Hire Intentionally

Whether you are a business of one or 1,000, you will need to hire someone at some point. It is obvious that if your business model requires employees you will hire. Where most entrepreneurs go amiss is believing that they have no need to hire anyone.

Everybody needs a team. No one can grow their business on their own. So, whether you bring on employees or independent contractors, consultants, coaches, or support members; hire intentionally.

Hiring intentionally is engaging all five senses during the process.

• Sight
• Hearing
• Touch
• Smell
• Taste

This may seem a little strange to think about utilizing all five senses (especially taste), however I urge you to read on.

Sight

First impressions are crucial. Although I don’t use just the first-time meeting someone to make a hiring decision, how they present themselves says a lot about them. There are the most notable elements like, how they are dressed or do they make eye contact. However, in our busy world there are other sight things to look for, such as where they keep their phone… or do they look at it during your conversation.

Hearing

This takes a little more attention to detail. Absolutely we need to listen to the sound of their voice, the fluctuations that occur, but also to the tone of their speak and their non-talking sounds, like do they sigh. More acutely, listening for the undertones of their presence. If someone doesn’t want to be someplace, they will make it apparent through non-verbal cues.

Touch

Touch takes on two sides. The first is the obvious. When you are together, how much touch is happening. Are they a hugger, and yet you don’t like to be touched? Maybe you are a hugger and go in for a hug and they stand back and want a fist bump. Perhaps throughout the conversation they put their hand on your shoulder.

The second part of touch is more internal to you. How do they make you feel? Do you feel better about yourself or your business when they are in the room? Do they inspire you to do more? This is extremely crucial in the entrepreneurial as most entrepreneurs would be considered solopreneurs.

 Smell

The sense of smell has two distinct meanings as well. The first, again obvious. What is the physical aura that people give off in the room? A great example is the west coast is classic for attracting the hippie / gypsy kind of lifestyles. Some of the best digital nomads live a hemp-based life. For those who are not familiar, it is a ‘natural smell’ that to others is a turn off.

The ability to be in the same room with another person and have congruence with their smell is weighty. Maybe the person wears heavy perfume or cologne. That can create challenges.

On the other side of smell is that internal feeling of intuition. Can you smell fakeness? Can you discern shadiness? This is the essence of the fifth sense.

Taste

Quite simply, what kind of taste do they leave in your mouth? An almost timeless statement “…this person just leaves a bad taste in my mouth.”

Officially, that phrase caries the definition “to cause an unpleasant memory.” The phrase is what is called an idiom. Saying that something or someone leaves a bad taste in your mouth is idiomatic. It is a feeling that something is or potentially morally despicable.

Never forget a sense

When you need to bring someone into your business, whether as an employee or as a contractor, use all five senses before you decide.

When you do, you hire intentionally. Share a time when you hired intentionally, and I’ll share one of mine.