MYTHS BUSTED
Let's Bust Some Common Misconceptions
At Haugan Group, we understand there are a lot of misconceptions about who is responsible for hiring Superstar talent. If you buy into these common misconceptions about recruiting top-talent, you are crippling your organization, your team, and your own career.
"Hiring Superstars Is Not My Responsibility"
Top-performing talent (or lack thereof) is the #1 determinant that can literally make or break your career. Consider a baseball general manager who's main role, more than in any other sport, is to field a championship caliber team. His job 100% depends on the real-world performance of the team he fields, so it is incumbent that he attract, select, and sign the very best talent available at each position. How successful would he be if he didn't own his recruiting process and hiring decisions?
The same is true for you as well. Don't hand-off hiring to Human Resources or your favorite contingency recruiter. Sure, you may make the final decision, but be honest: do you only pick the best from the resumes you happen to be presented, and of those, do you depend on others to do the heavy lifting of selling your organization when those Superstars you want to hire have companies banging down their door?
Bottom-line, if the failure of a mis-hire effects your team and hits your budget, quit playing Russian Roulette with your career and start owning this vital function. This is what we do. We help you own your hiring again.
"I have no time to recruit Superstars"
This is a classic example of "I have no time because I don't have the right people on my team, but I don't have the time to hire the right people for my team." It's an insidious trap, and one that most Construction leaders face every day, which is why they usually pass the buck to Human Resources or contingency recruiters. Instead of spending a large chunk of your time recruiting and attracting high-caliber Superstars, you instead spend that time micromanaging (or let's be real...babysitting) average performers.
You should spend at least 20-30% of your time on the recruitment and development of your team. It sounds impossible, but with a team of Superstars, your work becomes so much more streamlined that you will have much more time in your day. The mark of a strong leader is not micromanagement and hard work. The mark of a strong leader is a strong team, plain and simple. Besides, managing your team should be a joy, not a chore.
That's where we can come in. We make sure that while you own your hiring, we also lead you by the hand as we make sure your interview process is on-point, streamlined, and only producing candidates that matter. Imagine how less stressful it would be if every candidate you brought in for on-sites was a verified Superstar?
"I know a Superstar when I see him/her."
Almost every executive in the Construction space feels like they have a natural eye for talent. If that were the case, however, 46% of all hires made would not be mis-hires. So what we have here is basically a flip of the coin because most managers place too much trust in their gut instinct.
The numbers don't lie. Our gut instincts, at least when it comes to hiring, tend to be wrong most of the time.
Why is that? Quite simply, what we call gut instinct is really the confluence of two byproducts of our evolutionary lineage: affinity bias and confirmation bias. Affinity bias is the tendency to warm up to people like ourselves, while confirmation bias is the tendency for people to seek information that confirms pre-existing assumptions. Essentially, most of us make an initial assumption about a candidate within the first few minutes of meeting (usually reacting positively if they act and talk like ourselves), and spend the rest of the interview unconsciously trying to confirm that initial assumption. We all tend to do this, and we do this at the expense of using an objective set of measures to assess candidates.
Simply put, when you work with us, we will teach you the objective measures you should use in all of your interviews, so you can stop using your gut and forever de-risk your hiring decisions.
"We can't get a Superstar to work here"
Yes you can. At least, yes you can hire Superstars provided you break the mold that many Construction leaders fall into:
Relying on boilerplate job postings (that Superstars don't look at because they aren't actively looking)
Having a haphazard hiring process and not objectively screening for the core of what makes a Superstar
Putting together a subpar Employer Value Proposition (EVP), because let's face it, having a "fun and engaging workplace that really values our employees, and we have casual Friday" doesn't move the needle. Superstars just don't care about those things.
...or if you are lucky enough to land a Superstar despite your hiring process, expecting to onboard and manage them similarly to B & C players is a recipe for disaster.
When you work with us, and implement the steps in the Superstar Delivery System, you can turn your run-of-the-mill opportunity into a prized destination for Superstars looking to really accelerate their careers.
"Superstars are too expensive."
After years in the trenches in the Construction hiring world, I can unequivocally say that money is not the #1 consideration for Superstar candidates.
Now let me qualify that by saying that money is most certainly important to top talent. You can't expect the best of the best to work for peanuts. But multiple studies have shown that top talent is driven by something much deeper than numbers on their W2. They're driven by self-actualization.
If you're confused by what I mean here, don't worry. I fully explain what self-actualization is, why it's important, and how you can use this to attract the top players in the Construction world in our Hire Success Guide (the link is on the next page).
Just know that if you design your Employer Value Proposition (EVP) correctly, while Superstars don't come cheap, you'll find them affordable most of the time. And when you do have to pay a premium, know that the savings from not having a mis-hire derail your team, or from not having to hire outside consultants to fix a mis-hire's mistakes, will more than make up for the increased investment...exponentially so.
Believe me, an investment in a team of Superstars is by far the safest and most profitable investment you will ever make in a leadership career.