Real Estate and Construction
Building people
How to hire the best employees
By Kristy J. O’Hara
Smart Business | November 2009
Page 1 of 2
Ron Hall, executive vice president, Southern California division, McCarthy Building Cos. Inc.
When Ron Hall became the estimating manager for McCarthy Building Cos. Inc. in the early 1990s, he faced a new situation he hadn’t yet encountered at the construction firm.
“Suddenly, I’m not only in charge of the work, but I have eight people whose work I’m responsible for,” Hall says. “It doesn’t take long, once you reach that point, to realize that my success is tied directly to their success. My success is their success.”
It was a simple realization, but as he has moved up the ranks at the company, it continued to hold true. Today, he oversees the nearly $80 million Southern California division of the $3.5 billion company, and he knows that his division won’t succeed without having top-notch people helping him out.
Smart Business spoke with Hall about how to hire the best people to fit with your organization so you can get the results you want.
Engage with them. Obviously, you have to talk about the normal stuff — their education, the technical background — but I try to engage them in regular conversation so during the course of the interview, some of their true personality comes through.
Most people want to talk about themselves — most people that have balance in their life. They might come into an interview prepared to present an image. Their natural personality, if they’re well-balanced, it overrides the strategy that they might have had.
Ask them about their past experiences, and you delve into some of the stories that they start telling, and you ask them more about it. Inevitably, their personality compels them to speak.
The flip side is if they won’t talk about it, it’s also an indication of the behavior or the personalities that you’re dealing with. If they’re hesitant and guarded and won’t tell you much about themselves, then it’s not a promising sign. One of the most important aspects in leading my company is we have a lot of transparency in terms of what are our business goals and what are our financial results and what is our plan. We try to share that with employees at all levels of the organization so that they’re empowered and understand the big picture. Consequently, it’s important that if they’re going to succeed in our organization, it’s important that they themselves adhere to that same philosophy, and they’re willing to be open and honest and willing to trust others and put our trust in their partners.
