No BS Hiring Advice

No B. S. Hiring Advice: A Revealing Question to Ask

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Jeff Altman, The Big Game Hunter offers a very revealing question you should ask the next person you interview.

 

Jeff Altman, The Big Game Hunter has been a recruiter for more than 40 years.

Follow him at the Big Game Hunter, Inc. on LinkedIn for more articles, videos and podcasts than what are offered here and jobs he is recruiting for.

Visit my website, http://www.TheBigGameHunter.us to sign up for a complimentary subscription to No B.S. Hiring Advice Ezine, pay what you want for my books and guides to job hunting and watch hundreds of other videos about job hunting and hiring.

Connect with me on LinkedIn.

Subscribe to TheBigGameHunterTV on YouTube for advice about job hunting and hiring. Like videos, share and comment.

Listen to Job Search Radio, No B. S. Job Search Advice Radio and No B. S. Hiring Advice Radio in iTunes and other podcast directories and apps.

No B. S. Hiring Advice: Selling Isn’t Just for Sales People

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Jeff Altman, The Big Game Hunter encourages you to sell people on the job and your opportunity when you interview people.

 

Jeff Altman, The Big Game Hunter has been a recruiter for more than 40 years.

Follow him at the Big Game Hunter, Inc. on LinkedIn for more articles, videos and podcasts than what are offered here and jobs he is recruiting for.

Pay what you want for his books and guides to job hunting.

Sign up for a complimentary subscription to No B.S. Job Search Advice at TheBigGameHunter.us.

Connect with me on LinkedIn.

Trying to hire someone? Email me at JeffAltman@TheBigGameHunter.us.

Subscribe to TheBigGameHunterTV on YouTube for advice about job hunting and hiring. Like videos, share and comment.

Listen to Job Search Radio, No B. S. Job Search Advice Radio and No B. S. Hiring Advice Radio in iTunes and other podcast directories and apps.

Do you need more in-depth coaching? Join my Coaching  program.

Want to ask me a question via email, chat,  phone or video? Reach me via LivePerson | PrestoExperts | or Google Helpouts

No B. S. Hiring Advice: Recruiting and Hiring SLA’s

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Hiring staff doesn’t have to be hard, difficult, painful, exhausting or take so long.


For most organizations, the systems you have in place do not facilitate hiring well-enough but does a great job of facilitating “applicant tracking.”


On this show, Jeff Altman, The Big Game Hunter discusses a technique of working with hiring managers to help them act with their own interest in mind.

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Jeff Altman, The Big Game Hunter has been a recruiter for more than 40 years.

Follow him at the Big Game Hunter, Inc. on LinkedIn for more articles, videos and podcasts than what are offered here and jobs he is recruiting for.

Pay what you want for his books and guides to job hunting.

Sign up for a complimentary subscription to No B.S. Hiring Advice Ezine at  TheBigGameHunter.us.

Connect with me on LinkedIn.

Trying to hire someone? Email me at JeffAltman@TheBigGameHunter.us.

Subscribe to TheBigGameHunterTV on YouTube for advice about job hunting and hiring. Like videos, share and comment.

Listen to Job Search Radio, No B. S. Job Search Advice Radio and No B. S. Hiring Advice Radio in iTunes and other podcast directories and apps.

This is a simulcast of his podcast on BlogTalkRadio, “No B. S. Hiring Advice Radio.”

The Price of a Bad Decision

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About half of new hires tend to be average to poor performers . . . which suggests the accuracy that goes into decision making is really no better than flipping a coin. Heads you win. Tails you lose.

There are many obvious costs to a bad decision to hire someone:

The time to create an ad,
The cost of placing an ad
The time and lost opportunity cost of screening resumes
The time and lost opportunity cost to develop a short list of candidates
To interview applicants
To screen-out unqualified people who might never use your company’s product or service because you rejected them
To check references
To make an offer to the winner
Who may turn down your offer for many different reasons

But what about the costs when a mediocre performer is on board?

Do you measure those? Can you measure those in lost time and opportunity. Do you track the performance of new hires for at least two years to see if they stay in your employment that long, review the decision making that went into the hire at the time so that you can do an assessment after the failure where the decisioning failed to identify a problem?

You see, most of us are influenced by appearance. We know that because we all learn the lesson of dressing nicely for an interview or business meeting so we know appearance impacts the hire, even when a superior candidate who may not be able to afford to get their hair cut or styled or buy a new outfit or suit is rejected. It’s why newspapers discuss wardrobe, hairstyle and speaking manner of candidates for President instead of substantive issues.

The difference between an extraordinary, good, average, poor and atrocious hire can be enormous.

To not review successes and breakdowns after a failure or triumph is a mistake too few organizations make.

 

 
© 2008 all rights reserved.

Get Your Recruiting Process Tightened NOW!

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It is very easy to develop bad habits. I exercise at least four days a week, running more than three miles on a treadmill as part of my routine but often eat too much because I have developed a bad habit.

During slow economic times when less hiring is going on, the bad habit that often occurs are bad manners and difficulty making a decision.

For example, someone told me a story of being kept waiting for a half hour . . . that’s not so bad except the interviewer’s office was within site of the applicant who could see him reading a newspaper.

When the receptionist explained that Mr. So and So was on a conference call, a message was sent to the applicant about what is tolerated by this employer as being acceptable behavior.

Difficulty making a decision is another form of rudeness.

If you are not sure, ask questions until you are. If you remain unsure, then reject and find someone for whom you can be sure.

Be clear with job applicants that they have not done a sufficient job of representing their skills as being sufficient and be prepared to answer the question, “Where was the deficient as far as you are concerned?”

Continuing to hold on to applicants as being under consideration when the really aren’t offers hope when none should exist and fails to give the manager the opportunity to become clearer about what they are really looking for.

Finally, it should go without saying that managers should be alert as to how latent bias may influence their decision-making and be encouraged to correct it before an activist administration makes an example of you and your company

 

© 2009 all rights reserved.

The Prime Directive

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Does Your Company’s HR Function Lead or Fail to Lead?

Businessweek carried a terrific column from Jack and Suzy Welsh entitled, “So Many CEO’s Get This Wrong” that describes how HR should function and the mistakes that corporate HR makes. They later re-purposed it for LinkedIn.

Responding to a question that points out the HR is often felt in a negative way vs. The Welsh’s claim that it is the most powerful part of any organization, they acknowledge that HR is often marginalized in organizations into the people who issue the newsletter, plan the company picnic or, at the other extreme, “the cloak-and-dagger society.”

They then call for HR to be “the killer app” within a company but acknowledge it seldom is, laying the blame squarely upon the CEO who does not put HR at the table the same way as the CFO.

They recount a story of speaking to 5000 HR executives in Mexico City and asking how many of their organizations were on the same footing as the CFO and getting fewer than 50 hands to go up. They then ask whether the Boston Red Sox would be better run by the CFO or the Director of Player Personnel (as a Yankee fan, I encourage the Red Sox to try the Welsh’s suggestion and report back in a decade or two).

So what do they suggest?

Part pastor (who can hear all sins and complaints without recrimination) and part parent (loving and caring but giving it to you straight when you get off track), they are men and women with stature and substance.

Their job is not to make people warm and fuzzy. The job is to create ways to motivate and retain people; they create review and appraisal systems that let’s people know where they stand and monitor it with the rigor that is invested in SOX compliance. Third of all, they need to be able to confront charged relationships like those with unions, people no longer delivering the goods, or those with egos as large as all outdoors but who have stopped growing.

They exhort CEO’s to elevate HR to the same level of professionalism as is expected of their CFO’s while acknowledging that few organizations are currently pointed in this direction. They ask, “. Since people are the whole game, what could be more important?”

So, what’s the focus of your work? Is it attracting and retaining great people? What are you doing to put systems in place that motivate, inspire and reward (yes, reward) talent. You know, the people you say are at the crux of the organization and its achievements and success.

And what are you doing to support people when they stop growing or stop performing. How do you get them on track or get them out?

© 2010 all rights reserved.

“Big Time Rush,” “Hannah Montana,” “iCarly” and Recruiting for New Hires

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You Can Learn a Lot About Human Nature By Watching TV

As I write this, my son is almost nine and a half and he doesn’t watch a lot of tv. When he does, he watches four shows–“reruns of “Golden Girls,” the old tv series about older women living communally in retirement (he thinks they are hysterical plus they refer to sex on occasion). “Hannah Montana,” “iCarly,” and “Big Time Rush.”

Putting aside the first show where the theme is “generally, it’s OK to get old if you have friends around,” the other three are typical shows for his age group (he is what is referred to as “a tween”), these are shows that basically about kids a little older than he is who become famous (Hannah Montana has a secret life as a rock star, iCarly has a successful web show, “Big Time Rush” is the latest incarnation of boys becoming rock stars even though there are obstacles among the adults).

Although neither job hunting or life is like a tv show (almost every problem on a sitcom is solved in 30 minutes or on a dramatic series in 60), people want to feel good about themselves. They want to feel like winners.

I am not saying that you should avoid an ordeal where they are evaluated and assessed . . . a job offer without an ordeal will make them wonder if there is something wrong with the job.

You can, however, make someone feel great when you make them an offer.

Imagine getting this call:

“Rama, this is Jeff Altman from X Company. Do you have a few minutes? Terrific. Rama, I just want you to know that we have evaluated approximately 247 resumes for this job, phone interviewed 42 of them, personally met with 8 very talented people, and then invited three back for a final round.

“Rama, we spoke to some terrific people along the way. People who did (this or that) for a competitor; someone who led a team of y for GHIJK Corp who we were really impressed with.

“Rama, I am calling to tell you that having narrowed the field down to those final three, you and two others, after a careful and dificult evaluation we have decided (dramatic pause) we would like to hire you! CONGRATULATIONS!”

After hearing that, Rama will be thrilled because he knows the ordeal he went through beyond his first hand experience and that he is the chosen one.

Now, if Rama develops a swelled head and starts to debate his value as you extend the dollar part of the offer, feel free to tell him, “Rama, I want you to understand that, like you and everyone, we have a budget AND we are not so dissatisfied with our second choice that we could not switch to her if you act unreasonably. You are our first choice, but we will be extremely happy with our second choice if you don’t want to accept this offer.”

“Please get back to us tomorrow morning by 10 AM with your decision. We need to fill this job and would like it to be you but will fill it with another exceptional person if you are unwilling to accept the offer as it is.”

Let them feel like a star for a moment, just like Hannah Montana, iCarly and Big Time Rush . . .but don’t put up with any nonsense if stardom goes to their head.

© 2010 all rights reserved.

Phone Interviews: What Are You Trying to Accomplish?

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As I listen to employers talk about phone interviews, I see that firms are over-reaching with what they are attempting to accomplish with this initial telephone call. It seems like so many firms are making judgments about candidates that may leave them exposed to accusations of bias–poor oral communications for a person with a modest accent yet in a role for which oral communications are of modest importance can leave a firm open to attack.

What a telephone interview is designed to do well is test basic attitudes, skills competence and candidate maturity and reasonableness.

Here are questions that you can ask to do basic assessments of suitability:

Can you tell me a little about yourself?

What made you apply for this position?

How many years of experience do you have with _____?

What are the major responsibilities you perform in your current or most recent position?

Why are you considering leaving your current position?

What do you know about this company/position?

What is the most important thing you’re looking for in a company/job?

What is the most significant accomplishment you have made in your career?

What is your greatest weakness/strength?

How well do you handle stress? Where do you see yourself in five years?

Ask three to five basic questions designed to assess their actual skills

When would you be available to start? What are your salary expectations? Do you have any questions for me?

What you are listening for is intelligence, poise and maturity.

If someone offers immature answers to these questions, reject them.

If they cannot answer the three to five concrete skills questions well, reject them.

If they have not had the breadth of responsibility that leaves you comfortable, reject them.

Otherwise, plan on meeting with them and others to investigate further.

 

 

© 2009 all rights reserved.

An “Ah-Hah!” Moment in Recruiting

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Steve Kimball, Director of Recruiting for EMC, told a story in a free special report. ” 100 Job Search Tips from Fortune 500 Recruiters.”

© 2010 all rights reserved.

Pebbles in Your Shoe

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CIO Magazine ran an article entitled, “Ten Mistakes CIO’s Too Often Make” written by Susan H. Cramm, former CIO and vice president of IT at Taco Bell and CFO and executive vice president at Chevys, a Taco Bell subsidiary.

I was thunderstruck by her ninth mistake—Pretend that your organizational weeds are really untended flowers.

My mind immediately went to a comparison with what it is like to spend a day walking with a pebble in your shoe. If you haven’t done this before, imagine a pebble in your shoe, not just for 5 seconds, but what I is like to have a small hard rock under your foot for 12 hours.

It hurts, it moves around in the shoe sometimes disappearing and then re-appearing in a different place. Most people attempt to compensate by walking differently, thus affecting their posture or stride, causing pain to the back and hip in their effort to minimize the discomfort.

Too often, organizations lose their way by tolerating performance or behavioral pebbles that should be dealt with immediately. Because taking an action may cause a manager to “look bad”, “develop a reputation” or in some other way appear to be poor leaders, managers develop a pattern of working around or coping with a problem rather than dealing with it.

Unfortunately, in the desire to avoid a confrontation with the mediocre subordinate, the work around solution often creates another problem like the hip and back pain derived from a pebble. Your staff knows incompetence when they see it. They resent doing extra and covering for someone else who doesn’t carry their weight. The bad job market is over and talented people will leave rather than continue to be taken advantage of. How smart is a manager to bring in a consultant to solve the problem created by a mistake in hiring?

Furthermore, the poor performer wastes your time by causing you invest time that you could be using on strategic work to create tactical solutions caused by their performance.

This market climate is one where you have an opportunity to replace poor performers with hungry eager staff. If remedial training to support the improvement of a subordinate is either unavailable or fails to achieve the intended outcome, there is no time like now to identify a superior talent and solve your problem.

Why walk around with a pebble for twelve hours when you can stop, remove your shoe and get rid of the unpleasantness in less than a minute?

© 2009, 2011, 2015 all rights reserved.