This week, I wanted to share some success numbers with you. I have a client, MEP Engineering, who I have worked with for some time. They have embraced A-list Interviews and the Response Analysis System™ wholeheartedly. In fact, in their latest newsletter, they highlighted their hiring process as one of the reasons their firm has been so successful this year. This graphic is their own, featuring their statistics from 2016:
In using A-list Interviews’ 3 Step Interview Process, they’ve been able to efficiently screen an average of 50 candidates for each offer they make. They’ve achieved a 21% growth rate in 2016; whereas this source reports the average employee growth rate for their industry is 3.5%. In addition, while the average staff turnover rate for their industry is 13.3%, their turnover rate is 1%.
Figures like that show a rapidly expanding organization whose hiring process not only keeps pace with increasing demand, but is finely tuned to identify quality candidates.
That’s what success looks like.
Congratulations to MEP Engineering on your tremendous growth! It’s been a pleasure to continue working with you. May 2017 be just as prosperous and successful!
You can’t have what you want unless you know what it is… and nowhere is this concept more important than in your hiring process. Here, I discuss just what that looks like, and the difference that makes:
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!
Phyllis Francis represented the United States in the 400 meter race, and she completed her semi-final looking very relaxed. She won both her first round heat and her semifinal heat easily with a time of 50.58 seconds and 50.31 seconds, respectively. When the reporter asked her what she was thinking about during one of the races, she talked about listening to the advice of her coach who said, “Maintain your form and go for the win.”
That concept is deceptively simple, and yet so vitally important in sports… and in hiring as well.
Often, clients want to quit the hiring process before we have completed it. They are tired of interviewing and they just want to hire someone – anyone! The temptation to just stop and say “good enough” is overwhelming!
It is the final portion of the race that is the hardest to accomplish, and yet the most important: The last 5 pounds to lose; the last 10% of rehab on an injury; the last few inches to cross the finish line. “That last interview with yet another candidate when you are totally frustrated” falls into that category. Staying focused on your strategy and following through all the way to the end is the path to victory.
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.
Traditionally in January, people start thinking about cleaning house, both literally and figuratively. Articles pop up online about how to deep clean your dishwasher (is that a thing?!), how often to wash your comforter and, of course, a myriad of content about how to be a better self in the New Year. At our house, we are cleaning out closets, attacking dust mites with a vengeance, and even getting the carpets cleaned. We have replaced pillows, bought new rugs for the hallway, and scrubbed the floor tile until it shines! Personally, we want to clean out the old to make room for the new!
In addition, we are also helping companies’ clean house at work. Now is the time that we often hear from organizations who want to ramp up during the next few months and know that staffing will be critical. Along with replacing the last year’s files with this year’s in the filing cabinet, many companies also begin to hire for open and new positions. The downfall is that we often do not move into a new space with new tools. We read the article on deep cleaning the dishwasher, then fail to make the steps to actually clean it. We examine the people on our teams and clearly see improvements, yet we fail to move into action. This year, we encourage you to review your interview and hiring process. Revamp job descriptions and determine ideal profiles for your positions.
The power of refreshment is invigorating as we are often making space for something new. It just feels so good to clean up! Our mantra has always been that you can’t move forward until you clean up the past, and you can’t create something new until you make room for it.
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 
Phyllis Francis represented the United States in the 400 meter race, and she completed her semi-final looking very relaxed. She won both her first round heat and her semifinal heat easily with a time of 50.58 seconds and 50.31 seconds, respectively. When the reporter asked her what she was thinking about during one of the races, she talked about listening to the advice of her coach who said, “Maintain your form and go for the win.”
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.)
