This is what I did to find the right people to help me with my journey. 1. Utilized platforms like LinkedIn and Twitter to connect with established operators in my industry and functional leaders who can be potential mentors and guides. 2. Being specific with my ask. Draft personalized messages that highlight shared values and your specific goals. Show them how collaboration could be mutually beneficial. 3. Initiated joint webinars, articles, or projects to build rapport and showcase my capabilities and value. 4. I leveraged my existing network to get introduced to potential mentors and guides. Warm introductions carry more weight and trust.

As my business partner says, it’s like finding the right dance partner, someone that covers up for your weaknesses, can move with your rhythm and flow and adapt, adjust, and overcome on the fly. This is the part of the journey where it’s important to be brutally honest with yourself about the skills you do, and don’t have. In my humble opinion, the most important part of knowing your needs is knowing that which you are strong at and doubling down and knowing those skills that you are weakest at and doubling down on outsourcing by finding partners strong in those areas. The more honest you are in this assessment the faster your business will be off to the races!

The conversation about finding the right people begins with an internal analysis. We should ask ourselves what the organization's needs are, what skills are required to meet those needs, and what soft skills would be compatible with our organization. These answers enable the hiring manager to target the search to where the candidate with the skills could be found and filter those most compatible with the organizational needs. In terms of where to find candidates, presence is crucial. The organization needs to be present on all platforms. From social media to job fairs, any place where job seekers go to find opportunities. Presence and an adequate job offer increase the chances of candidates applying to the job postings.

Before you can find people to help you, you need to know what you need help on. Identify your gaps and also identify people that can take your strengths and maximize them!

When it comes to connections and networking, quality always trumps quantity many folds over. It’s not a numbers game, so look foe deep and genuine connections.

however cliche it may sound "network is your net worth". building a startup or any business is one of the most difficult things that one can do. you'll need people to cheer for you at every stage of the company, so meeting more people can help you to learn about their journey and walk away with a different perspective. the best way to meet new people is 1. social media 2. ex-company colleagues 3. college alumni 4. join a cohort-based course 5. build proof of work online

While it is important to expand your network, building authentic relationships with those in your network is most important. Network building is not a numbers game but an investment in building reciprocity-centred relationships where both individuals give and offer support.

Finding the right people is an ongoing job. Don't wait until you have an open position to look out for good professionals: 1. Be open and watchful 2. Live events are a good opportunity to meet good professionals 3. Spread the word about your companies culture 4. Give special attention when someone reaches out saying they would like to work with you or your company

Never turn down the invitation for coffee! I make it a rule to "meet" 3-5 people a week in person or virtual. You never know what they have to offer. It's not what you know, it's who you know!

One of my favorite sayings is, not one of us is as smart as all of us. The more you network, the more ideas, insights, value, knowledge, support, success you’ll experience. Networking doesn’t have to be a ton of grand gestures and activity every day. LinkedIn and other social platforms can help expand your connections and get you the support and collaboration you desire.

Be reciprocal. Take time to seek opportunities to uplift your connections and help them grow. Growth should be mutually beneficial!

Once you find promising people, take time to build real relationships. Be yourself. Be kind, respectful and reliable. Offer to help them with no strings attached. Share ideas, skills or connections that may help them. Ask how you can bring value. Listen to their feedback and advice. Use it to improve. Check in often, not just when you need something. Show you care about them as a person. Building trust takes effort but pays off. When people believe in you and your mission, they'll go the extra mile. So nurture your network like a garden - with patience, care and gratitude.

Look for ways to add value to others: promoting causes they’re passionate about, finding clients or quality suppliers for them, connecting them with people who are in a position to refer work to them, introducing them to others in your network they may find interesting… there are so many ways. This builds your reputation with others, your value to them & your influence. It’s about farming (developing quality relationships over a long period of time), not hunting (“I need something from you now”).

Honestly the right people are moulded. Very rarely will you find the exact fit you’re looking. While setting up your “ideal” team you might hire someone for a certain role, but over time you end up realising they are better suited for another role and if they are open to pivoting. THAT is your aha moment and employee.

When networking virtually, one of my go-to questions is "What is one thing that you're doing that you think I could help you with?" It's important to give as much as you receive. That's when your connections start becoming an authentic relationship.

It’s important to make sure whomever you partner with is aligned with your vision AND your values. A lot of people can give advice or do a job, but not everyone can bring you joy and it’s important to be mindful of that. While it may be harder to build solid connections and partnerships as adults, the BENEFIT is that as an adult you have the privilege of personal experience and learning how to listen to your intuition. Try things out when working with someone new and listen to what your soul says! If it doesn’t feel aligned, allow yourself to let them go!

You will learn more about someone by working with them for 2 days to 2 weeks than you will by multiple rounds of interviews over 2 months. Reference checks don't mean much either. Interview talk is performance theatre and be aware of regression to the mean; a bad or good interview isn't necessarily reflective of them over an extended period.

i have hired more than 100 people in the last 18 months and i highly recommend working with individuals and companies before committing long-term (if you can) an early-stage company never wins because of only talent but it wins because of perseverance. while hiring people choose your people wisely and same goes for the individuals, take your career decisions intentionally

The only way to truly know how someone thinks, acts and performs is to see their work up close and personal. Look at portfolios, review their code, get them to do test work and then look at the quality of what they produce. Interviews are rarely good ways to assess work quality or problem solving ability. I like small project work, with paid work, on small aspects of a bigger piece of work. Chemistry is vital, as are shared values, but avoid group think and rather look for those able to take on various roles, i.e. creator, critic, completer, consumer. It's when you are in the trenches with a project - either going sideways and needing correction, or finishing up with polish - that you get to see someone's true character and abilities.

For me, it has always been working with them. You will never know a person's character, principles, and aspirations until you spend time, work together and fight over values. It's through shared challenges, conflicts, and triumphs that you can develop a deeper understanding of the people you work with. So work with them, to dig into their values.

Take time to talk with people. It could be a couple of minutes a day, an hour a week, whatever it is, you need to form a genuine bond with them. And, that starts with spending time with them.

When you find awesome people for your team, tend the relationship so it grows. Communicate a lot - be open, honest, kind. Set clear roles but be flexible. Give both praise and constructive feedback. Don't shy from hard talks when needed. Share in wins, learn from losses. Lift each other up when there's doubts. Make time for fun too! Bond over shared interests. Little things like birthday shout outs or inside jokes build closeness. Keep nurturing your circle of supporters. With care and attention, these bonds can last a lifetime.

When times were rough, we always rewarded loyalty. Our company wasn't big, and it couldn't pay huge salaries, but what we could do is provide a sense of security for our best people. More important, we constantly communicated with our members. We were never dishonest when explaining the business, our vision, or our short and long term goals. Our most valuable members always knew where I stood, and in return, I knew where they stood.

1. check in on people you truly care about 2 provide support wherever you can 3. don't always engage in work conversations 4. give, give, give before you ask

Building a strong network requires proactive work. It's not enough just to 'connect' on social media, so here are a few tips from my experience: 1. Block on calendar a time slot every week to ensure you're consistently working on your relationships. 2. It's easy to reach out with asks, but what can you offer to your network ? (without expecting nothing back) - e.g. introductions, providing product feedback, mentoring, speaker/podcast opportunities, open roles you're aware of and so on. 3. Some people look for that in-person connection. Go beyond the zoom call and meet them for coffee or lunch.

In my case, when the company was small I hired only my friends I knew for a long time, whom I could trust and communicate openly. Especially friends who started their own businesses and who would share similar visions and values were the perfect fit. I also structured my business in a efficient way, that my core team could have their own businesses or side projects running. This way I could attract strong talent whom I could trust and communicate everything directly, helped my business grow in a organic and stable way.

In my experience in interviewing over 500 business leaders, hiring “good people “ the cliche comes up all the time. But in reality you don’t know good or how it will work out until the future - and good people leave and that’s life. As a business owner you have to take a risk, like anything, on people and then lead from the front in a comforting and progressive ,innovative and inclusive environment that then will attract further “good people”.

Training! once you find that person....invest in their training. It's one place that most employers fail. Especially small business owners who are busy running the business fail to spend adequate time in training. All the man hours spent finding the person, interviewing, the money spent in advertising is lost because of inadequate onboarding.

Be clear on what success looks like so that others can successfully help you. If you are unclear those who try to help you will have a hard time and you'll be disappointed. Keep in mind that you will need different help at different times. Over my career I have had help in the form of advisors, a mastermind group, paid coaches, mentors and paid employees. Be clear on the help you need and the best way to get it.

I don’t like the “bad” person label. It’s very rare to have a truly bad person (and I’ve had some whoppers), and largely it comes down to fit. It’s important to recognize that and help people get to the right place.