Master the Skill of Hiring

It happens to the best of us. We’re desperate for help, our business is growing faster than we can keep up. And so anyone who has the skills we’re looking for on a resume seems like an ideal candidate. Barbara Corcoran, the lovable shark on ABC’s start-up competition show, “Shark Tank,” the Co-Founder of Barbara Corcoran Venture Partners, and author of Shark Tales, a book that takes you behind the scenes and shares how she turned $1,000 into a billion dollar business, recommends that you never look at another resume again. Resumes can’t tell you nearly as much as personality traits that pop out in an interview, and Corcoran knows how to spot them.   

If you want to find the top talent that will strengthen your team and support your growth, heed Corcoran’s advice. “I am very good at hiring, because I’ve made a lot of mistakes,” she says. “I’ve learned to look at the specific individual and look for the most important traits and then ignore everything else, especially the resume. It sends you in the wrong direction.”  

Are you in need of an exceptional sales person? Corcoran says you have to hire someone who’s insecure, with something to prove, and a tireless worker. Positivity is also a must. “A positive person, when they get hit—and sales is all about getting hit and knocked down—they spend very little time feeling sorry for themselves,” she says. “They get right back up.”

Managers are the foundation of an organization. They keep workers motivated and productive, carrying out the company’s mission. When selecting a manager, Corcoran always looks for loyalty. With a “shaky foundation,” she says, a business cannot get far. Once again, a positive attitude is essential, she says, adding, “I find a manager with a positive attitude is always going to find a way to get to where you want them to go.”

For more on the battle-hardened Corcoran’s insights on how to master the skill of hiring, watch this clip from Big Think’s interview: