Jennifer Patterson On How To Hire The Right Person
An Interview With Ken Babcock
Passive recruiting for potential employees with keywords related specifically in your field is a must. You’ll be able to find a perfect match for your company with this passive recruiting technique. You can search resumes posted online and even access those who are actively seeking work at any given time, making it easier than ever before!
When a company is looking to grow, the choice of who to hire can sometimes be an almost existential question. The right hire can dramatically grow a company, while the wrong hire can be very harmful to morale and growth. How can you know you are hiring the right person? What are the red flags that should warn you away from hiring someone? In this interview series, we are talking to business leaders who can share insights and stories from their experience about “How To Hire The Right Person”. As a part of this series I had the distinct pleasure of interviewing Jennifer Patterson.
Jen Patterson is an experienced HR leader and business consultant. Jen has worked in the Human Resources industry for 20+ years, gaining experience in driving company culture, establishing HR best practices, and creating an environment of development. Driven by a mission to put people first, Jen is best known for inspiring leaders to take a people-centric approach to develop teams.
Thank you for joining us in this interview series. Our readers would love to “get to know you” a bit better. Can you tell us a bit about your ‘backstory’?
I’m happily married with two kids and one pup. I love to spend time with my family and friends. I love to travel, but I’m just as happy calling St. Louis home.
I started a company that supports people — it’s what I’m passionate about. Every day, I get to help others grow and develop into their best selves. It’s incredibly rewarding, and I wouldn’t trade it for the world.
You’ve had a remarkable career journey. Can you highlight a key decision in your career that helped you get to where you are today?
I’ve been in the HR business for more than a decade, and I’ve seen it all. I have done everything from managing large corporations to coaching leadership and developing labor management strategies.
In my past role as Chief Human Resources Officer (CHRO) and Chief Experience Officer (CXO), where I was responsible for HR, Sales, Business Development, and Marketing, I led some high-performing teams. Although I loved what I did on a daily basis at these companies — putting people first — I knew there was something bigger out there for me.
That’s why I started Patterson Consulting Group, where putting people first is our passion. We help companies make strategic decisions about their workforce and plan for the future so that they can improve employee satisfaction, loyalty, and productivity!
What’s the most impactful initiative you’ve led that you’re particularly proud of?
I’m most passionate about a strategic employee engagement initiative. I saw an opportunity to reduce turnover and increase productivity through engagement initiatives, so I took it on. It was a year-long journey but was worth it.
It’s hard not to get a lot out of supporting others, and that’s why this initiative means so much to me. I’m excited to see the positive impact it has on our team!
How about a mistake you’ve made and the lesson you took away?
I used to think it was impressive to do it all on my own. I would burn out really quickly because I was trying to do too much.
I learned that you need to surround yourself with smart people and work together towards a goal. Not only does it feel good to work as a team, but you get to let others shine and it makes the end goal much better.
How has mentorship played a role in your career, whether receiving mentorship or offering it to others?
I have been incredibly lucky in my life to have had some great mentors. These individuals have helped me grow both professionally and personally. They gave me the confidence to stretch outside of my comfort zone and take on new initiatives that I would not have otherwise felt confident about.
Because of the outstanding mentorship I have received, I like to do the same for others. I enjoy being able to help people grow and develop into their best selves. It is truly a rewarding experience.
Developing your leadership style takes time and practice. Who do you model your leadership style after? What are some key character traits you try to emulate?
I have been truly blessed to have had some great leaders to model my leadership style after. But, the ones that stick out in my mind are always the ones that put people first. The kind of leaders that would take the time to support their team, and would model the behavior they wanted to see in others. Leaders that would take the time to say thank you, and recognize even the little things their team did. These are the kinds of leaders I aspire to be like!
Thank you for sharing that with us. Let’s change paths a little bit. In my work, I focus on helping companies to simplify the process of creating documentation of their workflow, so I am particularly passionate about this question. Many times, a key aspect of scaling your business is scaling your team’s knowledge and internal procedures. What tools or techniques have helped your teams be successful at scaling internally?
I love process mapping because it helps me understand how teams work together to achieve desired outcomes. Processes are often scaled in order for an organization’s workload, and bottlenecks should be considered when scaling up internal procedures or standards — but this knowledge can also lead you towards tools that support such initiatives like HRIS systems, CRM platforms, etc.
The pandemic forced many companies to adapt. Implementing remote onboarding and professional development — in addition to maintaining culture — challenged organizations. Can you share with us the challenges you have faced, with remote onboarding and hiring? How have your internal processes evolved as a result?
It is important that your virtual onboarding strategy is thorough and well thought out. But when we started developing these strategies for our clients in the last few years, what did surprise us was how many leaders weren’t even aware of all there was to offer new hires with a company-wide video platform such as Zoom or live meetings through Skype — so rather than just having one session where they had 30 minutes on average before being thrown into work situations without any guidance from anyone else around them other than themselves, now each day can have short induction topics dedicated specifically towards getting people up to speed and familiar with the organizations mission, values, product & services. Virtual onboarding can be an innovative way to help new employees feel welcome and valued. It also provides leaders with the opportunity for real-time feedback, which can be essential in ensuring that team members are integrating well into company.
With the Great Resignation/Reconsideration in full swing, many job seekers are reevaluating their priorities in selecting a role and an employer. How do you think this will influence companies’ approaches to hiring, talent management, and continuous learning?
As an employer, you know that the current job market is highly competitive. With the great resignation comes increased turnover, and now more than ever, employers need to focus on retaining their employees. Job postings and company websites must stand out, and internal mobility programs are key retention tools.
It is important for organizations to commit to helping their employees grow and develop professionally. Offering a variety of training and development opportunities, as well as a supportive work culture is key. Your employees are your greatest asset, and now is the time to focus on providing them with the resources they need to succeed both in their careers and lives.
Super, thank you for sharing all of that. Next, let’s turn to the main focus of our discussion about hiring the right person. As you know, hiring can be very time consuming and difficult. Can you share 5 techniques that you use to identify the talent that would be best suited for the job you want to fill? Please share an example for each idea.
- Treating candidates like customers is a great way to make them feel valued and appreciated, which in turn will help you hire more employees.
- Social media can also be an effective tool for hiring managers because they have access not only from their own company’s perspective but others’ perspectives as well- such as social websites where people share pictures or leave short videos about what it really means “to work here.” Social media is a great way to find new employees because it provides an inside look into the company from all angles.
- Implementing referral programs is a great way to get introduced into your organization if you know someone qualified. This will allow the friend or family member of an employee looking elsewhere on job opportunities with other companies in mind, another chance at being hired by yours!
- Passive recruiting for potential employees with keywords related specifically in your field is a must. You’ll be able to find a perfect match for your company with this passive recruiting technique. You can search resumes posted online and even access those who are actively seeking work at any given time, making it easier than ever before!
- Attend non-recruiting specific events are an excellent opportunity for meeting motivated professionals who want to network and advance in their field. For example, if you’re looking hire a software engineer find local groups or associations focused on development & attend meetings where the most passionate people will quickly stand out!
In contrast, what are a few red flags that should warn you away from hiring someone?
A candidate’s past may not always be an indicator of how they will act in the future. But certain behaviors are still worth looking out for and can signal trouble at work. These include being evasive when answering questions; providing false or misleading information about themselves (e.g., forgetting details) or having a history of dishonesty. This is where verifying information with reference checks comes in really handy.
What software or tools do you recommend to help onboard new hires?
The use of an applicant tracking system that integrates with your HRIS will save you time and money. If hire data is seamlessly fed back from the ATS, then onboarding can be completed more quickly & efficiently — eliminating redundant entries or duplicate processes in between!
Because of your role, you are a person of significant influence. If you could inspire a movement that would bring the most amount of good to the most people, what would that be? You never know what your ideas can trigger.
If I could inspire one thing, it would be a “put people first” movement. We are all capable of doing good and achieving great things if given an opportunity!
This was truly meaningful! Thank you so much for your time and for sharing your expertise!
About the interviewer. Ken Babcock is the CEO and Co-Founder of Tango. Prior to his mission of celebrating how work is executed, Ken spent over 4 years at Uber riding the rollercoaster of a generational company. After gaining hands-on experience with entrepreneurship at Atomic VC, Ken went on to HBS. It was at HBS that Ken met his Co-Founders, Dan Giovacchini and Brian Shultz and they founded Tango.
