Shivvy J

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GUEST BLOGS, MILLENNIALS, OPINION, THE STARTUPS ECOSYSTEM

By Steve Hutson (@shutsonstar), Founder, award-winning recruitment company Superstars

6 November, 2014: I recently visited Cologne, where I and 26,000 other visitors spent an incredible couple of days talking all things digital. The atmosphere was exciting and the attendees had plenty of ideas to share about the future of business. Throughout the weekend however there was one recurring question – how do we find and keep the people we need to power this new world of digital business that we are creating?

• Firstly, we have to change not just the talent or the methods we use but, even more importantly, the perception we have of ourselves. We need to become open. Find me a person who talks about skills shortages and I will show you a person with a narrow hiring strategy.
• Soft skills are key. You could have someone with the most amazing ‘hard’ skills – e.g. a rock star developer – but if they are unable to communicate then you are stuck! You need to learn to look differently.
• A good way to do this is to remember the ‘gut’ hire you made. You met someone who didn’t seem quite right and perhaps lacked some of the hard skills you thought they needed yet you took a risk. And guess what? 99% of you will have stories like this. Key talent who are now excelling because they had the soft skills that moved you to hire them.
• Do not rely on CVs. The CV is a piece of paper or an email attachment. It does not and can not tell you the full story of a person’s experience.
• In the course of my career I have personally interviewed 5374 people for an average of a hour each. In my experience, at least 80% of the good work they can offer is not found on their CV. So take the time, check their LinkedIn profile, check the work. If their CV is quirky it usually means there is a lot more to discover.

If you want to keep crying, “Skill shortages!” and get stressed about how to find the right people, just keep doing the same thing.

If however you are happy to bring about just one of these changes in the way you think about finding talent then you will be on the road to discovery.

The reason I count the number of people I have interviewed is simply this – respect. They have taught me so much about their industries. Some of them have become my closest of colleagues and friends. I have been invited to countless birthdays, christenings, parties and weddings (being a matchmaker for a few). The experience of hiring is more than just a piece of paper, it’s more than an ‘issue’.

It is about people and it is people who will truly make your company or your project successful.

So go for it. Think differently, get out there and meet them.