How to find, attract, and fund great talent

At Oceanit, many of us are part-time talent agents, looking for special talent. So you can think of Oceanit like a talent agency for scientists, engineers, and entrepreneurs. Here are some secrets that we have learned over the years.

Find: community service activities…give back…volunteering time for a UH summer entrepreneurship workshop – first met Dr. V our nano guru…volunteering time for an internship program – first met Glen our new counter-terrorism guru.

Spot: But how do you know they are a super star? first they don’t act like super stars…that’s why they are hard to spot…in fact they don’t see themselves as superstars…in fact when someone acts like superstars rarely do they live up to the expectation…I listen and they talk…ratio is 10 to 1….over time that might change.

Attract: Work on a small project together - Dr. V was the world’s first nano surfboard. With Glen it was building a system to help soldiers and vets suffering from PTSD. They get to know us and we get to know them. This was over a period of months, closer to a year. Recruiting at this level is a personal thing. Talking, meeting, eating. Meeting their family, and having them meet the oceanit team…in the “Review” process they get to meet other oceanit folks and learn about what we do – and that creates the real draw….i.e., everything I have been saying they now can see and hear from others…

Review: So what do you want to do when you grow up? The formal interview process doesn’t look formal…I don’t have 6 people in the room on the first meeting. i will invite one other internal person on week one, then 2 other people the next week, and the circle of who they meet grows….the more they have the possibility of affecting a wide area of the organization, the more people they will meet

Fund: We don’t have a funded job opening on our website that says “hiring super stars” but in reality we are always looking, and when they come along, begins the difficult task of how to bring them onboard. As soon as we think this person might be a fit, we will meet internally with senior managers to look at projects this person can work on….this is a process which actually happens during the interview process…Normally only about 50% of their time can be supported via existing projects, so the rest of their time will be used to do business development and write proposals based on their areas of expertise.

Time: All of this takes time - from initial contact to hired and in the office, expect 1 to 2 years to make it happen. Patience is truly a virtue.