How to recruit and develop a rock star team

This guide is based on Mixergy’s interview with Johnny Chan.

After firing over a hundred employees, Johnny Chan mastered the skills to recruit and develop 25 employees who are landing clients and expanding his business. He did it by improving his firm’s interview process and employee training program, so we invited him to teach you how to do it.

Johnny is the co-founder of e-Boost Consulting, a digital consultancy firm that builds integrated marketing plans to scale high-growth entrepreneurial firms.

Here are a few actionable highlights from the interview. (Here’s the full Johnny Chan hiring interview.)

1. Manage yourself to prioritize and get more things done

Johnny had his employee, Nick, do this every day, and now Nick is managing over 40 employees with a $7 million P&L.

Take Action:

Begin by listing down five high-impact items that should be accomplished by the end of each workday.

2. Adopt a leadership pipeline system to facilitate the growth of each employee

Johnny and his team conduct quarterly 360 reviews to evaluate the performance of each employee.

Take Action:

Evaluate your team based on their work skills, work values, and time application.

3. Develop an interview process to narrow down the applicants more quickly

Johnny used this process to interview Matt and encourage him to join e-Boost’s internship program, because although he was talented, he still lacked certain skills.

Take Action:

Set up an initial pre-screen, followed by a work skills interview, a work values interview, and a 360 interview.

4. Test drive talent with an internship program so you can actually see them working

Through e-Boost’s internship program, Johnny discovered superstar employee Chris, who landed a big client during his first week as an associate.

Take Action:

Set up the internship program as a mini-firm with its own interviewing team that follows the same values your company does.

5. Train your team with a 5-week intensive so employees can hit the ground running

After Johnny had a new employee go through the training program, the first project she took on was working on deliverables for a client that was valued at $30 million.

Take Action:

Develop strategic and tactical competence during the first two weeks; have them do actual client work in the next three; and wrap everything up with an executive challenge.

6. Develop a culture of teaching so you won’t have to always do it yourself

Johnny holds weekly training sessions with his team where they talk about wins, how they were achieved, and how it can contribute to the organization.

Take Action:

Establish learning days at your company and have your employees conduct weekly learning sessions.

Want to make sure you get results?

Watch the full interview now
Written by Hazel Chua, based on production notes by Jeremy Weisz