Flexicrew will show you four football plays to help you recruit your next star workplace quarterback.
There are many parallels between a workplace quarterback and a gridiron quarterback. Football quarterbacks motivate, and drive their team’s results. In fact, teams often win or lose based on how well their quarterback plays.
In business, your managers are your team quarterbacks. They require as much careful selection as any first-round draft pick. So, a good manager can motivate the team to achieve to its full capability, while a poor manager can discourage, deflate, and ultimately drive away high performers. In fact, studies report bad managers represent the number one reason people leave their jobs.
Ouch!
So for recruiters, the bottom line is knowing how to scout workplace quarterbacks that have the talent to execute the strategic playbook.
Here are the four plays that will land you a franchise workplace quarterback:
Play #1: Flexicrew Scouts for a Workplace Quarterback That Will Work Well with his Team in the Huddle
It is really important to hire a manager who coincides with a team’s values. Since a manager’s role is focused on people-to-people interaction—giving direction, feedback, and constructive criticism—a workplace quarterback really needs to understand:
- How his team members function
- Their work values and attitudes
- Why they accepted their job when they were hired
- Why they stick with the company.
The manager’s fit with the team culture really impacts his entire work group’s attitude and performance.
Also, remember that a manager will eventually hire others into the company. Research recognizes that most managers hire people who are a reflection of themselves. If they’re a strong fit culturally they will have a further positive effect on the team.
Flexicrew ranks cultural fit near the top of our recruitment and screening approach. That improves our success and decreases the chance of a poor fit.
First, we require that our clients write a job description that highlights job culture. Second, we ensure questions relevant to cultural fit when interviewing for your workplace quarterback.
Employee Referral Program
We suggest you incorporate employee referrals as part of your search process.
Why?
Because current employees have an understanding of your culture and will likely recommend candidates who fit that culture. That improves odds for a win in drafting your workplace quarterback.
Play #2: Go Out Long for a Pass
Football coaches search for franchise quarterbacks like a Tom Brady or Aaron Rodgers. They want one who ideally will be in the huddle for many years, not just one championship season. Your business likely has the same focus when hiring your workplace quarterbacks. That’s why we take the long view right from the start of the recruiting process. You know the qualities you need in a manager today. But how will your firm develop? How would a manager’s style and responsibilities have to change as your firm moves forward?
Our professional recruiters and your hiring manager huddle together initially to ensure the job description, interview techniques, and candidate review approach all take a strategic view of the managerial operational role.
Play #3: Scan for Hidden Talent in a Workplace Quarterback
Finding your next star quarterback doesn’t only require scouting external sources. Your company may already have employees with the right managerial skills. For instance, current managers could be looking to switch departments. Or individual contributors may be waiting to be promoted to their own workplace quarterback position. Hiring from within has many advantages. In fact it means expedited onboarding , familiarity with company practices, and internal hires have established relationships with other employees.
Yes, all these drive immediate productivity without having to study a new playbook.
However, internal recruiting requires caution. You can sometimes make a mistake assuming that a persuasive individual contributor can become an effective manager. The role of an individual versus manager requires entirely different skill sets. Even though continuing to promote top performers may seem like a natural progression. Yet, we’ve all heard of the Peter Principle. That’s why Flexicrew helps clients evaluate their internal talent to find ‘under-the-radar talent ready for more responsibility.
Play #4: Flexicrew ‘Reads the Whole Field’ when Recruiting a Workplace Quarterback
Fundamentally, a manager’s responsibility is more about working with others and less about production. Managers need to be ‘people persons’ and help their team solve unforeseen problems. So, that’s why we like to include situational interview questions like: “what would you do if…”. They can be useful for our recruiters to decide if a job-seeker is a good fit.
Also, we ask candidates how they would react to events they could experience on the job. We probe for situations your department has tackled previously. Situational questions should help form your judgment of the candidate’s decision-making skills, communication style and common sense.
In addition to questions specific to your company, we ask candidates for examples of how they’ve handled situations in other organizations. A flexible candidate should have sufficient examples in their background.
Our other post will help your recruiting success rate, “The 5 Common Hiring Mistakes to Avoid”
Manage your Business and your Budget
For seasonal shifts in demand you can count on Flexicrew Staffing for workers with the skills to do the job. Call on us for:
- Temporary Assignment Positions – plan ahead to meet your seasonal needs
- Long-Term Placement Positions – hire without the hassle
- Temp-To-Perm Positions – try before you buy
- Direct Hire Positions – select from the best