October 10th, 2011 → 2:04 pm @ Gabe // 2 Comments

As the world mourns the loss of the inventor extraordinaire and business man, Steve Jobs, we look back on all he gave us which accounts for a lot more than the iPhone and the MacBook (although, I, myself can’t go a day without using either). Jobs was an inspiration to many, not only because of his innovative products but also because of his inspirational words.

Jobs once said, “If you haven’t found it yet, keep looking. Don’t settle. As with all matters of the heart, you’ll know when you find it. And, like any great relationship, it just gets better and better as the years roll on.”

Jobs applied this philosophy and passion to all areas of his business including hiring. In an interview with Business Week entitled, “Steve Jobs: Hiring the Best Is Your Most Important Task” Jobs said that in order to do things well that can’t be done by one person, you must find extraordinary people. After all, a small team of A+ players can run circles around a giant team of B and C players.

For that manner, Jobs didn’t believe that managers in a startup didn’t have the time to spend recruiting other people. In fact, he believed quite the opposite. Startup managers couldn’t afford to NOT have the time to hire people because it is the most important job. He gave this example,

“Assume you’re by yourself in a startup and you want a partner. You’d take a lot of time finding the partner, right? He would be half of your company. Why should you take any less time finding a third of your company or a fourth of your company or a fifth of your company? When you’re in a startup, the first ten people will determine whether the company succeeds or not. Each is 10 percent of the company. So why wouldn’t you take as much time as necessary to find all the A players? A small company depends on great people much more than a big company does.”

Steve Jobs was a great person and I don’t doubt that he would connect with our why, we believe that people drive business success and recruiting is harder than ever. I think its safe to say that even though recruiting is harder than ever, it is one of the most important duties you have as a manager/owner/HR professional. After all your employees determine your success.

 

Tags: A team, bench building, hiring, recruiting, Steve Jobs, talent acquisition, team building, why