Category Archives: Hiring Talent

Hiring is an Annoyance

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Julia hesitated before she asked the obvious question. “So, you think I should become involved in the hiring process earlier?”

Julia, a division manager, had described how job openings were listed on the internet, with resumes sent to the receptionist. The receptionist followed some basic criteria to sort the resumes into two piles, in and out. Two supervisors, then, picked through the in pile. They would make a few phone calls and get some candidates to the office for interviews. If they liked them, they would kick the candidates upstairs for another round of interviews with the department managers. Only then, would Julia see the successful candidates.

Julia’s description was predictable, “I can’t believe these candidates made it this far in the process. They were awful, totally unqualified, but the best that’s out there. It’s really difficult to find good people these days.”

Julia’s process is upside down. The front end is handled by the wrong people moving candidates up the food chain. Here’s why this happens. For managers like Julia, hiring is a distraction, an annoyance to be handled quickly so she can get back to important manager stuff.

Didn’t Leave for Better Wages

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The resignation letter stared at Adrian. His best team member, Eric, had just quit. Eric was employee of the year last December and just received a raise two months ago. He was in line to become lead technician in his department. What could be better? What else could Adrian, his manager, have done?

I inquired about the exit interview conducted by the HR coordinator. The form stated that Eric left for better wages.

Adrian was worried. Three years ago, Eric entered the company as an inexperienced recruit among a group of seasoned veterans. Over time, his personal productivity outpaced the entire team. In Eric’s absence, Adrian feared the overall output of the team would falter. Eric often carried the whole group.

I called Eric, already gainfully employed (at a lower wage) in another company. Happy with his decision, Eric shared his story. On a crew of six, Eric had consistently accounted for 50 percent of the output. The other team members were slackers riding on his coattails. I asked what Adrian could have done differently. The advice was quick and simple. “Cut the dead wood. Release the poorest performers and productivity would have increased, even with a reduced headcount.”

Adrian is left with the remnants of a mediocre team. But before he can heed the advice, he has to find another Eric.

Divining the Number

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I would like to welcome our new subscribers from the workshop in Denver, yesterday.

From the Ask Tom mailbag:

Question:
How does a manager determine a candidate’s Time Span capability?

Response:
Don’t over complicate this. Some managers think if they could just divine the number (Stratum I-II-III-IV) life would be good. What decisions would that impact?

  • Which candidate should I hire?
  • Which team member should I delegate this task to?
  • Which person should I promote?

All legitimate decisions.

So here is your answer. Your candidate has Stratum III capability. Just kidding 🙂 But let’s say I’m not kidding 😐 Your candidate has Stratum III capability. Where does that get you in the decision? My guess, nowhere.

Assessing a candidate’s capability can be a futile exercise. It’s like a sucker punch, attracting the manager in the wrong direction. The only thing I care about is the candidate’s capability related to the work. The sucker punch leads me to make a judgment about the candidate (their innate capability), that I am not qualified to make (I am not a forensic psychologist).

Yet, I am an expert about the work. Focus on the work. Focus on the Level of Work. What are the problems to be solved? What are the decisions to be made? Now, I can answer this central question –

Has the candidate demonstrated evidence of effectiveness in this Level of Work, in these tasks and activities, solving these problems and making these decisions?

Most managers make defective hiring decisions because they have not clearly defined the Level of Work in the role. Without this definition, the interviewer asks the wrong questions and bases the hiring decision on some mistaken understanding of experience and skill.

Focus first on the Level of Work, then on the evidence of the candidate’s effectiveness in that work.

Don’t Get Beat in the Paint

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This is the sixth in our series, Six Sins in the Hiring Interview.

This series is a prelude to our Hiring Talent Summer Camp.

Getting Beat in the Paint
Hiring Managers don’t interview candidates often enough, to get good at it, are seldom trained to conduct effective interviews and rely on faulty assumptions throughout the entire process. As Managers, we are totally unprepared. We ask the wrong questions and allow our stereotypes to get in the way. We end up making a decision within the first three minutes of the interview, based on misinterpretations and incomplete data.

The candidates we face have been coached by headhunters, trained through role play, and are intent on beating the interviewer in a game of cat and mouse. They stayed up late practicing their answers, polished their shoes and showed up early. Their preparation is thorough. Though they have scant qualifications for your open position, they are ready to beat you in the paint.

Our Hiring Talent Summer Camp begins Monday, June 18, 2012. It’s online. Don’t get beat in the paint.

Stupid Interview Questions

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This is the fifth in our series, Six Sins in the Hiring Interview.

  • Missing important (and obvious) clues during the interview
  • Head trash, the distraction of the stereotype in the back of your head
  • The fatal decision in the first three minutes of the interview
  • Losing control, losing your head, losing your wallet
  • Asking the wrong (stupid) interview questions
  • Getting beat in the paint

This series is a prelude to our Hiring Talent Summer Camp.

Asking the Wrong Questions
We ask the wrong questions in interviews because those are the questions we had to answer when we were a candidate. What goes around, comes around.

  • Where would you like to be in five years? (the all-time stupidest question)
  • What do you think about teamwork?
  • Do you work with a sense of urgency?
  • If you were an animal, what would you be?

There are hundreds more. But what’s wrong with these questions. They seem purposeful. Does this person have a vision for themselves (five years)? Would they make a good team member? Will they work quickly and efficiently? And if they were an animal, (well, that question is just plain stupid).

The problem isn’t the data you are trying to uncover. The problem is asking future-based, hypothetical or leading questions. Future based questions cannot be verified. Hypothetical questions are contrived and push the person to guess what you are thinking. Leading questions create a platform for the candidate to make up a meaningful stretch of the imagination. All of these questions encourage the candidate to make up stuff and lie to you.

There are specific questions you can ask that capture discrete pieces of real, verifiable, meaningful data. Let’s to back to vision, team and efficiency.

  • Tell me about a time when you had to create a plan for a project?
  • Tell me about a time when a project required a high level of teamwork?
  • Tell me about a project that had a tight time deadline?

These questions all have purpose, and will get you discrete pieces of real, verifiable, meaningful data.

Our Hiring Talent Summer Camp begins next Monday, June 18, 2012. It’s online, and full of great questions to ask in the interview.

Losing Control in the Interview

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This is the fourth in our series, Six Sins in the Hiring Interview.

  • Missing important (and obvious) clues during the interview
  • Head trash, the distraction of the stereotype in the back of your head
  • The fatal decision in the first three minutes of the interview
  • Losing control, losing your head, losing your wallet
  • Asking the wrong (stupid) interview questions
  • Getting beat in the paint

This series is a prelude to our Hiring Talent Summer Camp.

Losing Control in the Interview
I realize I haven’t heard a word the candidate has said for the past four minutes. Then I realized the candidate has been talking non-stop for the past four minutes.

“Can you tell me more about the company?” the candidate asks.

“Great company,” I reply and recite a brief thumbnail about the enterprise.

“Are there benefits?”
“Who would be my manager?”
“Would I have my own cubicle?”
“What kind of computer do I get?”
“Do we have paid holidays?”
“How long before I can take vacation?”
“What’s the work like?”
“Is there a dress code?”

I suddenly realize 45 minutes has passed, I know nothing about this candidate and I have two more waiting in the lobby. I lost control of the interview.

Happens all the time, often with a full complimentary tour of the building. Why do we lose control of the interview?

Who controls the conversation?

  • the person answering the questions?
  • the person asking the questions?

On the surface, it appears the person doing most of the talking must be in control, when, in fact, it is the person asking the questions. Why does the interviewer lose control? Most interviewers walk in the room with a written list of 4-5 questions. The more time the candidate fills, the fewer questions required.

“I had five prepared questions, but I only had to ask the first two, the candidate was really responsive, a good communicator. I kind of liked him.” Who was in control of the interview?

Here is the good news. If you suddenly realize you have lost control, you can immediately regain it by asking your next question. You do have a next question, don’t you. From your list of 60 prepared questions. The person asking the questions controls the interview.

Our Hiring Talent Summer Camp begins next Monday, June 18, 2012. It’s online, and you will have several chances to make that first impression.

Fatal Decision in the First Three Minutes

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This is the third in our series, Six Sins in the Hiring Interview.

  • Missing important (and obvious) clues during the interview
  • Head trash, the distraction of the stereotype in the back of your head
  • The fatal decision in the first three minutes of the interview
  • Losing control, losing your head, losing your wallet
  • Asking the wrong (stupid) interview questions
  • Getting beat in the paint

This series is a prelude to our Hiring Talent Summer Camp.

The Fatal Decision in the First Three Minutes
The iris of the eye opens and she knows she is in love. No matter that he is a drunk, a cheat and a thief. This chemical attraction is a non-verbal response that is as damaging to the resulting marriage as it is in the interview room.

  • “I liked that candidate as soon as I saw him. Reminded me of an old college roommate of mine. Smart guy. This candidate must be smart too.”
  • “I made up my mind in the first three minutes. Sometimes, you just know!”
  • “Normally, I would reject a candidate without experience, but there was something I noticed as soon as we sat down.”
  • “I don’t know why we have to interview the person for an hour. My mind was made up in the first three minutes.”

You never get a second chance to make a first impression. Works both ways. How often do we make up our mind about someone in the first few moments of the interaction? What kind of damage could that do to the hiring process?

It’s actually okay to have a first impression, just not okay to make a hiring decision based on it. It’s all about the work. What’s the Level of Work? How is the work organized? What problems have to be solved? What decisions have to be made? These are the questions that balance your first impression.

Our Hiring Talent Summer Camp begins next Monday, June 18, 2012. It’s online, and you will have several chances to make that first impression.

Head Trash in the Interview

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This is the second in our series, Six Sins in the Hiring Interview.

  • Missing important (and obvious) clues during the interview
  • Head trash, the distraction of the stereotype in the back of your head
  • The fatal decision in the first three minutes of the interview
  • Losing control, losing your head, losing your wallet
  • Asking the wrong (stupid) interview questions
  • Getting beat in the paint

This series is a prelude to our Hiring Talent Summer Camp.

Head Trash, the Distraction of Stereotypes
In my day, it was long hair, today, it’s more likely the tattoo. There it is, creeping out of the shirt collar. As the interviewer, you have an immediate and visceral reaction.

You are not supposed to allow yourself to be influenced by stereotypes, but there it is. And it doesn’t have to be a tattoo. It could be short, chubby, slick, smirky, tall, thin, fat, slouch, prim or a hundred other non-verbal details that trigger something in the mind of the interviewer. And there is no magic pill to make that head trash go away. It’s still there, rattling around in the back of your head.

I could hypnotize you so you don’t pay attention to it. But that only works in Vegas stage shows.

We can’t help ourselves. We are wired to use these triggers. In cave man days, it was very useful for survival, to be able to look at someone and, in an instant, make a decision about danger or attraction. But this is an interview. How do you make a hiring decision in the midst of this head trash?

You cannot stop these triggers, but you can collect another 180 data points about the candidate. It’s not about the tattoo, it’s about the work. What’s the Level of Work? How is the work organized? What problems have to be solved? What decisions have to be made? If you have sixty written questions and you ask two drill-down question for every written question, you will come away with 180 pieces of data, about the candidate related to the work. And that’s how you balance the stereotypes in your head.

Our Hiring Talent Summer Camp begins next Monday, June 18, 2012. It’s online, so, if you have a secret tattoo, we will never know.

Six Sins in the Hiring Interview

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Over the next few days, we will cover the following Six Sins in the Hiring Interview.

  • Missing important (and obvious) clues during the interview
  • Head trash, the distraction of the stereotype in the back of your head
  • The fatal decision in the first three minutes of the interview
  • Losing control, losing your head, losing your wallet
  • Asking the wrong (stupid) interview questions
  • Getting beat in the paint

This series is a prelude to our Hiring Talent Summer Camp.

Missing Important and Obvious Clues
If we could follow a candidate around for a week, we would learn all kinds of things. We would learn about their habits, interests, routines, the way they solve problems and make decisions. Unfortunately, we can’t play Undercover Boss, we only have one tool in our arsenal, the Hiring Interview.

When the candidate sits down across the interview table, they are prepared. They scrub under their fingernails, iron their shirt and wear matching socks. They are ready. Ready to cover mis-steps and blemishes, ready with explanations of their highest achievements. And, as the interviewer, we miss important details. We miss obvious clues. All we have to do is ask.

So, why don’t we ask? Why do we miss fundamental pieces of data that are laying there for the asking?

It’s simple. The candidate is prepared, but we’re not. The reason we miss important details is that we don’t know what details we are looking for. We never sat down and figured out precisely what qualities we are looking for in the candidate. We have a lame job description (usually a derivative version of the classified ad) and a handful of questions that we hope (HOPE) will unlock the key to the candidates psyche.

And we wonder why we make so many hiring mistakes?

Hiring is not rocket science, but there is a method to the madness. And there are no magic tests.

It starts with the work. It’s all about the work. What’s the Level of Work? How is the work organized? What problems have to be solved? What decisions have to be made? What sixty prepared (written) questions should we ask?

If we are prepared, as interviewers, we will know what we are looking for and we will ask the right questions to capture the data. We won’t miss important (and obvious) clues.

Our Hiring Talent Summer Camp begins next Monday, June 18. It’s online, so, no, we don’t serve snacks and we don’t have a swimming pool.

Hiring Talent Summer Camp

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It’s Summer. Time to go off to camp. We are gathering the next group for our online program Hiring Talent, which kicks off June 18, 2012. As the economy (slowly) recovers, your next hires are critical. This is not a time to be casual about the hiring process. Mistakes are too expensive and margins are too thin.

Purpose of this program – to train managers and HR specialists in the discipline of conducting more effective interviews in the context of a managed recruiting process.

Candidate Interview

How long is the program? We have streamlined the program so that it can be completed in six weeks. We have also added a self-paced feature so participants can work through the program even faster.

How do people participate in the program? This is an online program conducted by Tom Foster. Participants will be responsible for online assignments and participate in online facilitated discussion groups with other participants. This online platform is highly interactive. Participants will interact with Tom Foster and other participants as they work through the program.

Who should participate? This program is designed for Stratum III and Stratum IV managers and HR managers who play active roles in the recruiting process for their organizations.

What is the cost? The program investment is $499 per participant.

When is the program scheduled? Pre-registration is now open. The program is scheduled to kick-off June 18, 2012.

How much time is required to participate in this program? Participants should reserve approximately 2 hours per week. This program is designed so participants can complete their assignments on their own schedule anytime during each week’s assignment period.

Pre-register now. No payment due at this time.

June 18, 2012

  • Orientation

Week One – Role Descriptions – It’s All About the Work

  • What we are up against
  • Specific challenges in the process
  • Problems in the process
  • Defining the overall process
  • Introduction to the Role Description
  • Organizing the Role Description
  • Defining Tasks
  • Defining Goals
  • Identifying the Level of Work

Week Two

  • Publish and discuss Role Descriptions

Week Three – Interviewing for Future Behavior

  • Creating effective interview questions
  • General characteristics of effective questions
  • How to develop effective questions
  • How to interview for attitudes and non-behavioral elements
  • How to interview for Time Span
  • Assignment – Create a bank of interview questions for the specific role description

Week Four

  • Publish and discuss bank of interview questions

Week Five – Conducting the Interview

  • Organizing the interview process
  • Taking Notes during the process
  • Telephone Screening
  • Conducting the telephone interview
  • Conducting the face-to-face interview
  • Working with an interview team
  • Compiling the interview data into a Decision Matrix
  • Background Checks, Reference Checks
  • Behavioral Assessments
  • Drug Testing
  • Assignment – Conduct a face-to-face interview

Week Six

  • Publish and discuss results of interview process

Pre-registration is now open for this program. No payment is due at this time.

Let me know if you have questions.