7/16/2013 1:43:00 AM
HEADLINES
Interview questions to draw out real responses from a job applicant: “What was your boss’s name? How do you spell that? What was it like working with him/her? What will he/she say were your biggest strengths? Areas for improvement?”
Geoff Smart, who has a PhD in interviewing, spoke to the National Fastener Distributors Association on “Who: The A Method for Hiring Workshop.”
“Hiring mistakes are your #1 problem,” Smart told the NFDA meeting in Chicago. “On average, managers make hiring mistakes 50% of the time, and each mistake costs 15 times the person’s base salary.”
Smart touted his “A Method” for hiring as improving hiring success 50% to 90%.
At the beginning of the process create a “scorecard” for the role with specifics. For example the role of “General Manager” would include a goal of growing the division from $200 million to $400 million and “build a team composed of 90% or more A Players within the next three years.”
Smart emphasized that the “outcomes must have measurable numbers.”
Early in the process make a list of 10 people you can ask for referrals to hire. Consider offering employees a referral bounty.
Smart’s “A Method” has four parts:
1. Scorecard documenting what you want a new hire to accomplish in the role.
2. A source for generating a flow of the right candidates.
3. Select through structured interviews gathering relevant facts about a person to rate a scorecard and make a hiring decision.
4. Sell the job to persuade candidate to join your company.
By asking for the name and spelling of the boss, it tells the applicant there will be a reference check.
• Please give me some examples.
• Write numbers down.
• If you show curiosity, “they will tell you things,” Smart finds. You show “intense curiosity” with leading questions. “Ask and then be quiet.”
In contrast, if you appear judgmental, “they will clam up.”
• Avoid “hypothetical questions in an interview to be “fooled less often,” Smart advised.
• Watch body language.
Reference Checks
• In checking references, start by asking, “In what context did you work with the person?”
“What were the person’s biggest strengths? Please give examples.
“What were some of the person’s biggest areas for improvement back then?” Ask for examples.
“How would you rate their overall performance (1-10)?”
“The person mentioned that they struggled in that job with :_. Tell me more about that.”
• Generally applicants should have spent at least two years at previous jobs. “If they skip around there is a problem.”
• How will the applicant fit in? Use multiple interviews or interviewers.
The 5Fs of Selling the Job to the Candidate
Fit – In convincing the top candidate to take the job, explain how the match is a “fit” of the company’s vision, needs and culture with the candidate’s goals, strengths and values. “Here is where we are going as a company and here is how you fit in.”
Family – Consider the candidate’s family situation and ask, “What can we do to make this job change as easy as possible for your family?”
Freedom – Autonomy for new employee to make decisions.
Fortune – “Here’s what you can make if you accomplish your objectives.”
Fun – Describe the work environment and personal relationships. ©2013 GlobalFastenerNews.com
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