Half-assed recruiting leads to half-assed talent

Can’t find any good people? Chances are, it’s your fault. 

If you’re not actively involved in the recruitment process, you’re basically only doing half of your job. And making the other half harder than it has to be.

I get it, creating great advertising sucks up a big chunk of your day. You’re swamped. You don’t have time to look through books, check out social media profiles or (God forbid) actually talk with potential hires.

But you’re just shooting yourself in the foot if you don’t make the time.

Great people will make your job easier. They’ll produce better work in less time, so you can do less micromanaging and more leading.

So what are you waiting for?

Even if you’re the best of the best, you can’t afford to be complacent. You’re not just competing with other agencies—you are competing with Google, Facebook, Apple and all kinds of startups that we haven’t even heard of, yet.

Not everyone rolls out of college convinced they need to work in advertising. It’s your job to convince them, and make sure they start their careers at your place.

Same holds true for senior level talent. Don’t be so sure those hot shot ACDs are only looking at you and Wieden for their next gig. If they are that good, they probably have suitors from all over the place.

So how do you attract the best and brightest?

Start by creating a recruitment process that feels like it was developed by people who give a shit. If you’re an awesome place to work, let people know about it. Spread the word. Tell your story all over the web and get people talking in the ‘real’ world as well.

Perhaps the best thing you can do is make use of the people you already have. Great people tend to know other great people. Don’t just throw out the standard referral bonus carrot and expect everyone to jump on board. Make the referral process a part of your company culture. 

Start a referral committee. Create a referral microsite. Take advantage of everyone’s vast social network connections.

And when someone refers a great new hire? Send out a company wide email, thanking the referrer and welcoming the new hire. Take them out to lunch to thank them in person. Get people excited about bringing more people in who want to make your agency even greater.

Sure, some people (insecure ones) may resist, fearful that better people will make them look worse, but do you really want those people hanging around anyway? The best people always want to work with the best. It’s how we all learn to get even better. 

Whatever you do, don’t relegate your recruitment efforts to your HR department. HR is not tapped into your day-to-day culture. They don’t have a real sense of how you work.

You need creative people doing the hiring if you want to actually hire more creative people. Find someone who loves your business and make them your point person. Every other person on staff should be their support network.

Or you could keep on doing what you’re doing and deal with the half-assed results.

After all, complaining is so much fun. You don’t want to give that up, do you?