This time on Pivot to First, Mike and Jon Dwoskin talk about what it means to “Always Be Recruiting” (ABR), and why Succession planning is for more than just the CEO. They also cover why employee retention is key to solving companies’ hiring problems.

You get to work with a lot of different businesses. How is the current talent climate situation affecting them?

Millennials and Gen Zs are looking for specific things they want from a company. They want training and mentorship, and it spills over to older generations. At all levels of an organization and across generations, people need to communicate effectively, ask for help, and understand their people’s needs and where the gaps are.

Where do you think most businesses go wrong when it comes to hiring?

They don’t have a recruiting plan; they wing it. To turn recruiting into a competitive advantage, companies should not only look at succession planning for the CEO, but as an organizational plan. When someone is promoted or leaves a year from now, we have to promote, train, grow from within, or recruit. It takes 3 -12 months to find a great candidate. Younger workers want to experience growth and mentorship throughout their career so the regular “ladder model” doesn’t work anymore; additional lateral moves with increased responsibility might be a more effective approach.

What can business owners do to make better hires consistently?

It should be standard practice to look at the pipeline of people. According to some studies, 85% of jobs that will exist in 2030 don’t exist yet. New roles and new types of business require entrepreneurs and businesses to stay ahead of the curve.

About Jon Dwoskin

Jon Dwoskin is a Business Coach, mentor, podcast host, author, and speaker. You can find his content on his website. His Podcast “THINK Business Live” provides content daily to help clients and entrepreneurs get unstuck. Bringing best-of-class guests from all over the country, he shares what they do and how they get their people unstuck, from sales to the C-suite from solopreneurs to Fortune 500 companies.  He interviewed Mike on March 1, 2021.

In addition to podcast hosting, Ton Dobbe is the author of The Remarkable Effect and a SaaS Strategy consultant. Mike appeared on Ton’s podcast Tech Entrepreneur on a Mission Season 4, Ep. 163 published 4/26/2021. This time around, Mike hosts Ton.

For Ton, starting his podcast goes hand in hand with establishing his own consultancy. He wanted to learn how to build a remarkable software business from successful entrepreneurs. His desire to learn from the best soon became a flow and after 60 -70 episodes someone encouraged him to write a book discussing and distilling all the wisdom enshrined in the podcast.

In this episode, Mike and Ton talk about:

– What do entrepreneurs need to do to be one of those companies everyone keeps talking about? It’s all about assessing where you stand today and having a vision to guide your and your team’s actions.

– How important is talent to grow a successful SaaS company? People and cultural fit a are part of the process. Different people are needed at different stages.

– SaaS entrepreneurs have a lot on their plate and sometimes they don’t have a full picture, what are they getting wrong? Everybody makes bad hires, but how you deal with those issues makes all the difference. Also, not getting stuck in ideas and other types of silos can give companies a leg up.

– When a company isn’t in an upshot, how do companies assess where they stand and figure out how to get on a growth path? According to some statistics, 9 out of 10 startups fail and 75% of scaleups fail. These figures make it imperative for companies to find the right market fit and positioning to sustain growth.

Finding the right talent for the right role at the right time, having a clear vision with buy-in from everyone involved, as well as adding value for your customers – solving their needs and problems – can lead a struggling or plateaued company to sustained success.