The talent war ceasefire is over! Employees are asking for raises and bonuses even though company revenues have not returned to the level achieved prior to the recession. The bottom line: Take extra steps (separate of cash just for staying) to retain top performers and get ready to hire again.

John R. DiJulius III, Chief Visionary Officer of The DiJulius Group, was quoted recently as recommending that you cover you non-negotiable compny values in the first interview with a job candidate. If the person does not engage based on your company values, then move on because they will never be a long-term top performer.

The way it works is simple: The interviewer enthusiastically shares engaging stories that make your company values come to life. The candidate typically gets excited and interrupts, or gets glassy-eyed and bored. DiJulius hires only one of every 25 candidates, but his company has very long employee retention rates which makes them much more profitable. Like Zappos, they pay $500 (Zappos pays $2,000) for people to leave anytime during their first 30 days if they are not thrilled to be part of the organization.

Interviewing is just one step of our hiring system.

Meeting Ideas

Non-Negotiables is about confirming you are hiring people who share the same values of your company. You will almost always have a winner when you can match your values with a reasonably competent person.

Here are some ideas for discussion during your next staff meeting to gather great stories that demonstrate your company values:

1. Pass out a copy of your company values to everyone.

2. Which of our company values have a client or vendor stated really impressed them? What exactly did they say?

3. What do you think is the most powerful aspect of our company values? Can you give me an example?

4. Tell me your greatest moment of demonstrating our company values on the job.

5. Try to gather 5-10 truthful, non-embellished stories. Document the stories and make certain everyone has a copy of your storybook so they all can evangelize why working for your company is so fun and personally fulfilling.

If these questions do not result in people sharing great stories, then you may want to contact me for advice. Either your values can be better, or your company is not living up to them.