When Hiring is Overwhelming with Karima Gulick of Innovent Law

2022-08-11

Most good hires are a result of luck rather than skill. In fact, I would argue that very few hires are by design. Throughout my career, I have never met a person who views interviewing and the hiring process as anything more than a chore that they loathe. In fact, the most common reaction to the subject usually results in a huge “uuuggghhhhh” or “I hate hiring”. We dread the act of interviewing and hiring because it is unstructured and inconsistent and it produces mediocre results. Here’s the good news: There is an easy fix! When we train our people how to interview it brings purpose to each and every interview question. Giving your people a basis for ...

Most good hires are a result of luck rather than skill. In fact, I would argue that very few hires are by design.

Throughout my career, I have never met a person who views interviewing and the hiring process as anything more than a chore that they loathe. In fact, the most common reaction to the subject usually results in a huge “uuuggghhhhh” or “I hate hiring”.

We dread the act of interviewing and hiring because it is unstructured and inconsistent and it produces mediocre results.

Here’s the good news: There is an easy fix! When we train our people how to interview it brings purpose to each and every interview question. Giving your people a basis for decision-making that results in extraordinary hiring results.

Guest Bio:

Karima Gulick is the CEO & principal patent attorney of Innovent Law.

She dedicated her career to counseling businesses within the tech and creative communities, combining her passion for engineering and the law. Karima is a polyglot and guides her clients through legal matters in French, English, Arabic, Spanish, and some Italian as well! She is also the former co-host of the Gen Y Lawyer podcast, a show where she interviewed innovative lawyers shaking things up in the legal industry.

Karima is building a next-generation law firm and is here to share her experience.

Today We Discuss:

The overwhelming hurdles of hiring.
How to interview to bring purpose to your interview questions

Challenge today?

Overwhelmed & stuck in the business
- The idea of hiring was overwhelming
- So overwhelmed in my business, that adding one more task to my list, which is hiring to free me up seemed daunting
- Having had a bad experience with hiring in the past, it seemed as an even more daunting task
No clear strategy on how to go about
- interviewing
- selecting candidates to interview
- Finding candidates.
  - I could write what I thought was an amazing post but it might not be read or looked at by the right person
- Jaded on values because of corporate America
  - Values area words splattered on the wall
  - No one ever explained what the values stood for
  - Never defined what it looked like.
- Defining what you stand for seems hokie

Why is this important to the company?

A burned-out and overwhelmed leader is the worst thing that can happen to a company
Even if you have the best team, without the right energizing and enthusiastic leadership,
It’s just a matter of time before you stop caring, and the rest of your team starts seeing that
We all have values,
You have them as an employer
Certain things that are intangible
Employees have a reason to care. Buy in and bring more energy to the process
- Employees have taken more ownership
When there is a change in the workforce, the chatter makes it more difficult find a fit. Buying into the negative ideas

Rick’s Nuggets

Values First Strategy
- Makes evaluating people easier

How do we solve the problem?

Realizing that I was stuck
Knowing that I needed someone to step in and save me from myself
Knowing myself, I knew I needed to bring on someone to help
I had posted a couple of job posts but I was too exhausted to even call people
Then I realized I was making the same mistake as I’ve made before
- I’m in pain doing all the work, so I pick someone who can do the work
- But there is so much more -
- That’s where Rick, you came in and opened my eyes on the hiring process
  - It’s more than just a post and looking for someone who can do the work
  - Values discussion - being jaded from the corporate world where values were meaningless
  - A fresh new look at values
    - Example: Caring, Competence, Trust
      - Might not mean much to others, can come off as just buzzwords, but with this process, these values came to life.
  - Holding conversations with candidates looking to learn more about them and their pain points
  - Conducting interviews based on your values
  - Conducting assessments and work sessions to see how you’d work with these people
Reaffirming that I already have great people
Believing that you deserve being able to grow the business
Allowing the entity to grow
Sitting down with intention
- Mindful & intentional on what you want/ the business needs
- Clarity on what you are hiring for & why?
Being Systematic
Bring life into the process - involve others
Flexible on terms/needs
Having a flow
- Discovery calls
- Having a process
- Behavioral questions to understand if people align with what the company really stands for
- Informed process
- The more thorough you are, the better the chances of bringing on the right people.
Evolve
- Coming up with my own set of questions based on behavior I see around me
  - Tell me about the first thing you do when you come home from a trip..

Rick’s Nuggets

Discovery call
Values
- Not aspirational
- Team input
Working session

Key Takeaways that the Audience can plug into their business today! (Value):

You don't know what you don't know. Bring on help to allow the business to grow
- If you’re serious about growing your business, you have to go through this exercise
  - You can have the best gut feeling in the world, but having a systemized approach and one you can delegate to your team will help you scale.
Invest the time to get clarity on what you are looking for
Be open to learning new things, including skills outside of your comfort zone.

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