CBNationI AM CEO PODCAST

IAM780- CEO Helps in Talent Search and Assessment

Podcast Interview with Fletcher Wimbush

As the CEO of The Hire Talent | A Talent Assessment Software Company and Wimbush & Associates, Inc. | A Talent Search Firm, Fletcher Wimbush has interviewed over 8,000 job applicants.

In addition to talent assessment and executive search work, Fletcher co-authored a book with his late father, “Hiring Talent Team Players: a guide to getting it right”, created the “Power Interview Guide”, the most effective 30-minute interview ever of all time, and he and his team have published numerous articles across various media channels including SHRM, ERE.net, Recruiter.com, Monster.com and other thought leadership sites. Hundreds more articles have been published on our assessment testing website found at PreEmploymentAssessments.com/blog.

  • CEO Hack: I use scheduling tools like the calender to be efficient with my time
  • CEO Nugget: Clearly define who your target customer is
  • CEO Defined: Creating vision, mission and a better environment for our customers and internal team

Website:https://www.preemploymentassessments.com/

Linkedin: https://www.linkedin.com/company/3140635/admin/
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/TheHiretalent/
Twitter: https://twitter.com/TheHireTalent

Booking link https://calendly.com/fletcher-4/30-minute-call

Full Interview:

Transcript:

Intro 0:02
Do you want to learn effective ways to build relationships, generate sales, and grow your business from successful entrepreneurs, startups, and CEOs without listening to a long, long, long interview? If so, you’ve come to the right place, Gresham Harkless values your time and is ready to share with you precisely the information you’re in search of. This is the I am CEO podcast.

Gresham Harkless 0:29
Hello, hello, hello, this is Gresh from the I am CEO podcast and I have a very special guest on the show today at Fletcher wimbush of the higher talent. Fletcher is awesome to have you on the show.

Fletcher Wimbush 0:39
Thanks. I really appreciate it. I'm looking forward to chatting with you guys today.

Gresham Harkless 0:44
No problem, super excited to have you on and hear about all the awesome things that you're doing. And before we jumped in, I want to read a little bit more about Fletcher so you can hear about some of those awesome things that he's doing. And As the CEO of The Hire Talent | A Talent Assessment Software Company and Wimbush & Associates, Inc. | A Talent Search Firm, Fletcher Wimbush has interviewed over 8,000 job applicants. In addition to talent assessment and executive search work, Fletcher co-authored a book with his late father, “Hiring Talent Team Players: a guide to getting it right”, created the “Power Interview Guide”, the most effective 30-minute interview ever of all time, and he and his team have published numerous articles across various media channels including SHRM, ERE.net, Recruiter.com, Monster.com and other thought leadership sites. And he's in hundreds of other articles have been published on their assessment testing website as well. Fletcher, are you ready to speak to the IAMCEO community?

Fletcher Wimbush 1:43
Oh, yeah. Thanks, guys. relicense production Gresham,

Gresham Harkless 1:47
no worries, thanks for doing all the awesome work. So what I wanted to kind of do to just to get started is kind of rewind the clock a little bit here a little bit more on what led you to get started. Could you take us through your CEO story? Well, did you get started with your business?

Fletcher Wimbush 1:58
Sure, sure. Yeah. I mean, this has been a lifelong passion for me. So my father was a business consultant, he started his consultancy life in 1980. And I was born in 1982. So and, early into that career, he really began and developed a series of behavioral type of assessments. In addition to the common stuff, personality, things like that, it really took a focus on attitude and integrity. So really identifying team players avoiding problem generators, I think, all of us have worked or been in an organization with somebody who's maybe a very high performer, but kind of a pain in the ass, right. And that could be have levels, different levels of disruption. And so, you know, he, he was an analytical guy, he was a researcher, you know, he was an introvert, and, you know, he would spend, we would spend all our time talking about, that's hiring leadership practices, just being a better person, personal development, when I was really young, it was like my time state, I mean, all that kind of stuff. So I was kind of inundated with a lot of these leadership and coaching principles, and it's actually kind of got sick of them, right? A lot of people like Tony Robbins, these things are great, don't get me wrong, I'm not, I'm not anti these things. But I spent my whole like childhood being kind of like, you know, kind of push that me, right. And I really took a keen interest in that if you get the right people on the bus, that the organization will naturally be successful. And, again, not discounting all the other best practices that we need to do. I mean, they're totally valid and, and important, we need to be good leaders, and we need to have great systems and things like that. But to me, the very beginning of a great organization is with his people. So I wrote papers on it in high school. And, and continued to be a leader in different roles that I held all throughout my career. And in about seven years ago, it was, you know, my time to, you know, begin to get involved in this business and take take it over. And so I had been able to use a lot of these strategies in other organizations. So, you know, actually out of college, I wanted to get involved in the business. And my father said, No, no, no, no, you need to go get some like real world experience. And so I did. And so I had entrepreneurial experience. And I opened up 25 delis across the country. And then I worked for a large b2b service company where I ran manufacturing, sales Service Administration, I mean, the whole business, a whole business unit with all areas of discipline and for a much larger company. And so, and we saw great results, following the principle of let's get the right people on the bus first. And so I had that personal experience. I've been able to use the tools that I've been taught Build the producer result significant result, we took a business unit from last in the country from 100. To up in the top 10%. So, you know, it's my lifelong passion. So that's kind of what led me here. And yeah, you know, at certain point, it was my turn to take over the business and take it to the next level. And so here I am, and I'm continuing that that journey.

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Gresham Harkless 5:23
Yeah, it definitely sounds like you're continuing the legacy. And it's so it's so funny, because a lot of times, I'll say, and I love getting the people on the right bus that that visual and helping leaders, they kind of understand that because I say so many times that when we look at business, obviously, there's the financials, there's the the marketing goals, and all of those things. But so many times we forget about that human aspect of business. And I and I love that, you know, you focus on that, and you focus on how best to get those people in the right, in the right jobs and in the right on the right bus.

Fletcher Wimbush 5:52
I mean, it's amazing if you get the wrong person. I mean, if your small business, big business, medium business doesn't matter. I mean, you know, maybe your smaller business. I mean, think about it this way, like, Okay, you got to hire a marketer or salesperson, I like this analogy. I mean, don't you can use it for any position. But let's say a salesperson has a million dollar goal, right. And let's just say it takes 90 days to sort of like get their feet wet, and just begin rolling, you know, get get rolling. And so that means in 15 months, you want that person to generate a million dollars in revenue for you. What what happens now, when they fail, and usually when people fail, they usually fail quite badly. I mean, you know, if the guy does like 900,000, you're probably not like, probably not the worst thing that ever happened to your organization, right? You know, but they're usually failing and a pretty colossal rate, you know, maybe doing half or even less than half so say does half that, or he's on pace to do half of that, you know, so you just lost half a million dollars, just if you if you keep the person, right, so maybe you discover this, six months in into the employment, right. So now, this person's only generated a quarter million adult, or maybe $125,000, versus the half a million that they were supposed to use, you know, you just lost $375,000. And now you've got to re hire and start over. And guess what, it's gonna take another six months to get back to where you're at. So you lose money, when they don't produce the results that you're supposed to happen, you lose even more money when you turn them over, and you have to refill retrain and get somebody else back. And you're again, rolling the dice, potentially, if you're not, you know, focused on this.

Gresham Harkless 7:35
Yeah, absolutely. And I'm sure anybody who's brought somebody on the team, and you know, coach them up and get them on board, and and then all of those things, and it didn't work out. And you kind of have to start back from square one, if not square less than one, in terms of kind of getting all those things in place. So is that kind of like what you do with your business and organization? Is that how you kind of serve the clients to help them find those right people to get on the bus?

Fletcher Wimbush 7:58
We help them identify whether they have the right person, right, so we're in the talent assessment business. So we offer 41 different assessment type tools. Most of them are your traditional kind of assessment test, right, your behavioral or behavioral cognitive skill testing. But we also have other tools like candidate scorecards, interview guides, and automated reference checking. So all of these tools are a form of assessment, how do you determine if somebody is going to be the right person and successful on the job. So we give people these tools in order to help them determine whether the people in their pool are going to are going to be successful, right. And then we spent a lot of time educating people on best practices. So that's where there's over 1500 content pieces on our website, under the hire talent slash, hiring resources, you can go there, videos, podcasts, books, you name it, you know, everything you need to know about hiring is on there.

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Gresham Harkless 8:54
Nice. I absolutely love that. And I feel like you know, you can't always guarantee, you know, success guarantee is going to be perfect, but I think you can get as close to that as possible. And I think having that knowledge, having those assessments, as you kind of spoke to you and you and your team create helps to increase that likelihood of being success. Let me ask you this, what would you consider to be your secret sauce? And this is the thing that you feel kind of sets you or your organization apart? What do you feel would be you or your organization secret sauce?

Fletcher Wimbush 9:22
Oh, wow. Well, I think it's, I think the big difference is we're really looking at the whole picture, or we'd like to look at the whole picture. Sure, our clients come to us to use our tools. But as I've mentioned before, we've created a massive amount of content on the topic of hiring and recruiting from A to Z. And so we spend a lot of time helping our clients more holistically, not just providing but having these conversations. So client uses the assessments or they use one of our tools and then we have a conversation about the tool that they're using. And a lot of times most of the times the conversation is almost never about the It's almost about their whole process. And every single time, we have one of these conversations, there's some sort of lightbulb goes on, and some tidbit or strategy that they just didn't think about. But they're missing in their, from their process. So, you know, I think it's more than just a set of tools in our commitment to this person will serve as you know, as much as we live in this world of like, sass and hot, you know, software companies and things. And you know, we want to be a hot software company, but maybe I'm old. I'm 38. I don't know. But I think the personal touch that goes along with the use of a complex product or software is really important. And we

Gresham Harkless 10:41
have. Absolutely, absolutely. So I wanted to switch gears a little bit. And I want to ask you for what I call a CEO hack. So this could be like an app or book or a habit that you have, but what's something that makes you more effective and efficient?

Fletcher Wimbush 10:53
Yeah, I love this one. So, you know, I told you, so about seven years ago, I took over this company. And, you know, I was been working for a much larger company, great organization, we're actually still one of my best clients, and really great friends to this day. But you know, I had to report to work 40 hours a week and work and more than that, I was working like 50 plus hours a week. So and as I got a little bit older, my early days, I mean, work, I was a workaholic. So I'm what I like to call a recovering workaholic. And I get more work done, than I probably ever did in my life. But I am a strict believer in the calendar. So if it's not on the calendar, I don't do it. But it really allows me to be very, very efficient with my time, I couldn't interview 10,000 people without being very, very efficient with my time. So I use scheduling tools. I don't, I pretty much don't take any appointments or phone calls. Unless I do a blocked time, like free time, that'll ad hoc. But it allows me to really control my life and my schedule and be very, very efficient and get a lot done in a much shorter period of time. You know, I don't need to spend 12 hours a day working, I could spend five or six. And I can get just as much done as most people do. And plus,

Gresham Harkless 12:11
yeah, absolutely. And he just told everybody, so you'll definitely see a lot more people do it, including me. So I appreciate that. Yeah. And now I wouldn't ask you for what I call a CEO nugget. And this could be a word of wisdom or a piece of advice. It could be around hiring or recruiting. Or it might be something if you have to do a time machine, you would tell your younger business self,

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Fletcher Wimbush 12:32
you know, one of the biggest realizations I had in business. And it came from, I'm an email member in the media entrepreneur organization came through that, you know, was clearly defining who your target customer is. I mean, like crystal clear, without a doubt. And in our search business, in our in our recruiting business. Once we did that, it literally exploded.

Gresham Harkless 13:09
Yeah, absolutely. So now I want to ask you my absolute favorite question, which is the definition of what it means to be a CEO. And we're hoping to have different, quote unquote, CEOs on this show. So Fletcher, what does being a CEO mean to you?

Fletcher Wimbush 13:23
Wow, Ah, well, it means, you know, creating vision and mission and an environment, you know, really, to serve two people, two groups of people, one, it's definitely our clients, first hundred percent, you know, we got, we've got to add value to their world, we got to help create solutions for them. And we've got to do the same thing for our internal people, we've got to create an environment, a rewarding experience and a place to create an environment where they can both be personally and professionally successful. So if we do if we do those two things, then, you know, I've done my job as a CEO, and everything else will fall into place. And you know, worldly right, hopefully.

Gresham Harkless 14:08
Yeah, absolutely. When you get those people in the right seats, and they're able to kind of serve those clients and the right way, that's when everything starts to fall along.

Fletcher Wimbush 14:15
Allowing them to be successful in every way possible. Right. And that's when, you know, part of being successful would be be happy,

Gresham Harkless 14:23
right? Yeah. And so many times people forget about that. I think there's a quote that says, people don't care how much you know, so they know how much you care. And I think that making sure that you put their happiness or things that they value at the forefront again, that wasn't it for me, how to kind of create that environment that she got exposed to as well.

Fletcher Wimbush 14:43
It's kind of a player, you know, why would you try to do it? Why would you want to do anything else? Other than try to make them happy?

Gresham Harkless 14:49
Right? Yeah, absolutely. Absolutely. Well, Fletcher, truly appreciate that definition. And I appreciate your time even more. What I wanted to do was passion, that mic so to speak, just to see if there's anything else Have you want to let our readers and listeners know? And of course, how best they can get a hold of you and find out about all the awesome things you or your team are working on?

Fletcher Wimbush 15:06
Well, it's been, it's been a great pleasure, I really enjoyed the chat. Great, great question. So yeah, you guys can find us at the higher talent comm so it's the higher spelled h AI r e talent.com, or pre employment assessments.com. So check us out there. If you're interested in happy, we're happy to jump on a call and chat with you about anything. We do lots of free consultations for folks just understanding your hiring needs, you can check out on our website under the hiring resources, one of those 1500 plus different resources or podcasts or books, everything from you know, full length, you know, books to short, you know, ebooks on the topic. So, I mean, it's extensive, and really encourage people to study up on this stuff. And, you know, we're here to support you one way or the other.

Gresham Harkless 15:58
Nice, I definitely appreciate that. And we will have the links and information in the show notes as well too, so that everybody can follow up with you. But you're absolutely right. You know, we talked about you know, being successful. And one of the best ways you can do to be successful is making sure you're getting those people in the right place and the right bus go into the right place and, and I appreciate you creating so much information for us to be able to do that. So I appreciate you, Fletcher. And I hope you have a great rest of the day.

Outro 16:22
Thank you for listening to the I AM CEO podcast powered by Blue 16 Media. Tune in next time and visit us at IAMCEO.CO. I am CEO is not just a phrase, it’s a community. Be sure to follow us on social media and subscribe to our podcast on iTunes, Google Play, and everywhere you listen to podcasts. Subscribe and leave us a five-star rating. Grab CEO gear a www.CEOgear.co This has been the I AM CEO podcast with Gresham Harkless. Thank you for listening.

Check out one of our favorite CEO Hack’s Audible. Get your free audiobook and check out more of our favorite CEO Hacks HERE

Mercy - CBNation Team

This is a post from a CBNation team member. CBNation is a Business to Business (B2B) Brand. We are focused on increasing the success rate. We create content and information focusing on increasing the visibility of and providing resources for CEOs, entrepreneurs and business owners. CBNation consists of blogs(CEOBlogNation.com), podcasts, (CEOPodcasts.com) and videos (CBNation.tv). CBNation is proudly powered by Blue16 Media.

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