Is Zuckerberg’s Hiring Policy One We Should All Follow?

Recently, I caught Inc. Magazine’s article titled “Mark Zuckerberg Shares His Secret to Recruiting the Best Employees” and it reminded me of the first of evok’s four mantras for running a successful business.

In the article, Zuckerberg states, “I would only hire someone to work directly for me if I would work for that person,” and while I am not sure if any of my employees would hire me, at evok, we do have a simple rule of thumb in our hiring practices. The mantra is as follows…>

1. Hire everyone smarter than we are

2. Share successes with those who helped achieve them

3. Be prepared to fall on the sword for a team member

4. Strive to create an environment where people want to come back to work tomorrow

I believe that whether you own an agency, run a social media empire or sell snow cones, following those four rules of thumb will help you become successful – it’s worked for evok.

Every agency has a strength they are most proud of, and ours by far is our team. We have been fortunate enough to attract some of the best talent in the area and hang on to some of the really good eggs – Sheri, Cheryl & Kerri to name a few. And yes, some got away, like Tangy, JoJo, G-woman and a few others – you know who you are, but they all went on to great roles in their next adventure, and I’d like to think that their time at evok helped prepare them in some way – I know each left the agency a little better than how they found it – thank you.

So, yes, I agree with Zuckerberg in that you should hire people that inspire you, but I also believe that it’s your job as CEO to inspire them to stay.

#evokcareers