“As the Manager Once Removed, what else am I responsible for in this hiring process?” Byron asked.

“Since this hire is two Strata below, and since the Hiring Manager is one of your direct reports, you are the coach,” I replied.

“Coach?” Byron questioned.

“Yes, coach. How good is Ron at hiring?”

“Well, he doesn’t have that much experience with it, but he has hired people before. I don’t want to micro-manage him.”

“It is not micro-management to sit down with Ron and hammer out the job description. I mean a real job description, one that you can interview from. It’s not micro-management to sit down with Ron and talk about creating a list of 50-60 critical questions that need to be asked during the interview. You are the coach. This is your process to drive. Delegation is not abdication.” -TF

“So, just exactly what do I do?” asked Byron. He had hired people before, but he had never looked at hiring in exactly this way.

“Your department has an opening two Strata below you. As the Manager Once Removed, it is your responsibility to create the Talent Pool from which the Hiring Manager will select. Creating the Talent Pool means that you drive this process. Every morning, when you are fresh, I expect you to come in and spend a half hour to forty five minutes reviewing resumes. I expect that each day, you will find two or three that you will find an interest in. I expect you to make two or three screening phone calls every day. Once or twice a week, I expect you will actually run across a candidate. If you find only one per week, that is fifty people per year that you might bring in to interview for a supervisor level position.”

“But we have never had fifty people that qualified,” Byron continued to push back.

“Have you ever walked in the woods, stepped over a log that had a snake under it, that you didn’t know about?” I asked.

Byron was one of the sharp light bulbs in the box. “Trick question?” he asked.

“Trick question.” -TF

“But I am busy,” protested Byron. “How am I going to find time to read resumes?”

“Schedule it. You need to be thinking, each and every day about your team and what would happen if any of them needed to make a change. Your most important function as a manager is personnel and recruiting. In fact, if that is all you ever did, was to build a high performance team, and then walked in front of a bus, at your funeral, I would describe you as one of our greatest managers. Because you left behind, a high performing team that could carry on.”

“It’s that important?” Byron tested.

“Top priority.” -TF

Byron was a bit unsettled. “Do you mean that I should read those resumes? I’m not the hiring manager,” he stated flatly.

“No, and we already established that the hiring manager is too close to the position, is threatened by the hire and does not have enough perspective to see the correct talent pool. That is why it is your role.”

“But, I am not the hiring manager,” he continued to protest.

“No, you are the Manager Once Removed. Are you threatened by this hire?” I asked.

“Well, no, this position is two levels down from me.”

“Exactly, and do you have better perspective on what is really required for success in this position?”

Byron nodded. “But reading resumes. I don’t have time to read resumes and this is not my hire.”

“I am not asking you to make the hire. That is still Ron’s job. Your role in the hiring process, as the Manager Once Removed, is to create the Talent Pool. You create the Talent Pool of qualified candidates. Ron makes the hire from the Pool.” -TF

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This week, we are tracking our mailing list to get a more accurate headcount of readers. Please click here once you have read today’s post. You will land on our website and that’s all we need for the count. Thanks. -TF

Ron settled in a chair across from Byron, his manager. We exchanged appropriate pleasantries and set the context for the conversation. Byron finally drilled in.

“Ron, you know I don’t think these three candidates are qualified for the position. But you said these were the only ones who fit our budget.”

“Yep, I know things are tight around here, and figured I could save the company some money, bring in one of these people. I could show them the ropes, take them in under my wing and everything would be fine.”

“Were there other candidates that were too expensive for us?” I asked.

“Sure, we had seven other resumes, but they were no bargain. We would have to pay full boat for any of them.”

I thanked Ron for his time and he left Byron and I to debrief.

“Byron, I don’t know, but my guess is that there are seven resumes of candidates that we need to look at. So, tell me, why do you think Ron is having difficulty with this hire, looking at the wrong talent pool of people?”

Byron was troubled, but the fog was lifting. “I think Ron was threatened by those resumes that he described as too expensive. You are right. Some of the salary requirements are close to what Ron is making. And I don’t think Ron has enough perspective to truly understand what will be required in this supervisor position.”

“Byron, let me recap. This whole process started at the bottom with Irene, the receptionist, through another supervisor and finally to the hiring manager. None are making good decisions in this selection process.

“So, who should be driving this? Who is left? Who understands what is truly required and is not threatened by this hire?”

“Do you mean, me?” Byron asked.

I nodded affirmative. -TF

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This week, we are tracking our mailing list to get a more accurate headcount of readers. Please click here once you have read today’s post. You will land on our website and that’s all we need for the count. Thanks. -TF

“I guess I have my receptionist and a lower level supervisor making those decisions,” Byron replied. We were talking about how resumes were initially reviewed from a job posting.

“So, what could you do differently to get a different result?” I asked.

“But, I don’t want to waste the time of my hiring manager,” Byron protested.

“Let me get this straight. The open position is for a high level supervisor with a Time Span around nine months? This position reports to a manager who reports to you?” Byron nodded his head affirmative.

“You are right,” I continued. “I don’t want to waste the time of your hiring manager. Your hiring manager will have difficulty making this hire anyway.”

“What do you mean? Ron is the hiring manager,” Byron replied, still backpedaling.

“Yes, but Ron gave you these three resumes, right?” Byron nodded again. “How would you rate capability for these three candidates?”

“Well, they are clearly unqualified for the position. They are barely supervisor material, more like team leaders. Their Time Span is nowhere near nine months.”

“So, why did Ron pick these people over other candidates?”

“You are right, he did say these people were the only ones within our budget.” Byron’s face betrayed puzzlement. He suddenly no longer believed Ron’s reason. “But, the pay bands for this position were clearly above the salary requirements for these three candidates.”

I allowed a few quiet seconds before I picked up the next step. “Let’s get Ron in here and see if we can shed some light on what is happening. Remember, I am looking to determine who the best person is to drive these resumes.” -TF

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This week, we are tracking our mailing list to get a more accurate headcount of readers. Please click here once you have read today’s post. You will land on our website and that’s all we need for the count. Thanks. -TF

“So, Byron, tell me again. Irene, your receptionist prints out all the resumes from the job posting. She puts them in two stacks, one out-of-town, one local, checks for two years experience and then delivers them to one of your supervisors.” I was looking at the way Byron was handling resumes for an open position. He was bit dismayed at the lack of quality candidates.

“Yes, the supervisor has been with us for almost two years, so he knows the job and can cull out the unqualified resumes. Then he takes the good ones to the hiring manager. It works pretty well. That way the hiring manager doesn’t have to waste his time,” added Byron.

“You said it works pretty well at saving time for the hiring manager, but it culls out all the quality candidates.” I was baiting Byron.

Byron’s face suddenly flushed. “That’s not what I said. I said there weren’t any quality candidates out there.”

“But you said you culled out the under qualified candidates and the overqualified candidates. Who do you have making those initial decisions?”

Byron could see that I was troubled by the way resumes were initially reviewed. He wanted to respond more positively, but the reality was setting in. “I guess I have my receptionist and a lower level supervisor making those decisions,” he finally replied.

“Should we look at a different approach?” -TF
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We are tracking our mailing list to get a more accurate headcount of readers. Please click here once you have read today’s post. You will land on our website and that’s all we need for the count. Thanks. -TF

“It’s really difficult to find good people out there, these days,” complained Byron. “Look at these resumes.”

He pushed the stack over to me. I glanced at the page on top.

“I will take your word, that none of these resumes meets the standards you are thinking for the job. Tell me, how did these resumes make it to your desk?”

“Oh, we have a good process to weed out the bad ones,” Byron replied. “By the time they get to me, I should only see the top three or four candidates. But none of these people are qualified.”

“Do you think some overqualified people got cut from the stack?” I asked.

“Oh, sure, our people know what we are paying for the job and they can spot someone who is overqualified as easily as those who are under qualified.”

“And who is involved in this process?”

Byron’s head turned to the side and his eyes went up to the far wall behind me. “Well, the hiring manager.”

“So, the hiring manager directly receives the emails from your job posting?”

“Well, no,” Byron backpedaled. “I don’t want to burden him with looking at all the resumes, so we have them sent to a generic email box. Irene is our receptionist, and she opens the emails and prints out the resumes.”

“And she delivers all of them to the hiring manager?”

“Well, no, she, well, first she sorts them, so they are organized. She puts all of the ones from out-of-town in one stack and all the local ones in another stack. I think she also checks to make sure they have two years experience. I don’t want the hiring manager wasting his time.”

“And then she delivers them to the hiring manager?” I asked, trying to get the details of the sequence.

“Well, not exactly,” Byron continued. “Irene then gives them to one of the supervisors to cull over. I really don’t want the hiring manager wasting his time on unqualified resumes.”

“I see,” I nodded. “I think I am getting the picture.” -TF

Follow-up to yesterday’s posting from the Ask Tom mailbag:

Question:
What do you feel are truly the most effective skills that I need to think about as a new sales manager?

Response:
Yesterday, I posted the list. Today, let’s talk some details.

I listed hiring and firing at the top of the list. The most important skill for any manager is to develop the ability to select the right team members. The manager who selects the right team members makes all other management skills seem like a walk in the park.

The manager who selects the wrong team members will forever spend time trying to fix the problems that come from hiring mis-steps. And that time spent trying to motivate, coach and correct behavior will be the most frustrating thing in the world.

Take a sports team and put them up against any other team. To pick the team who will win the game, you only have to know the answer to one simple question.

Who is on the team?

Hiring and firing are at the top of the list. Arguably, the most important skill. -TF

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September 25, 2006 kicks off our next Management Class in Fort Lauderdale. Register at www.workingmanagement.com.