I love it when you can combine several of your passions simultaneously. This is one of those times when I get to combine my love of recruiting and my passion for wine.
On several occasions in my recruiting life as a recruiter, recruiting leader and now consultant I have recommended the contest or competition recruiting strategy. Essentially the idea is to have a wide open contest or competition to determine the best candidate for a particular job. Sort of an Apprentice (though I can't stand Donald Trump) meets Survivor meets Amazing Race. This works really well when trying to hire sales professionals or sales leaders but really it can work for ANY job. There is no substitute for real world measurable results when evaluating talent for a position.
The folks over at Murphy Goode Winery in Sonoma County clearly get it and are doing just that. Honestly this is recruiting brilliance!
They are having a contest where they are offering "A Really Goode Job" to the winner. They are looking for a social media whiz to tell the story of Murphy-Goode, their winesand the lifestyle of Sonoma County Wine Country.
I have never tasted any Murphy-Goode wines so I can't speak to the quality of the product but I am thinking I need to give them a go soon. Heck, maybe the "Goode" people at Murphy-Goode will send me some bottles to try out and review - are you listening Murphy-Goode? Shameless I know, but wine is involved so it can't hurt to ask.
Sorry to have gone off on that tangent. So Murphy-Goode is asking interested prospects to submit a video that is a maximum 60 seconds in length. You are limited only by your creativity and normal boundaries of decency so it really is a competition to find the person who can get it done for the winery. They will then narrow down the competitive field of candidates to 50. It seems they will be making that announcement 4 days from this writing. After that they will have an interview and selection process.
The official corporate type title is "Murphy-Goode Wine Country Lifestyle Correspondent" but after looking at what the role entails and the culture of Murphy-Goode the title is far too stuffy to be reflective of the role and the winery. This is a really awesome gig for anyone who knows how to use web 2.0, social media (Twitter, Facebook, YouTube etc.) and loves wine. You can read the overview and more information here (including the FAQ'S) but here are some of the "Goodes" (get it, Goodes? - Ha!) taken directly from the website:
Here’s what you’ll be doing:
- Exploring the vineyards of Murphy-Goode and surrounding areas and discovering what the Sonoma County Wine Country has to offer, from well-known destinations to off-the-beaten-path spots.
- Tasting hundreds of wines and meeting the locals in our tasting room.
- Increasing your wine wisdom: while studying isn’t required, our winemaking and vineyard experts will take the time to show you how it’s all done.
- Working with our winemaker, David Ready, Jr., to create a new wine commemorating your job with us.
- Filing reports on your experiences, via weekly blogs, photo diaries, Twitter, Facebook, video updates and ongoing media interviews.
Other duties may include:
- Tracking the local owl and raptor populations: There are hundreds of raptors patrolling the vineyards, keeping the grapes safe from harmful pests. Monitoring owl and hawk populations — particularly those that inhabit the new series of nesting boxes — is helpful to our sustainable farming practices.
- Testing potential picnic sites: Sonoma County is full of scenic spots, and visitors will need guidance on how to choose the best place for a picnic. Scout undiscovered sites and test-picnic established locations.
- Playing Liar’s Dice in the Barrel Room: (We named one of our great Zins “Liar’s Dice.”)
The six-month, temporary position with Murphy-Goode Winery starts August 15, 2009.
COMPENSATION
If you are chosen, you will be housed in a deluxe private home in the heart of Wine Country, within walking distance to our tasting room on Healdsburg Square. In addition, you'll be paid a salary of $10,000 a month (U.S.) for the six-month contract. You'll receive return airfare to your hometown, accommodations and transport in Sonoma County, travel insurance for the contract period, computer, internet, PDA, and digital and still camera access.
This is a full-time temporary position. The successful candidate shall not be eligible to participate in the company's medical or other benefits. The six-month contract starts August 15, 2009.
That is a really sweet gig! The compensation is great and the living conditions are smack in the middle of some of the most beautiful country in the world. Throw in the winner/successful candidate gets to taste hundreds of wines, work with the wine maker to name a wine after their experience and all the other wine related perks and this is one amazing job. It is temporary but I suspect that if you are really "goode" at what you do and can demonstrate the ROI of your work it could turn into something more long term.
For the record I recommend voting for Michelle Lentz (@michellelentz on Twitter) of My Wine Education / Wine-Girl. Here is a link to her video and if you like it please vote for her.
Without question this is recruiting brilliance and almost guarantees the very best person for the job will be hired. Nothing is better than real life performance when determining who will be successful in a role. Degree's, behavioral interviews (which I am a fan of by the way), references and all the other HR "gobbley gook" that companies use to try and determine if a candidate should be hired are a VERY poor substitute for real world results.
As my good friend Dr. John Sullivan always said, if you were starting a golf team tomorrow would you make Tiger Woods interview, fill out an online application, choke him with process and run him through the compliance mill? You will if you don't want Tiger to actually join your team. His results speak for themselves and that is really all you should use when making a hiring decision.
The very best talent won't, and shouldn't, have to jump through those HR process hoops. They want to compete and let their results demonstrate they are the best for the job. If they have already demonstrated a high level of performance and real world results make the process fun, competitive, engaging and customized to them. You will then virtually guarantee the very best person gets hired and your company will benefit from the results.
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