This is a practical guide for hiring managers. I guide you through the proven steps and resources I used to make the right decision every company needs to make to sustain its growth. That decision is who you hire and how you hire that person. I learned these methods, found these resources and made these decisions while I worked in the trenches, here in the U.S. and overseas, and always in the fast-moving telecommunications industry. As Country Manager for a newly-opened subsidiary I saw how important it was to communicate thoroughly and methodically and include each colleague in the hiring decision. That helped lower language and culture barriers, build our relationship on the basis of engagement and trust. We doubled revenues and tripled new orders within the first six months. As CEO of a small conference call service provider I discovered more tools and resources, created a simple hiring process that allowed us to make four excellent hiring decisions but welcome each new hire with an engaged and inspired workforce. This last part, welcome each new hire with an engaged and inspired workforce, was the key to our success. We boosted our sales conversion rates from 50% to over 80%. We grew our revenues by 80% in an industry best described as 'commodity-hell.' We sustained our positive cash-flows. You will see I include proven resources and methods from other recognized experts in small business hiring and talent management in addition to my real-world examples of how we applied them in a dynamic environment marked with rapid change and the need for 'all hands on deck.' In all journeys like this one, there are discoveries; sometimes they preceded by mistakes and failures. I share those - discoveries and mistakes - to help you avoid them in your journey. Good hiring decisions are made with the active participation of all your stakeholders, aka, your employees. They have a vested interest in who sits beside them and whose work they depend on for their own success. I show you how to enlist and inspire their participation. That has the added benefit of boosting their active engagement not only during the hiring process - creating the job description and participating in the interviews - but also onboarding the new A-Player joining your group into their engaged and enthusiastic team. Avoiding common mistakes and making bad hiring decisions are the only shortcuts I offer you. Hiring decisions are the most important decisions you will make in your business. Whether you are a team leader, a division manager, a C-Suite executive or you work at home and are ready to hire a part-time web designer, this decision is what makes your company survive, thrive or disappear. This requires your full participation as it requires the full participation of everyone around you. I show you tools, resources and methods that work engaging your key stakeholders - your employees - to make the best hiring decision. The rest is up to you.
