So what are the steps that can be taken to ease the journey of hiring the right talents? Eric Cheng, the Group CEO of Carsome, arguably one of the best executors that led Carsome to become Malaysia’s first unicorn, stressed the importance of having a hiring strategy and the right hiring framework during one of our recent roundtable sessions. He said that companies need to know the purpose of hiring, the current climate and the importance of identifying the right talents for the market.


Invest your time in searching for the right talent

Scaling a company is a team effort, therefore hiring the right talents are arguably just as important. It should not solely depend on HR or external recruiters. A company should be able to adopt a mentality that scouting for talent is everyone’s responsibility- senior management should play their part by actively networking to have future pipeline candidates with a list of critical criteria the company looks out for in a candidate. As a CEO, sometimes going the extra mile in expressing interest in a potential key candidate goes a long way in showing how serious you are in hiring that talent. Creating a pool of potential candidates is useful if the timing is not right as it saves you time for future hiring. Do not shy away from creating a role for a candidate if you truly see a potential in that person, as making the right workforce investment can contribute significantly to a company’s growth.

Never stop grooming your employees

However, once you find the right talent, retention of these star workers are equally as important. One of Endeavor’s board members shared that it is important to ensure that there is always development of talent to live the vision that the company has and execute well. He stressed the importance of continuing to groom employees to allow the passion to continue to burn, inevitably contributing towards the success of the company. One of our notable Endeavor Entrepreneurs shared that the consistency in upskilling his workers was important for him to allow his employees to develop personal growth. A firm believer of lifelong learning, he believes in improving and empowering others, providing a platform for them to expand their knowledge to a bigger stage.

Invest in your company’s culture

Other than that, culture implementation in a company plays an important role in allowing a company to perform at its optimal and keeping their employees motivated. One of our Endeavor mentors also mentioned during the roundtable session that regardless of your business model, you cannot get away from investing in culture. A company’s culture can continue to evolve and change, depending on its different phases of growth, allowing innovation and catering to its needs at that point in time.

Trust your team, build synergies and empowerment

Synergy within the team is also important to enhance an optimal work environment. Something to consider is giving the freedom of employees to decide who they want to work with to allow the natural creation process and increase productivity, provided the decision to realign is fair and beneficial. Sometimes a team that works best is not a team filled with star players but rather one or two star players supported by other team members. Trusting employees with the decision on who they should work with, with minimal inputs from management, creates synergism and empowerment.

Stop micromanaging everything

As a CEO, be mindful that sometimes letting go of some responsibility at the right time is inevitable and necessary to delegate the workload. In order words, a CEO should be playing their part as the Chief Executive Officer not as the “Chief Everything Officer”. In reality, as the company grows, it is impossible to hold onto the tasks and try to micromanage everything. Hire the right talent to execute and do the job for you, so that you are able to free up your time to play your part as the CEO.

Remember to self-reflect, improve and let go

Hiring the right talent is undoubtedly an important contributor towards a company’s growth and success. Finding the right talent to be part of the team is challenging enough, retaining them in the company poses to be another challenge by itself. As the CEO, strategizing on your methods of hiring, building culture and aligning your employees vision and purpose is important. Implement things within your control to provide the best environment possible for your employees but bear in mind that sometimes you cannot hold onto them forever. If you ever experience a talent heartbreak, remember to self-reflect, improve but also be willing to let go if you have done everything in your power to provide as a CEO, as your success is also measured by how far your employee is able to go, irrespective of which company they are at.

References:
1. “Scaling and Retaining Top Talent.” Endeavor Greece, 19 Jan. 2022, https://endeavor.org.gr/scaling-and-retaining-top-talent/.

2. Lerner, Scott. “Five Tips From A CEO's Playbook On Hiring Top Talent.” Forbes Business Council, 21 March. 2022, https://www.forbes.com/sites/forbesbusinesscouncil/2022/03/21/five-tips-from-a-ceos-playbook-on-hiring-top-talent/?sh=50484fcc7cbe/.