pack and introduction. Yeah. Um, along with, uh, the book that operate, that's about eos, so they know how we operate as a business. So actually already on day one, when they're arriving, they already have a little bit of like, almost like a behind the curtains Yeah. Sleep peek already. Yeah. So then when I start talking to them about, this is our strategic plan, this is what we're trying to achieve, this is where we're trying to go. Doesn't feel too scary. Yeah. And then we're straight into processes, systems. Yeah. So it's, um, it's into, uh, our air manual process, which is then just uncovering, this is everything you need to know about working here, your role, your place in the organization, and everybody else that's around. And introduc introducing our values, what we are about. What we do. Yeah. So that makes that first day or two. Um, it can be a little bit boring, I think, in terms of just going through information systems and stuff like that. Yeah. Doing all that. But at the same point, there's a structure and I think the very fact that we have that structure and that system and that process, I think is re reassuring to people in terms of like, you've come in and you go. Actually these guys do know what they're doing. Yeah. And everybody's quick to tell you and go, I'm really sorry, it's gonna be boring these first couple of days. Yeah. Um, but just push through it. And then it is sort of just getting into to see the team, understanding what's going on, seeing where your role fits, introducing to people. And then actually very quickly, it's important that we have that one week catch up. Yeah. And. It's just then to like, how is the first week going? Because you've probably come from, um, most people would probably come from somewhere where there is no culture potentially. They already knew how to do the job they were doing before very, very well. And now you've come into somewhere where you, you don't know what you are doing, you don't understand the organization. You can feel quite lost. So I think that that open sort of forum to just go like almost just like, like, here's how I feel. Yeah. In a safe space. Yeah. That isn't like, tell us all this stuff and Oh my God, you're awful. You can go. It's just like, just tell us how you're feeling because it's, it's important. Yeah. Um, and if you're feeling overwhelmed or you're feeling a bit lost, somebody can help you and do something about it. Yeah. So that first week is, is key because how do you make somebody feel, um, part of our sort of work, family and culture? Very, very quickly. Yeah. And it must

Liv: 17:50

be tricky for people that come from a place where that doesn't have that culture to kind of loosen up and realize where I can actually say that I'm struggling because a lot of jobs don't enforce that. It's kind of like, Ooh.

Ian: 18:03

So how did that work for you? Cause obviously you've said you come from somewhere that didn't have culture in that before. Yeah. How, because

Liv: 18:07

obviously I came from hospitality, which is very much you just turn up, do the job, you go home and that's it. Um, It. I like, it took a while for me to kind of realize that I can say that I'm struggling or I can say that, oh, maybe I've messed up on this one. You know? Yeah. But like you said, having that little bit of know-how before meant that I kind of knew what I was getting myself into. Not in a bad way, but I knew what I was getting myself into and I came prepared, which made, made it so much more comfortable kind of coming into the culture, but obviously, You mentioned Jason earlier, and he's a little bit further along in the process than Jody. So his next two things are the one one month review and then the three month review. What's the importance of that ongoing feedback, do you think?

Ian: 18:56

Um, I think the, on the importance of that is that everybody within our team has a voice. And therefore that makes them very aware in that in those early stages there is a platform and you can be heard and listened to. Now there are, there are regular one-to-ones with everybody else in the team, but it's giving that early stage to just go, look, this might be a bit abnormal. Mm-hmm. Tell us, like you might, you might already start to recognize how you can fit and how it could be a real positive, but there's possibly also some doubts and things kicking in. Yeah. Because human nature, we're going. Change is scary. Yeah. So like, just, just have a platform to talk and just go, this is how things are at. I think what's really important that happens, um, in those reviews and, uh, particularly happens in the much more strongly in the three month review, is this feedback from the rest of the team. Yeah. Positive and negative. Definitely. Yeah. But it's good. Like you, if, if it was all positive then like, We're, we're all human beings. We're aware that we're not perfect. Yeah. We're gonna have things we need to work on. Yeah. Being able to hear that in a controlled environment where it's said with love and care might be difficult to hear at the time, but actually you can go away from that and you can just go, okay, how can I interpret my, my own actions or behaviors that, that are showing that. Maybe that isn't what I intend, but now I can do something about it. Yeah. And in the positive respect, people don't like to give positive feedback. Yeah. People don't like hearing it either. Like No, it's embarrassing. Yeah. It's, it's like both ways cringe. Yeah. So actually being able to sit there, the person who's delivering the feedback normally isn't delivering their feedback. They're delivering. Mm-hmm. Other people's. Other people's, yeah. So it's much a much more comfortable thing that you can just both go. Oh wow, that's really nice and that somebody's recognized

Liv: 20:52

that because it's nice to hear, isn't it, that you're doing a good

Ian: 20:54

job. Yeah. It's just hard to say directly to somebody's face. Yeah, yeah. Um, which feels so wrong that that should be the case, but that's reality. It's just human nature. Yeah. Yeah. So, um, and I think that having the voice and being able to be heard, like everybody has the opportunity. you, raised this the other day and actually ended up not necessarily being. As big as what you thought it was. You said that a discovery call process needs, needs improving. Yeah. Like you felt it was broken. Yeah. The very fact that just, over three months that you've been here, but you are able to now already recognize and go, there's something that could be broken. Yeah. And. This is the environment where they would rather hear that it was broken. Yeah. Than you just kept quiet and went Yeah. They're just not gonna take this Well if, it was said. Yeah. So you were able to come to and we, went, okay, let's just jump on a call and we go through it. Yeah. Worked out what was going on. And then actually, it's not quite as broken as what we, thought Yeah. We just did this little minor improvement. Yeah. But that little minor improvement could be the difference between, cause there was some dropped calls. Yeah. So that could be the difference between. Those drop calls happening are not happening. And not happening. Yeah. but unless you are brave enough to go, this could be broken. Nothing moves forward. And if we stand still and everybody else arounds us, moves forward, we're going backwards. Yeah. So it ha you have to be that brave person to be able to, stand up and go, I think this can be a problem. But our job, as business owners and then also down to the leadership team and down to the rest of the team, Particularly when there's new recruits is make everybody feel that that's okay if they can. Yeah. Yeah. Like you're not gonna be, it's like, it's not a shoot the messenger type situation. Like, you didn't break it, it's happened. It's, you feel like it, yeah. There's a, gap within the process of the system. You might don't even know what the solution is. You just know that there's a problem, there's a problem. Yeah. But we can brainstorm a solution if we know what the problem is. Yeah. Definitely.

Liv: 22:59

And if you were to kind of summarize or what would the, what would be the first steps a business owner should take in improving their recruitment process? Like the first, like the main three things, if you would.

Ian: 23:11

Um, I think, I think it's clear. You, need to have a culture. Yeah. And you need to know what you're recruiting for because if you don't have a defined culture, You can't test for it.

Liv: 23:24

Yeah. There's no standardization. Like you don't know what you're actually

Ian: 23:27

No. And like so many places have a culture and what they do is they just go stick the values up on the wall and that's it. Mm-hmm. Like our values aren't, they aren't do, like, you can't see them like they are around. You can go and find them, but the fact is in, in my opinion, they're lived and they're breathed all the time. Yeah. And most of the feedback you will get is how well. You lived or you didn't live the values. It's usually not related to skills. It's back to, it's back to those values. So those values are really, really important. In terms of step one, I think step two is actually a great, um, a great advert. I think most people just use the same job advert as everybody else, and that there's no real way to, to stand out. So, Just remember what you're trying to do and you're trying to stand out to that one candidate. If you want the best candidate, you've got to appeal to them in the first place for them. Want to even read your job advert. Yeah. To then even bother replying. Um, particularly if you are gonna put. Multiple things in place, like you're gonna, do you want'em to do skills tests? You want'em to do multiple interviews? Yeah. Like you've got to be able to sell it to them. Yeah. Um, that they go, okay, I'm willing to, I'm willing to put that effort in through that process. Yeah. Yeah. Um, it's worth the pain o of going through that process to be able to get to the other side. Yeah. So I think a clear, a clear advert that appeals to the right people, and I think. A plan, like what you actually gonna do when they arrive. Like the last thing, the last thing you can do is put all that effort into getting the right person and they arrive and then you go, oh, we don't actually know what we're gonna do with you. Like, um, you, you might not have perfection. Like the role that you are doing today is probably not the role you came in and thought you were gonna be doing. You certainly didn't think you'd be sat here doing podcast, but, um, We knew the baseline of what we wanted to achieve. Yeah. Uh, and so we knew, and we can very quickly say to you that actually achieve these goals. I think I told you, take one, be nosy. Mm-hmm. Answer the phone. Mm-hmm. Yeah. So you can do those. Do you think you're winning? Um, and we'll work on from there. Yeah. And new things get, get dripped in. So I think it's that, it's, yeah, you need to, you need to have the defined culture. You need to actually appeal to the right people. And then you actually need to know what process you're gonna be following once they arrive to make them feel welcome, feel part of the team, um, as quickly as possible. You don't want somebody new feeling like an outsider for longer than they need to. No, no longer than they should.

Liv: 26:18

Yeah. Anything else you'd like to say about recruitment? Anything else you think people should know about the process of recruitment?

Ian: 26:28

Um, I think probably just a reflection on my own element. Recognize when you might be the problem. Yeah. Like, um, my ability to read people quickly isn't great. Yeah. Um, I need time and realistically an interview process doesn't allow that. And my mind constantly says, why would somebody turn up? Like, like fake or not real, or not be themselves. Yeah. Because I wouldn't, if I was going to an interview, I'd just be me. Yeah. But there are people who are very good at, they can pretend to be something for a short period of time. Yeah. And we've certainly had that where we've recruited people and they've arrived and then you've gone, whoa. That's, that's not who we saw in interview. Yeah. Um, and therefore know to get out of the way. Yeah. Recognize the people that you've got around you and the skills that they have and let them do their thing. Yeah, and just trust. Yeah. Okay. Thank you.