Scan for talent, find a job

Scanning for talent and then bringing it into the company should be part of everybody’s job description, particularly at senior level. And it should be a real objective with consequences for their bonus, not just a nice idea they pay lip service to.

This disruptive idea is based on the subtitle of my recent book New Leaders Wanted: Now Hiring! (meetingminds, 2007), which is: 12 kinds of people you must find, seduce, hire and create a job for. By suggesting this, I want to invite you to disrupt the default cycle for filling positions, i.e. have a job opening + have a headcount available à search for people à offer them a job à fill position. Instead, you should unashamedly and relentlessly scan the world for the kind of unique people you want around and create a new cycle: find the people you want à convince and seduce them à find a headcount. If you don’t have it, romance your boss, talk someone into early retirement à hire them and then create a job for them. If you are serious about having intellectual and human capital at the core of the enterprise, there should be nothing more important to you than scanning the world for the kind of people who can make a difference and trying to get them on board. I know this is not the normal process, but then again, this is not a ‘normal’ book.

If you stop and think for a second, why would you want to stick with your default position and wait until you have a job opening before you start looking for the right people for your organisation? If you meet somebody completely outstanding and both of you agree that it would be an excellent idea to become partners, would you seriously consider saying: “Sorry, but I don’t have a headcount“?

Can I also point out that you always have an available headcount no matter what? Because there are always people who perhaps should not be there and whose departure you have been postponing for whatever reason (unless, of course, you are in the public sector and have staff for life).

However, scanning for talent only accounts for 50% of Human Capital building; the other 50% consists of talent retention.

• It should be a permanent part of everybody’s job description to spot at least one key talent a year and seduce them.
• Profiling of the people-we-need (which is not the same as a role or job description) should be a permanent affair and a highlight of any management review (at the same level as highlighting the finances or the meeting of milestones).
• That ‘role-less’ profiling will force you to imagine the kind of organisation you want to build.
• The above is not just an HR responsibility. It is every manager’s responsibility, period. No super-talent spotted = no bonus.

What I am saying, is that the job and role you give these people on the organisation chart is irrelevant, as long as you seduce them and hire them. Many years ago, Herb Kelleher, co-founder of Southwest Airlines, said something very important about the human capital of the company: “we hire attitudes and then we give them the functionality we need.” And ever since then, Southwest Airlines has not ceased to be profitable.

Reversing the order of thinking in the hiring process is a contrarian idea that can pay off enormously. But it’s not something everybody would be prepared to do. If you choose this from the 10+10+10=1000 menu as one of your rules, but you still want to test it out first, start with a specific department or smaller part of the company so that people can see and taste the benefits of this permanent scanning. But be bold and put it in the goals and objectives; don’t just pay lip service to it. The people you can’t afford not to have are out there somewhere: at competitors, other companies or somewhere else. Make bringing them in a viral activity!

Scan → find → seduce → hire → find a headcount → find a job/role.

50 % of leadership time (not HR function time) should be dedicated to scanning for talent (as well as for emotionally and socially intelligent people).

Be open to what you might find in the outside world.

While scanning, think about how each person could make a difference to the organisation, not about whether he/she would fit role description A, B, C.

Pay big bonuses to people who find and hire extraordinary people and do this at all levels.

Copyright © - Leandro Herrero - 2008