Finding and Keeping Great People

There are two basic reasons why you might be thinking about hiring someone. Either you're planning to replace someone who left (or was fired!), or you've created a new position and want someone to fill it. Whichever situation you find yourself in, these next couple of articles are intended to help you find (and keep) the best possible person for the job.

So, before you rush off and start creating job ads for Monster.com or wherever, let's take a few minutes to think about the process.

Step 1 is to design the job - which means thinking about what it is that you want done, and how you're going to know whether it's been well (and what you're prepared to pay for those results).

Step 2 is to define the ideal candidate - which means thinking about the skills, knowledge, personality, values, and qualifications they're going to need to get the results you want.

Step 3 is to "go fishing" for applicants - which means you need to think about which "pool" you should "cast the net" into to maximize your chances of attracting a good number of suitable candidates.

Step 4 is to select the best person for the job from among the applicants you have attracted in step 3 - which means thinking about how you're going to compare each person with the spec you created in step 2, and

Step 5 is getting your new hire on board and up-to-speed as smoothly and quickly as possible - which means thinking about how you're going to provide them with access to all the information they'll need to become high performing member of your team.

So, now we need to look at each step in more detail. First up, step 1 - what's the job?

Achieving Your Goals

One of the keys to achieving your goals is momentum.

Many people will tell you that you need to have goals, and that you need to plan your path towards them.

What they don't tell you is that, unless you gain a little ground EVERY SINGLE DAY, you are likely to begin to stumble on your path to success.

For example, if your goal is to write a book, write a page (or even a paragraph) every day. If you want to run a successful business, tell one new person about your products or services, every day.

Complete a little task every day without fail and you'll start to pick up momentum.

Ask yourself:

How can I break my goal down into daily tasks?

It's easy to get discouraged if your goal seems farther away than ever after just a couple of weeks. It's the classic mistake of most dieters.

Q. How do you eat an elephant?
A. One mouthful at a time!

If you know that you are moving forward one little baby step every single day - then you will also know that, if you focus and stay on track - then you WILL achieve your goal!