By Kevin Bartley, Division Manager with Nexus 5 Group
I'm a routine person. I have the same get up and get around routine almost every day. One of the first things I do is look at my calendar to see what I have planned for the day. This morning, I saw that this blog was due. I knew I should probably go into the office and get this done so I'm not the biggest loser again this month. Second thing I noticed is that I have interview after interview scheduled today, and that gave me the inspiration for this blog.
Hiring
I would say that hiring is one of the biggest challenges I have in my job. I wonder all the time, why is it so hard to find employees? When I say employees, I'm speaking of amazing, dedicated employees. The Nexus 5 Team is made up of some of most competitive, rock star employees (that always want to win) that I've ever had the pleasure of working with.
We search out, recruit, and even poach some of the best people in the industry in order to build an amazing team. With that being said, we still do get our fair share of “bummers” as well. After being in this industry for 25 years I've learned that unfortunately not everyone is that rock star. My mentality is to never settle for less and only hire the best of the best, but unfortunately it just doesn’t always happen like that.
Over the years of hiring and firing, I've found three main groups of employees.
The first is your “ride or die” people.
These are the people that are driven employees that fight their way to the top. The ones that stay late, that will always get the job done and that you have complete faith in to get the job done.
Second are your “just need to be paid” employees.
These are the people that come in most days and want to work and receive a paycheck for that work. This group generally doesn't make it to the top, but is content with a work relationship that gets them by. And they're generally good employees.
The third group is where the problem comes in.
These are people that really just want a paycheck, but want to do the least amount of work to get that paycheck. This is also the group that rotates in and out of the team and tends to cause drama with the rest of the team.
Because most of the Nexus 5 Group crew comes from group one, this causes turmoil within the group as they see the “slackers” of the team. Group one team members have to pick up the slack for the group three people, causing friction within the team.
The simple answer to all of this seems to be, “Don’t hire group three employees.”
Well, in the world of construction, it's not always that simple. The average interview only last 15 – 20 minutes. You try to look for character flaws within the applicant, but it's not always clear. (Not to mention that the group one employees are hard to find and are generally fighting their way to the top elsewhere.) As a result, the pool is very small to pull from.
I think for the most part, we do a good job in finding the right fits for our team.
When searching for that new team member, we look at the experience, ability and skill set to do the job, but a resume doesn't tell you if that candidate is a good fit for the team. That's something that must be seen in an in-person interview.
We have a core crew that will probably always be here because this group is made of “ride or die” team members. I believe that's what makes Nexus 5 Group such a unique company. It's filled with so much competition to win... not to mention our culture is second to none. I would go on record and say that 95% of our team members feel that this is the best place in the world to work. I hear it from our crew often. Our goal is to continue to grow that first group. As long as we keep our team members that Serve Well and believe in our Team Member Fulfillment Core Value, the rest will take care of itself.
Treat Your Ride or Die Team Members Like Kings and Queens
The best advice I could ever give a hiring manager is to keep the faith and look at the positive. Cherish your “ride or die” team members that you have and treat them like the kings and queens they are. These are the guys and gals that will make your life and job easier. The bad ones will weed themselves out eventually in one way or another. Don’t get discouraged with turnover, because it's just part of the game.
Most importantly, always keep looking. Never stop recruiting and searching for your next group one team members. They're out there, they're just harder to find.