by Beth | Jun 15, 2016 | Employee Hiring, Interview Process, Selecting Good Candidates, Updating Position Criteria
In a North Carolina children’s ballet class recently, the teacher declared that the very next practice would be “Princess Day”. While all of the other 5 year-old little girls whirled and twirled in their beautiful gowns and frilly skirts, wearing tiaras and carrying scepters, little Ainsley came dressed as a hot dog: yes, an All-American Frankfurter hot dog, complete with mustard and a bun. (She also wore her Princess outfit underneath in case she got hot in her truly original hot dog costume.)
Last week, I was talking to a potential new client who confessed to me, “We just can’t find good people!”
“Would you recognize a good candidate if you saw one?” I asked.
“You know, I am really not sure,” they said.
Until we start with Step 1 of the A-list Interview Process, many of the clients that I work with have no firm idea what they want in an employee, outside of a certain job related skill set. Step 1 of our process is called the Ideal List: In other words, if you could have anyone that you wanted for this position, who would they be? What would they know? Dream Big! More importantly, we ask the question, “Why do you want what you want?” This process identifies the qualities desired in the ideal candidate, and often reveals quite a bit that wasn’t initially apparent.
In other words, instead of the Princess that you originally thought you wanted… maybe what you really want is a hot dog.
by Beth | May 13, 2016 | Employee Hiring, Selecting Good Candidates
May is very stressful month for school age kids, no matter what age they are. My daughter Katy is finishing her freshman year, and has finals, final projects, end-of-term tests, make up work from her surgery, cheerleader practice and lots of goodbyes to graduating friends. Last week she said to me “Mom, I woke up with tears in my eyes today. I knew I wouldn’t get through the day without crying, so I made sure to wear waterproof mascara.”
We have a saying around our house that goes like this: “Prior preparation prevents poor performance” and we refer to it as the 5 P’s. Katy woke up, assessed her situation and did something to set herself up for success.
Wouldn’t it be amazing if your employees did this?
One of my clients had an employee who went on maternity leave and left a long, detailed list with her assistant on what to do for what projects. The leave went great: business went on; clients were happy. Contrast that experience with another client whose employee took a vacation, during which my client discovered all sorts of work that wasn’t done. Clients were furious, and my client spent the whole week in “clean up” mode. The employee was subsequently fired.
Assessing an employee’s ability to be prepared begins in the interview process. Did they do their research on your company? Did they come with a list of questions? Did they attempt to think about themselves in the role?
Your A-list hire will be prepared so that you can be prepared. Clients are happy. Business grows.
And no one ends up with black smudges on their face.
by Beth | Apr 19, 2016 | Employee Hiring, Selecting Good Candidates
You would think that having a 3.2% unemployment rate would be cause for celebration, and it is. Times are good, and there are lots of jobs out there. So, why is it that my clients are afraid they will be unable to find great employees?
Lately, I have received several calls from people who are afraid of the tight labor market. “Where am I going to find good people?” they comment. “What if I can’t find who I need? The work is overflowing. I need good people!” I hear consistently. The funny thing is that these are the same comments that I heard in 2008 when the job market tanked.
Are you surprised?
It seems that my clients worry about finding the right employee when they have 1000 resumes for one position or 30. They fear that the right person will chose the next company to work for whether they have interviewed 50 candidates or 5.
Here is what I tell them: There are more people on this earth now than ever before. We have 7 BILLION people on this planet, and you need 1. The articles that talk about a shortage of candidates is short sighted and fear based, and I don’t want you to read them anymore. Don’t buy into the fear, because when you do, you make horrible hiring decisions.
Your job now is to stay focused on your search, and the 7 steps to Hiring your A-list Candidate: 1) Create your Ideal Candidate List. 2) Write your amazing job description. 3) Write your job ad leading with the mission statement. 4) Review resumes 5) Interview #1 6) Interview #2 7) Interview # 3.
Hiring in a tight labor market is the same as hiring in a loose one: Hold out for the right fit. Period.
by Beth | Apr 6, 2016 | Employee Hiring
My daughter Katy recently attended a baseball game with a group of friends. One of the pitches hit the catcher in the shoulder and bounced off. Katy cried out in alarm, “The squatty dude is hurt!”
Her friend Jorge looked at her in alarm, exclaiming, “Oh Katy!” and threw his head in his hands. He sat up with a deep sigh, and said “What is the squatty dude called?”
“Uhh… I don’t know.”
“The Catcher. What is the guy called who is holding the ball?”
“Uhhh… the thrower?”
“He is called the pitcher, because all players throw.”
“Ohhh!” Katy said.
By this point, all of her friends gathered around for Katy’s education. Another friend asked “What is the name of the guy with the bat?”
“Well, he’s the swinger, of course!”
Welcome to spring training! This is what your new employee feels like on their first day of work. Even if they had experience in their particular role in the past, they don’t know your company’s culture and they don’t know some of the terminology and language that your people use. What’s more, they don’t know the “inside jokes” that come from day-to-day interactions with coworkers and special events with the organization; the new employee barely knows where the bathroom is!
Training a new employee is much more than just showing someone where the files are saved and how to process reports. It’s an opportunity to welcome a new person into the fold and show them the best of your organization: to demonstrate the knowledge and experience of your team members and to showcase the bond that those people have when they’re interacting with each other and doing their jobs.
Bless Katy’s friends for filling her in on terms that she didn’t know. Yes, they laughed at her, but she laughed right along with them. They formed a bond with each other because her friends took the time to train her!
And when Jorge asked her “Do you know who the Kansas City Royals are?” she replied (in true Katy fashion), “Of course! They are the baseball team that won the… uhh… really, big game…”
Jorge has his work cut out for him…
by Beth | Mar 23, 2016 | Employee Hiring, Selecting Good Candidates
Last month I flew back to Texas to celebrate my grandmother’s 92nd birthday with the whole family. We had a blast! My favorite part of the weekend was the serendipitous hour-long conversation that she and I shared at breakfast.
My grandmother made her famous pancakes and little sausages on Saturday morning. My family eagerly poured into seats around her kitchen table to enjoy the best pancakes in the world. As luck would have it, I slept a little late and was the last one at the table. She sat down with a cup of coffee and we had one of the best conversations we have ever had.
She is articulate, smart, witty and resourceful. She texts friends and family from her iPhone, she is active on Facebook, and she could write a textbook on how to respond to anyone in a sticky situation. She walks every morning and volunteers with her church. She lives by herself, cooks lunch for several of her children most days of the week and drives herself to the grocery store to shop.
At age 92, she remains relevant. I am lucky to have her in my life.
Virginia Ann (“V.A.”) Rawlins Littleton is a class act, possesses excellent customer service skills and knows how to give advice in a way that is easy to accept. If she were a candidate I was interviewing for a position, I’d hire her in a heartbeat.
The next time you begin a job search, please keep in mind that age means nothing when you are looking for the right candidate. There is ALWAYS an exception to every stereotype out there, and V.A. Littleton is not only that exception… but simply, and in all ways, exceptional.
by Beth | Mar 9, 2016 | Employee Hiring, Updating Position Criteria
A few years ago, my daughter came home with Harley, a fish that she saved from certain death in her science class experiment. Reviewing the saga of Harley in a Fish Bowl and Harley in a Fish Bowl continued gave me a great reminder about the power of investing in your employees. I am sad to report that Harley is now swimming in the fish bowl in the sky after a long, productive life at the Smith house… May he rest in peace.
After the fish bowl was thoroughly drained and cleaned, it sat on our kitchen counter for a few weeks. Finally, I said, “Let’s get rid of the fish bowl. There is no reason to have it without a fish in it.” My family’s response was noncommittal, so the fish bowl continued to sit on the kitchen counter. I tried again asking, “Should we move the fish bowl?” Still no response. Then, recently out of the blue, Randy says to Katy, “Let’s go get a fish.” She screamed “YES!” and they scurried out of the house. One hour later, we had Coby, short for cobalt, a blue betta who is now swimming in the fish bowl on the counter.
All too often, we may need to quickly remove an employee. We tell ourselves that we HAVE to have that desk filled ASAP, and we frantically start looking for a butt for that seat. This can (and often does) lead to poor hiring decisions. To find the A-list employee that is ideal for the position, there must be space between the old employee that left and the new one that is coming in; the fish bowl must remain empty for a period of time. Don’t rush into anything new until you are ready. Take the time to contemplate and explore the options: Maybe you don’t need that position any more, or maybe that position should morph into something else. Or maybe, just maybe, it is time to hire the absolute BEST employee EVER! When you give it space and time, you and your team get the opportunity to review the job description, determine the ideal candidate… and only THEN begin to search for the next employee.
This newsletter is dedicated to Harley, who provided hours of entertainment and fodder for my most read blogs. RIP Harley!
