The WOW Factor: When Good is Not Good Enough
2012 has been a tremendous year for Lyons Consulting Group. We have had some major deals come through, won some sweet awards, and had a ton of fun! But for me, as the Director of Resources, the biggest company news is how much we have grown. Since January of this year, I have hired 54 (yes, 54!!) new employees and there is no sign of slowing down.
As some of you may know, finding technical talent these days can be somewhat of a challenge, especially in the ecommerce industry. Some are calling it the “tech crunch” while others call it a “tech drought”. In an article from Inc.com, the five most competitive areas for recruiting are software engineers, web developers, creative design and user experience, product management, online marketing and analytics. And of course…all five of those positions are positions we have at lyonscg.
You may be thinking, “Tech drought, seriously? How did she hire 54 people this year if there really is this huge tech crunch?” Well, I will let you in on lyonscg’s two simple recruiting rules, what I like to call, the WOW factor:
#1: lyonscg fully expects interviewees to WOW us, because if they get hired, their job will be to WOW customers
Fun, smart people attract other fun and smart people. Pretty simple, right? Well, I can tell you that not every company in the world realizes what seems so obvious to most.
Because we have been growing at such a fast pace, it would be easier to just fill the open position, cross our fingers and hope for the best. But simply filling open positions isn’t my job. My job is to find the best in the ecommerce industry. People who know ecommerce like the back of their hand. People who are committed to excellence and strive to grow professionally. People who like to work with others and have fun. People who are eager to learn. It is because of our amazing team that we have been able to produce some of most creative, intuitive ecommerce sites for some of the world’s best loved brands.
Lyons Consulting Group also considers a good cultural fit and values as some of the biggest decision makers when interviewing a prospective employee. We hire people who want to have fun and who work well with others. If the interviewee doesn’t enjoy working in a collaborative, team environment, they simply won’t be selected. Our values aren’t just something we list on our site. We believe in them, recruit by them, review by them, and work according to them.
#2: If you are able to WOW us in order to join lyonscg, we will WOW you to stay at lyonscg
This specific formula for finding the RIGHT people for lyonscg does make my job more difficult; however, the challenge doesn’t stop there. After we hire the best and the brightest in the industry, it is now our responsibility as a company to retain these fabulous folks by continually WOW-ing them and providing the best work experience possible.
So why are we making it even harder on ourselves by setting such high standards? Because it is paying off. Big time.
In addition to meeting our goals last year, being ahead of the game this year and having an extremely low turnover rate, our most recent employee survey showed the number one reason our employees like to work at lyonscg is because of the culture and the people they get to work with. Over 88% of employees are satisfied with lyonscg as a company, while 86% are satisfied with the culture of lyonscg.
At Lyons Consulting Group, it’s not about profits or winning. It’s about relationships, passion and what we can accomplish together. If you’re ready to be challenged to do your best, get rewarded for hard work and be part of something amazing — every day — you’ll fit in just fine at Lyons Consulting Group.
And to our growing group of team members, I feel like I can’t say it enough – you made the challenge of finding you and keeping you worth every minute. You all continue to WOW us every day!
