Too often, we hire people whose full potential and ambition are invested in performing the jobs they’re hired for. Then, when we need more from them, they’re not able or willing to go the extra mile. Your goal should be to have at all times (or be working toward) at least one employee with the skills, personality, character, mapping, ambition, and technical competence to take over your position right away. Read More.

The questions in this section focus on sales skills and sales experience, but don’t skip over 1st and 2nd Interview questions about character and mapping. HR professionals will tell you that most of their company’s rules (and their own gray hair) result from nutty things done by sales reps. Capable salespeople who are successful, fun, and have high character do exist. Hold out to hire them. Read More.

Every hire you make is important, but hiring the right managers and senior executives carries even more weight. I consider managers and executives to be in hub positions — like the hub is the center of a wheel. Hiring the wrong person for a hub position will negatively impact multiple employees. Hiring and appropriately managing the right person creates a big lift for your entire organization, especially the group that employee directs. Read More.

Here’s another rule of thumb (a principle whose broad application is not intended to be strictly accurate or reliable in every situation) that might make you gasp. Don’t hire kids out of college. Everybody hires at least some recent college grads, right? I’ll talk about exceptions later, but hear me out on the merits of this. First, kids just out of college haven’t built up the history that enables a prospective employer to accurately predict their long-term success at the job. Read More.