Good recruitment policies are the cornerstone to the success or failure of a business. I’ve always been of the belief that any company’s hiring and staffing policies and procedures will actually be what make it or break it in the long run.
If, for instance a firm has a strong hiring procedure and follows all hiring best-practices, and is, as a result of this, able to hire the best possible human resource and put together a good team, not only will it benefit in the short-term (by becoming a source of support, ideas and innovation) but also in the long-run (by helping accelerate business growth and providing the company the ability to achieve and realize it’s short-term and long-term goals).
Businesses owners will need to have people working for them. As the business grows, so does it’s workforce. The important thing is to have ‘the right people working at the right positions’. Which means your hiring should be absolutely spot-on. Here are hiring quotes – and lessons and tips – straight from the experts:
1. Mary Anne Kennedy, HR Expert and Author
[Answering a question on what 3 things should a business owner should do to prepare for the hiring process] “(1) Set the standards and expectations of each role. What are the specific tasks, what’s required to perform then, and how will performance be measured. (2) Compensation. What can you pay for that work, and how does it align with similar jobs/experience requirements in your area and industry. (3) Decide how you’ll source candidates. Some jobs can be advertised in general media; others may require you to use more specific channels.”2. Steve Jobs, Apple
“You need to have a collaborative hiring process.”
“When we hire someone, even if they are going to be in marketing, I will have them talk to the design folks and the engineers.”
“The secret of my success is that we have gone to exceptional lengths to hire the best people in the world.”
“When you’re in a start-up, the first ten people will determine whether the company succeeds or not. Each is 10 percent of the company. So why wouldn’t you take as much time as necessary to find all the A players? If three were not so great, why would you want a company where 30 percent of your people are not so great? A small company depends on great people much more than a big company does.”
3. Lawrence Bossidy, Former COO of General Electronics
“I am convinced that nothing we do is more important than hiring and developing people. At the end of the day you bet on people, not on strategies.”
4. Brian Tracy, Motivational Speak and Author
“The smartest business decision you can make is to hire qualified people. Bringing the right people on board saves you thousands, and your business will run smoothly and efficiently.”
“As a business owner or manager, you know that hiring the wrong person is the most costly mistake you can make.”
5. Jim Collins, Business Consultant, Author and Lecturer
“If I were running a company today, I would have one priority above all others: to acquire as many of the best people as I could [because] the single biggest constraint on the success of my organization is the ability to get and to hang on to enough of the right people.”
“People are not your most important asset. The right people are.”
6. Stephen Covey, Renowned American Educator, Author and Businessman
“If you can hire people whose passion intersects with the job, they won’t require any supervision at all. They will manage themselves better than anyone could ever manage them. Their fire comes from within, not from without. Their motivation is internal, not external.”
7. Bill Gates, CEO Microsoft
“The key for us, number one, has always been hiring very smart people.”
“If we weren’t still hiring great people and pushing ahead at full speed, it would be easy to fall behind and become a mediocre company.”
8. Robert Bosch, German Industrialist, Engineer and Inventor
“I don’t pay good wages because I have a lot of money; I have a lot of money because I pay good wages.”
9. Henry David Thoreau, American Philosopher, Author, Poet, Historian and Development Critic
“Do not hire a man (or woman) who does your work for money, but him (or her) who does it for the love of it.”