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STAFF TURNOVER INCURS MAJOR COSTS
- UK recruitment - executive search / selection fees.
- Training - bringing the new recruit up to speed,
through formal training and support by existing employees
- Productivity - the learning curve of the new
employee, and the wind-down of the employee leaving. In other words, hiring has a direct
impact on the bottom line. It also has an impact on:
- Morale - the enthusiasm of the recruit or of existing
employees can soon evaporate if there's a misfit in their midst
- Culture - you hire a maverick or wild card candidate,
when what you really want is a corporate clone
- Reputation - rid yourself of too many
"recruitment errors", and your company may become known as a hire and fire firm.
Critical to the recruitment process is candidate selection, from shortlisting to final
interviewing. Issues to consider:
- Targeting - no one can know better than you what
you're after but for jobs which need specialist skills, or for a senior post which you
want to keep confidential, external executive search / selection consultants can be
appropriate
- Testing - usually means an attempt to uncover a
person's promise or problems using psychometric tests (see separate note) but there is no
substitute for incorporating real work into the process eg "in
tray" exercises
- Testimonials - widely used, though tricky to take
them at face value; a referee may provide a glowing reference just to get rid of someone;
and who would offer a bad reference?
SEEING THROUGH THE CV
- Layout - is it tidy and accurate, suggesting
attention to detail and an organised mind, or crammed, suggesting a chaotic mind?
- Language - is the CV full of management speak, or
bland, generic words showing no real personality or originality of thought? Examples of
weak words are "challenge", "liaised", "involved in";
examples of strong words are "led", "handled", "managed".
- Chronology - are there any gaps? eg 1994-1996 could
be 12/94 to 01/96 ie just 1995
- Achievements - does the candidate describe the role
or the result?
- Order of information - which information is given
first and last? Often the least impressive is given last
- Inconsistencies - eg does the job title match the job
description?
- Interests - what do they say about the personality?
Not to be taken at face value eg there is a difference between being a member and being an
active member of a club - one has a card and sits home; the other has get up and go
EFFECTIVE INTERVIEWING
Reeling off a raft of questions machine-gun style is not an
interview, it's an interrogation. It won't weed out any weaknesses other than a nervous
stammer. It won't garner an in-depth response. It won't leave you any wiser.
Instead of using the interview situation to assert power, view it as
two-way appraisal of a possible mutual business opportunity. You want to know what
else is on offer. Other core criteria to look for and questions to help you find
them:
- Approach to work - you want to find out how they work;
bureaucrats will focus on the procedure, smart workers will centre on the results;
"what do you find is the best way to get things done?"
- Perseverance - here you have an eye out for the one who falls
at the first hurdle; "what has been your most challenging project, what difficulties
did you meet, and how did you overcome them?"
- Achievement - you're looking here for the contribution,
quantifiable if possible, they have made to previous employers; "what's the most
significant impact you've made at your organisation in the last year?"
- Values - the aim here is to find the right cultural fit ie
whether this job meets their underlying needs (unless of course you're looking for change
agents to liven things up a bit); "someday you'll be looking back and assessing your
life - what will be your criteria?"
- Motivation - you need to know what makes the candidate tick eg
is it money? is it status? is it autonomy? "why are you interested in this? why did
you do that?"
- Weaknesses - especially what they've learned from them; don't
ask for a list of their faults; "can you tell me about your biggest failures and how
you dealt with them?"
- Social skills - basically, do they have any? here you're on
the look out for a short fuse, a puffed up sense of pride, or just a general ability to
get on with people
- Initiative - especially for management positions, you cannot
afford a candidate who's still at the spoon feeding stage; you're looking for someone who
doesn't wait to be told; "what projects or activities has your team undertaken and
seen through that were your own idea?"
- Balance - watch out for the "all work and no play",
or worse still, the "all play and no work" brigade; their productivity will pay
the price; to find this out, this is where their outside interests can come into play;
"what outside activities do you enjoy and why?"
INTERVIEWING PITFALLS
- Going it alone - you rely on one person's judgement
alone; the final stage should involve either multiple interviews or multiple interviewers
- that way different perspectives of the company and candidate can be covered
- Talking too much - you want to persuade the
candidate, put them at their ease, present the company, or puff up the job; as a result
you talk yourself into hiring a candidate who hasn't yet been quizzed
- Going with "gut feel" - call it hunch,
instinct, chemistry - but you let reason and logic go right out the window; you basically
take a shine to someone, give them an easy time, and walk out having hired an unknown
quantity
- "winging it" - you don't do your homework
on the CV or on the job; in short, you don't really understand the person or the job
you're trying to fill, and end up with an over or under-qualified candidate who'll leave
within six months
- Keeping a closed mind - you go in looking for
"x" and your mind is closed to anything other than "x"; as a result,
someone with a bit of "x", plus a dash of "y", and the special quality
"z" that could really boost your team, passes you by
- Missing the signals - you stick so rigidly to the
script that you fail to probe or follow-up on or even notice any throw-away comment the
candidate makes which tells you what makes them tick
- Making it a one-way street - you fail to give the
candidate a chance to find out about you; the type of questions the candidate asks can
show the kind of criteria they're after in a job
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