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Volume III, Issue 7 November, 2001
Free monthly newsletter -
Keeps you updated on the most advanced strategies for
recruiting, hiring, and employee retention.
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IN THIS ISSUE
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1. Welcome from the Publisher
***QUOTE OF THE MONTH***
2. Peeling the Onion in Selection Interviewing
3. The News Digest
4. This Month's Web Site Pick
5. Classified Ads
**Resources**
6. Subscription Management
7. Contact Information
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1. Welcome from the Publisher
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Welcome to this month's issue of Recruit2Hire TidBits!
This month's article is one that I have picked up during
my years of recruiting - so long ago that I don't recall
where I got it! It is a great example of how you can
"Peel the Onion" in interviews to make sure that you
hire the person who can DO the job, and not just because
they have had the title and some of the responsibilities
in their previous jobs.
In the resources section, I have included an excerpt
from an article by Jeffrey Gitomer that all the Sales
folks in the group should love. Don't you just LOVE
cold calling? *smile*
Speaking of you Sales folks - if you want to keep
an eye on what sales jobs are available out there,
my salesjobaday.com service will go
live on December 3rd. Sign up for your 30 day free
trial to get new sales jobs sent to your cell phone.
Enjoy!
Terri
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QUOTE OF THE MONTH
Many of life's failures are people who did not realize
how close they were to success when they gave up.
~Thomas A. Edison~ (1847 - 1931)
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2. Peeling the Onion in Selection Interviewing
Unable to locate who authored this - please tell me if
you know so credit can be given!
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What do onions have to do with interviewing? The interview
process can be compared to peeling an onion. Before using
an onion you have to take off the brown or wilted layers
until it is ready for use. Interviewing should be similar
in that you ask questions to get below the surface
statements, the "I'm Great" statements, the "this is what
they want to hear" statements, until you've got the
evidence you need to make a hiring decision. Too often
interviewers are persuaded that a candidate will be a
good hire by what Lou Adler calls the 4 A's: articulate,
affable, attractive and assertive. The candidate presents
him or herself well and exhibits great "interview
behavior", but they can't do the job once hired.
One of the problems with interviewing is that managers
are seldom trained in how to interview. Thus, it is easy
to fall under the spell of the 4 A's. Even if they are
trained they are not usually trained to peel the onion!
First: some fundamentals
This article is only about a specific interviewing
technique. There are many ways of improving the usually
dismal success rate of selection interviewing. There
should be a job analysis or a real clear job
description so that one knows what the essential
knowledge, skills and abilities are that a successful
performer in the open job should have. There should be
a structured interview with behavioral questions.
(Behavioral questions are those that ask what a
candidate did, not how he or she feels, or thinks.)
More than one person should interview the candidate.
These interviewers should take and compare notes about
the candidate. If applicable to the job in question,
the candidate should be asked to show examples of
previous work e.g., reports, proposals, completed
projects etc. Also, if appropriate, the candidate
should be asked to perform a sample job task.
(If asked to do this, one must be careful to
ensure that the work sample is truly a representative
sample of work to be performed and is presented
and evaluated in a uniform fashion.) Finally, if
possible, the candidate should be given a realistic
job preview (allowed to see someone performing the
job in question). Whew, that seems like a lot to go
through. It is, although some of the steps are not
appropriate for all jobs. Consider what is at stake.
You are making a multi-year decision. A wrong choice
(a bad hire) can cost a year's salary or more when
you consider advertising, staff time, training,
learning-curve delays, lost productivity and the
bottom line effect of hiring and then having to
hire again for the same position.
There's no magic formula to guarantee the perfect
decision, but you can increase the odds in your favor
by probing with your questions. It's not enough to ask
good questions. You need to follow up if you're to
gain the kind of information and evidence of past
performance and success from candidates necessary
to make the right decision.
For example, many interviewers ask candidates,
"What kind of experience do you have?" The candidates
then list various tasks and responsibilities without
giving details. Interviewers often accept this sort
of response without digging deeper. Also, they
sometimes allow a candidate's enthusiasm to substitute
for hard facts. How should you handle the next
interview you conduct?
The example below shows how "peeling the onion" can
help you acquire a truly qualified employee. You need
to look for evidence of past success because the
greatest predictor of future performance is past
performance. You ask questions about a specific
aspect of past performance until you have enough
"evidence" to be able to decide if the candidate is
qualified or has shown an ability to effectively do
what you need the eventual new hire to do.
Peeling The Onion
The candidate is applying for the position of senior
staff engineer, which includes supervisory responsibility
for five engineers, two technical writers, and a clerical
staff person. The interviewer is most interested in
measuring supervisory ability and, with that in mind,
inquires about the candidate's last position.
"I supervised a group of ten data designers, a technical
editor, and two clerks. "Data designers?" asks the
interviewer. The candidate explains that the company
called technical writers "data designers."
So far, we know that the candidate has some supervisory
experience but the interviewer still has no idea of
how experienced the candidate's staff was nor how the
candidate supervised them. Probing (either with direct
questions or through the use of silence) usually
generates more details. In the case here, the candidate
goes on to explain precisely what projects the data
designers handled. Still, the candidate has given no
evidence of specific supervisory skills.
Finally, the interviewer asks point blank, "What were
your supervisory responsibilities?" The candidate's
response is a generic one of giving direction, feedback
and training. (This is the first layer of the onion!)
But there is not enough information to know how the
candidate supervised. When the interviewer asks how
the candidate assigned work, another layer of the onion
is peeled away with this answer: "I would give the
newest assignment to whomever had the lightest
workload-but the most experienced people always got
the most difficult assignments."
This should be a red flag for the interviewer. A
supervisor who uses such narrow criteria for distributing
work may not be effective. Moreover, giving tough
assignments to the most experienced people only keeps
newer staff from gaining much-needed experience, not
to mention making the group too dependent on a small
number of people.
When the interviewer asks about deadlines, the
candidate replies that "…schedules changed constantly
and the staff learned to adapt". So far so good, but
then the interviewer asks, "How did your group react
to this constant change, and what did you do about it?"
Another layer is revealed by the candidate's answer.
"A lot of the staff complained, and some of them began
to procrastinate with their research. I couldn't really
blame them since the priorities and schedules were
always changing, but I had to try to keep everyone happy
so that the work was done within a reasonable time. I
felt it helped if they could see me complaining to my
boss about schedules."
Another potential drawback with the candidate is
revealed. Instead of motivating his staff to do a top
quality job despite deadline changes (you never would
know when the deadline was the real one), the candidate
"bought into" the group's unhappiness and complained to
the "Boss" rather than keeping the work on schedule.
This is decidedly negative evidence of supervisory
skill. Further questions would reveal more about what
the candidate did in response to specific supervisory
challenges. But if the evidence were like the ones
above, the candidate would not have the supervisory
skill that is needed for the job.
Depending on the candidate's technical expertise and
willingness and ability to learn, he might have some
potential. But if the interviewer sees another
candidate with the same technical background and
a solid background of effective supervision, there
would be no contest.
You should practice the peeling the onion technique
the next time you are filling a vacancy on your staff.
By probing and listening, you can gain important
insights about candidates that can stop you from
making a costly mistake. Keep "peeling" until you
have a thorough picture of the candidate.
If you are asked to interview and there is little
time to prepare (how often this happens) you can peel
the onion by asking about one specific performance or
task that will be required to achieve the objectives
of the open job, one at a time. For each of them you
should ask :
1. What did you do?
2. Where and when was this?
3. Why did you do it that way?
4. Who else was involved in doing it with you?
5. How did you learn to do it?
6. What difference did YOU make?
7. If you had it to do over what would you do the
same/different?
8. If you had a new person who you were training to do
it, what would you tell them?
9. Who could I call that saw you do it? (You only ask
this about major accomplishments.)
Remember to peel the onion.
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3. News Digest
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Human resources news
Sleepless over stress
IT managers' stress levels in Europe are definitely rising,
but Julia Vowler finds that the increase in stress is not
just because of a struggling economy...
Want more?
News feeds automatically updated daily for your website at
moreover.com
FREE
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***Humor***
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The Big Sale
"How many customers did you serve today?"
the manager asked.
"One."
"Only one."
"How much was the sale?"
"$58,334.00"
Flabbergasted the manager asked him to explain.
The boy said, "First I sold the man a fishhook.
Then I sold him a rod and a reel. Then I asked
him where he was planning to fish, and he replied
down the coast. So I suggested he'd need a boat -
he bought that six-metre motor boat. When he said
his car might not be able to pull it, I took him
to the auto department and sold him a big vehicle."
The amazed boss asked, "You sold all that to a
guy who came in for a fishhook?"
"No," the salesman replied. "He actually came in
for a bottle of aspirin for his wife's migraine.
I told him, 'Your weekend's shot. you should
probably go fishing.'"
Received from Bill's Punch Line.
From the Good Clean Funnies List
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4. This Month's Web Site Pick
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>From Affirmative Action and Associations to Workplace
Issues, this site has a huge list of resources for
Human Resources professionals:
HRToday.com
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5. Classified Ads
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**********RESOURCES************
*******Books******
45 Effective Ways for Hiring Smart! : How to Predict
Winners and Losers in the Incredibly Expensive
People-Reading Game
by Pierre Mornell, Regan Dunnick (Illustrator)
In today's fiercely competitive workplace, people are any
organization's most valuable asset. Whether you are a small
business, not-for-profit, or Fortune 500 company, your
success depends upon hiring the right person the first time,
every time. Why is hiring the right person so important?
Because a mistake can be incredibly expensive-- not to
mention the wasted time and energy, and the emotional toll
that hiring the wrong person can exact....
Visit our bookstore for a list of Recruit2Hire's
Recommended books
******Articles********
There's plenty funny about cold calls
by Jeffrey Gitomer
Here's an e-mail I received -- please read it all
the way -- I promise it's worth it:
Dear Jeffrey, I make anywhere from 60 to 100 calls
a day. Why do I make so many? I am an inside
representative for a software company. My job is
to pre-qualify prospects, searching for a reason
for our company and theirs to speak.
Typical pain analysis stuff. My job is to hit the
ball where the outside sales people can't, find
prospects where they aren't and take a lot of
prospects out of the pipeline.
I, too, am blessed with a job that I have fun with.
I wake up every morning eagerly awaiting what the
day may have in store for me. I, too, goof around
with people all day. In fact, I'd like to share the
following story.
I'm doing a general prospecting campaign, following
up on a mailer that was sent out. During my calls,
I run into someone, a vice president of engineering,
who is clearly having a bad day. The exchange goes
like this:
Me: "Good afternoon, Tom, this is Mike from XYZ
Technology Inc. Do you have a moment to talk?"
Tom: "What are you selling?" (This is gonna be a
tough one.)
Me: "Honestly, Tom, I don't know if I can sell you
anything. I don't know anything about your business,
and I'm hoping to just open up dialogue at this
point in time. Should it make any sense..."
Tom: "Look, I don't have time to do this little
routine with you. Tell me what you got." (I can tell
he's gonna be a bully.)
Me: "If there's a better time to call you..."
Tom: "Nope. What is it you're selling." (Now he's
going to rush me, trying to control the call's
tempo.)
Me: (At this point, I'm starting to get frustrated
and wanting out of this call. I go into "wimp" mode
and just want the call over.) "Tom, I work for a
solution provider that provides manufacturers like
you with industry CAD/CAM/CAE tools. Maybe you've
heard of our flagship product?"
Tom: "Oh yeah, you guys sent me that flyer.
(Uh-oh, here it comes.) Look, I'm not interested in
your company, your products, anything. You got me?
Take me off your mailing list, and stop calling, OK?!"
I'm obviously somewhat relieved but at the same time
just a little angry at why this guy is pounding on me.
I'm doing exactly what he's doing today -- my job.
And believe me, I'm sure he wouldn't be all that happy
if someone treated him or his salespeople that way.
Now it's personal. I'm going to get Something
from this call.
Me: "Tom, fair enough. I won't bother you anymore.
I'm sure you've got everything you need to handle the
design, manufacturing and analysis problems that
come up at your company. But before I go, can I ask
you one question?"
Tom: "What?"
Me: "What do you think of my tie?"
Tom: "What?! Your tie?!"
Me: "Yeah. My tie."
Tom: "What the hell kind of question is that? How do
I know what your tie looks like? I can't even see it?!"
you have to click here to read the rest!
Don't want to get too carried away on copyrights *smile*
There's a whole list of Jeffrey Gitomer's articles in the
left margin there - great stuff! And funny too :)
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7. Subscription Management
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8. Contact Information
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Terri Robinson, President Robinson & Associates
Connecting You with the Right Sales Pro for Your Sales Job
http://www.recruit2hire.com/ Telephone: (602) 233-8410
Phoenix, AZ E-mail: mailto:terri-robinson@recruit2hire.com
Member of LEARNING FOUNTAIN NETWORK
*Excellence * Honesty * Ethics
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ISSN: 1528-3240
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All contents Copyright (c)2001 Robinson & Associates. except
where indicated otherwise. All rights reserved worldwide.
Reprint only with express permission from copyright
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owners. All contents provided as is. No express or implied
income claims made herein -- your business success is always
dependent on many factors, including your own abilities.
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