Fast Company Article - Melinda Re "How to Hire the Next Michael Jordan" by Gina Imperato, December 1998, pg. 212

I've Hired a Couple of Michael Jordans Too

The "Michael Jordan" of the article refers to people of exceptional talent, which according to a world-class hiring expert, are in short supply. In order to have a company of "superstars", you have to recruit them, evaluate them and offer them a job differently.

To recruit the best of the best, you have to continuously recruit and it is the responsibility of every manager in the company, not just the responsibility of the HR department. Continuous recruitment is finding the names of people in your field and getting to know them. It is creating a network of people that you want working for your company, even if they are not looking for a job. Learn to spot the best people in companies that you do business with. Make a habit of capturing the names of people who impress you at conferences and develop a talent database. Ask new hires who they would like to recruit from their old company. Keep in touch with good people who have left your company and use them as a source of talent leads. Be able to answer the following questions, "Who are the best people in the field?" and "How can we persuade them to join us"?

Once you know who the talented people are, you need to stay in touch with them so you are there when they are ready to make a change. Eliminate the standard formal assessment and offer process. You know they are the people you want working with you, you were just waiting for them. Hire them instantly. This takes organizational confidence because it seems like you are taking a big risk. But in reality, the long drawn out hiring process usually involves delays and paperwork, not assessment of a potential employee.

Stop relying on traditional interviews. They are about the past, not good predictors of future performance. Use a new alternative technique called the future view, which is the mirror image of an interview. Don't talk about what a candidate did at their old company, discuss the real tasks at this job. Let the candidate do some actual work through a job simulation. Introduce them to the colleagues they will be working with. How can this be done? Over the Internet.

Keeping talent at your company should be a priority. To retain good people, offer them what they want. Do not underestimate the power of money, however, many people would rather have an opportunity for growth, for freedom, or for impact. Reward people. Treat them special. Make being good to people part of your company's culture.

I found this article fascinating for two reasons. One is because it is the opposite of the way we hire in extension at least at the level of which I am involved. We hire only when there is an open staff position. The job is posted and the people who respond to the posting are the candidates available to fill that job. Only then are new people brought on board.

The second reason I liked the article is because it validated exactly how my husband and I hire for the businesses that we own and/or manage. Most of the people we have hired (for an accounting business and a resort) were brought into positions that were created for them. We perpetually hire. We try to hire every great talent that we meet, whether we have an "open position" or not.

We have numerous examples of very successful hires. We persuaded the secretary at the Crow Wing County Extension Office (who I felt was wasting her organizational skills) to take a job across the state as a department manager of a large resort and groomed her to move up to general manager. We took one of the nutrition education program volunteers with a great head for figures, helped her finish her requirements as a Certified Public Accountant and gained ourselves a talented CPA. Six of the current employees at the accounting practice came on board as a result of a referral from our staff members, not through job openings.

It's easier to reward and retain a good employee than it is to recover from a bad employee. We try to make working for our businesses a valuable experience for people. We can't offer the best pay in the industry, so treating people well has to take the lead. For some, it can simply be the freedom to leave at any time that their children need them whether it is for illness or an afternoon band concert. For others, believe it or not, it is the freedom to work anytime they feel like it - nights, weekends - the times that they are really feeling productive.

I discussed this article with my husband (and hiring partner) and when I outlined how we already utilized a number of the ideas in the article he frankly couldn't imagine doing things any other way and never has.

My reality check was discussing this article with colleagues in extension who also feel the constraints of the system in place at our level of the organization. For instance, I was recently part of an interview team. We interviewed three people that day that we did not want to walk out the door. We had one opening. We had to let two extremely good candidates that would have brought great talent to the organization go on to work for someone else.

We did agree, however, that things are probably done very differently at the upper levels of university hiring. I have a feeling that when the university is looking for new talent at the highest levels, there are administrators who have a good idea of who that talent might be. And I am sure there are instances of a position being created for a talent like "Michael Jordan"!

-- Anonymous, February 12, 1999