http://rhythmsfitness.com/classes/zumba-gold by Beth | Jul 12, 2023 | Employee Hiring, Selecting Good Candidates
http://kyleschen.com/tag/reading/ A client of mine called last week. He needed help deciding between two candidates. We walked through the interviews and his notes, and there was a clear winner when we talked it through. He was very excited about offering the job to the top candidate. His next comment, however, totally baffled me.
“I will wait to let the other candidate know after this one has accepted the offer.”
“Why?” I asked, incredulously.
“In case, they don’t accept. You know the saying: A bird in the hand is worth two in the bush.”
I paused for a minute.
He is right from a conventional wisdom standpoint, but when it comes to hiring, what if the bird in the hand is the wrong bird? Are you really going to hire someone that is clearly your second choice?
Many of my clients think this way: that somehow hiring a second choice will still be a great hiring decision. It isn’t, though. The new hire will act like the second choice (because they were), you will treat them like the second choice (because they were), and you will ultimately fire them because they were your second choice.
If for some reason your top candidate doesn’t accept the position, your job is to figure out why, fix that issue, then start over with a brand new candidate pool.
As it turned out, the top candidate did accept the position, and all is well on the home front.
POWER THOUGHT: When it comes to hiring, a bird in the hand only counts if it is the right bird.
by Beth | Jun 28, 2023 | Employee Hiring
A few weeks ago, I was flying home from New York. I had booked the plane ticket late, because it was a last-minute trip to interview a final candidate. Because of the timing, I ended up sitting in the next to last row of the plane.
If any of you are from Denver, you know that we have had substantial rain these past several weeks, so my flight home was full of turbulence. The pilot announced that descending would be a bit rough, and he instructed the flight attendants to get the plane ready to land and take their seats.
The turbulence was intense. As the plane was about to hit the runway, all of the sudden, the tail of the plane jerked to one side, violently tossing us around. I frantically gripped my arm rests! The pilot floored the gas and took off again! I have never in my life had an experience like that! The guy beside me looked at me with huge wide eyes full of fear, accurately mirroring my own.
After we circled the airport for about 20 minutes, the pilot came on to announce that we were going to land again. He told us that a tailwind had come out of nowhere, and since they weren’t prepared for it, they couldn’t land. He then reassured us that he was ready for it, and we would be on the ground in 15 minutes.
The landing was amazingly smooth, considering what had just occurred. And the entire plane erupted in applause.
Because I was in the back, I was the last passenger to get off. The pilot stood at the front of the plane and thanked each passenger for their patience and confidence in him. He was gracious and kind. When I approached, he said “Were you in the back of the plane?” I told him I was.
“Did you feel that tailwind?”
I said, “Yes! It was scary!”
He then excitedly began to tell me all about the tail wind, the direction of the wind, and how it affected the plane. His eyes lit up, and mine glazed over.
As he finished with his story, including hand gestures, I said to him, “Did you hear the applause?”
His face softened, and he said “No!… people really clapped for us?”
“They sure did. And you deserved it!”
“Wow. I’m honored.” We shook hands, and I left.
THIS is the pilot that I want flying every plane I get on. Nice job hiring, Delta!
POWER THOUGHT: Who do you want landing YOUR plane?
by Beth | Feb 8, 2023 | Employee Hiring
When I bought my house several years ago, I hung a Texas Longhorn flag over my garage. It has become a marker!
My friend, Meryem, came over on Sunday and said, “Your flag needs to be re-hung.”
“It tore from the wind. I need to order a new one,” I responded.
“Well, whatever you do, don’t get rid of it! That flag is how I know your house,” she exclaimed.
She isn’t the only friend to tell me this.
So, what does my Longhorn flag have to do with hiring and recruiting?
It is your job as a business leader to lead your candidates through the hiring process with signposts. Your process should be clearly marked, so your candidates know where they are and where they are headed. In other words, don’t make your candidates jump through so many hoops that they get lost. Your ad should be short, sweet and to the point. Your website should have a button that says apply here. Your applicant tracking system (ATS) shouldn’t make your candidate input all of the data that is written on their resume. It should NEVER take a candidate HOURS to apply. They will get frustrated and rightly so. Tell them in the interview when they will have answers from you and meet that deadline.
Lead your potential candidates through the process with a clearly marked trail. They will be so grateful, and you will have your pick of great staff.
POWER THOUGHT: Flag great candidates with a clearly marked hiring process.
by Beth | Dec 14, 2022 | Employee Hiring, Interview Process, Interview Techniques, Selecting Good Candidates
Over the Thanksgiving holiday a few years ago, my daughter and I were listening to the radio. A song came on that we both love. I began belting out the tune at the top of my lungs and sang along to the chorus of the Zac Brown Band song. I sang “Long Gone” along in perfect pitch (to me at least). My kid laughed uproariously. “MOM”, she yelled, “Those aren’t the words!” I said, “Yes they are!” She giggled “No, really. It’s not ‘Long Gone’. It’s ‘Home Grown’!” She had to Google it for me to believe her.
This misunderstanding happens in interviews for new employees all the time. Someone on the interview team will recount what the candidate said and someone else will have heard the words from the person completely differently. The very first step in the analysis of an interview for the hiring team is to agree to what the candidate actually said. The candidate’s choice of words that they used are very important. For example, “My boss is really great to work with”. Did they really say “with”? Are you sure they didn’t say “My boss is really great to work ‘for’”? That simple word changes the entire meaning of the sentence as well as the intent of the comment. The word “with” denotes that the candidate doesn’t acknowledge their bosses’ authority, and if they don’t acknowledge it in the interview, they really won’t when they have direct deposit.
I talk about listening to the exact words all the time to my clients to ensure they get to hire someone who will fit with the company culture, leadership style and even the position itself. If you are not paying attention, you can miss something important in an interview which can lead to a bad hire. You can also really embarrass yourself in front of your beloved daughter.
POWER THOUGHT: Did you really hear what you thought you heard?
by Beth | Sep 21, 2022 | Employee Hiring
For the past several months I have spoken to 11 groups of CEOs, and every group has asked the same question: “Where are all the people?” “What secret island has all of the employees on it?” AND the unemployment rate isn’t zero, so where are all of the candidates?
In February, The New York Times published an article https://www.nytimes.com/2022/02/02/briefing/labor-shortage-part-time-workers-us.html that talks about part-time workers in this market, and many of those want full-time.
Bottom line: there seems to be a disconnect between workers wanting full-time employment and the employers who want full-time workers. What is that disconnect???
What if it is artificial intelligence? As a certified recruiter for Indeed.com, we have noticed that several of the job boards are sending resumes that are titled “Most Compatible” (even though most applications AREN’T), which means that you aren’t receiving the “less compatible” applications. In other words, some computer program somewhere is deciding for you whose application you get to see, and whose application you don’t get to see.
To be fair to Indeed.com and ZipRecruiter, most job boards have some sort of artificial intelligence to help employers sort resumes. They are trying to solve the problem that employers have been complaining about for years; they are overwhelmed with applicants. In order to pare down the candidate pools, artificial intelligence has been incorporated by most job boards to pre-sort.
From a recruiting standpoint, I am giving my clients these 5 tips:
1) Don’t just rely on job boards for recruiting
2) Utilize your website for applications
3) Utilize job fairs (there are a number of them going on!)
4) Use Craig’s List, because it doesn’t utilize artificial intelligence
5) Use physical job boards outside the office of your child’s school or grocery stores
And finally, keep the faith. This will sort itself out. It always does.
POWER THOUGHT: Maybe the labor shortage is a computer glitch.
by Beth | Jul 27, 2022 | Employee Hiring, Employee Retention, Interview Techniques, Recruiting
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