MBA1039 How to Hire Motivated Players

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Heyo. Welcome to the Hundred Dollar NBA Show. Just in time Business lessons that you can count on every single day with our daily 10 minute business lessons for the real world. I'm your host, your coach, your teacher Omar Zenholm. I'm also the co founder of the Hundred Dollar MBA, a complete business training and community online over at 100mba.net and in today's episode, you will learn how to hire motivated players. You often hear you gotta hire the best talent. You gotta hire the best talent. You gotta hire the best talent. And don't get me wrong, talent is so important. Hiring the people with the right skills will really take your business to the next level. But just like how that old saying goes, you hire people for their skills, but they get fired for their attitude. See, you can train people, you can gain skills, but you can't train people's attitude. People have to choose to be motivated. People have to choose to really want to work hard. That's a choice you can't make for them. You can be the most inspiring and motivational person and leader in your company, but if you've hired somebody that's just not motivated, that doesn't have it in them, you're wasting your breath. So in today's episode, we're going to save you some time, we're going to save you some effort and I'm going to show you how you can hire motivated players, how to identify who's a motivated person. So when you're doing interviews and you're shortlisting candidates, you know who's going to be self motivated and be a great fit for your team. So let's get into it. Let's get down to business before we get into the strategies of how to hire motivated people, how to identify them, how to know who's going to be motivated when they join your team during an interview. Before we get into all that, we need to make sure that we prioritize attitude and self motivation. We gotta make sure that in our organization that we really value that. So let me share with you what we do here in our company. Whether it's the hundred dollar MBA or webinar Ninja. When we have a job opening in our business, we write a detailed job description. Now it's not long winded, it's about a page and a half. But when we write that job description, I would say about 70% of the job description, the roles, the responsibilities of this person is all about what we expect them to do and act. But I would say 70% of this job description is all about their attitude and how they would fit in with our team, their work ethic, their habits. And 30% are the skills requirements. And we make sure that the skill requirements are the minimum requirements. And we ask ourselves, do we really need them to know how to do everything or what are the specific things we really need them to do and be really good at? So we hone in on the bare minimum musts and, and put that in the job description. Now when people start applying for this job, we shortlist the people that fit the requirements based on the job description, the skills and the attitude. So it's kind of like a loose filter right now and usually the ratio is about 10 to 1. So if we get 10 people applying, one person will go through our filter. That's just what we've experienced and therefore 50 people apply for this job, we'll have five people that will be shortlisted for an initial interview. So therefore, if 50 people apply for this job posting around 5 people will go through our filter and be invited to our first interview. Now in interview number one, we prioritize attitude, self motivation and their work ethic. That's all interview one is all about. When it comes to their technical skills and whatever the job is, we save that for a later interview. Interview number two, there's no reason to give them any technical questions or technical tasks on the interview. If they're not motivated, they're not a good fit. If they don't have the right attitude. This is why we prioritize this and make sure it's the first interview. If they pass the first interview, that means that they have the right attitude, they are self motivated and generally we just feel like they're Going to be a winner on our team. Now you might be asking how do we know all that during the interview? Well, that's what I'll explain in today's episode, but I wanted to show you how we prioritize attitude motivation before we get into skills. Now, once they pass interview number one and they're invited to interview number two, we bring in the manager of the department they'll be working in, whether it's customer service or development or whatever. And that person asks them some really detailed technical questions, questions that they need answers to to know if they're going to do a good job in the position. I might ask some questions as well. Nicole as well will ask some technical questions. But primarily the department head is gearing those technical questions. Now what's great about this is that if they pass that technical quiz or the technical interview, we know we have a winner, we know we have a hire, we know we have a candidate that we would like to have a part of our team because they've passed the, the priority interview number one, attitude, motivation, and they pass the technical interview. Okay, let's get into the actual interview questions. In interview number one, how do we know that they're motivated? Well, before they say anything, the first thing you need to recognize is their general body language. When you're doing an interview, whether it's in person or over a video call, immediately in the first minute you could tell what type of person this is. Are they smiling? They are their shoulders back? Are they standing up straight or sitting up straight? Do they have a positive outlook and attitude? Are they welcoming? Are they happy to be there? Are they happy to be on the interview? Now, I know sometimes you have to filter through their nerves. You know, they're a little bit nervous, but generally if they're conveying a positive feeling, you know that they're somewhat motivated to get this job, they're happy to be on this interview. Listen, if they're not positive and motivated on the interview, they're not going to be motivated in, in the day to day grind of work. This is like when they're on their best behavior. So they better be motivated on the interview. If not, they're a big ex. They're a big no. So body language, the way they perceive themselves and generally a good barometer is how do you feel after the interview's over? Do you feel up? Do you feel positive? Do you feel good? Do you just generally like the person because the way they made you feel or are you kind of down or kind of depressed or kind of Sleepy. If they're a downer, they're a thumbs down, right? You do not hire this person again. You want motivated players. I always say if you want a motivated team, you better hire motivated players. So make sure you analyze how do you feel after the interview? The next strategy is take note of everything that leads up to that first interview. Maybe I should have mentioned this first, but I really wanted to prioritize the positive attitude. But leading up to the interview, how organized are they? Are they replying to your emails that are leading up to the interview? Are they asking any questions? What about the technical aspects of joining your call and making sure they show up on time for the interview? Are they showing up right on time? Are they early? Are they late? These are indications of how motivated they are and how eager they are to pick up a job at your organization. If somebody's late for an interview or misses an interview, they have to have a great reason. And even if they do, you can't help but feel like they're starting off behind how prepared are they before they get to the interview? How, how responsive are they? How organized are they? These are great indications of how they self manage and motivate themselves. The next strategy, a great question to ask when you are in that first interview is to ask them, how much do you know about our company? What's your impression of our company? What is your understanding of what we do? Who are our customers? Don't give them the answers to those questions. Let them tell you what they know and I'm going to give you a range of different answers that we get from from candidates. Sometimes when we run these interviews, you'll get something as simple as I saw the job ad. It looked interesting. I went to your website and you guys are doing pretty good stuff. I like it. I like the software you guys are doing. Webinar Ninja looks cool. You'll get things like that, which, okay, that's not bad. But we'll also get candidates that will say, hey, I saw your job post. It really interested me. So I signed up for Webinar Ninja. I actually signed up for a free trial. I checked out your software. I took a look at some of the stuff that you guys are doing. I ran a couple webinars. It's pretty cool. These are some areas that I thought were really interesting about your software. I also, you know, googled you when I got your name on the email invite. I took a look at some of the things that you do. Oh, I noticed you also have a podcast. I listened to a couple of your episodes, I got a general understanding of who you are as a business owner and this is what kind of attracted me to this position, because I'm looking for a place where I can work that has the same values as the ones you convey on your podcast. That's a different type of candidate. That's somebody who's doing their homework. That really is putting a lot of effort into finding, finding out who they're going to be working for if they get the job. They're also trying to figure out the culture of the business and they're motivated enough to actually take a deep dive in the product that they're going to be working for and working with. This is a big indication this person is motivated. They're a go getter. They're a self starter. They're not the type of person that says, I'll look into that stuff if I get the job. No, they want to know now. They want to know so they can be prepared. And they also just want to know before they even apply, hey, is this for me or not? To me, that's a huge, huge good sign when somebody does their homework. And when I ask that question at the start of the interview, it gives me an indication of how much homework the person has done. Another great question we like to ask is, what do you do in your free time? It may sound like a very personal question, but it's a great indicator of a lot of things. Number one, is this person, the type of person that's self motivated and likes to grow, likes to achieve things, likes to challenge themselves. Maybe they're into learning a musical instrument or rock climbing or something that's challenging that they can get better and better at. Or is it like, I just like to sleep in on the weekends and enjoy a good happy hour after work and just generally relax. Now, there's nothing wrong with relaxing. We all need time off and downtime after work or on the weekends. But if that's all they do in their free time, this is an indication that this is not somebody who is interested in growing. Again, not self motivated. Oh, could this vintage store be any cuter? Right?

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Except Discover in a little place like this?

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Come on, baby, get with the times. Right. So we shouldn't get the parachute pants.

These are making a comeback, I think.

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If you're always challenging yourself, if you're, you know, pushing the envelope and facing adversity a lot, this is happening frequently, like on a weekly basis. So you got plenty of things to choose from. It's easy for you to remember. I can tell you three things right now off the top of my head that I failed at recently. Learn from and bounce back from. If they can't share something like that in that moment in the interview, even with a few minutes to think about and it's okay if you just sit back and have a little silence, have a little break for a minute, take a sip of your water while they think of a time they were challenged. Hey, you have a problem on your hands. This is not somebody who pushes themselves frequently. This is not somebody who challenges themselves, pushes the envelope. And sometimes when you push the envelope, you're gonna fail. And that's okay as long as you lear from it and you pick yourself up and keep going. So if they can't answer that question, you should be worried. Another great question is who are your mentors? Who do you look up to? Who do you like to read? This indicates this is a self starter. This is a person that loves to learn and expand themselves. It could be a blog that they read on a regular basis. It could be a podcast they love. It could even be like a celebrity that they follow, whether it's like a Tim Cook or an Elon Musk or something like that. And they admire certain traits about them. The point here is, is that they're looking to learn, they're looking to improve themselves. So this question really makes it simple for them to answer. Are you self motivated? Do you like to grow now? It's not enough for you to Find out if they're motivated. What do you do when you know they're motivated and they pass the second interview with all the technical questions and you want to hire this great player? Well, in the first interview, I like to make sure they understand what our company's all about. I like to attract them. And the way I attract them is, is simply telling our story, why we got started, what we're trying to do with our software, what we're trying to do with our company, what problems are we solving, what are the challenges that we're having? When a candidate hears these things, they understand you have a vision, they understand what you're trying to do. And people that are motivated will be motivated to be a part of it. So your story, your vision and what you're trying to do is your sales pitch to, hey, come join us and be a part of something great. So you kind of do it before you even make the offer. So that's in their mind. So in their head, hey, this is somewhere I want to work. Usually people know from the first interview, hey, if I get offered this job, I'm going to take it. And this is really why people say yes. People can shop around on salaries and benefits, but at the end of the day, it's going to be pretty much the same. Job satisfaction, growth, and being a part of something that's greater than themselves is really what's going to sell them on your hire, on your position, on your company. That wraps up today's lesson. Thank you so much much for listening. If you love our show, leave us an iTunes rating and review. We'd love to hear what you think of the show. I read every single one of them. Puts a smile on my face and keeps me going. Takes two minutes to do so. So let us know what you think. Alright, before I go, I want to leave you with this. I said it before, but I'll say it again. If you want a motivated team, you have to hire motivated players. You need people that love to win. The more people you hire that are like that, the more they're going to influence your whole company. And they will shore up the weaker parts of your company and attract more motivated people to come to your company. I have personally experienced this ever since we made this a priority a few years ago. So I encourage you to do the same. All right, I'll check you in tomorrow's episode Q and A Wednesday where I answer a question from one of you our listeners. Can't wait for that. I'll see you then. Take care.

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