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Guest: Kurt Wilkin, a successful entrepreneur and CEO. He’s the Co-Founder & Visionary of HireBetter, a company that impacts lives by connecting and empowering good people to build great companies. Prior to that, he founded, led, and sold The Controller Group, which was a professional services firm focused on accounting, technology and recruiting. Kurt is also an active member and officer of YPO.
Overview: Why are so many companies struggling to fill vacancies? According to hiring expert Kurt Wilkin, businesses that are stuck in a pre-pandemic mindset have to improve their value propositions and get creative about attracting the best talent. And just as importantly, CEOs have to demonstrate to prospective candidates that their passions run deeper than just turning a profit.
Kurt Wilkin on hiring the next-level talent after the pandemic:
“It’s more about what the company stands for and what your company is doing that makes a difference. People have choices. And we learned a lot about the people that we work with during the the strain of the pandemic. And you got to see what the tiger’s stripes really look like. And so people are choosing to vote with their feet now that the pandemic is easing, meaning, they’re going to look for companies that are more aligned with their values, more aligned with what their goals and ambitions are. A players are looking for places to make a difference and an impact and not just looking for a job.
“The biggest challenges we have right now are companies thinking of themselves in 2019, meaning, they can just have a good company with a solid pay scale and they’re going to be able to attract somebody. The reality is the A players have lots of opportunities and there’s lots of competition. I can’t tell you how many searches we’ve been on with clients where we’ve had to raise the pay. We’ve had to be creative about remote work. We’ve had to find ways to make your opportunity more attractive than maybe it was in 2019.
“If you’re the founder, entrepreneur, and you see these guys and gals who have been in the foxhole with you for the last several years, it’s hard to admit that you may have outgrown their capabilities. Maybe it’s someone from the outside giving you some perspective, maybe it’s in your gut. You see them struggling to keep up. You see them working a hundred hours a week and they don’t delegate very well. They’re not thinking strategically. They like to protect their fiefdom because they’re so worried about losing control, losing their role.”
HireBetter’s Website and LinkedIn
Top Recruiter’s Tips on How to “HireBetter” C-Suite Execs During the Pandemic In his first appearance on our podcast, Kurt discusses how the best companies are finding the best players in this historically rich talent pool.
About CEO Coaching International
CEO Coaching International works with CEOs and their leadership teams to achieve extraordinary results quarter after quarter, year after year. Known globally for its success in coaching growth-focused entrepreneurs to meaningful exits, CEO Coaching International has coached more than 1,000 CEOs and entrepreneurs in more than 60 countries and 45 industries. The coaches at CEO Coaching International are former CEOs, presidents, or executives who have made BIG happen. The firm’s coaches have led double-digit sales and profit growth in businesses ranging in size from startups to over $10 billion, and many are founders that have led their companies through successful eight, nine, and ten-figure exits. Companies working with CEO Coaching International for two years or more have experienced an average revenue CAGR of 31% (2.6X the U.S. average) and an average EBITDA CAGR of 52.3% (more than 5X the U.S. average).
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