Hiring Quality Talent - Are You Getting Burned?

For many business managers, the hiring process is approached as if they belong to the local volunteer fire department. If a “fire” arises, respond immediately, put it out quickly, and get back to your normal job. However, hiring talent for your company in this manner can be devastating to your team’s long-term success.

What you may not know is, your local volunteer fire department typically is very well prepared. They have trained extensively for when the “alarm” goes off and know exactly what they need to do to respond quickly and successfully.

To be successful in hiring for your team, you should do the exact same thing. Your approach and plan must be well thought out, explained and implemented at all levels internally, and carried out each time according to the plan.

A key part of your hiring plan is the interviewing process. Unfortunately, interviewing is often done poorly or is simply not taken seriously enough. Below are some reasons we hear:

I don’t have enough time to interview all these candidates.
We can’t find quality candidates, so I don’t get excited about interviewing them.
I’m a (fill in the blank). I’m not trained to interview, and I’m just not very good at it.
Candidates all sound alike to me, so it’s hard to sort out the good ones from the pack.
I don’t interview people often enough to get very good at it.

To deal with these legitimate concerns, try to make interviewing enjoyable. Involve teammates in the process. See interviews as opportunities to bring in fresh ideas to your team. Brainstorm on questions you can ask that are relevant and help identify the talent you need for the position you are hiring.

Then, remember to hire slowly. Rarely does anyone get married after the first date. In a tight talent market, decisions on hiring often do need to be made in a prompt manner, but always take enough time to make sure you are making a good decision. As my business coach says, “It’s always better to want something you don’t have than to have something you don’t want.”

For more insight on improving your interviewing and hiring processes, see “Interviews: Traditional or Transparent?” elsewhere in this newsletter.

When I started as the Office Manager at AGRI-SEARCH in October of 2019, I knew the importance of the industry and the people in it, but I didn’t realize what goes on behind the scenes. Now, almost a year later, I have seen the hard work our team puts into finding the right people for different key positions in the Ag industry.

Our recruiters here at AGRI-SEARCH are dedicated to serving our clients with excellence each day. It is rewarding to see their successes and help in any way I can along the way, whether it be through marketing, updating our website and newsletter, managing internal data, or assisting in the preparation of information presented to our clients.

It was evident from the start that helping people is a passion of the AGRI-SEARCH team, and I am glad to be a part of that.

It is commonly known that all individuals should put their best foot forward throughout the interviewing process – both applicants and hiring managers alike. Offices are tidied up, everyone is polite with introductory small talk, and professional game faces are on.

“My greatest weaknesses? I work too hard. I sometimes care too much about the work I do. I don’t know when to quit; some have even told me my tendency to over-achieve makes others in the department second-guess their value on the team.”

Sound like a familiar iteration of an answer you have heard a time or two before? Many would liken a first interview to a first date, which begs the question: when do you really get to know what is underneath the surface?

When the right talent is working together as a team, miracles can happen – but assembling that talent is an ongoing challenge all leaders face. The truth is that hiring is hard. No organization has perfected the process as to how to exclusively hire the right people, but this article shares some of the bold, quirky, and unique best practices that may be incorporated into your own evaluation system.

Do you have the grit to not give up and stay true to the course, no matter how difficult it may be? Are you competitive and possess a strong sales mentality where every “no” is just one step closer to a “yes”?

If so, and you have a passion for connecting with and helping people, plus a strong agricultural industry background in agronomy, grain, or other areas, please contact Dave Allen. We would enjoy having a discussion with you about how a recruiting career may be a great fit for you.

Founded in 1995, AGRI-SEARCH is a professional recruiting firm providing clients with customized recruiting solutions in various niches within the agricultural industry. Our success results from our industry focus, our specialized approach to recruiting, and our staff's lifelong roots in, dedication to, and vast understanding and knowledge of the agricultural industry.

At AGRI-SEARCH, our mission states that we “are committed to serving the agricultural industry with integrity, passion and excellence by assisting our candidates to reach their career goals and helping our client companies build successful teams.”