Very rarely is there a bad apple in the bunch

I recently helped my husband. He was devastated because his go-to-guy resigned. With the normal 2 week resignation.

I asked him “if he matters so much to you, why are you sad?”

Long story short, great person, star player, heavy hitter… wanted out of NY. Shared this for years. Finally made a move to move his young family out of state. It was all understandable.

Our conversation went a bit like this: “Could he have given more notice? Could he have told my husband sooner? Sure, but he was also a nervous candidate so you cannot blame that. He is doing what is best for him and his family, so if we truly care, and I mean truly… you are really only sad for yourself right?”

Why, because now my husband had to recruit, he had to train, he had to rebuild and he had to cover. But what he did not realize is if you bring in someone who understands how to be an HR business partner and a lead recruiter, you will get far more support than you realize. And that’s what he did. He hired me.

In 2.5 weeks I did all the things: a real intake conversation about the entire role (not just requirements), I wanted to know stakeholder interaction, company culture, ability to grow, blockers and small wins. And I did it in 31 minutes. Because I know what winning looks like for a candidate, but my husband does not. Because he does not have to. He knows what the role successfully looks like, not what will attract the right person, hook the best player and accelerate to execution during on-boarding.

Then I asked him to trust me. He did not want to at first. Not because he does not trust me overall, but because the idea of not looking at every single resume, the idea of not seeing every screening note, made him nervous. But what I pitched was an offer he could not refuse: what if I took 10 hours of work off your plate? Eventually, he allowed it.

See everyone thinks their company is special. Their team is unique. Their style is a need in a hay stack. But people are generally similar. Everyone wants to belong. Everyone wants to feel valued. Everyone wants honesty. One of the major issues with recruiting today is too much of clients doing the former, being all special, and not enough appreciating what people need.

By the end of 2.5 weeks, I received over 165 resumes for a job posted for 3 days. I screened 3 dozen folks. I put the top 5 on a phone interview with my friend. He picked the top 3 for in-person interviews and the top 2 met with the owners.

The real kicker - he extended offers to 3 of the 5 folks. Because I looked for utility players that could fill gaps he did not realize he had or was not thinking of hiring yet.

Why? Because of the dozen screening calls - there were lots of great candidates. When you great apples in the bunch to pick from its more about planning ahead than play defense.

When it comes to building teams it is not about over analyzing or rushing. It is about having a deep knowledge of what you need and seeing the ways so many people can assist. The moral of my story, be open to help, know what you don’t know and you will not fail with whatever apple you pick.

Saving how you onboard rapidly for success for another day. Today, we stick to these great apples.