I got this interesting email from Adam in response to my newsletter about OFS resigning too early.
For those of us who don’t yet have this problem, it would be nice to know some specific examples of why a OFS left early on in the process.
To be honest, this has happened to me too. I hired this person and gave them their first task. When I didn’t hear from her for a week, I reached out. She wasn’t responding to my emails and messages. Finally, her family member replied and told me she couldn’t work because of a family emergency.
I was like, “That’s fine, I can wait until she gets back.” But her family member said, “No, she’s not coming back to work for you. She doesn’t want to go back to work.”
That was really shocking.
For a while, I didn’t understand what was going on.
Looking back, I realize:
– I wasn’t very clear about the job and what I wanted her to do.
– I assumed that she really had all the skills listed in her resume
– I assumed she understood my instructions when I gave her the first task.
This is where I started to tweak the way I hire.
I started interviewing people via email instead of just shortlisting applicants based on their resume or profile. The back and forth lets me ask all the questions I can think of to make sure they really understand the job and are qualified. This also allows them to ask me questions so that they can manage their expectations.
I started giving a simple task as the first task. The point isn’t to accomplish something great, the point is to have success in working with them. Once we see success together, they’re way more likely to stick through harder things. They begin to trust me.
I also started asking questions a lot more.
Does this make sense?
Is this something you think you can do?
Can you explain what I’m asking you to do here? Sometimes I’m not as clear as I think I am.
Any thoughts on how we can do this better?
Want to know my hiring steps so you can do the same for your business? Go to OneVAAway.com.
John