Hiring 101: A Lesson in Peer Learning with Darrian Mikell of Qualifi

The reason we do this show every week is to dispel the commonly held belief that “there is no right way to hire”. Most entrepreneurs & investors believe that you just have to find the right skills and “trust your gut”. Hoping that the person works out.  

The consequences of this thinking results in countless sleepless nights, missing project deadlines, unstable mental health, increased capital burn and ultimately company failure.  Which is NOT good for investors, leaders or the people who follow us. 

Here’s the truth... There is a right way to hire! It just requires that you learn from your peers who come on to share their hiring success. They all have developed a structure and a process that allows them to stand out from their competitors.   

Lead a person through an impressive process that allows you to gain evidence of impact and you will build an amazing team. 

Our guest today:  Darrian Mikell, Co-Founder & CEO of Qualifi, A SaaS platform that powers the fastest phone interview experience in the world and helps recruiting teams hire great candidates faster than ever before. 

Darrian graduated from Indiana Wesleyan University in 2013 with a Bachelor's Degree in Entrepreneurship and Finance. Darrian was a 2-sport athlete in both Basketball and Track & Field and was a national champion in the Long Jump. He is based in the Indianapolis area and is a dedicated husband and father of 3.

Darrian is building a ridiculously successful business because he already conquered his hiring challenges.

Today we discuss:

• Why it is important to care about your interview structure 
• Two Components you need to successfully hire and sleep better at night

Challenge today?

• Candidates have options
• Options are unlimited - a lot of remote options
• Workforce has expanded from local to global competition

Why is this important to the company?

• Not hiring the right people limits growth
• Hiring the wrong people -
  • Wrong people take you down the wrong path
  • When people doesn't work out - back to the drawing board
  • Case study- grew to 73, hired over 100 people and is now 21 people.
    • $7mm wasted!
    • Major money waste
  • 25% hiring success rate
• Wrong leaders, wrong investors

Rick’s Nuggets

• You must stand out to draw people in

How do we solve the problem? 

• Planning out hiring
  • Proactive to get someone in the seat on time
  • Gap analysis- Knowing the gaps on the team 
  • Problems that need to be solved
• Structured approach to the hiring process
  • Pre-planning your process and mechanics
  • Use the Qualifi tool for screening
    • Phone interviews
    • Automated phone screen
      • Pre-recorded, audio-based questions
      • Every candidate gets same exact experience (makes the review process more consistent)
      • Time is a huge factor in recruitment and efficiency can be an advantage
        • First to candidate can be important factor
• Pre-scripted live interviews
  • Assigned interview questions (round robin)
  • Each person takes notes throughout the interview
• Real time feedback with the team to make a decision quickly

Rick’s Nuggets

• Phone screen (discovery call) is the biggest missed opportunity
  • Opportunity to understand the person. 
  • Critical - positioning (what the person desires)
• Interview- eliminate bias
  • Consistent plug n play- same questions for every person
  • Decisions made based on evidence, not opinion

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

• Proactively plan
  • Understand who you need to hire, when you need to hire them, and how long it will take
  • Plan your strategy and what each step looks like
  • Plan your interviews
• Create an interview script and get agreement on it with your team before the interview starts. Be prepared to iterate.

Guest Links:

LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/darrianmikell/

Company: https://www.qualifi.hr/

LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/company/qualifihr/

Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/qualifihr

Twitter: https://twitter.com/DarrianMikell

Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/darrianmikell/

 

This show is proudly sponsored by Criteria Corp: https://www.criteriacorp.com/