How to Hire the Next Michael Jordan

Every company wants to hire superstars: the "Michael Jordan of programming," the "Michael Jordan of marketing," and so on. But people with exceptional talent -- people like Michael Jordan -- don't come along every day. And when they do, it's not easy to persuade them to join you. Most great people have great jobs already: Why is the team you're asking them to join superior to the one they're on now? Plus, great people are rarely "on the job market." Why should they make a change that they weren't expecting to make? Finally, great people know that they're great. They have high expectations for the kind of work they want to do and for the kinds of people they want to work with. The moment they consider changing jobs, their current company -- along with lots of others -- will make them an offer designed to meet those expectations. How are you going to compete?

Professor John Sullivan, head of the human-resource management program at San Francisco State University, thinks about, writes about, and talks to companies about these make-or-break questions. He is the Michael Jordan of hiring, a world-class expert on the new world of work. Sullivan advises a powerful collection of take-it-to-the-hoop organizations -- including Microsoft, Hewlett-Packard, Nike, Cisco Systems, and Charles Schwab -- on recruiting and retaining great people.

"There's not a shortage of people," he argues. "But there is a shortage of great people. The competition for the best of the best is incredible. If you want to hire the next Michael Jordan, you have to recruit that person differently, evaluate him or her differently, and offer him or her a job differently. Looking for a job in the old way can be a horrible, demeaning process."

In an interview with Fast Company, Sullivan offers a short course in how to make hiring at your company a slam dunk. He also provides a collection of tools and techniques for turning his cutting-edge ideas into everyday realities.

From Coincidence Hiring to Continuous Hiring

Traditionally, companies get serious about hiring when they have a specific opening: "Our vice president of marketing quit, so we need a new one," or "We want to enter the market for a new kind of computer chip, so we need a team of designers." I call that approach "coincidence hiring": "I happen to need a basketball player today. Did Michael Jordan happen to quit his job?" The odds that he did are not very good. So what are the odds of your landing him?

The companies I work with -- Cisco, HP, Microsoft, Nike, Schwab -- don't want to hire unemployed people or unhappy people. They want to hire people who can make a difference, the best of the best. But those people usually have a good job and are happy where they are. So recruiting them requires a different mind-set. You have to go from coincidence hiring to continuous hiring.

Companies that practice continuous hiring do things differently from other companies. In their approach to recruitment, they try to mirror how they approach the rest of their business. They say about the hiring process what they say about each of their products: "We have to make it exciting, we have to make it fun, we have to make it fast -- and we have to keep innovating all the time."

These companies make clear that hiring great people is not the responsibility of HR. It's the responsibility of every single manager. There are lots of reasons for this: If you are the leader of a great marketing team or of a great product-design team, no one outside your group -- no human-resources specialist -- can understand the kind of superstar who will make a difference in your work. Only you can understand that. Plus, if you want to remain the best in your field, you have to keep learning. And one of the best ways to learn is to identify the best people in your area -- whether or not they work in your company today -- and then to stay in touch with them.

Every manager has to become the business equivalent of an NBA talent scout. You have to find the names of the best people in your field and then get to know those people. And you can't rely on them to come to you. You have to hang out in chat rooms on the Net, be a member of the right online mailing lists, go to the right conferences. You have to create "learning networks" that help you meet great people -- the kind of people you want working for your company -- even if those people aren't looking for a job right now.

It's not that hard to find great people. There are no secret stars in business. Through hard work and out-of-the-box marketing strategies, you should be able to capture the names of 90% of the people who might make a real difference in your company. I recently spent time with a vice president of human resources who works in the utility field. Someone wanted to take out a "Help Wanted" ad. And this VP said, "Don't you dare. That would be embarrassing. When you're the best, you're supposed to know the best." Help Wanted ads basically announce that you don't know the sort of people you're looking for.

Train your managers to spot the best people in their fields. They should make a habit of capturing the names of impressive people whom they meet at conferences or on visits to customers. And don't forget that great people tend to know other great people. So one of the first things you should do when you hire a Michael Jordan is to ask him or her, "Who are five other Michael Jordans whom you know? How can we persuade them to join us? How can you help us strike up relationships with them?" At Cisco, for example, 50% to 60% of hires come from referrals of this kind.