How to be Effective

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

• 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

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?"
  

• 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