by Beth | Sep 21, 2016 | Employee Hiring, Interview Process, Selecting Good Candidates
When I founded A-list Interviews over a decade ago, one of the first books I read was Martin Yate’s “Hiring The Best”, which describes the interviewing process as a “dirty secret” in business. He observed that we promote people within our organizations, ask them to assemble and manage teams, and then hold them accountable to the performance of that team without actually giving them the proper skills to be successful. We invest in skills training for goal achievement and leadership, yet rarely do we invest in their ability to conduct effective interviews.
So why after 20+ years is this still a dirty secret? Why haven’t we had a global conversation about interviewing?
People mistakenly believe that conducting an interview is an easy process that comes naturally. “It is something that we feel we are expected to know, or that comes with experience. Couple that feeling with the average ego and you get ‘It’s easy enough to interview; I know a good one when I see one; It’s sort of a gut feel,’” states Martin Yate. Sadly, statistics do not support that assertion. According to Peter Drucker, 2/3 of all hiring decisions are found to be a mistake within the year. That is a 66% failure rate.
Here is the bottom line: successfully interviewing candidates is not a process based on intuition, instinct, gut feel or judgment. It is a skill set like any other, and it can be taught. How do I know this? Because of my dirty secret: I made an exceptionally bad hire who made national news in 2002. In dealing with the aftermath, I was forced to put my ego aside and admit that even though I thought I knew how to hire effectively, it was obvious that I needed a better process. I launched an enormous research project to figure out how to interview people effectively for the best hire, which was the beginning of A-list Interviews. Don’t continue to carry around your dirty secret. The only way to learn and grow is to admit what you don’t know and then ask for help. Let me teach you how to interview people, so that you and your company can be hugely successful!
by Beth | Aug 3, 2016 | Company Culture, Employee Retention, Lifestyle, Onboarding, Selecting Good Candidates
This past week I met with a client whose business is in a period of rapid growth. His business has grown so fast over the last 6 months that his brand new office space (occupied for only a year) is suddenly too small. At the same time, he came across an ideal employee that he just had to hire. While he had already renegotiated a deal with his landlord to add more square footage in the near future, he had a big problem for the present:
Where was the new employee going to work?
Every office was full. The main room had been reconfigured several times and there was no way to squeeze in another desk. Even the conference room had a contract employee using it.
When I asked the client where they ended up locating the new employee, he grinned.
“We put him at the table in the break room.”
Sound crazy? Actually, it may have been the best place possible to put a new employee.
Usually a new employee’s first day consists of filling out paperwork, reading an employee handbook filled with dos and don’ts, parking rules and termination policies, and then put at a desk with little or no agenda. Other employees are busy trying to complete their own work and they don’t normally have the time to approach a new person on their team. While the onboarding process is a necessary one, it is typically not a very friendly one for the new hire.
Locate that same new hire in the break room and the situation takes on an entirely different tone. While people are taking a break, they are generally more relaxed and more social. They have a moment to chat while the coffeemaker is brewing; more importantly, they don’t need to come up with a reason to seek out and approach the new employee – they’re right here!
In this case, the new employee was greeted with enthusiasm every time someone walked in to get a cup of coffee. He was included in “water cooler” talk several times a day, and he was incorporated into the company culture quickly and seamlessly.
“This is the best place I have ever worked!” the new employee exclaimed.
If you’re looking to break away from the traditional onboarding process while minimizing the time it takes to familiarize new hires with your company’s culture, perhaps the break room is the “break” you’re looking for!
by Beth | Jun 29, 2016 | Adventures in Interviewing, Employee Hiring, Selecting Good Candidates
You are a badass!
This is the title of the latest book that I have read by Jen Sincero, and every time I read it, pick it up or look at it, I think of you.
I know that right now you are struggling to find the best employees that you can possibly find and it is hard work! Slogging through resumes, interviewing candidates and trying to find the time to do your own job on top of that… and pulling your hair out at the difficulty of the process. After a really bad day of interviewing (or more than one) you wonder, “Where are all of the good people?” You really want to give up and just hire someone already! 
I want you to keep your chin up, because you are a badass. You deserve to have to best of the best, and those people are coming. Get out your Ideal Candidate List and read over it again. Get in touch with how AMAZING it is going to be when these people finally get here. When they do, hang onto your hat… you will be floored at the difference they make and you will be thankful that you held your ground and didn’t give in to the temptation to just fill an empty chair with whomever.
In the meantime, when you have a lousy day, look back at how far you have come! Look at the changes that you have already made and what a difference it has made on your organization and your life.
Keep rocking it, you badass, you!
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.
