Today, I think I found a great accountant.

But I don't want to get my hopes up; however, I've moved beyond the "high hopes" phase and "got back to basics." Somehow along the line, I forgot a few major important points about building the team. Since I forgot some of these basics, I lost 6 months of time and thousands of dollars. (I should know better by now. I've recruited and trained hundreds of staff members throughout my small-business career.)

So I thought I'd pen a "Hub" and share a few points (that I quickly "remembered," so that you may not make these same mistakes.)

Rule number one in recruiting a "great team:" Play the Law Of Averages, and let the numbers work for you. What I mean is that when I was in my prime in recruiting, I counted on talking with and interviewing a ton of people to filter down to the best candidates possible. It's a simple fact that as the internet and colleges teach people "how to interview," you, as a recruiter or small business owner, must be ready to interview from a large pool of candidates and learn how to identify the traits you're looking for. Talk to a lot of people!

Rule number two: KNOW what traits you're looking for in a candidate, and build a systematic script for attempting to legally identify these traits (there are a lot of laws regarding interviewing, please play by the rules and practice best business practices. There are a ton of resources for learning the proper ways to interview.)

Rule number three: APPLY the power of leverage when possible. I learned this concept from the E-Myth, and what I mean by leverage is: use open houses and group interviews for initial screening when possible. Nothing hurts worse than spending 10 hours of your time to interview 10 people (to have 4 not show up, 3 who are completely unqualified, 2 who are over-qualified and too expensive for your budget, and to have perhaps 1 qualified candidate who then loses interest!)

Rule number four: Keep your emotions checked at the door. If you learn this is a "numbers game" and that the more candidates you have in your pipe-line, the better the odds, you'll quickly learn to play the numbers and not get overly excited or disgruntled by your recruiting efforts.

When I was "on my game" in recruiting, I employed a 3 step system. 1) I would email a response to potential candidates asking them to call me between designated "phone interview" times (you learn really quickly who is and isn't serious, 2) I would invite potential candidates to an "open house" explaining that we first preferred to do a "meet and greet" to see if it might be a potential interview opportunity, and 3) I would then schedule interviews if the candidates made it past the first two steps. This really saved a lot of time, and it also helps invigorate you and/or your staff in telling people about the opportunity while not being "pinned-into" a formal interview when it may be a complete mismatch or waste of your candidates' or your time.

Playing the numbers is healthy and lets everyone be more relaxed. Our open houses were a great opportunity to allow candidates to interact with the current staff and see what your company has to offer.

Then, when the dust settles, you can truly invite candidates whom you feel are a potential match. It saves everyone time! And you'll be glad you tried this!

Chris