“Your talent determines what you can do. Your motivation determines how much you are willing to do. Your attitude determines how well you do it.” – Lou Holtz

If you are a Brand Manager, building talent is much like casting and directing a movie.

You MUST have the vision in your head to complete the picture!

It is documented that up to the cost of replacing an employee is 2 ½ times the person’s salary.

Stop right now and do a web search on job interviewing.

You will discover thousands of websites on how to ‘rock’ the interview.

Quality interviewing is an art – but can be learned.

But before you get there, do your homework.

The Basics

Smart

For the position, insure the candidate is qualified for the opening – many make the mistake of ‘they can nearly do the job – we’ll train them to do the rest’

Work Ethic

Media is like White Castle – we never turn off our grills.  Your candidate must understand that uneven and a high hour count is part of what we do.

Attitude

Hire attitude over talent with like experience.  An ambitious attitude can make up for talent shortcomings – the reverse can be cancerous.

Good People

Identify those individuals who have a strong moral compass and can compliment your mission – not disrupt it.

The Law of Three

Three Candidates

  • After weeding the piles of resumes, identify at least three qualified target candidates

Three interviews

  • Before the candidate visits, conduct three thorough phone interviews

Three people

  • Enlist at least TWO other leaders to interview the candidate – everyone has different styles – these styles will bring out different qualities in the candidate

In our world of the impersonal job solicitation, intimate and personal contact will build your team’s most important, non-duplicatable asset.

People.

Next Week:  Always – Right

Kevin Robinson is a record-setting and award-winning programmer. His brands consistently perform in the Top 3 of the target – often times as the list leader. In his 35 years of radio, he’s successfully programmed or consulted nearly every English language radio brand. Known largely as a trusted talent coach, he’s the only personality mentor who’s coached three different morning shows on three different stations in the same major market to the #1 position. His efforts have been recognized by The World Wide Radio Summit, Radio & Records, NAB’s Marconi, Radio Ink and has coached CMA, ACM and Marconi winning talent. Kevin lives in St. Louis with his wife of 30 years, Monica. Reach Kevin at (314) 882-2148 or robinsonmedia.fm.