The Immeasurable Value in Value-Based Hiring

In the staffing industry, there are certain truths that become self-evident. One of those truths is that when it comes to hiring, most companies focus on skills and experience… 

And while these are important factors, they are not the only ones that should be considered.

But what other factors need to be considered? How does a company incorporate hiring strategies that support its overall success?

Let’s break it down…

• In order for a business to be successful, it needs to build a solid team.
• In order to create a solid team, it needs to incorporate value-based hiring into its interview and hiring strategies.
• In order to incorporate value-based hiring into its interview and hiring strategies, it needs to build a solid and supportive company culture. 

Seems simple enough right?

But before we dive into the tactical side of how to make this happen, let’s get clear on exactly what we mean by value-based hiring.

What is value-based hiring?

Value-based hiring is the process of assessing candidates based on their values and how they align with the company’s overall values and mission instead of hiring based on hard skills and experience alone.

This can have a number of benefits for your business, including increased diversity, better retention rates, improved production and morale, and even increased revenue.

How Mondo shaped its internal hiring strategies

Over the years Mondo has continually updated and evolved its interview and hiring strategies. Not only to meet the needs of the business but to meet the needs of the industry as well.

After all, how well can we consult our customers on how to shape their hiring strategies, if we don’t have it figured out ourselves?

The way Mondo has evolved its hiring strategies to center value-based hiring is one of the defining factors in what has made Mondo so successful over the years.

How to use value-based hiring strategies

Define company values

When we first started out, Mondo didn’t have an official set of company values. 

While this may have worked in the early days, as we grew it became more and more important to have a defined set of values that everyone on the team could rally behind.

Our core values, Mindset, Accountability, and Process speak to the foundations of what we look for in every Mondo employee and are the MAP that we follow to drive integrity, excellence, and respect within our teams.

By having a clear set of values, Mondo is able to use them as a guide not only in our interview and hiring processes but also in our day-to-day work lives.

Prioritize soft skills over hard skills

In the past, our interview and hiring processes were heavily focused on hard skills and experience.

But early on, Mondo adopted the philosophy that “If people have the will, we can teach the skill.”

As a result, Mondo shifted its focus to prioritize soft skills such as communication, collaboration, and adaptability.

Practice radical transparency

Throughout the interview process, Mondo makes it a point to be as transparent as possible with its candidates.

We want them to know exactly what the role entails, what the team is working on, and what Mondo is looking for in a candidate.

This way there are no surprises down the road and everyone is on the same page from day one.

Uncover motivators

Success looks different to everyone so one of the key factors in Mondo’s interview process is to find out what motivates each candidate. What makes them tick?

By understanding how they define success and what motivates them, our hiring teams are able to not only place them in a role where they’ll excel but also give us a clear understanding of how we can best support them in their professional growth.

How has value-based hiring helped Mondo?

Completed the puzzle

By focusing on the best methods to build all of the teams that support the entire employee life cycle from identifying candidates and onboarding talent to retaining and evolving each team, it became clear that value-based hiring was the only way to go.

Higher retention

By working with radical transparency into the interview process and clearly communicating expectations, new hires have a better understanding of what their first 30, 60, 90 days, and beyond will look like.

When expectations are clearly set, there are fewer surprises and the right people end up accepting the job and sticking around, improving our headcount by 25% and retention by 17% since 2019.

Increased diversity

Value-based hiring has also helped us to increase diversity within our teams.

By focusing on candidates’ soft skills, we’re able to look beyond their experience and get a better sense of who they are as people.

This allowed Mondo to improve diversity by 13% since 2019 and create a team that is better able to meet the needs of our clients.

Increased revenue

Last but not least, value-based hiring has helped to increase Mondo’s revenue.

By building strong teams not only are we able to better meet the needs of our clients, but we’re also able to create a more positive reputation for Mondo which leads to more business.

As a result, Mondo has grown by $90M (81%) in revenue since 2019.

How to incorporate value-based hiring into your strategies

Understand your company values

Without fully understanding your own company values, it’s impossible to assess whether or not a candidate shares the same vision.

Sit down with your team and define what your company values are. If you don’t have any, now is the perfect time to create some.

Stop centering hard skills and experience

As mentioned before, hard skills and experience should not be the only factors considered when hiring someone.

Make sure you’re taking the time to assess a candidate’s soft skills and cultural fit.

Create transparency

From the very beginning, be transparent with your candidates. Are longer hours expected? Will there be high levels of oversight or is it a more autonomous role? Do they need to be highly self-motivated?

Be sure to be completely honest about the role and what it entails. It needs to be as much of a fit for them as it is for you or you can be sure turnover will be high.

Set realistic KPI’s

In order to accurately assess the performance of your team, you need to have a clear understanding of what we expect from them.

KPI’s help to identify areas where someone may be struggling and need additional support as well as highlight areas of individual and team strength.

They also provide a clear way to measure progress and success over time, further improving retention once they’re in the door.

Center communication

When going through the interview process with a potential hire, be sure to take note of their communication skills. 

How well do they express themselves? Are they able to take direction and feedback? How effectively do they collaborate with others? Are they quick to respond?

Good communication is key to any successful team so be sure you’re hiring people who excel in this area.

Final thoughts on value-based hiring

While the traditional interview process may work for some companies, we’ve found that value-based hiring is the best way to ensure we’re putting together a high-performing team.

By focusing on things like company values, communication, and intrinsic motivators, we’ve been able to create a team that is not only productive but also diverse, happy, and engaged in their work.

At the end of the day, value-based hiring really is just getting clear on what intrinsically motivates people and really understanding people’s ‘why’.

Because if you don’t have a purpose every single day, then it makes it really hard to find the right people that will be successful in any professional environment. 

So, if you’re looking for ways to improve your hiring strategy, we urge you to give value-based hiring a try. We think you’ll be pleasantly surprised with the results.

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