Steven McCarty is a human resources executive who is currently the Chief People Officer for Apex Service Partners, a private equity backed HVAC, plumbing, and electrical services group that partners with dozens of industry leaders in 10 states. Apex has expanded rapidly and is investing significantly to be a world class, people first national platform. Previously, McCarty owned and operated 501HR, LLC, an HR consultancy which “helps small and mid-sized organizations with big company HR.” McCarty was also promoted through a variety of leadership and executive roles with Enterprise Holdings where he served as their global Vice President for Talent Development, their VP of Human Resources in Florida, and as a Corporate HR professional supporting the Midwest.

Episode transcription:

[00:00:00] Steve McCarty: So that's all getting them in the door, right? Once they're in the door, how do you pick the right one? And I have to kind of go back to, I mean, we've implemented paneling, and there's a lot of different opinions out there, but I don't know that there's a lot of research validated.

Things around selection and for me, and this is going to sound geeky, but I think it's really relevant for our audience. The employment interview by Schmid and Zimmerman back in like 2004 is the only study I'm aware of, and I'm not a big study guy, but it basically came down to this: most executives do average or poorly at selecting management above.

And the best way to do it properly as a panel, you can actually go out, you can search online and you can look at the research, but it really comes down to doing separate interviews is broadly a waste of time, a properly done panel with structured score cards and maybe a proper debrief at the end is actually the way that if you want to increase your hit rate, your batting average, I'm going to hire 10 people this year.

[00:01:02] And I don't want to lose five. I want to keep eight or nine or ten. The right way to do it is with a panel and that's actually backed up.

[00:01:36] I'm Steven McCarty. I'm the Chief People Officer for Apex Service Partners. We are in realization that acquirers and in the future, I'll say partners with, but acquires companies in the trades, plumbing, electrical HPAC, often overlooked part of American industry.

[00:01:56] Jahn Karsybaev: That's exciting, Steven, thanks so much for finding time to join us on the Ivy Podcast today. To dig a little bit deeper into the strategies for the acquisitions and how you guys select the companies and so forth, but before we get into that, tell us a little bit more about yourself and your background, where you come from your career path and where you headed next.

[00:02:14] Steve McCarty: Sure. So, had a few jobs, did most of my career with a big Rent-A-Car company enterprise, which started really small at the time. We were kind of pulling trailers on dirt, lots and knocking on doors for business and learning to kind of run and grow a business. And then as the company grew over time, got into human resources, started an HR department, went to the corporate office and helped other people start HR departments that would a lot of the policies and trainings and procedures that the organization has today. And most recently, before this current role, was their head of talent development for the company. At that point, it was, you know, a multi-business, multi-brands country. And most recently, was consulting before starting with Apex.

So got back to my roots, working with small and midsize companies. And that's how I got connected into Apex Service Partners. It’s fun helping small businesses be better versions of themselves again.

[00:03:08] Jahn Karsybaev: that's exciting. Congrats on all the successes through the career. Right now you are Chief People Officer, you know, there's some misconceptions about the role. Tell us a little bit more about, you know, just the role in general, what falls under your purview? What are some of the thin