How do I hire a rockstar?

Question

It occurred to me that I have no idea how to find good people to hire and I figured I'd hop on here and see who has advice! I am a real estate entrepreneur that's been investing since 2015, but until 2018 I wasn't concerned with hiring anyone to take over my job in the company which is essentially a disposition manager. We are in the relatively small market of Huntsville, Alabama, so I'm worried there aren't a ton of people who would both have the skills and also be willing to take this type of position. There are a lot of good jobs in this area being the tech and government hub that it is here. While we work in Birmingham too, I really want someone that is local and can come to the office so we can continue to build a culture. The approach we've taken so far to attempt hiring is using indeed to post the job. When a candidate applies, it then sends them to an assessment to see how proficient they are in certain skills. If they do both the app and the assessment, we reach out and ask for a 1 minute video of what they can bring to the company and why they'd like ti work with us. Only like 5 people out of probably 250+ apps have done these three steps. Of those, we only got 2 to come in for an interview. Because I'm new to this, I feel like I should get one feedback and see what other successful real estate business owners have done to get good talent in their company. I'll add that this is a wholesaling business specifically, if that matters. Thanks for any and all feedback and advice!

Spencer Sutton · Answer

Hey Caleb, We have interviewed thousands of people over the past six years and have just over 100 on our team. We based our main approach on a book called Who by Geoff Smart. It is great for the phone interview (just four questions), the face to face, and then we add a cultural interview b/c culture is as important as a person's skill set. Before they get to the phone interview though, they take a Culture Index test to see if they have the natural wiring we are looking for in the role. So it helps for you to know exactly what you're looking for in the position. Our salesperson profile is vastly different than our property manager profile. You don't have to use Culture Index...possibly a free version of Myers Briggs or another personality profile would work. Those three main pieces - culture index, Who questions, and our own culture interview - have allowed us to hire incredible talent for a pretty tough industry (property management). Hope that helps! Spencer

Steve K. · Answer

@Caleb Bryant sounds like you’re trying to turn people away with that grandiose hiring process. I wouldn’t want to work anywhere that makes me jump through all these hoops just to apply. A 1 minute video? That sounds like a first audition to be a contestant on Survivor. Seems like a bit much, unless your starting salary is on par with working for Google. I’d tone it down a bunch and just get better at interviewing. Not a fan of the Myers Briggs test or other personality tests that were developed in the 1940s based on the totally untested theories of Carl Jung that are now thoroughly disregarded by the psychology community either. Those things are completely debunked. I’d just go back to the basics, ask for a resume and conduct a normal job interview.

Caleb Bryant · Answer

@Brian Tunnell I definitely felt limited with indeed so this is very helpful. I’m going to check this out. I feel like just using indeed is the equivalent of only doing direct mail or something. Need multiple marketing channels to get deals, probably true with hiring as well!

Brian Tunnell · Answer

We use Breezy for hiring. It's a recruiting software and applicant tracking system, and we've been very impressed with it! We find it's much easier to keep everything from application to hiring in one single bit of software versus using different tools on all different websites. So far we haven't found any hiring website, including Indeed, that has tools that Breezy doesn't already offer. Facebook tries to force you to use their process, but I think we've found a work around on that as well. We started using Breezy a little over a year ago at the recommendation of my partner's husband who's in HR. Within their software, there are lots of different tools you can use for the entire process. One of my favorite things is video questionnaires within their application. They also post the job to many different job listing sites automatically.As far as pricing, they have all sorts of different monthly packages. We've opted for one that costs $171 a month. It gives us everything we need, and since we've started using it, our hiring process has become WAY smoother and we've been hiring at a much higher rate than we ever have before. I highly recommend it!Hope this helps, and let me know if you have any other questions!

Caleb Bryant · Answer

@Evan McCuen check some of this out

Caleb Bryant · Answer

@Spencer Sutton this is awesome, I will look into it! Thank you!