Hope and Luck Are Not A Hiring Process

Hiring is one of those processes in many companies that is often ignored, until it is needed.  My partner Barry Deutsch and I have spoken to hundreds of CEOs and key executives in the last three years, and there is a theme that most of these CEOs and key executives agree upon, which is, they don’t really have an effective, repeatable hiring process with highly competent people throughout the hiring process.

Just about every process in a company, from how customer invoices are processed, to how the phone is answered are repeatable, with competent people and a certain level of standards required. If something goes wrong in the process, for example, a customer invoice is lost resulting in the product not shipping or the order never being billed, qualified people research to identify what went wrong and if necessary either train the people or change the process.

This rarely happens when the hiring process fails. Too often companies just accept the failed hire as part of the process and move on. Why?

Over the last year I have asked over 500 CEOs and key executives the following question, “How many of you have audited, not sat in or co-interviewed, but audited if the people doing the interviewing are competent interviewers?” To no surprise the answer is that around 12% have done this. All the rest admit they have no clue if the people they are relying on to make a successful hire are even competent.

Is there any other process in your company in which you don’t know if the people doing the job are competent? I seriously doubt it.

We have put together an 8 Point Hiring Methodology Assessment Scorecard that you can download for free to evaluate your hiring process (CLICK HERE to download).  This assessment will at least highlight the areas of strengths and weaknesses in your company. You can then begin to work on bringing your hiring process standards up to the same standards as other processes in your organization.

At a minimum an effective hiring process must have at least these 5 steps.

1. Job descriptions based on defining success in the role instead of a laundry list of candidate attributes, experiences and skills. Good job descriptions quantify expected results and the time frame to achieve them for managers, and benchmark standards for all non-managerial positions.We call these Success Factors, and the accumulation of all the Success Factors, a Success Factor Snapshot instead of a job description.  (You can download examples of Success Factor Snapshots by CLICKING HERE).
2. A sourcing process that attracts passive candidates, not just those candidates actively looking for a position. Passive candidates make up the vast majority of the candidate pool and the way most companies promote, advertise and network, they rarely attract these candidates. In fact, the way most companies advertise actually turns passive candidates seeking a compelling opportunity off. (You can download our chapter on sourcing top talent from our award winning book for free by CLICKING HERE).
3. In-depth probing interviews with competent people. We already discussed the need to determine if those interviewing are competent. Most interviewers don’t probe deeply and most “tell” the person about the job instead of asking “how” they would do the job. Interviewers can obtain 80% of the information to determine if a candidate can do the job with just 5 core questions.
4. Candidate assessment after the interview. Most companies simple ask those that have been involved in the interviewing process, “What did  you think of the candidate?” or “How did the interview go?’ The person usually replies, “Oh, I liked them. They will fit in well.” or maybe just the famous thumbs up or thumbs down. Not exactly an in-depth assessment to determine if there are any further issues that need to be vetted. (You can obtain our 8 Point Candidate Assessment Matrix by CLICKING HERE).
5. Additional validation needs to done. There needs to be some follow-up steps to validate that what the candidate said they did during the interview is what they really did. Some examples are skills testing, homework assignment, make a presentation, bring in an example of past work or performance reviews, or even conducting behavioral or work style assessments by an outside professional.

These are the minimum 5 steps required by every effective hiring process. If you don’t have at least these 5 being done with competent people, then you might consider re-evaluating your hiring process.

Download a FREE 8 Point Hiring Methodology Assessment Scorecard to evaluate your hiring process. CLICK HERE to download.

Our award winning book, You’re NOT The Person I Hired. A CEO’s Guide to Hiring Top Talent, describes in-depth how to implement the 5 steps listed above. CLICK HERE to review the book and how to get yours.

Finally, consider joining our Linkedin Hire and Retain Top Talent group. It has numerous discussions and articles to help you attract, hire and retain top talent. CLICK HERE to join.

I welcome your thoughts, comments and questions. If you found this article helpful, please pass it along to someone in your network to help them too.

Brad Remillard

When an “A” Candidate Isn’t an “A” Employee

Has this ever happened? You screened hundreds of resumes, conducted extensive interviews, and found what you believed from the resume and interviews, the candidate that is perfect for the job. Exactly what you are looking for, maybe even better. You have high expectations for this new hire.

Then they come on board and fall flat on their face. Within 3 – 6 months you are saying to  yourself, “You’re NOT the person I hired” (a great title for a book).

You step back and start asking  yourself, “What went wrong? How could this have happened?”

Here is what went wrong – just because a person was a great CFO, operations manager, sales manager or VP HR, doesn’t mean they are the right CFO, operations manager, sales manager or VP HR.  This is the main premise of our Success Factor Methodology hiring process.

Hiring managers too often assume that because a person excelled at their last company, they did all these great things, they told you they could do your job, that this means the person will excel in your company. We believe this is where the concept, “past performance is a good indicator of future performance,” falls short. First off, it is only an indicator, nothing more. An indicator is not the right criteria for a good hire. Secondly, it also depends on how qualified the person interpreting the indicator is at interpreting the indicator. It has been our experience that most hiring managers are not competently trained in hiring or interviewing to do this. The few that are generally do hiring so rarely that they need a refresher course before starting the hiring process again.

There is a better way.

The Success Factor Methodology overcomes the biggest hiring mistakes that cause the problem.

Start by properly defining the job. This is the number one biggest hiring mistake companies make. They don’t properly define the job, so the whole hiring process is in jeopardy from the beginning. Since the job isn’t properly defined, then exactly what is the hiring manager screening and interviewing on or for? Generally background, experiences and skills.

This makes sense because that is exactly what most job descriptions are, simply a list of candidate attributes. Not a job description,  but rather a candidate description. This leads directly back to the problem. Hiring managers assume that  if they have this background they are an “A” candidate, and they may well be an “A” candidate. However, since the job isn’t properly defined, the real question “Will they be an “A” employee?” isn’t known.  This is the only thing you care about.

To properly define the actual job, start by defining outcomes. Ask yourself, “A year from now what will this person have done/accomplished in order to be considered a great hire?” or “What defines success in this role?” This is how we came up with the name, Success Factor Methodology. We simply started asking our search clients the questions, “What are the factors you will use to define success in this role?”  Once we had 4 or 5 of these we combined them into a Success Factor Snapshot. Now the Success Factor Snapshot becomes the job description. After all, this really is the actual job.

Once this is done, then go out and find a person that can explain how they will use their background, experiences and skills to deliver this success.

When you find a person that can explain how they will use their background, experiences and skills to deliver the 4 or 5 Success Factors, you have found both an “A” candidate and an “A” employee.

You can download some examples of Success Factor Snapshots for free to help you by CLICKING HERE.

Our best selling book, You’re NOT The Person I Hired, with over 10,000 copies in circulation, describes how you can implement the Success Factor Methodology. CLICK HERE for more details.

Join our Linkedin Hire and Retain Top Talent group for more discussions and articles on this topic. It is free to join just CLICK HERE.

Number 1 Biggest Hiring Mistake Radio Show

This mistake just by itself leads to so many problems in the hiring process it is no wonder only 56% of hires are successful. In a research project we commission of over 130 companies and 230 executive hires we identified the 10 biggest mistakes companies make when hiring. There wasn’t even a close second.

This one mistake is so powerful it impacts, sourcing, interviewing, references, compensation, title and on-boarding.
It is truly the powerful hiring mistake.  We give you the simple, but not necessarily an easy, solution that all companies can do to ensure they don’t make this mistake.

You can download the complete research study from our website at: www.impacthiringsolutions.

STOP Letting Job Descriptions Miss The Target

The Number ONE reason hiring fails for most companies is that success in the position is not defined!

In our research project, we documented that NOT defining Success was one of the Top Ten Hiring Mistakes made by hiring managers. Not only is it in the top ten, NOT Defining Success is most likely the number ONE culprit behind hiring mistakes and errors.

As we’ve pointed out in previous blog postings, using a traditional job description to both attract and measure candidates against in the interview process is worthless. Job descriptions define a person, not a job. Job descriptions categorize what people should have when they show up for work the first day, NOT what they should do with their skills, degrees, knowledge, experience, and behaviors.

A much better approach is to define the success you desire in a role. This can be done for any role in your organization, from the customer service rep position to the senior vice president of marketing. It is the core of our entire hiring process, the Success Factor Methodology. We’ve verified, validated, and field-tested the use of defining success to attract, assess, and retain top talent.

Over the last decade, thousands of companies around the world have defined success for positions in their companies. Through this simple exercise, they’ve increased hiring accuracy, improved execution of major projects, raised the reliability of obtaining important results, and strengthened the ability to retain top performers.

In our Success Factor Methodology, we call the end product of a definition of future success for a position – the Success Factor Snapshot. The process of building a Success Factor Snapshot is through S.O.A.R.ing. The SOAR process has 4 key components. You don’t have to be great at defining any of them – you just need to work through each one step-by-step. The 4 components of the SOAR job definition process include:

1. Situation – what’s not working or what is the missed opportunities?

2. Obstacles – what are the obstacles standing in the way of achieving the results

3. Action Steps – what are the quantifiable/time-based outcomes

4. Results – what specific results will tell us the situation/opportunity was achieved?

There is extensive information on our website of how to SOAR for a position, including the step-by-step process, products to teach all your hiring managers how to do it, services to help implement across your organization, and an extraordinary wealth of FREE Resources.

Brad and I have posted all our Internet Radio Show Programs in a FREE radio archive. We frequently talk about defining success and creating Success Factor Snapshots through the SOARing process. We’ve also posted real-life examples of Success Factor Snapshots.

If you use the SOAR process to develop Success Factor Snapshots and then use those in place of traditional job descriptions, you’ll immediately start attracting better quality candidates, you’ll make better assessments and evaluations of candidates in the interview process, and you’ll be able to keep your top performers engaged and excited about their jobs.

STOP using outdated tools, like the traditional job description, to define work. Use a tool that permits you to hit the target every time on hiring top talent.

Barry

Don’t forget to join our LinkedIn Discussion Group for Hiring Managers and Executives on how to hire and retain top talent.

On-line Programs This Week for Hiring Managers – August 24th

If you are a manager or executive, you might be interested in two of the programs Brad and I are hosting this week

Brad I will be hosting our weekly Internet Radio Talk Show today for Hiring Managers and Executives titled “Upgrading Your Team During the Recession” at 11-noon PDT on LA Talk Radio. You can listen in and also pose questions live during the broadcast.

We’ll be taking your emails and live calls to discuss the steps you should be taking right now to upgrade your team so that when you emerge from the recession, you’ll have a powerful team capable of propelling your business or team forward as a strategic advantage.

On Friday, we will be putting on our popular one hour webinar presentation based on our half and full day training program titled “You’re NOT the Person I Hired”. You can register for this webinar by clicking here.

We’ll provide an overview of our award-winning workshop that teaches the Success Factor Methodology. This hiring process has been implemented in thousands of companies around the world with validated success in dramatically raising hiring accuracy and improving the ability to hire top talent at every level.

We hope you’ll join us for one of these programs this week.

Barry

Traditional Job Descriptions Worthless

Traditional job descriptions fail in hiring top talent!

In trainings, speeches, and engagements with clients, we start by shattering common assumptions about hiring. One of those assumptions is that job descriptions are useful documents in the hiring process. We contend that job descriptions are completely worthless.

“What do you mean, worthless? How can anybody hire with no job description? You’re crazy.”

Allow us to clarify.

We don’t mean that job descriptions have no value as legal or archival documents. Traditional job descriptions are worthless for hiring Top Talent.

Traditional job descriptions do not help you:

· align organizational goals with departmental goals or individual position goals

· create a roadmap for the hiring process

· clarify expectations

· generate a compelling marketing statement that will attract Top 5% Talent

· determine the best Sourcing Strategy to find and attract Top Talent

· assess and verify the quality and depth of candidate’s track record

· manage ongoing performance of a new hire

Traditional job descriptions simply lump together an amalgam of skills, knowledge, abilities, attributes, responsibilities, years of “qualifications” are static traits in isolation; they describe bits and pieces of the athlete, this is not to say they aren’t important skills, but they do not predict whether he will be able to effectively use those traits in the game situation to put the pigskin between the uprights, the puck in the net, or a ball over the outfield wall.

What counts most, in both sports and business, is not what traits you bring to the game, but what you can accomplish by using those traits. The coach cares whether an athlete can deliver results and help the team to win.

That is why coaches rely on scouts. The scout observes the athlete in the game, focusing solely on his or her ability to perform on the job with the rest of the team.

The Success Factor Methodology takes a coach’s perspective on hiring. It moves hiring out of the realm of static traits and into the realm of action and results.

Our research led to the development of the Success Factor Snapshot (SFS), which is the cornerstone of our methodology. This document, which replaces the traditional job description, is a tool that breaks down a position’s requirements in terms of specific, measurable deliverables, benchmarks, and timetables. We have examples, illustrations, FREE audio programs that describe the Success Factor Methodology, specifically building a Success Factor Snapshot in the FREE Resources Section of our Website.

Learn more how a Success Factor Snapshot compares and benchmarks to your current process of using job descriptions by taking advantage of our FREE Hiring Check-up.

Hiring Top Talent Requires a Process

We have discovered that in many companies the hiring process is random, unstructured, and often the people are not highly skilled at hiring. It is no wonder that for many companies hiring top talent is a challenge.

Most companies typically have very sophisticated processes and procedures for just about every activity except hiring. This in our opinion includes the Fortune 500. So often it is assumed that the hiring manager or a colleague has hired so many people they must be good. We conducted a recent, non-scientific survey of CEOs and Key Execs. We asked, “How many of you have audited, not co-interviewed, the hiring managers on your team to determine if they are competent to be interviewing?” Less than 5% responded positively.

This would never happen with any other activity in a company. This just validated why so often the wrong person gets through the hiring process.

All that’s required is a structured approach that enables companies to avoid the predictable pitfalls that plague many high-level hires. Based on our experience with hiring thousands of executives, we have developed The Success Factor Methodology that consists of eight distinct steps:

1. Build a multi-faceted Success Factor Snapshot to guide the entire
search process. (Click link for examples)
2. Implement a deep sourcing strategy to reach and attract selective
and sleeper candidates.
3. Identify and verify success prospects. Create a Compelling Marketing Statement (Click link for examples)
4. Create structured dossiers on selected candidates to enable objective,
unbiased evaluation and comparison.
5. Conduct Success Factor-based panel interviews using a
“magnifying glass” probe methodology.
6. Proactively address and overcome obstacles to hire throughout the
entire active interviewing process.
7. Streamline compensation and benefit negotiations through structured
interview-based preliminary groundwork.
8. Follow through on the hire with proven transition communication
and work style assessment, coaching and facilitation.

Together, these steps comprise the ‘Success Factor Methodology,’ a
proven process for improving your ability to find, recruit and hire top level
executive talent. Each step in the process requires the full collaboration
of stakeholders in all the business units affected by the potential
hire. When you employ the methodology in a consistent and systematic
manner, the outcome is a hire with a significantly increased probability of delivering the performance level you are seeking.

We welcome your thoughts and comments. Please let us know if this was helpful. If it was, please share with others.

We offer a complete library of free resources designed to assist our clients in improving their hiring. To browse the library just click the link.

Hiring Frustration #1: What Am I Measuring?

Most Job Descriptions are Worthless as a tool for predicting future success!

MINIMUM EXPECTATIONS

Most job descriptions define nothing more than minimum, average, and mediocre standards. If the goal is to hire top talent, then you must be able to define the expectations of top talent. Consider the fact that the vast majority of job descriptions define years of experience needed in the job, minimum educational requirements, skills and knowledge needed, generic and undefined attributes and behaviors. This is not a job description. It has nothing to do with the job. It’s a people description. And the worst news of all is that it defines minimum-average-mediocre expectations not top talent expectations.

RANDOM RESULTS

Not only is this the NUMBER ONE frustration among hiring managers and executives, it is also the NUMBER ONE reason hiring fails. In presenting to over 30,000 hiring executives and managers in the last two decades, most of those workshop participants have told us their track record in hiring is abou 50/50. Sometimes they hire good people and sometimes they don’t.

How can you have any decent level of business success when you’re results are basically random. You might as well be standing at the crap tables in Vegas throwing dice. Is there any other process in your business where you will accept that level of random variability – such as your payroll checks or the bills you send to customers? Probably not! Then why do most managers and executives accept random results from hiring.

There are a number of reasons, but topping the list is the frustration and mistake over not defining success. Most hiring executives and managers would contend that they do not understand how to define results, expectations, outcomes, and deliverables that can be used as a predictive approach to determining the success of a potential candidate. Since most do not have a method for determing/defining success, they fall back on the tribal approach of using a traditional job description – a document that has existed from the early days of human resource management.

A BETTER APPROACH TO DEFINING SUCCESS

A better approach is to define outcomes, deliverables, and expectations that link back to the team, group, department, and company/organizational goals and objectives. NOT defining the outcomes is an abdication of strong management and leadership.

We use an approach in our Success Factor Methodology called S.O.A.R, which provides a structured approach to defining success. After having “field-tested” this approach and methodology for the last two decades, we’ve seen thousands of companies dramatically improve their hiring accuracy and ability to hire candidates who deliver the results desired.

RESOURCES TO HELP YOU GET STARTED IN DEFINING SUCCESS

Our S.O.A.R. template can help guide you through the process of defining success for any role within your company.

There are multiple FREE examples of Success Factor Snapshots using the S.O.A.R. approach in our FREE Resources Library.

In our Internet Radio Programs for Hiring Managers, Tele-Conferences, and Webinars, Brad and are constantly sharing ideas, thoughts, and strategies around using Success-based Job Definitions to improve hiring and retention. Take a look at some of the FREE downloads in our Hiring Manager Audio Library.

DOES YOUR COMPANY HAVE WHAT IT TAKES TO HIRE TOP TALENT?

Does your company define quantifiable and time-based outcomes, deliverables, and expectations before the first candidate is interviewed, let alone hired?

Traditional Job Descriptions Don’t Attract Top Talent

Over the last 20 plus years of recruiting, we have reviewed hundreds of job descriptions from a wide variety of companies and for a wide variety of positions. The vast majority of these job descriptions have the same format. They list the responsibilities, duties and experience required. It is a one size-fits-all, generic job description. Traditional job descriptions are useful documents that meet legal requirements, but they should not be used for hiring purposes.

There are two reasons why these job descriptions are ineffective as a hiring tool. The first reason is traditional job descriptions describe the minimal qualifications required for the position, such as minimal education, minimal years of experience, and minimal skills. This often leads to hiring the least qualified from the pool of qualified candidates. The harsh reality is when you define a job in mediocre terms, odds are you will attract and hire mediocre candidates.

The second reason is traditional job descriptions fail to focus on what defines success in this role. Most people would agree that a person who just performs the duties and responsibilities outlined in traditional job descriptions would rarely be considered a success. In fact, most candidates would not last long in a company that is growing and outpacing the competition. Just because the person has the experience listed doesn’t mean they can deliver the desired results. Here’s the misnomer, past experiences are a good indicator of future performance. Past experience is actually a poor indicator of performance. Past performance is a better indicator, but the best indicator is their ability to deliver results in your company. After all, you are hiring for your company, not for what they did at a past company. Of all the traditional job descriptions reviewed over the years, few if any mention future expectations.

For example, how many times have you heard someone say: “We’re looking for a VP Operations” The reply is “What are you looking for.” The typical answer is usually, “We need a person with 10 years experience, 5 years in our industry, team leader, strategic thinker, good communications and an MBA is preferred.” This is all about the person and nothing about what defines success in the role or what the person is expected to deliver once they come on board. It is naturally assumed if the person has the experience mentioned, they can deliver the expected results. It is our contention that experience has nothing to do with delivering results. Just because the person was a great VP of Operations at their last company, doesn’t mean they are the right VP of Operations for your company.

Instead of using the traditional job description, we recommend using our Success Factor Snapshot (SFS.) This snapshot is a list of Success Factors. Success Factors are simply the results you want this person to deliver, in order for you, the hiring manager, to consider this person a successful hire.

Taking our example of a VP Operations, our Success Factor Snapshot would define the Success Factors the VP needs to deliver – usually within the next 12 to 18 months. For example, the SFS would read:

Within the first 30 days develop a plan of action that will improve on time deliveries from 85% to 96% and present the plan to the CEO.

Within 6 months, develop and begin implementing a vendor qualifications program that will insure zero defects and 100% on-time deliveries from vendors.
Within 9 months consolidate the operations of two plants and produce a cost savings of at least 15%.
We would continue developing these Success Factors until we have 5 or 6 that clearly define what is expected of the candidate once they come on board.

Now when asked the question “What are you looking for.” The answer is “ we need someone who can improve on time deliveries to 96%, can implement a vendor qualifications program and consolidate operations with at least a 15% cost savings.” Instead of defining experience, you are defining success in this role.

We believe that if you find a person that can accomplish these Success Factors, you’ve found the person with the right experience.

Using the Success Factor Snapshot as a hiring guide sets the stage for a successful hire. Instead of the traditional job description, the Success Factor Snapshot clearly states expectations and lets the candidate know what is expected of them once they come on board. The SFS defines success in the role, not minimum qualifications. After all isn’t that what you really want to hire.

For more examples on this go to IMPACT Hiring Solutions