There is only one reason after working at Vanderbloemen for six years that I still recommend others to use their service—they are the best thought-leaders I know of around staffing issues in organizations. I recently had a chance to interview William Vanderbloemen, the founder and CEO of Vanderbloemen Search Group, and the author of the new book Be The Unicorn: 12 Data Driven Habits That Separate the Best Leaders From the Rest.

Tim: You lead a large executive search firm. You have written several books. How did you get here? What experiences, failures, setbacks, or challenges have been most instrumental to your growth?

William: My road is a long, winding one, from being a young entrepreneurial teenager to an ambitious college student to a seminary, and at Princeton then, through several stops at churches. There were lots of setbacks, most of them by my own hand. I can’t believe people put up with the younger version of me. About the only thing I had going for me in my early 30s is that I knew everything…

When I think back on the unpredictable path that led me here, one piece of advice that I received a long time ago stands out. Someone once told me that if I could find a job that required all of the skills I had learned up until now to do that job, that’s a job worth considering.

I could never have started down the path of Executive Search without mentoring from someone in the industry. I could have never figured out how to start an industry for the Faith base sector, had I not served in that sector for a long period of time leading up to the firm's founding.

And I never could’ve done anything in the form of a startup, had I not done a bunch of entrepreneurial efforts before I ever even graduated from college.

So, if my path can help any of your readers, I encourage them to look for job opportunities that require them to use every skill and phase of life they’ve had up until the current moment. 

Tim: A lot of my readers are in positions where they hire others. What are your best tips for hiring managers?

William: A few things come to mind…

1. Look for accomplished goals. Very similar to the advice I give candidates for their résumé, hiring managers should look at past performance as the greatest predictor for future performance.

2. Know your culture. The more you know about what makes your team, unique, the more uniquely you can approach interviewing. For instance, speed and responsiveness are core values for our team. So we interview for that habit. We’ve even been known to use a text test, as sort of a pop quiz to see if candidates are naturally inclined to respond quickly.

3. Be ready to make an offer. In the 15 years I’ve been leading our firm and over 3,000 searches, I’ve never seen a time when candidates are more fickle, or when they have more options than now. Candidates will take another job if you don’t move along. Obviously, don’t rush into hiring. But when you find someone who fits, go ahead and close the deal or you may run the risk of them taking a job elsewhere.

4. Avoid making special deals just to land a particular candidate. I’ve never seen a time when candidates are more likely to counteroffer their job offer. Oftentimes, hiring managers feel tempted to make special concessions to get that special candidate. But if you fast forward a few years, you’re likely to have a staff that talks amongst themselves, and you may be in for a bit of a reckoning as everyone wants the same deal someone else has. As much as you can, keep the job and offers homogenous and equitable.

Tim: What do you believe are the defining qualities of an effective leader?

William: Adrienne and I have seven children. That is a lot of people in our house, moving in a lot of different career directions. And since I spend my day interviewing people and studying leadership and talent, I’ve become somewhat of our household's HR department.

When the kids ask me how to be successful in their career path, I tell them it’s not hard. I tell them, “If you do what you say you’re going to do; when you say you’re going to do it; and at the price you promised, you will be in the top 5% of whatever job you have.”

Tim: How can leaders and aspiring leaders take their leadership skills to the next level?

William: This question is an easy one for me to answer. After a massive research study that led to our book, Be the Unicorn, I was thrilled to learn that people who stand out of the crowd don’t stand out of the crowd because they look a certain way, or have a certain IQ, or have a refined pedigree. Rather, it is people who practice 12 completely learnable, coachable habits. These 12 habits involve how we intentionally treat other humans, and if your readers put them to practice, they will stand out of the crowd, and become irreplaceable, no matter what they are doing.

I encourage you to pick up a copy of William’s new book. It will be a game-changer for two reasons: 1) How you stand out when you are looking for your next opportunity, and 2) How you interview others for your team.