5 Things Smart Leaders Do When Hiring People Smarter Than They Are

Every good leader is aware of the fact that the most crucial decisions you make are How you hire and Whom you work with. People are the most valuable capital and your biggest asset. In other words, the success of the company depends on the people. Therefore, if you manage them wrong it directly affects the company’s success.

Bill Gates once said “If we weren’t still hiring great people and pushing ahead at full speed, it would be easy to fall behind and become a mediocre company”.

The smartest leaders are actually comfortable hiring people who are much smarter than they are, and those who will push them with creative thinking.

Here are five important techniques to use while hiring outstanding workers:

1. Have a talent philosophy

Hiring people that are always on your side and support your every idea isn’t quite right. We all should have people to tell us that we’re wrong and make our ideas better. Challenging yourself and your employees to openly pitch ideas, even ‘silly’ ones it one of the best types of brainstorm that can happen in the project team.

2. Stay up-to-date in the market

Not only do you need to know the best recruiters but you also need to understand the changing landscape. This is an evolving world. Your industry is updating too. So what worked in a role yesterday doesn’t necessarily work tomorrow.

3. Run a tight process

Hiring shouldn’t be a little bit of this, little bit of that. Have a list of questions, required professional skills, personal characteristics, and a grading process that everyone shares. Ask for other views, and set up a hiring team who will do the interviews up front so that you get consistency.

4. Put in the energy

Do interviews on video or in person. Not only are you looking for how people are answering questions verbally but you’re also looking for all the nonverbal cues. What they did say? What didn’t they say? What’s their body language telling you? How are they responding — or not?

And make sure your focus is at its best. The day after an all-nighter is not the time to screen talent. You can’t execute this crucial piece of the process if you’re barely paying attention.

5. Look for self-awareness

It’s not ok for people to have no idea what they’re bad at. Unfortunately, even the best of us, can’t be good at everything. Yes, even Leonardo Da Vinci had his weaknesses. Perhaps the most obvious one is an inability to finish things because of over-ambition. Many works remained unfinished, unorganised and unpublished. But he was phenomenally talented in a multitude of fields and he is still one of the brightest people that have ever lived in Earth.

Where to find these specialists?

For modern and proactive people who have their hands on the pulse with technology and are ready to take the next step in their careers we created Aworker — the platform that helps to find the most suitable company and job position based on their professional background, work-related skills, and achievements. Aworker users are no longer tied up to one job, company, city or even continent so all your connections from all over the world will be counted. The catch here is that you have to prove the data you write about by attaching certificates or other verifying documents.

Anyone can get a reward by recommending a friend or acquaintances for open positions (they’ll be rewarded even if they won’t get a job after the interview). All your acquaintances from internships, part-time jobs, webinars, and other professional events will be able to prove your skills and achievements at work. To find out more about the project, visit this page.

In 21st century we expect to see more and more new job positions where it’s much more important to have a specific knowledge in the professional area and have a useful network than being somehow good in everything. Do you agree with that?

Write in the comments below!

I remind you that Aworker Private Sale #4 is live right now.

For further details visit t.me/aworkerio

5 Things Smart Leaders Do When Hiring People Smarter Than They Are was originally published in Hacker Noon on Medium, where people are continuing the conversation by highlighting and responding to this story.