Onboarding: How to Get Your New Employees Up to Speed in Half the Time

CHAPTER 4

Create a Powerful Slate of Potential Candidates

Recruit

Having a powerful slate of potential candidates relieves you from feeling you have to close the sale with your lead candidate when a nagging voice is telling you something is not 100 percent right.

The Value of a Slate

Bert and Victor both bought fast-food franchises on the same day. Each was going to take eight weeks to close the deal and take over his store. Each needed a store manager.

Bert knew exactly the right person and contacted her immediately. She was interested. Over the next six weeks, Bert and his new store manager had a series of increasingly productive conversations about what they had in mind for the store, how the manager would be compensated, and life in general. Things went well.

Victor did not have the right person in mind, so he embarked on a full-fledged recruiting campaign. He contacted people who knew people. He placed ads. He did preliminary interviews. Two weeks before he took over the store, he was down to three good candidates.

Both Bert and Victor formally offered their chosen candidates the new store managers’ jobs two weeks before opening. Both people they offered the jobs to turned them down. Bert’s person had enjoyed the conversations, but because there was a delay, she used the time to find another job offer, which she decided was better for her because she didn’t have to move. ...