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 adult stuff.

There is no higher calling for a manager than to recruit and build a strong team. If a manager did nothing else, that would be enough. -TF

“Can we try another value? We had a problem with our last supervisor. He would never follow the guidelines on expenses for his work area. If he needed something, he would always buy the most expensive item available. Is that a value? I would like to interview for that.” Patricia sat down, satisfied that we would now work on her hiring issue.

“If I were a Boy Scout,” I said, “and I was, I would call that the value of thrift. So, here is how we create the interview question. How does a thrifty person behave?”

Patricia was back in the limelight. “A thrifty person would evaluate whether we truly needed something or not, then look at the alternatives, along with our budget and make a responsible decision within the guidelines.”

“So, frame a question from that,” I pushed.

Patricia thought. “Tell about a time when you had to buy a piece of equipment for your work area. Step me through, how you determined the need, and how you bought the equipment.”

“Perfect, in the hiring interview, just collect STARs. Situation, task, action and result. You will make a better hiring decision.” -TF

The room got noisy, a little commotion at each table with a question from the corner. “But what about values. Isn’t it important to interview for values?”

“So, how do you interview for values? Can you see a value?” I asked. The room was still noisy, but there was no response to the question. “Perhaps, if we narrowed the question to something more specific. Which value did you have in mind?” Several hands went up.

“Loyalty,” someone shouted, “I want my team members to be loyal, loyal to me, loyal to the team, loyal to the company.”

“Okay, let’s take loyalty,” I replied amidst the clamor. “Remember, I don’t want you to play amateur psychologist, I want you to play to your strength as a manager. Ask yourself this one simple question. How does a person, who is loyal, behave?”

“They will put the team ahead of themselves. They will carry out a team decision even if they don’t necessarily agree with it.”

“Good. That is what you interview for. Find out a situation where their team made a decision they did not agree with. Ask them what the task was, the action they took and the result. If they tell you how wrong the team was and how they complained to upper management, it is likely they will fault your team decisions and complain to your management.”

It’s a simple question, how does a person, who is loyal, behave? -TF

“I still think it is a valid question,” Raymond remained adamant. “I want to know where they think they will be in five years. I think I can interpret a lot from that.”

“Raymond, I don’t want you to interpret anything in the interview process. The likelihood that you will misinterpret the response is too high for that to be a valuable question. It will give you minimal insight and introduce confusion into the interview process. You will make a hiring decision based on something you are trying to interpret. Your interpretation is likely to be wrong and it will tend to color the rest of the interview.”

Raymond’s face betrayed his stomach. He remained defensive. He had hung so many interviews on that one famous question.

“Raymond, you end up relying on your gut feeling, because you have not established anything else in the interview process on which to base your decision. It is no wonder you are not satisfied with the candidates you have hired in the past.” -TF

Raymond still looked puzzled. I think I had him talked out of playing amateur psychologist when interviewing candidates, but asking him to play to his strength as a manager was still fuzzy.

“Look, Raymond. As a manager, you can spot positive behavior and negative behavior on the shop floor. As a manager, you are an expert in positive and negative behavior. That’s the key. All you have to do is ask questions about situations in their prior work experience. Find out what the task was, their actions (behavior) and the final result. All I want you to do is collect STARs. Situation, Task, Action, Result. The actions they took will tell you how they will behave when they come to work for you.”

Past behavior is the best predictor of future behavior. All you have to do is find out what it was. -TF

“How many of you took a psychology course in high school or college?” I asked. A few hands went up. “And how many of you have a degree in psychology?” Most of the hands go down, still leaving one in the air. “And are you certified by the state to practice either as a psychologist or a psychiatrist?” The single hand dropped.

We were talking about hiring and the tendency of the manager to try to climb inside the head of the candidate to discover motivations and intentions. “Stop trying to play psychologist! You are not qualified to do it,” I said, looking straight at Raymond.

“But, I think it is a valid question,” snapped Raymond. “I just want to see where their head is at.”

“That’s the problem. You are not trained to make that kind of psychological evaluation. Listen,” I continued, with another question, “How many of you, as a manager, can spot positive behavior out on the floor?” The hands were tentative, but every hand in the room went up. “And how many of you can spot negative behavior out on the floor?” All the hands rose higher. “And how long does it take for you to spot it?”

“Immediately, on the spot, right away,” came the replies.

“Here it is, then. Stop trying to play amateur psychologist, you are not qualified. Play to your strength. You can spot positive and negative behavior in an instant because you are a manager. Play to your strength as a manager. Especially during the hiring interview.” -TF

Marcus flipped the report across the desk so I could see it. Turnover had crept up significantly over last year and HR was on the rampage. “I think we have to raise our base pay, though we are already over market, we just can’t seem to keep people.”

“Tell, me, why do they leave?”

“Oh, they don’t leave, we usually fire them.”

“Are you keeping track of this? How many of these turnovers were voluntary and how many were terminations?” I asked.

Marcus thought for a minute, “I’m not sure. We haven’t been keeping the numbers that way.”

Turnover can be deceiving. Tracking turnover statistics needs a breakdown, at least to voluntary vs. terminations. Voluntary departures are likely a retention issue. Terminations are likely a recruiting issue. Solving retention issues are completely different than solving recruiting issues. As your team sits down to review your turnover statistics, you might consider more detail in your breakdown. -TF

Question:
Is there one biggest hiring mistake that we all seem to make?

Response:
Actually, there’s more than one, but let’s start with the creation of a job profile. It is not so much that companies make a mistake with the job profile, they just never put one together.

Think about the last time you were in a meeting when someone leaned across and said, “Oh, by the way, we have two candidates coming in to talk to us about the opening down in manufacturing. Can you squeeze some time to talk to them?”

And you want to be helpful, so you say, “yes,” when you should say, “I would love to help. First let me see the job profile so I can get a clear idea of the person we are looking for.”

My guess, you would get a blank stare or an evasive glance, because most companies don’t stop long enough to prepare the profile.

Hiring without a job profile is not the biggest mistake, just the first one. -TF

When we ask more than 100 questions in an interview, are we creating undue pressure that comes off as “grilling?”

The answer is no. In our workshops, interviewers are not used to the pace of questions and so it seems like fast paced, break-neck speed. To the candidate, however, they are simply responding to things they have experienced in the past. Candidates report the experience as enjoyable. They get to talk about themselves and things they have done. It’s everyone’s favorite subject. -TF