Sean McGinnis on Branding, Internet Marketing and SEO

During the day I masquerade as a corporate low-life that manages a team of SEO consultants. We have a team that is rapidly approaching 30 SEOs.  We are in expansion mode and have been for some time, as the business is growing quite rapidly.  One of my core responsibilities is building out the team with qualified individuals.

Believe it or not, this simplest of duties can represent a fairly major challenge at times. With the growth of the Internet space in general, comes pressure in the job market - and a competition for qualified individuals. In the Twin Cities, I am competing with some pretty terrific companies for talent.  In fact, as I write this the following companies are hiring interactive talent in the Twin Cities:

• Best Buy
• Target
• Bellacor
• Christopher & Banks
• 3M
• Ameriprise Financial
• Minnesota Vikings
• Digital River
• Net Gain Interactive
• Top Rank Internet Marketing

Admittedly, not every company listed above is in direct competition with me for SEO talent, but nevertheless, it illustrates the nature of the space.

One of the great things about my job is I have the luxury of being pretty selective in deciding who to bring in for an interview.  Once the interview has begun, one of my goals is to make certain there is a fit between a given candidate and FindLaw.

I wanted to take a minute and share some of the traits that I believe make for a great employee.

1. Knowledge. One of the top factors when hiring from outside our business is a knowledge of SEO. I am not just looking for an amateur that has doinked around with a few sites, but someone that has made this their chosen vocation.
2. Passion. This can lead to the acquisition of #1 above, but is a distant cousin at best. I look for a tremendous passion to understand all that happens in the SEO world.
3. Pride. I know this sounds corny. But the best team members on our team have an intense pride to be the best SEO they can be. And they have a great deal of pride in knowing they are helping keep the best sites live and on-line through the use of white hat proven principles.
4. Authority. Our team spends a great deal of time consulting with our clients, and they need to be authoritative in their interactions. Frequently a client will have detailed questions about SEO principles, and it is our job to communicate the state of affairs and best practices to them. Sometimes, we have to unwind things the client might have learned incorrectly from another source of information as well. Sometimes it is just as important to sound like you know what you are talking about, as it is to actually know what you are talking about.
5. Team-oriented. We work closely with our design, content and development teams during the production of one of our sites. It is imperative that we be able to communicate our ideas in a group setting without sounding bombastic.
6. Flexible. We are constantly changing and adapting our processes - making them better on behalf of all our clients. Adjusting on the fly is a daily part of life at FindLaw.
7. Driven. I am constantly searching for people that want to build a career, and to have a career path. This is a must, because we are constantly expanding our team, which means there is an unending stream of opportunities for advancement. That opportunity comes with a price, though which is….
8. Thick skinned. In order to advance one’s career, it is imperative to be able to take feedback and act upon it. Feedback is not personal. It is an attempt to correct behavior to make you (and me!) more valuable to our customers. Divas are not welcome in that environment.

So that’s a roundup of 8 of the most important traits I look for when hiring.  What about you? I am interested in what makes for a great fit with your company, so please be sure to leave a detailed comment if you disagree or have something to add to the discussion.