the extra money he pays . Hoffman found a systems engineer named Bill who everybody on his team wanted him to hire . But for Bill to switch jobs , he wanted a raise of $ 10,000 . Rather than give Bill a $ 10,000 raise to come work for him , Hoffman offered him $ 15,000 and told Bill he thought he was worth it . All of Hoffman ’ s friends thought he ’ d wasted $ 5,000 because Bill was happy with a $ 10,000 raise . Hoffman disagreed . Every day when Hoffman went to leave work , he ’ d see Bill hard at work . Hoffman would always tell Bill to go home and every day , Bill would say he ’ d go home as soon as he was finished . Hoffman said , “ One day I asked , ’ Finish what ?’ Bill said , ‘ Finish proving that you were right to believe in me .’” Hoffman added , “ I got an employee who was determined to prove that he was worth that extra $ 5,000 .” Not only did Bill work harder than the average employee , but when Hoffman also needed to hire four more engineers , Bill offered to handle finding them . This saved Hoffman headhunter fees , money from not having to run ads , and the time it would have taken his team to interview and filter people . “ Who do you think the friends of rock star engineers are ?” Hoffman asked . “ Other rock star engineers . The next four people I hired came from Bill ’ s network , and it cost me $ 0 because he told his friends , ‘ I work for a guy that focuses on what you ’ re worth , not what the salary scale says out there .’ People are looking at these salary scales and they ’ re trying to get people for less , and I ’ m spending a little more on rock stars and we ’ re crushing all the competition because all the best people want to work here .”
Go Find Rock Stars . Build time into your schedule to devote to finding rock star employees and building a team . These are people who are smarter than you and that everyone wants to hire . “ The most talented people , the rock stars , aren ’ t going to wander into your office and ask you to hire them ,” Hoffman said . “ You have to hunt down talent and look for rock stars .”
Hoffman devoted one to two days every month to what he called “ talent hunt day .” He put himself in situations where he was surrounded by the best of the best . When he needed a human resource professional , he attended a conference in Dallas for the Society of Human Resources Managers ( SHRM ) with 1,200 human resources managers in attendance . “ The lunch speaker was Angela ,” Hoffman said . “ She was winning the HR Executive of the Year award for the United States .” Initially , she turned his job offer down saying that everyone in the room had offered her a job and she already had a good job . “ She said , ‘ Why would I come work for you ?’ and I said , ‘ Because you ’ d own a piece of the company .’” Angela ran HR for Hoffman for his next four companies .
Follow The Servant Leadership Model . The way to get and keep a rock star employee is to take really good care of them . “ Focus on what you can do for your team , not what they can do for you ,” he said . Hoffman spends part of his week serving his team and doing things for them . For example , if people work through lunch , he always buys them lunch . “ People want to compare the cost of a sandwich to the value of a rock star ’ s extra hour at work ,” Hoffman said . “ People always talk about the cost . They never talk about the gain . The benefit , the amount I invest-
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