In real estate, the magic words are “location, location, location.” In building a company, the key words are “personnel, personnel, personnel.”

Hire the right people, you eliminate 90% of your problems. Hire the wrong people, you create 90% of your problems. But how can you effectively acquire and keep the right people?

Allow me to suggest 5 specific insights to hiring and keeping people who can help grow your company.

Let me suggest that you start with getting clarity about the role and skills needed for the position you are attempting to fill. Write out a clear job description. You might be surprised at how many companies hire someone without a clear job description. 

Making the effort to provide a written job description forces you to focus on what this person will be doing. It will also help you in advertising for the position. Give thought to the skills and personality type the person who will fill the position will need. 

Leaders who fail to gain clarity regarding the person they desire to hire often shape the job to fit the person. Instead, seek the person who fits the description, skill-set, and personality type needed.

Many companies do very little with onboarding a new worker. If any onboarding occurs, it is very limited in scope, and the new employee is left with more questions than answers. He does not understand the company culture or policies. He feels like he is wandering around trying to find the “proverbial walls.”

Take a moment to think about this process from the new employee’s perspective. Without a good onboarding process, does he feel valued? By onboarding well, you demonstrate from the first day your excitement and enthusiasm about your new employee joining your team.  You say, “you are special, and we feel privileged to have you join us.”

In many companies, training consists of “baptism by fire.” You really do not receive much training. You are placed at a desk, told to do your job, and left to discover for yourself what that means and how you should do it. Such an experience leaves a new employee very frustrated and questioning whether he has made a mistake in joining your company. 

Providing good training empowers the employee and enables him to make a sizable contribution early in his employment cycle. He feels valued and quickly becomes confident in his responsibilities, because you have taken the time to train him.

Once employees have been hired, onboarded, and trained properly, don’t forget to develop them.  It’s not enough for an employee to do an adequate job. You want to assist him in developing into a top-tier employee who makes a major contribution to your company.    

Your most valuable assets are your employees. They will not likely become valuable unless you take the time, spend the money, and make the effort to develop them. Don’t be satisfied with the status quo. Do everything you can to develop people. If you work at doing so, they and you will be much happier. 

Watch for employees who show initiative, have a good work ethic, and desire to grow. Do everything you can to develop them. Your efforts will pay off beyond what you might ever imagine.

Many companies take good employees for granted. Remember, if they are good workers, and you don’t value them, you will likely lose them. Many employers think employees leave their employment because of money. In reality, most employees leave their jobs because they do not feel valued or appreciated, there’s limited growth opportunities, or they have a difficult manager. They work hard, and a little encouragement goes a long way.

Be diligent to find ways to express appreciation of people’s hard work. Without them, your company would not exist. Make sure you regularly demonstrate appreciation. Otherwise, you may find yourself looking for new employees simply because you took them for granted.

Because good people are essential to having a good company, work hard at finding the right people.  When you do find them, make sure you invest in them and demonstrate appreciation for them.  Doing so will cause your company to thrive, grow, and become more profitable.  Remember, these important three words: personnel, personnel, personnel.