5 Things to Evaluate for When You Hire
Statistics suggest that 60% of getting hired is just getting an interview with you. From that point, the field needs to narrow based upon criteria that you establish for evaluating and assessing candidates for their qualifications and suitability for your group and company.
What should you look for?
1. Skills competency. Each position has a certain number of baseline skills that qualify someone for being hired. For example, a liquor company asked me to locate someone who be involved with wood procurement. This is the professional way of describing someone whose job is buy the wood from which casks are made to age their product.
They required someone with a degree in forestry who had purchased certain types of woods before in a certain industry. They had determined that a particular set of skills and experiences would qualify someone for the job.
But as we identified 20 or so people who had comparable skills, we started to evaluaten some of the additional criteria that would help them be successful.
2. Self confidence. The job seeker with confidence and competence will help them step securely into the job and, through their very presence, create trust in others that will help smooth their transition into a job. They may not know any more than someone lacking confidence but the group or team of colleagues will believe that they have less reason to worry about the person.
3. Chemistry. How will this person fit with the team? Will they dominate? Inspire? Shrink in their presence? Do they seem like a bull in a china shop in a field of lambs (or the reverse)? Have you had them meet their future colleagues and then sought out their opinions? Have you spoken with your staff about how they would evaluate someone for the job working next to them? You, as the officer, will have a different view of what will make someone successful than a soldier will. The soldier will view the person from a tactical perspective—is this someone I’d be willing to go into battle with and trust that they’ll watch my back. Have you asked them what they would look for in a person for a job?
4. Charisma. Charisma is self-confidence cubed. It is the quality that makes someone magnetic and helps them to stand out from the pack. Bill Clinton had it. Ronald Reagan had it. Here were two men on complete opposite sides of the political spectrum. America loved them both and followed them wherever fate took them. They ay not have always agreed with their choices but they were willing to follow their lead. Is their something in the candiate’s presence that attracts you and others . . . or repels them.
5. Personal leadership. This is the question of character. Are you able to trust someone sufficiently because you believe you can rely upon them? Can you trust their judgment sufficiently because they have been tested by fire?
Everyone knows that they need to hire someone qualified by virtue of sills to do a particular job. But it’s important to consider other variables when you evaluate and assess people
Jeff Altman
Concepts in Staffing
jeffaltman@cisny.com
© 2006 all rights reserved.
Jeff Altman, Managing Director with Concepts in Staffing, a New York search firm, has successfully assisted many corporations identify leaders and staff in technology, accounting, finance, sales, marketing and other disciplines as employees or consultants since 1971. He is a certified leader of the ManKind Project, a not for profit organization that assists men with life issues, and a practicing psychotherapist.
For additional job hunting or hiring tips, go to http://www.sayhi.to/JeffAltman While you’re there, sign up to receive a daily digest of jobs emailed to you as we learn of them.
To subscribe to Head Hunt Your Own Job, Jeff Altman’s searchzine, go to www.sayhi.to/JeffAltman
If you would like Jeff and his firm to assist you with hiring staff, or if you would like help with a strategic job change, send an email to him at jeffaltman@cisny.com (If you’re looking for a new position, include your resume).
Wednesday, January 25, 2006
Wednesday, January 11, 2006
Phone Interview Mistakes
Phone Interview Mistakes
Stop Turning People Off and Start Turning Them On!
Now, more than ever, companies are doing initial screening by telephone in order to speed up their evaluation process. After all, why block out 30-60 minutes of time to meet with someone when in half the time, people can be effectively screened.
Yet, companies are misusing the process and often doing themselves harm.
Using accents and not poor oral communications as a reason for rejection. It is true that some people speak poorly and they will be in jobs that require excellent oral communications. But some jobs don’t require “perfection”. Some jobs simply require being understood (so that direction can be followed and tasks performed correctly). Sometimes, people are understandable and then held to an unnecessarily high standard. With the available choices in the US workforce changing, rejecting people for whom English is a second language or for whom American English is an acquired skill without offering inexpensive remedial speech courses is a mistake.
Failing to have clear questions that are useful when evaluating someone. Standardized questioning that fits the job, yet is flexible enough to permit exploring areas of curiousity are important in order to make sure that success criteria are measured. What difference does it make if you and the potential hire laugh and joke with one another if you don’t take the time to sincerely evaluate them?
Missing the appointment time and leaving someone waiting at the phone. It’s bad manners when a job applicant misses an interview or shows up late. Emergencies happen and appointments even need last minute re-scheduling. But it is better to stretch yourself and be on time than expect a marketable person to be forgiving of you all the time.
Everyone has friends. Don’t make the mistake of treating someone rudely and discovering (or worse not discovering) that people don’t want to interview you because of your rudeness. By selling the merits of your company or job, you may create the conditions where people want to come to work for you in the future.
Be prepared to refer someone who is not quite a fit to a colleague who could use the skills better. You will score points with a colleague and with your management by referring someone who you interview who may not be quite right for you to them. You will be thanked a million times over and help create an environment where people support one another.
By taking the time to correctly prepare to evaluate talent, you will find it more quickly. By creating a favorable impression with everyone you meet, you will help create the buzz in the community about your firm and what you’re doing. You may also create a buzz about yourself that could help opportunity knock on your door in the future.
Jeff Altman
Concepts in Staffing
jeffaltman@cisny.com
© 2006 all rights reserved.
Jeff Altman, Managing Director with Concepts in Staffing, a New York search firm, has successfully assisted many corporations identify leaders and staff in technology, accounting, finance, sales, marketing and other disciplines as employees or consultants since 1971. He is a certified leader of the ManKind Project, a not for profit organization that assists men with life issues, and a practicing psychotherapist.
For additional job hunting or hiring tips, go to http://www.sayhi.to/JeffAltman While you’re there, sign up to receive a daily digest of jobs emailed to you as we learn of them.
To subscribe to Jeff Altman’s Search e-zine, send an email to jeffaltmansearch@gmail.com and write EZINE on the subject line.
If you would like Jeff and his firm to assist you with hiring staff, or if you would like help with a strategic job change, send an email to him at jeffaltman@cisny.com (If you’re looking for a new position, include your resume).
Stop Turning People Off and Start Turning Them On!
Now, more than ever, companies are doing initial screening by telephone in order to speed up their evaluation process. After all, why block out 30-60 minutes of time to meet with someone when in half the time, people can be effectively screened.
Yet, companies are misusing the process and often doing themselves harm.
Using accents and not poor oral communications as a reason for rejection. It is true that some people speak poorly and they will be in jobs that require excellent oral communications. But some jobs don’t require “perfection”. Some jobs simply require being understood (so that direction can be followed and tasks performed correctly). Sometimes, people are understandable and then held to an unnecessarily high standard. With the available choices in the US workforce changing, rejecting people for whom English is a second language or for whom American English is an acquired skill without offering inexpensive remedial speech courses is a mistake.
Failing to have clear questions that are useful when evaluating someone. Standardized questioning that fits the job, yet is flexible enough to permit exploring areas of curiousity are important in order to make sure that success criteria are measured. What difference does it make if you and the potential hire laugh and joke with one another if you don’t take the time to sincerely evaluate them?
Missing the appointment time and leaving someone waiting at the phone. It’s bad manners when a job applicant misses an interview or shows up late. Emergencies happen and appointments even need last minute re-scheduling. But it is better to stretch yourself and be on time than expect a marketable person to be forgiving of you all the time.
Everyone has friends. Don’t make the mistake of treating someone rudely and discovering (or worse not discovering) that people don’t want to interview you because of your rudeness. By selling the merits of your company or job, you may create the conditions where people want to come to work for you in the future.
Be prepared to refer someone who is not quite a fit to a colleague who could use the skills better. You will score points with a colleague and with your management by referring someone who you interview who may not be quite right for you to them. You will be thanked a million times over and help create an environment where people support one another.
By taking the time to correctly prepare to evaluate talent, you will find it more quickly. By creating a favorable impression with everyone you meet, you will help create the buzz in the community about your firm and what you’re doing. You may also create a buzz about yourself that could help opportunity knock on your door in the future.
Jeff Altman
Concepts in Staffing
jeffaltman@cisny.com
© 2006 all rights reserved.
Jeff Altman, Managing Director with Concepts in Staffing, a New York search firm, has successfully assisted many corporations identify leaders and staff in technology, accounting, finance, sales, marketing and other disciplines as employees or consultants since 1971. He is a certified leader of the ManKind Project, a not for profit organization that assists men with life issues, and a practicing psychotherapist.
For additional job hunting or hiring tips, go to http://www.sayhi.to/JeffAltman While you’re there, sign up to receive a daily digest of jobs emailed to you as we learn of them.
To subscribe to Jeff Altman’s Search e-zine, send an email to jeffaltmansearch@gmail.com and write EZINE on the subject line.
If you would like Jeff and his firm to assist you with hiring staff, or if you would like help with a strategic job change, send an email to him at jeffaltman@cisny.com (If you’re looking for a new position, include your resume).
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