Finding Great People Should Be a Top Priority, Especially in a Bad Economy

I recently revisited Jim Collins' "Good to Great." I first read the book back in college when I was obsessed with the thought of being my own boss and never answering to anyone. It was a good read, but for where I was then, it seemed a little too corporate. But now that I've been running a business for more than a year, I can apply the analysis directly to my current situation.

My favorite point is about the importance of hiring GREAT people if you want to build a great company. Collins claims that people are not the most important asset. GREAT people are. He goes so far as to say that "good to great" companies first worried about getting the right people in the door and the wrong people out, and then worried about setting the right vision or plan for the company. Some companies lost millions of dollars a day while they waited around to find the right people.

They lost millions because it's not easy to find GREAT people to work for you. Most great people have great jobs and make great money. They're not hanging around Monster.com waiting for someone to read their resume. The truth is, it costs a company a ton of time and money to find great people. And most companies would rather settle for good or even average people. Unfortunately, that's not good enough.

Seth Godin reaffirmed Collins point in his post the other day, when he wrote

"If your organization can thrive with ordinary folks, then the marketing you're doing right now to fill the ranks might even be overkill. You've got plenty of resumes. No need to pretend you're doing anything much more than bottom fishing, though. That plaque for employee of the month? You can sell it on eBay.

On the other hand, organizations that work best with extraordinary talent are almost certainly not investing enough in finding and developing it. If marketing works so well that you spend a fortune on it, why aren't you marketing your jobs? If talent is so important that you are betting the company on it, why aren't you actually investing in finding and retaining that talent?"

Godin's absolutely right. To be a truly successful business, you can't just market your products. You have to constantly market your jobs.

The top companies already get it. There's a reason that the big four – Deloitte, Accenture, Ernst & Young and KPMG appear at the top of the list year after year for best places to work. They spend money, time and energy marketing their jobs by branding themselves as employers of choice. It's not like they have earth-shattering positions available. They're mostly accountants, auditors and consultants. But they take their hiring seriously. And that's why they're great companies.

So yes, finding great people is expensive and time consuming. But hiring the wrong people is even more expensive and more time consuming. If your company is trying to figure out where to cut costs right now, make sure you consider the advice from Jim Collins, Seth Godin and The Big 4 before you decide to cut those recruiting and marketing budgets.