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Napoleon Finance broker and director Sam Carello has revealed his top tips for hiring new staff.
Speaking to The Adviser’s Elite Broker podcast this week, Sam Carrello, founder of Napoleon Finance, shared how he had grown his award-winning brokerage and curated a strong team.
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According to the WA broker, he first identified the need to bring in more staff after realising he was “mentally done” and “needed a break” in early 2020.
Recognising the need for a third broker to achieve a suitable work/life balance, Mr Carrello commenced his search. However, he revealed that finding the “right person” who fit what he was looking for did take “a long time”.
Mr Carrello revealed that while he had previously hired online through public advertising, he said he was “not a big fan” as “it may or may not work out”.
“Whereas if you know who you’re hiring, or you’ve worked with them before, it definitely makes a big difference,” he said.
When asked how he found the right person, Mr Carrello said he relied on “trusted advisers” such as his aggregator (Connective) for his recruitment needs, outlining that “they were a big help” in the recruitment process.
“I have hired before – from a post online or an advert – but I [found] that Connective has been a big help,” he told The Adviser.
“So, hiring someone that is a referral from someone you know [is important],” he said.
“They’ve got to fit in with the team,” Mr Carrello explained.
“We’ve got a small team, so if you have one person that doesn’t quite fit, it unbalances the whole office,” he added.
Commenting on the specific traits Mr Carrello focused on when hiring, he explained that while skillset was important, personality was a predominant part of his hiring criteria and that he could “usually figure someone out five to 10 minutes into a coffee”.
“Personality is big for me,” the WA broker told Elite Broker, “you’ve got to get along with the person”.
“In terms of technical ability... all the guys I’ve hired have had five to six years of experience in finance or broking, and that’s mainly because I don’t have a lot of time to train from ground zero,” the Perth-based broker explained.
He concluded by musing that “the technical ability of a broker you can always teach… but it’s a lot harder to change someone’s personality.”
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