“But, the resume is their experience,” Alisha complained. “It’s the central document I use, in the course of an interview.”

“The problem is, you look at the resume instead of the role you are trying to fill. You ask questions about the resume, instead of asking questions about the role and the candidate’s experience and capability related to the role,” I responded.

“But the resume is their experience,” Alisha repeated. “It’s the biggest piece of paper in the process.”

“The reason the resume is the biggest piece of paper is because you haven’t documented the Role Description, and you haven’t created a bank of questions off the Role Description. You are not prepared.”

“That’s not true,” Alisha protested. “I have several prepared questions going into the interview.”

“How many is several,” I asked for clarification.

“Well, seven or eight,” she replied.

“What if I told you, that you needed 60-80 prepared questions to feel really prepared?”

“So, you think you have the upper hand in this interview process?” I asked. “Because you are the Hiring Manager and get to make the decision, you think you have the power during the interview?”

Alisha stopped. “Well, it is my decision.”

“When was the last time you conducted an interview for an open position on your team?”

“Nine months ago, we had to replace someone who left,” she replied.

“That’s part of the problem,” I pressed. “Hiring Managers don’t interview candidates often enough to get good at it. And when you do have to hire someone, there are all kinds of distractions that keep you from spending the time required to be fully prepared.”

“No, not at all. I have the time to spend to make sure I do this right,” Alisha pushed back. “I looked at the job description we updated last year for this position. It’s really pretty good. And we have some good resumes to look at.”

“So, you have some interviews scheduled this week?”

“Yes, I do, three appointments set up,” Alisha sounded confident.

“And, you’re prepared to talk to these candidates?”

“Well, yes. I have their resumes. That’s what I key off of. In my mind, I know what I am looking for, and I use their resume as a guide.”

“Did you ever think their resume was created by a professional headhunter, and that they’ve been coached, done role-play, all with the intent of beating you in a game of cat and mouse? If you use the resume to guide you in the interview, you are playing right into hands of the candidate. Is it possible the candidate has done more preparation for this interview than you have?”

Greetings from Sacramento.

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 manager?

Response:
Hiring and firing, top of the list. The most important skill for any manager is the ability to select the right team members. This 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 frustrating, life will be miserable.

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?

Pick the right players and your life as a manager will be wonderful. Hiring and firing, top of the list.

My apologies to Michael Cardus for immediately using a sports analogy after his post yesterday, Sports Teams are not Work Teams. Quite good. Take a look.

Winging my way to Sacramento today, for a workshop tomorrow on the research of Elliott Jaques. Working with Lonnie Martin’s Vistage group.

Our 2012 edition of Hiring Talent kicks off today. This online program is now self-paced, on demand. For more information, follow the Sign-Up link.

This didn’t come from the mailbag, just a real conversation.

Question:
We’re glad that you’re here. We have a candidate down the hall. Our interview team has talked to him and everybody likes him. Can you spend a few minutes and see if you like him, too?

Response:
Sounds like an innocent question. But, no. Whether or not I like a candidate, makes no difference in the selection process. If you want to sit down with a role description and determine what capability, what skills, values and behaviors we need in that role, then you and I can have a conversation. Our conversation will help to craft 50-60 questions to ask the candidate.

But, in the end, I am not accountable for the performance of the selected candidate, it’s the hiring manager. I get to go home, the hiring manager is accountable for the output of the team. Part of that accountability is for the selection of team members.

Doesn’t matter if I like the candidate.

“But, I am not the Hiring Manager. I don’t want to undercut the authority of the other people on the team,” Rene explained.

“I didn’t ask you undercut authority. I asked how you, as a senior manager in the company could bring value to this hiring process, even if you were only asked to be an observer. You observed an ineffective process. In what way could you have improved it?”

“I guess I could have insisted on a Role Description,” Rene replied.

“Exactly, as a member of the hiring team, even an observer, you can insist that a process be followed. How could you possibly be of assistance in a hiring process without an up-to-date Role Description?”

“Okay,” Rene hesitated, “but I am not the Hiring Manager driving this process. I am not even a member of this department.”

“Look, the hiring team thought enough of you to ask for your participation. I am often in the same boat, as an outsider. I have no authority inside the company, but I get invited to help. The best help you can provide is to insist in a defined process and that elements, like writing Role Descriptions, don’t get shortcut.”

“I know you were asked to sit in on the hiring decision, and that you felt you were just an observer in this process, but you still feel responsible for what may turn out to be a poor hiring decision. What could you have done differently?”

Rene searched the corner of the room for an answer. “By the time we got into the interview room, I felt powerless to step in. I was not the prime interviewer, not the Hiring Manager.”

“You are right,” I insisted. “Your role, as an observer could have been much more powerful, much more effective in this process, but only if you had started earlier. Where do you think you should have dug in?”

“Well, I mean, I don’t even think they had a Role Description. How could I have helped, if they didn’t even do the basic groundwork?”

“Indeed,” I smiled. “How could you have helped? What groundwork could you have insisted on? Don’t think that just because you are an observer, you can’t have influence on the quality of this process. What groundwork could you have insisted on?”

Rene was frustrated. “I was asked to sit in on this hiring committee,” she began. “I am not the Hiring Manager, not even the Manager-Once-Removed, but I was asked to be a member of the Hiring Team. We sit with the first candidate, asking questions for about ten minutes, then the Hiring Manager spends 25 minutes talking about what a great company this is.”

“And?” I prompted.

“And the candidate walked out, the Hiring Manager turned to me, said he kind of liked the guy, and wanted to know what I think. I don’t know what to think.”

“You didn’t ask any questions during the interview?”

“No,” Rene replied, gathering her thoughts. “I was just asked to sit in on the decision. I thought I was playing the role of the observer.”

“And what do you think will happen?”

“I think we are going to hire this candidate and we don’t know anything about him.”

“Yet, even though you were the observer, you feel responsible for what may turn out to be a poor hiring decision?”

“Yes!” she responded, shaking her head.

“What could you have done differently, as an observer?”