Trevor was puzzled. On Monday, his new programmer, Dennis, arrived at work. Trevor had been waiting for HR to fill this position for three long weeks. The backlog on programming the CNC machine was building and Project Managers were getting testy with the delays.

But Dennis had been working all morning on a program that should have been completed in twenty minutes. It was becoming clear that something was wrong.

Mustering his courage, Trevor pulled him aside only to find out that, though Dennis had been trained at his previous job, he had only copied existing programs without generating any new code. As a manager, Trevor was now stuck in a situation that could have easily been prevented.

Skills testing should be an important element in any recruiting process. Testing does not have to be elaborate, nor take a great deal of time, but it is important to determine the reality of reported experience.

You see, Dennis had produced printouts of CNC routines that passed muster in the HR department. He just never revealed that those routines had been copied from existing programs. A simple 20 minute test to create some original code could have prevented this bad hire. -TF

You will never ever get what you want!!! You will only get what you focus on.

At first I am disappointed, because I really want what I want. It makes me feel bad to understand that I will never get what I want.

If I really want it, I have to focus on it.

A client lamented, “It is really hard to find good people these days. We just never seem to hire the kind of people we really want.” So, what did I feel like screaming? YOU WILL NEVER EVER GET WHAT YOU WANT! You will only get what you focus on.

It’s not that you can’t find good people out there. You just have not focused your concentration and energy to find good people. So, what does focus look like? Think about finding good people, talk about finding good people, have meetings about finding good people, plan a campaign to find good people. Roll out an action plan to find good people.

You will never get what you want. You will only get what you focus on. -TF

Question:
Our company could like to try a team approach to interviewing. Do you think this is a good idea?

Response:
There is great upside to team interviewing. I don’t advocate three-on-one or four-on-one because it generates too much pressure on the candidate. Rather, I prefer team interviews to be a series of independent interviews.

The muck of the team interview process is getting everyone trained on how to conduct an interview. On a hiring team of three, if even one manager makes inaccurate assumptions or a misinterpretation, 33% of your input could be flawed. The bad news is that most companies don’t have a clue on how to conduct an effective interview.

Interview training for each member of the hiring team is essential for their collective effort to be of benefit. With the right training, the use of a team enhances the quality of the hiring decision big time. -TF

“You don’t like the interview question?” asked Christopher, shifting in his chair. He had created a list of questions in preparation for a candidate interview later in the afternoon. At the top of the list, “Where do you see yourself in five years?”

“Chris, every question you ask has to have a purpose in the interview,” I replied. “What specific piece of data are you trying to collect with that question?”

“I think it is important to find out where they are headed in life.”

“Chris, tell me again, what’s the job position?”

“Project Manager.”

“How long are your typical projects?”

“Four to six weeks.”

“Chris, tell me how someone’s fictitious image of a five-year-future snapshot will predict success as a Project Manager, working on projects that last four to six weeks?” The silence hung heavy. “Let’s change two things about your approach to questions. Instead of the future, ask about the past. Instead of a hypothetical, ask about a fact.” The quality of the responses to those questions will increase dramatically. -TF

Question:
What do you think about using personality profiles to base our hiring decisions?

Response:Okay, put me on the spot. Put me in the face of an entire industry that makes their living from a paper and pencil test or an online web based test that tries to predict the future behavior of a new hire in your company.

Here is my bias. The best predictor of future behavior is past behavior. Find out what a person has done in the past, odds are, they will do exactly the same thing when they come to work for you.

If a person has been successful managing projects lasting four weeks, they are likely to be successful for you managing projects that last four weeks. If they managed change-orders well in their previous experience, they will likely handle change-orders well for you. ALL you have to do is find out what they have done in the past. This is best accomplished with a series of behavior-based interviews.

Personality profiles may be helpful, but provide only one data point in the overall criteria in the hiring decision. My adamant advice is, DO NOT BASE your decision solely on the report of a personality profile. They may be helpful, but cannot make the decision for you. -TF

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 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% 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. -TF

We had been working as a group for forty-five minutes and the words at the top of the list were sense of urgency.

Nanci, the head of the hiring team, was curious, “How can you interview someone for a sense of urgency?”

“You cannot see a value or a trait,” I replied. “You can only observe behavior that may be driven by that value or trait. So when we think about a sense of urgency, what behaviors are we looking for?”

“They don’t procrastinate and they don’t wait until the last minute to get a project started.”

“And what else?”

“They are quick to attack problems that might cause a delay.”

“Good, now we have identified two behaviors, enough to work with for now.”

You see, I don’t know how to interview someone for a sense of urgency. But I can come up with a dozen questions about how the candidate starts projects and prevents delays.

When a role in your organization requires a value or a trait, simply translate it into a behavior that you can interview for. -TF

Gerard was puzzled. By chance, the night before, he ran into Nancy, a former employee, at a local restaurant. The conversation was cordial, but surprising to Gerard. Nancy was responsible for a competitive product that was kicking butt in the marketplace. When Gerard had terminated Nancy for not reaching her goals, he felt she was a marginal contributor with a big “L” on her forehead. Now, she was in charge of a development team that was eating Gerard’s lunch.

Gerard explained to me that after Nancy’s termination, he had two more managers fail in the same position. His complaint was that he just couldn’t find good people. Now, he was puzzled.

Success is determined not only by the person in the role, but also by the circumstances and systems that surround that role. Before you terminate someone, be sure to check your system. If your system is broken, the next hire will not fare any better than the person you are currently pushing out the door. -TF