Model Your Hiring After the Chicago Bulls

Michael Jordan taught us how to dream. The Chicago Bulls taught us how to handle the hiring process.

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Back in 1983, the Chicago Bulls took Michael Jordan in the first round of the NBA draft, and as you probably know, that pick transformed their organization forevermore.

With Jordan at the helm, the Bulls amassed six out of ten championships throughout the ‘90s, and to this day Michael Jordan is widely considered the greatest player to have ever set foot on a basketball court.

How does the story of the Chicago Bulls and Michael Jordan tie into our roles as hiring authorities? And what can we learn from that historic 1983 selection when it comes to the way we recruit and hire? 

Much to their detriment, a lot of hiring authorities are overly focused on bullets points in a job description. Even after accounting for such credentials as skills, experience, and education, they tend to place undue emphasis on the specifics of the role they’re hiring for. In other words, the hiring authority wants to know if the applicant has already done what they’ll be directing them to do.

For the sake of argument, let’s say the Chicago Bulls took the same approach. They certainly wouldn’t have gone after a player fresh out of college with no professional experience. Instead, perhaps they would have pursued a power forward with experience in the NBA playoffs or a player with a championship already under their belt.

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Seeing the process through this new lens might just fundamentally change the way you do your hiring in 2019.

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During the period between the ‘80s and early ‘90s, the Chicago Bulls weren’t a great organization and were easily outmatched against forces like the Lakers and Celtics. But when they drafted Jordan, the Bulls took a chance on an unknown quantity and rightly saw something in his raw skills and experience. 

In addition, they assessed his soft skills—was he a leader at the University of North Carolina? Will he and how can he be a leader at the professional level? They looked at the totality of what Jordan had to offer, and, as they say, the rest is history.

Let this be a lesson to all of us about how we craft our job descriptions and consider the weight that raw skills and experience carry versus prior experience when we do our hiring. Ultimately, our focus should be on an applicant’s probability of success in our organization, rather than if they have direct experience in very specific areas. Seeing the process through this new lens might just fundamentally change the way you do your hiring in 2019.

If you have any questions or would like to have a conversation with me, feel free to reach out. I’d be happy to hear from you!   

Retention and Employee Engagement—Part 2

Welcome back to part two of our series! Today we’ll focus on the importance of employee engagement and how it can impact your company as a whole.

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Last time in part one of this series, we discussed strategies for boosting employee retention. Today in part two, we’ll focus on another important aspect of being an employer: employee engagement.

Since 2010, numerous studies have come out that have really enlightened us as to what constitutes employee engagement, how it impacts productivity, and how it impacts employee retention. These studies have suggested that up to 80% of people don’t like their jobs and that dissatisfaction influences their disengagement.

But what do those employees look like? Well, those are the people that might distract themselves with social media throughout the day. Their lightbulbs aren’t on, they just seem unmotivated, and they don’t rally behind their company’s mission.

Why is it that people seem to be disengaged from their jobs? Well, the studies found that there are two key reasons:

1. They feel undervalued
2. They’re dissatisfied with the company’s leadership

This reminds me of a great quote by Simon Sinek: “Leadership isn’t about being in charge; it’s about taking care of those in our charge.” Studies have also shown that employees with lower engagement are four times more likely to leave than those who are highly engaged, so we know this is an important topic.

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Leadership isn’t about being in charge; it’s about taking care of those in our charge.

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C-suite executives view this issue as one of the top issues that constitute a threat to their business, and it actually ends up costing the U.S. One study said that the issue of employee disengagement costs the country at large over $400 billion a year.

So what can be done to alleviate this problem? Here are a couple of things to think about in your own business:

1. Build trust in leadership. This includes middle-management, not just c-suite management. We have to show our people that we truly care about them personally, not just professionally, and we have to act with integrity. People in our organizations can see how we act behind closed doors as well as how we act with our customers.

2. Demonstrate competence. If mid-management is disengaged, it can trickle down to the people who work in their groups. What’s important isn’t what we do as a job function—it’s about why we do it. The question, then, is how do we capture our mission to change our communities and leave a lasting impact in our one-on-one, daily, and weekly meetings?

Ultimately, the first step to solving these issues is to realize how important it is, and now that we know what we can do, tactically speaking, to help move the needle in the area of employee engagement. Shifting your own perspective, and therefore your employees’, can have a huge spillover effect when it comes to retaining your top talent and increasing your organization’s productivity.

If you have any questions or comments about this topic, feel free to reach out to us. We’d love to have a conversation with you.

Employee Retention and Engagement, Part 1

Today’s focus is on employee retention and a few actions you can take to keep your “A-players” around to promote the good health of your company.

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Today I’m bringing you part one in my two-part series that will aim to help you with retention and employee engagement. They go hand in hand and are equally important in your workplace environment, but they’re also distinct from each other, so I’ve decided to focus on retention for part one.

Retention is the ability to hold onto the “A-players” in your organization that you value greatly and, in the event that they were to leave, would leave big shoes to fill.

Granted, there are times where we don’t take issue with or may even want an employee’s resignation if that particular person is underperforming or if they pollute the culture you’ve worked to build. That can be viewed as an opportunity to top-grade that position and hire someone who adds to the culture and is a stronger fit.

With the labor market as tight as it is today, though, it’s especially important not to lose your most indispensable players or even those who are one rung down from that.

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Retention is the ability to hold onto the “A-players” in your organization that you value greatly and, in the event that they were to leave, would leave big shoes to fill.

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Here are a few things you can do, tactically speaking, to bring about greater retention in your organization:

First, conduct performance reviews and convey what your employees are doing well and the areas where they can improve. Rather than seeing it through the company lens, make the review about the employee, and gain a richer understanding of where they’d like to be in both the short term and long term. 

Seek to understand what skills and experience they’ve developed that make them feel their job is worthwhile, as well as those that they’d like to fine-tune and develop further, so they can realize their greater potential.

As a final tip, although compensation isn’t one of the top two reasons employees leave to pursue new career options, your employees’ compensation should be commensurate with the market standard when accounting for the skill set and experience they bring to the table.  

Stay tuned for part two where we dive into employee engagement! If you have any questions or ideas for a future video topic, please let me know. I’d be happy to have a conversation with you! 

Many Job Offers Are Getting Turned Down, But Yours Don’t Have to Be

A lot of job offers are getting turned down in our current market, but there are a few things you need to remember to make sure the same thing doesn’t happen to your company.

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We’re in a candidate-driven market right now, and as a result, more and more job offers are getting turned down. What are some of the trends in this market?

• Stiff competition between employers trying to hire the same people 
• Companies are incentivizing their current employees with strong offers to keep them where they’re at
• Some companies have long, drawn-out recruiting cycles that send mixed messages to candidates and discourage them  
• Companies aren’t properly defining their employment opportunity, or candidates are getting mixed signals from those involved in the interview process
• Some employees are just tire kickers—they’re not serious about making a move, and they might only be using a job offer as leverage to get a raise at their current company

How can you adjust to this market and make sure your job offers don’t get turned down? There are four points you need to remember:

1. Recruit from the perspective of the employee, not the employer. Find out what they’re looking for and figure out how your opportunity can help them advance their career.

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Find out what they’re looking for and figure out how your opportunity can help them advance their career.

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2. Understand what motivates them besides money. Ask open-ended questions that inquire as to what they’re really looking for in their next opportunity. Are they looking to learn new skills? Are they career-motivated or quality-of-life motivated? How does your opportunity apply to their motivations?

3. Don’t make offers without knowing they want to join your organization. 

4. Stop lowballing people. Make a great offer on the first try, and only after they’re verbally pre-closed to accept. The only surprises in an offer should be if it’s more than the candidate expects.

If you’d like to talk more about this topic, have any questions, or need more information, feel free to reach out to us. We look forward to hearing from you soon.

Why hire a full service SAP executive recruiting firm?

Need a SAP recruiter? Learn about our track record of placing SAP talent with the nation's leading companies. We'll handle your SAP talent search to save you time and reach candidates in the non-active market you would not have access to otherwise. We'll make sure you get a great hire! 

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I'm Jeremy Sisemore, founder and co-owner of ASAP Talent Services.

We're one of the top SAP focused recruiting firms in the United States.

One of the things that makes us very unique is we are a full service solution provider to major Fortune 500 companies who are looking to hire SAP talent.

Whether it's executive retain at the C-level, perm placement on a contingency basis, or staff augmentation (hiring SAP contractors), we do all of the above for some of the world's leading companies.

 Look forward to earning your business.