Technology
Fire in the belly
How to hire a company of owners
By Abby Cymerman
Smart Business Akron/Canton | September 2008
Page 1 of 2
Mark Williams
founder and president, Virtual Hold Technology LLC
In 2001, Mark Williams’ company landed some large
contracts and doubled his work force to accommodate
the additional work.
But the founder and president
of Virtual Hold Technology LLC
soon learned that those new
employees didn’t understand
his company or its culture,
threatening his growing company.
“We lost a year at a key point
and jeopardized a key client in
the process,” says Williams,
whose 75-employee business
develops virtual queuing solutions for call centers for
Fortune 1,000 companies.
As a result, Williams honed
his company’s interview
process, allowing managers to
better identify potential
employees and screen out
those who wouldn’t fit it.
“Don’t feel a compelling need
to fill bodies into positions just
to meet a head count requirement,” he says. “If you hire the
right people, chances are you
don’t need as many people.”
Smart Business spoke with
Williams about how to make
your hiring process a two-way
street to ensure you find the
best people for your culture.
Q. How do you establish a
strong work force?
We go out and look for that
kind of fire in the belly. I’m not
looking for somebody who’s
really good on paper, someone
who’s been with a company
for 15 years, doing IT work or
programming.
I would rather have the people a year or two out of school
— looking for a career and an
exciting opportunity — and surround them with good people.
Q. How do you identify
people who would be a good
fit for your company?
The managers over every
department interview every
person before they come in.
They’ll go through resumes, do
the phone interviews and
bring them in for a face to
face.
They narrow it down to
three to five candidates, and
then we’ll set up second interviews in which the other senior team members will have an
opportunity to meet and
interview the person.
At that point, the candidate is pretty much
qualified for the position
in terms of skill set.
Now, it is just a matter
of looking at chemistry
fit because we view this
company as a family. We
are all committed to the
same goal, and we are
all going the same direction.
It takes a unique individual to come in and fit
into our environment.
We do a lot of interviewing along those lines,
and then we, as a senior
team, sit down and vote.
I abstain. I empower
my team to make the decisions. I’m a part of those discussions, hearing firsthand
everybody’s feedback, both
positive and negative.
The one thing that I don’t do
is micromanage.
