Businesses are a manifestation of years or decades of dreams, planning, and hard work. The company itself is greater than the sum of its parts.
There comes a time when you need to hand the reins to more people to manage affairs better. Do you want to know how to hire someone with the gumption and pluckiness to lead your company to success?
In a standard hiring process, you first determine what positions need filling. The following steps are pretty easy if you know you’re looking for a leader. Read more about the hiring process and crucial qualities to look for in candidate leaders.
1. Determine Your Recruitment Strategy
Some companies use recruiting firms to gather candidates. You might also consider utilizing global PEO services to expedite and expand your hiring process. If you want employees already on board, make the opportunity accessible to them.
When choosing a leader, resist the urge to settle for the best in your candidate pool. Some recruiters feel the pressure to hire the best person in the candidate pool despite that person not being the best fit for the job. Extend your reach with recruitment until you find the leader your business needs.
2. Elaborate on the Job Description
Do you have a good idea about who and what you need? Delineate specific expectations you have from the employee.
Include requirements, responsibilities, expectations, and contributions to company culture. Reevaluate their function in your company and assess any redundancies.
Keep in mind that you’re not only filling desks, you’re also filling needs. Give your candidates a destination, so they have the chance to shape up to your expectations.
3. Post the Job Opening
Draft an appropriate job listing online, offline, or both! Learn how to post online job listings to maximize your reach. There are several platforms where you can upload job vacancies.
What to Look for in Leadership Recruits
You’ve read the basic steps on how to hire a candidate. Learn how to sift through and find the high-quality candidates.
1. Humility
Job hiring is a two-way street. In the same way that you’re recruiting a leader, you have people actively seeking this role. Why do people wish to become leaders?
Leadership comes with responsibility and added duties followers don’t have. Some people prefer to be worker bees their whole life, never having to wield the heavy crown.
Do they want to march to the beat of their own drum? Is it the high of feeling in control? Could it be from the glory and recognition that one receives?
There are a plethora of self-serving reasons why someone wants leadership roles. You can make anything into the foundation of leadership, from greed to power. However, for exemplary leadership, you have to build it on humility.
Good leaders recognize that success is a collective feat rather than their own. Humble leaders don’t exactly reject the spotlight, but instead, they share the credit and let the light shine on the team. They recognize their followers as not only as cogs in the machine but as valuable assets.
In short, when handpicking candidates for leadership, find someone whose motives aren’t self-seeking. They are rare, but when you find one, the difference they make is astounding.
2. Passion
Does your leader hunger for collective success? You want someone who is in it for reasons bigger than a paycheck. You want a leader who comes in eager to fulfill their role.
Tap into what keeps them motivated. This passion is their internal motivation towards the betterment of the establishment and its culture. They don’t need a manager pushing them to work towards their full potential because it stems from within.
Passion keeps your employee from staying in their comfort zone. They want to improve and level up. Find someone passionate about keeping your company’s vision and mission alive.
3. Positive Contribution to Company Culture
Looking for someone to fill in the role of a leader could mean that you’re in a position to assign them. If you’re higher up on the corporate ladder, your expectations differ from those of someone lower in the hierarchy.
A leader all on his lonesome is nothing without his group. What followers need the most from their leaders are:
- Trust
- Compassion
- Stability
- Hope
Leadership responsibilities extend beyond delegating tasks and decision-making. To lead, you have to have the ability to attract followers. Learn how and why people follow leaders to understand the psyche of this power dynamic.
What you are looking for as an employer might gear towards what the leader can bring to the company. What followers look for in their leaders is usually how the leaders contribute to work culture. Heeding what makes your followers tick is what makes leadership effective.
4. Intellectual Competency
This might seem obvious, but you want to hire someone who knows what they’re doing. You can only fib so much before the facade starts crumbling along with everything else.
To have the confidence to delegate, decide, and empower, your leader has to have some objective basis.
5. Emotional Intelligence
Knowing the ins and outs of your company is requisite enough. Intellect goes beyond being book smart. When hiring, you want someone with emotional intelligence that compliments intellectual intelligence.
Intellectual intelligence gets you far. It covers reasoning, analysis, and academic competency. However, emotional intelligence is what navigates through situations where book smarts don’t.
Leaders are always building and maintaining relationships with colleagues. Your chosen leader has the empathy, emotional recognition, and communication skills to steer the ship.
6. Flexibility
We love sticking to protocol, but unfortunately, not every conflict has its solution in the handbook. Hire a leader who can think on their feet and stay calm enough to direct the team.
Know How to Hire and Who to Hire for Leadership Positions
Climbing up the corporate ladder opens room for greatness, both as individuals and collectively. Select leaders with qualities you need, as well as qualities their followers meet. If you have an employee that meets our criteria, look no further!
Thank you for reading our article on how to hire a leader! Explore our other blog posts for more business savvy advice.
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