How An HR Rockstar Attracts More Rockstars

Throughout decades of experience in recruiting candidates and launching 4 companies, one thing has become abundantly clear to me: 90% of business problems are recruiting problems in disguise.

After all, what is a company without its people? Who is responsible for its success or failure? It all comes back to the individuals who make up the organization.

It’s simple: if your company is settling for anything less than Rockstar talent, company problems swell. By bringing in the right people, you’re investing in continued success, instead of introducing the possibility for issues that will cost your company over the long term.

Here’s how to embrace your own inner Rockstar as the person directly responsible for attracting Rockstar talent into your company.

You Are Not an Island: Getting Executive Buy-In

First and foremost, you won’t be successful in your attempts to attract more Rockstars all by yourself. For the process to work, you need executive support and buy-in: especially from the CEO of your company.

Most of the companies doing it right when it comes to recruiting focus 30-50% of their energy and resources on this specific function. This may sound like a disproportionate use of time compared to all of the other things you have to worry about within your company but once you have more Rockstars in your midst, you’ll cut down on unnecessary micromanaging. Rockstars can carry their own weight and excel within their roles without a lot of oversight.

Once you’ve gotten executive support, it’s time to amp up your Rockstar recruiting program. The good news? You don’t need to see a million candidates. Here’s what my recruiting funnel looks like for any given role:



Before you start hiring for a new role, set the bar very high when it comes to your standards. Clearly define the 3-5 traits most important to your company (I call this your company’s DNA) so that you can use this as a baseline for evaluating potential Rockstars against.

As far as the candidates that surpass the bar you set, who share your company’s DNA, don’t let them go without a fight. These are your Rockstars.

Tap into Your Existing Employee Network: Employee Referral Programs

I’ve got some good news for you: the Rockstars already employed by your company can help you attract up to 50% of your new Rockstar hires. The bad news? Most companies use employee referrals inefficiently, only finding about 25% of new hires using this precious resource.

Here’s your rationale to refocus efforts on this strategy for hiring: employee referrals cost less, take less time, have longer retention, and are likely to improve your company’s culture because Rockstars aspire to work with the Rockstars they refer.

The key is setting up an employee referral program that works. There are a couple of critical elements to finding success with yours:

●   Incentivize referrals but don’t stress about the award amount. Whether it’s $500, $1000, or $5000 doesn’t matter so much as the simple fact that you’re rewarding employees for their help in finding more Rockstars to work at your company. Google recently did a study that found no significant impact when offering $2,000 versus $4,000 per employee referral.

●   Reward referrals with a consistent amount across the board. Though it may seem counter-intuitive, be consistent with the amounts you reward employees with: regardless of the role you’re hiring for. Whether you’re hiring a software engineer or an office manager, award the same amount per successful referral. This helps everyone see themselves as equally important within your organization.

●   Tie rewards to controllable outcomes. Employees realize that they don’t receive an incentive unless their referral is hired and likely also if that person sticks around for awhile. Consider doing something small on the front-end, like giving a $10 Starbucks gift card upon each referral, then a bonus again after a successful hire based on the referral.

●   Remind employees to share referrals often. It can be easy to forget about programs and incentives in the midst of everything else employees have to think about during the work day. The key to success with filling your recruiting pipeline with Rockstar talent through the efforts of an Employee Referral Program can be traced back to frequent reminders—especially in front of anticipated hiring sprees. Use email, posters, company meetings, occasional contests, and other vehicles to spread the word. Executive buy-in is again important here, as your CEO can also be critical with internal marketing efforts.

●   Get employee buy-in. Money isn’t everything—explain to employees the impact they can have on your company’s bottom line by helping you bring in more Rockstar talent. If they really are Rockstars, they’ll want to play a part in helping the company succeed.

The single most important factor in finding success with your employee referral program? Follow through. Employees will be less willing to volunteer names for potential Rockstar hires if you make it obvious that you’re not even bothering to use them.

Add a Test Drive to Your Hiring Process

As a member of the HR department for your company, you hold the keys to protecting company culture through the influence you have when it comes to bringing in new hires. Another aspect of the process you’ll want to get executive buy in for? Adding a Test Drive (also known as a job audition) if you don’t already have one.

A Test Drive is a real-world simulation that mirrors the actual work tasks that the candidate will be asked to accomplish if hired for your company. To me, adding this to the recruiting process is a no-brainer, as it’s the single most predictive element of a candidate’s success within your company: more so than a resume or any number of interviews. Unfortunately, only 9% of companies implement it consistently.

The key to being purposeful when it comes to Test Drives is to wait until you’re down to your two finalist candidates (refer back to my recruiting funnel). Implemented too early in the process and you’ll cause a bottleneck that jeopardizes your time and resources unnecessarily.

The actual Test Drive can take a few hours to a full day — that’s up to you. The most important aspect of this process is that you expose the candidate to what it would really be like to work at your company: with a team, in the role you’re hiring for. Because of this, a Test Drive is just as important for you as it is for the candidate, allowing them to fully understand what they’re getting themselves into by accepting a position at your company.

Here’s where executive buy-in is again key. You may want to frame up your Test Drive process as a paid assignment during your recruiting process. You’ll likely need to unlock some extra budget for this. They key in convincing your higher ups that it is worth is the fact that it’s an investment in making the right hiring decision.

How an HR Rockstar Attracts More Rockstars

Do not let your internal clients, your boss and the executives they report to, settle for B-Players. Set a high standard when it comes to recruiting news hires to ensure that you put a Rockstar in every seat at your company. A focus on internal policies and improving the hiring process are the keys to your success.

Author Bio

Jeff Hyman is bestselling author of Recruit Rockstars: The 10 Step Playbook to Find the Winners and Ignite Your Business. The Chief Talent Officer at Chicago-based Strong Suit Executive Search, Hyman currently teaches the MBA course on recruiting at Northwestern University’s Kellogg School of Management and hosts the five-star Strong Suit Podcast. Jeff has been featured by Inc., Fortune, Forbes, The Wall Street Journal, CNBC, Bloomberg, and other media outlets. Visit www.recruitrockstars.com