Corporate teams who 
are looking for an edge in landing the best talent would do well to borrow from the best pro teams. This week’s NBA Draft highlights three steps that corporate leaders can follow to make sure they hire top talent that’s right for them.
- Look for candidates who are coachable.
You don’t want the Lone Ranger on your basketball team or any other team; you want an expert colleague who embraces feedback and has a growth mindset. This perspective is based in a desire to learn. It embraces challenges, persists despite obstacles, thinks of effort as a means to mastery, and welcomes the chance to learn from constructive criticism. A person with this mindset views others’ success as a window into lessons and inspiration for even greater personal success, fueled by the power of free will (not expectation).
So how do you find out if the candidate has the chops? All pro teams have tryouts, and so do great corporate teams.
At SalesForce, for instance, candidates must jump into a team environment. At recruiting workshops, invited candidates work within teams to propose solutions building an employee mobile app or improving the company’s “order-to-quote” process. These are real challenges, not fiction. SalesForce is looking for traits in action, like leadership, emotional intelligence and self-awareness.
- Invite multiple perspectives.
A pro team has a coach and recruiting staff to filter talent and see what fits best. So do the top corporate teams. The more perspectives, the better the fit for the employee and team. Selection shouldn’t be up to one person, but include many viewpoints.
How does Google sift 2 million applications annually (making it 25 times more selective than Harvard, Princeton or Yale)? Not only does it ensure every application is considered, a team reviews rejected applicants to see if a valuable candidate was overlooked.
At Amazon, CEO Jeff Bezos says setting the bar high in hiring is the biggest reason for his company’s success. “Bar raisers” are employees throughout the company who volunteer to be part of interview committees. Each job candidate gets vetted by five or six “bar raisers.”
- Consider hiring a two-way street.
Doc Rivers didn’t have to have a coaching job when he returned to the NBA. Our agency represented him at the time, and he went into negotiations interviewing the team as much as the team interviewed him. (The full story is told in my book.) Doc wanted to nail down what the expectations of him would be and how he would relate to his players. He asked questions like: What’s broken with the current team? Who controls draft picks and trades (recruiting and hiring)? What are the ownership’s goals?
This is a great trait in a job candidate. Look for candidates that interview you as much as you interview them. You want to attract candidates who are genuinely curious and engaged in the process. Consider it a good sign if a job candidate asks tough questions about how he or she will be challenged in the role.
Your Game Changer Takeaway
The fast pace and wide reach of talent recruitment means that you need to have a sure way to connect with the right fit for your team. Your next hire will be a better fit by looking for coachable candidates, inviting multiple perspectives and embracing those who interview you (not just vice versa; it’s a two-way street). The most successful pro teams do this, and so can yours.
Molly Fletcher helps inspire and equip game changers to lead well and with purpose. A keynote speaker and author, Molly draws on her decades of experiences working with elite athletes and coaches as a sports agent, and applies them to the business world. Sign up here to receive our monthly newsletter.
