Abraham Maslow, SPIN Selling, and Recruiting

Fri, 20 Jun 2008 12:00:00 -0800

Understanding human behavior can help you recruit more passive candidates.

When filling a job order, most recruiters search through virtual stacks of resumes hoping one stands out, matching most of the skills and experiences listed on the job description. When calling a person, the recruiter attempts to gain this same information by first describing the job and then asking the person to describe his or her background. If there's a fit, the selling process begins.

Are You Suffering from Over-Sourcing Syndrome?

Fri, 28 Mar 2008 12:00:00 -0800

O•ver sourc•ing syn•drome: the need to find more candidates than needed caused by inappropriately eliminating the good candidates you already have.

How to Interview Top Performers

Fri, 14 Mar 2008 12:00:00 -0800

Top people cannot be interviewed the same way as everyone else. Although most recruiters and hiring managers know this, few know how to do it. It's not about selling the job, charming the person, and over-talking. It's about using the interview to get the candidate to sell you.

10 Steps to Increase Interviewing Accuracy into the 90% Range

Fri, 30 Nov 2007 12:00:00 -0800

There are two huge problems when hiring is viewed as an end-to-end process. The first one involves sourcing. Most companies are terrible when it comes to advertising, recruiting, and attracting the best. Of course, as a recruiter, how I make my money is by finding top people that others can't. And, in today's Internet age, this is actually quite easy. However, this is a big waste of time if you or your hiring managers don't know how to accurately assess candidate competency.

The Official Rules for Hiring Top Talent

Wed, 26 Sep 2007 10:27:46 -0800

Every sport has rules, even pickup games. We even have rules for our kids - when they can watch TV, play video games, go to bed, etc. Business has rules for just about everything - important things like capital expenditures, accounting, SEC reporting, and product design and testing; or less important things like how to dress, when to come to work, how to earn vacation, and how to fill in expense reports. What's surprising is there aren't any rules for what's supposedly the most important thing a company needs to do - hire and retain top talent.

Unmasking the Well-Prepared Candidate

Fri, 17 Aug 2007 12:05:00 -0800

It's back-to-school week here in Colorado, so my eight children are beginning yet another year of school. It's always interesting to me to gauge their reactions to their new teachers. They form their impressions very early, and some of those impressions are negative. Last night my son told me about his new sixth grade math teacher from you-know-where. "Oh dad, she is absolutely awful! She's extremely strict, she doesn't allow talking in class, and home work has to be in on time. If it's a minute late you get zero credit. She's way too serious, no fun, and she's the hardest, worst teacher in the school. Can you help me transfer out of her class?" We've all had teachers like this one, but what's interesting to me is that as you go through this process over and over with so many kids, you realize that the first day of school is very much contrived. It's a huge multi-act play. Every teacher has on his/her game face. Some try to scare the kids into submission while others try to win the students over by being open and friendly. Each has their own strategy and it's all carefully orchestrated to set the stage for the coming year. In two or three weeks once the impact of the teachers' "first day of school" speeches wear off, I'll start to get the "real" scoop. Sometimes the toughest teacher becomes my child's favorite. What I really care about is simply their ability to teach my children their subjects well.

How to Assess Potential and Promotability

Thu, 09 Aug 2007 08:54:21 -0800

In a recent email I paraphrased the following quote. My son had sent it to me in regards to training and evaluating officers in the military. He thought it would be useful in assessing managers, executives, and leaders. It's been attributed to a variety of different people, and I can't seem to find the originator, so I apologize for not giving the true author official credit.

Amateurs think tactics.
Professionals think logistics, planning and strategy.
Reformers think staff selection, retention and team development.

Hot Tip #24 - These Six Techniques Can Improve Your Productivity by 100%!

Tue, 07 Aug 2007 08:52:30 -0800

Most recruiters waste too much time doing unnecessary work. The solution is not reducing your req load, it's cutting your sendouts/hire in half. This will increase your productivity by 100%. In the process you'll start hiring more people who are top performers, but not great interviewers, and you'll stop hiring people who are great interviewers, but not top performers. Here's how to pull off this amazing feat:

Hot Tip #16 - Six Simple Ways to Increase Interviewing Accuracy

Tue, 12 Jun 2007 05:29:25 -0800

Make sure everyone who has a vote knows the job. If an interviewer isn't sure of the real job, he'll overvalue his intuition, his perception of the job, and the candidate's first impression and communication skills to make the assessment. As a result the assessment will be about 50% accurate for a yes vote, and a bit worse on the no vote side. Interviewers need to know real job needs in order to have a chance of making the right hiring decision. I won't take an assignment unless everyone on the hiring team knows what the person taking the job needs to do to be successful. Neither should you. Preparing a performance profile with the hiring team will help.

Being a Good Interviewer is More About Recruiting than Selection

Fri, 08 Jun 2007 12:00:00 -0800

I learned to become a better interviewer than my clients for only one reason: to prevent good candidates from being excluded for bad reasons. Too many of my clients were assessing candidates improperly, either overvaluing first impressions or using some narrow range of skills to determine competency.

The Elements of Applicant Control

Fri, 25 May 2007 12:00:00 -0800

On January 3, 1978, I became a contingency recruiter working for a small, highly regarded, two-person search firm (I was number three). This was a pretty odd job to take at the time, since I voluntarily left my spot as VP and GM for a 300-person automotive parts manufacturing company. Somehow, working 80 hours per week didn't seem worth it.

Speed Kills

Fri, 27 Apr 2007 12:00:00 -0800

There is no longer a hidden job market. The line between active and passive candidates is blurring. Turnover is on the rise. Workforce mobility is increasing. It's easy to look for a new job, apply, and be interviewed from your desktop. The barriers to entry and exit are falling.

Anatomy of a Bad Hire

Fri, 19 Jan 2007 11:51:08 -0800

When you really think about it, there are only two major hiring mistakes that companies make on an ongoing basis.

Stop Making Excuses!

Fri, 01 Dec 2006 12:00:00 -0800

The entire October 30, 2006, edition of Fortune was devoted to the subject of greatness. The primary conclusion drawn from the numerous articles on the topic is that greatness is achieved through hard work in combination with continuous self-improvement. Talent or ability alone is never enough.

To measure a candidate, I use a form (the 10-Factor Candidate Assessment template) with a 1-5 scale using 10 strong predictors of on-the-job success. Surprisingly, the scale isn't much different from the one described in the Fortune articles.

The following is a quick summary of this ranking, which is a system that you can apply to measure candidate quality and determine whether you are a great recruiter.

How to Hire Better Salespeople

Fri, 25 Aug 2006 12:00:00 -0800

Let's start this article with two BHAGs (Big, Hairy, Audacious Goals). The first one: reduce turnover of all newly hired sales people by 50%. The second one: reduce the time to their achieving quota by half. These goals are in the bag if you do these three things before you hire another salesperson: