The will of A-Players

Do A-Players have the WILL to join your company, your industry, you?

Notice I didn’t use the term “your job”.  That’s because “your job” is too broad.  The “job” gets meaning from the boss, the company, the culture and the industry.

Assessing and selling to A-Player talent is complicated.  But what about this simple view:

SKILL and WILL

Candidates can have all the SKILL in the world, but without the WILL, they will not accept your offer, or worse, leave your role for an opportunity they have more WILL to do.

Clients approach us with exceptional opportunities.  At any point in time, we know candidates with the SKILLS necessary for success in the role.

So what is challenging about hiring A-Player talent then?

This post is not about identifying potential candidates.  Or the base line evaluation of whether the person meets your definition of an A-Player.  It’s about getting that A-Player to the finish line.  The acceptance of an offer.

Pay more attention to the second piece – WILL to do the job.  If you do, you’ll stop wasting time with the perfect one – who will not take the role.

We very rarely have candidates who do not accept our client offers.  How can we do this?

The firm’s experience is that companies focus effort on determining SKILLS for the role.  (What comes to mind are the position profiles full of “must haves”). And whether a candidate has them.  Maybe a certain level of “whew!” overcomes the hiring party.  Because subsequently, there’s a huge drop in effort dedicated to the more “fuzzy” effort of determining what the candidate wants or WILL.

Smart companies go the next step of defining possible attractions of the company, the industry, the role and the hiring manager – in ways that are unique and set apart from other competing hiring companies. Notice that I wrote “possible”.

These attractions are only possible because of the next variable:  every A-Player candidate will not see your great comp structure, your view of your growth prospects, your executive team as attractive.  These attractions are possible attractions that depend on who the individual A-Player is.

All a great start.

Now what?  Each A-Player has a unique set of goals – both career and personal.

How much time do you invest, from the first contact, to learn what the A-Player values?

Inattention to candidate motivations and drivers causes significant wasted time and energy.  My experience is that it takes numerous discussions and touch points to get the complete picture.  It’s been said that the A-Player needs a 30% opportunity – some combination of job stretch compensation and long term opportunity that is 30% better than the A-Player’s current job.

Candidates can have all the SKILL in the world, but without the WILL, they will not accept your offer, or worse, leave the role for an opportunity they have more WILL to do.

Maybe WILL is the bigger determinant of a successful hire than SKILL. Are you focused on WILL?

More to come.