In today’s business world, finding and keeping top talent is essential to a businesses’ success. As a result, leaders in some companies are using unique tools to find their newest employees. These companies focus on identifying the best candidates who fit with their culture and values. At the same time, these companies also ensure that their hiring strategies are legal and ethical.

There is also an important economic driver to hiring. For many companies, their biggest financial expense is salaries. Despite recent business norms, like routine layoffs, employee retention is important for leaders when thinking about the financial success of their organization. According to a study from the Center for American progress, it can range from 50%-200% of an employee’s salary to replace them. There are also the costs that are hard to quantify, like the value of the history and knowledge of the organization a current employee may have that could be impossible to replace.

Luckily, certain companies have put together methods to, “Hire for will and train for skill.” This means that they look for a candidate’s cultural fit and then provide robust training to educate them and keep them engaged.

Netflix

Let’s start with Netflix, the popular streaming service.

Netflix has a company culture that values empowerment (freedom and responsibility). The company believes in giving employees the freedom to shape their work and trusts them to take responsibility for results. Netflix has designed an intense hiring process to identify candidates who can thrive in a self-starting culture.

One of the unique practices that Netflix uses in its hiring process is the “keeper test.” The keeper test is a simple but effective way of identifying whether a candidate will fit with their company’s culture. The keeper test works like this: Would the leader making the hire fight to keep this candidate if they were considering leaving the company? If the answer is yes, the candidate passes the keeper test, and if the answer is no, the candidate is not a good fit for the company.

Wegmans

Wegmans is one of my favorite places to shop for groceries. The grocery store chain seems to always have what I need and offers great customer service.

One of the unique practices that Wegmans uses in its hiring process is the group interview. The group interview is a collaborative process that involves many candidates interviewing with the leader at the same time. This approach allows Wegmans to observe how candidates would work in a team environment, especially when the stakes are high.

Wegmans also looks for people who have a track record of providing excellent customer service in their previous jobs. By asking behavioral questions, which are scenario-based questions, companies like Wegmans look to identify service minded candidates to join their companies.

Risks to Keep in Mind

While these companies have achieved success with their unique approaches to hiring, it’s important to remember that some new strategies may not be legal or ethical. For example, some companies use pre-employment assessments that measure cognitive, emotional, and behavioral traits. While this method can be effective in identifying talent, it can also be discriminatory and result in legal action.

Companies that want to stand out from the competition in recruiting and retaining top talent must think in new ways. For many companies, their employees are their competitive advantage. By finding the right people and training them, these companies stand out from the competition.

Key Takeaways

For most companies, their employees are their competitive advantage. For that reason, hiring the right employees is extremely important. Companies like Netflix and Wegmans developed unique ways to increase the likelihood of finding candidates that will fit the culture they want to maintain. When practicing leaders do the same in their organization, they can achieve better results.