Perfect Hire Blueprint

by Dave Clough

  The late Bill Bonstetter of TTI Success Insights took this research to new heights and he put labels to the low and high of each for the previously known motivators. They are:

  High

  Low

  Theoretical:

  Intellectual

  <--------->

  Instinctive

  Utilitarian:

  Resourceful

  <--------->

  Selfless

  Aesthetic:

  Harmonious

  <--------->

  Objective

  Social:

  Altruistic

  <--------->

  Intentional

  Individualistic:

  Commanding

  <--------->

  Collaborative

  Traditional:

  Structured

  <--------->

  Receptive

  So, for example, a high Theoretical is now an Intellectual, and a low Theoretical is now Instinctive.

  Would your company use terms like collaborative, structured/systematic, harmonious, selfless or objective to describe its values or culture? If so, it would be helpful to have an Assessment that could determine whether a candidate has these motivators. The outcome of the Assessment would determine if the job is a good fit for her for the long term. This is valuable information for a company to know about its employees since values initiate or drive our behavioral style.

  What if your company does not have stated values?

  No problem. In an earlier chapter we reviewed the Benchmark Assessment. This Assessment not only determines the values of the company from the chosen stakeholders who take the Assessment for the Benchmark, but also the values/motivators needed for the job.

  While this is not a complete list of company values, it is a good start. When the Gap Report highlights the differences between the candidate’s values (from the Assessment) and the company’s values (from the Benchmark), pay attention. The smaller the gaps, the better the candidate will fit your company.

  The company culture and the candidate’s values need to go hand in hand. If there is not a match, the candidate will not likely be a long term employee.

  Summary & Action Items

  Management and key employees ask specific questions to get a gut feel of the candidate and decide if she should be moved to the next step in the process.

  An interview should:

  Sell the value of the company

  Qualify the candidate

  Communicate the culture of the company

  Show the caliber of people the candidate will work with

  Convey a typical day of working at the company

  Identify if the candidate is a good fit for the company and the position.

  The in-person or on-site interview should be 70% interview and 30% selling.

  Day of interview checklist:

  Stay objective

  The manager should start by setting the stage

  A tour of the company typically makes sense.

  Each interviewer has an assignment

  QUESTIONS MUST PERTAIN TO THE JOB, NOT ONE’S PERSONAL LIFE OUTSIDE OF WORK.

  Before leaving, the candidate may take a TriMetrix Assessment if hiring manager deems the candidate may be qualified.

  A post-interview roundtable meeting is held with all interviewers to debrief to the manager.

  The manager is responsible for the hire, so it is the manager’s call how the decision to hire is made

  Company Culture and Hiring for FIT

  First, create your company values if you don’t currently have them clearly stated.

  “…answer the questions ‘What do I want to live by?’ and ‘How’?

  They need to be few in number and rank ordered in importance.

  They need to be clearly described so you know exactly the behaviors that demonstrate that the value is being lived.

  They need to be consistently acted on, or they are only ‘good intentions.’”

  * * *

  There are fewer candidates applying for each job, and there are fewer good candidates who are actively looking. The best candidates will have more opportunities than just your company.

  * * *

  Chapter 13: Talent Assessment & Gap Analysis

  Once the candidate has passed the in-person interview, I recommend they take a Multi-Measure Assessment. The results of the Assessment are compared to the Benchmark developed at the start of the process. A Gap Report is generated to show the differences (gaps) between the Benchmark (ideal candidate) and the actual candidate.

  If the Gap Report dashboard shows red or yellow flags in certain areas, get clarification from the candidate. Though it’s hard sometimes to discount someone who seems like a great fit based on Assessment results, the likelihood of him succeeding in the position is low.

  If the Assessment is way off of the Benchmark, you should not proceed with caution, but should STOP and take a critical look. They can say and do all the right things, but if the Gap Report shows too many discrepancies, you should look for agreement in other data points uncovered in the interview, and then let the candidate go. He will not be the right fit for the company or position.

  If the Gap Report dashboard does not show red flags (an example of a good Gap Report is below), schedule a second interview with the candidate.

  The 3 areas that are used for the Benchmark will find you someone who will not only fit the job, but perform it very well, if the skills and knowledge are in place. One thing that you won’t know is whether the person is performing at the high end of his capability or if there is still much more potential that has yet to be tapped.

  Each viable candidate will be given a Talent Assessment. There is a tradeoff between time and money as to the definition of “viable.” Some companies will assess every candidate to winnow down the number of people to take to the next step. Other companies use less rigorous or non-standard techniques to filter the candidates.

  Many factors determine if the candidate is the right fit: the cover letter, resume, interviews, references and the online Individual Assessment. The Assessment is objective, so it cuts through the nervousness – or charisma – that the candidate displays that may affect the interviewer’s perception. The Assessment also compensates for the unconscious bias of the interviewer, as discussed in the introduction.

  Without the Assessment, more time is needed for in-depth reviewing of the resume, cover letter and any other information provided or garnered in the interviews and through research.

  The Assessment report is like a user manual for an employee; you’ll know what not to do and how to interact to benefit both the employee and the company. The stereotype says that people don’t read manuals. Reading the Assessment report will likely be the difference between an OK hire and a stellar, long-term employee and key contributor.

  See a sample report at PerfectHireBlueprint.com/Resources.

  Summary & Action Items

  Once the candidate has passed the in-person interview, she should take a Multi-Measure Assessment. A Gap Report shows the differences between the Benchmark and the actual candidate.

  If the Gap Report does not show red flags, schedule a second interview.

  Chapter 14: Second Interview

  The second interview needs to primarily gather more data on the areas of concern from the first interview and the Assessment. The hiring manager should be the primary interviewer.

  This is also the best time to bring in someone above the hiring manager to both confirm that the hire is the right person, and to make the interviewee feel important by gaining access to the higher level person.

  Remember, the company still needs to get the candidate excited about working there. You may now have a great candidate, so now it is time to get the hire ready to accept.

  Maybe this interview is a 2-by-1, where the hiring manager, subject matter expert (SME), and the candidate have a conversation. This can be especially helpful if the SME does not have the best soci
al skills (picture Sheldon from The Big Bang Theory).

  The manager can clarify (or translate) what the SME says to the candidate, IF the candidate doesn’t seem to understand – let the peer talk uninterrupted if possible. Have the person who is not asking the question take good notes. This allows the one who asked the questions to keep eye contact.

  This is also a great time to dive deep into the resume, asking specifics about past managers. Listen closely for negative talk about previous managers. The candidate should talk about what was learned, what went well and what didn’t. But, if in talking about reasons for leaving the manager is thrown under the bus, this is something that should be explored further.

  If it appears that EVERY manager was below par or had an issue with the candidate, it is likely that the issue is not with the past managers. If you hire this candidate, you may be the next in a long line of disappointed managers.

  Use the questions provided by the Job Report from the Benchmarking process that pertain to the areas of concern from the Assessment. Based on the answers to the questions, discern if the gaps from the report can be sufficiently bridged.

  This process of using the provided questions will be more objective than the first interview. This will help reduce any known or unknown biases, and bring to light any blind spots that were not seen in the first interviews.

  Also remember to continue to make a great impression and highlight why the company and the role could be great for the right person. The goal is for the candidate to accept a reasonable offer if you make one, so the candidate has to want to work at the company.

  Assuming everything went well, this is a great time to discuss the candidate’s references. Stress that your rigorous hiring methods do not let weak candidates become employees. To ensure that what is on the resume is the truth, reference checks are taken seriously – this is important to A-players.

  PHB Tip: A best practice is to ask the candidate to call her references to let them know to expect a call, and to be candid on that call. One more level of candidate commitment is to have her schedule the reference calls. This can save a lot of phone tag on the reference checker’s part.

  Making an offer at the end of the second interview, while done by some, is not recommended. Even if there were only a few areas from the Gap Report in which to dig deeper, the resume deep dive did not uncover any surprises, and the hiring manager is prepared to make an offer the same day, the reference checks (and potentially a background check) need to be executed.

  That isn’t to say that you can’t discuss a potential offer (not a contingent offer). This can be very helpful if you have a good candidate who already has an offer from another company, or who you expect might get another offer. Moving quickly but thoroughly is a sign of a good company for which to work.

  You may have heard the saying, “a trial lawyer should never ask a question to which she doesn’t already know the answer.” This assures they maintain control and avoid being blindsided or surprised. I think this applies to making an offer. To understand what would be accepted, this is a great time to ask if the person has any offers or expects any offers before you can complete the reference checks. If you are going to make the effort to present an offer, you want to be sure the offer will be accepted.

  Then ask for salary requirements, or the compensation (salary and benefits) that would be acceptable to the candidate. That answer could tell you a lot.

  If the question is answered, that is good information to take back to the roundtable (next chapter). More likely than not, you will not get a definitive answer, and you may need to dig deeper. If your candidate has another offer, ask if she is willing to share the numbers.

  This can also be a time when you find out if the candidate is really serious about working for your company, or if she is just trying to get an offer (either to raise her salary at her current job, or to get another company to offer more). This interaction can sometimes feel uncomfortable, but I believe it is important to better comprehend where you stand before the control shifts to the candidate.

  If you have sold the candidate on the job, you may get an answer that she is excited to get an offer, and that a competitive offer would land the candidate. Hesitation could mean that more selling is necessary.

  If the hiring manager is not adept at this, Emotional Intelligence training is recommended.

  Reference Checks

  This is an area where many managers fall short. They either don’t check references thoroughly enough, or don’t check at all. The candidate should give at least 3 references, and the best are former managers, though it is understandable if the current manager is not provided.

  If you can’t get the current manager, try to contact someone who has left the company who was at a higher level than the candidate, who may know about her performance.

  See it as a red flag if former managers are not provided by the candidate. You need to speak with the person who approved the paycheck. That person will know if the person was worth what he was paid.

  Again, asking the candidate to contact her references, and having those references reach out to the person doing the hiring, will make this process easier and show the commitment of the candidate. Ideally, the candidate will schedule a time when the call will take place. This eliminates the frustrating task of phone tag with references. This is in the candidate’s best interest because it reduces the time to receive an offer. I admit that this request may not be “normal” or expected by the candidate, but if she is excited about the job, she will arrange this for you. (A word of caution: some meek personalities may cringe at the thought. If it is too uncomfortable, you could lose the candidate, so don’t push too hard on these types of people.)

  I know some larger companies have a person in HR do the reference checks, but I disagree. Reference checking should not simply be a formality. The hiring manager needs to make the best decision possible, thus more firsthand information is important.

  The manager will live with the consequences of hiring a Mis-fit, so she should ask the questions of a peer manager of the other company. Manager-to-manager and peer-to-peer conversations yield the best information.

  There are the questions you should always ask, and there are the questions to be asked in areas of concern that have not been resolved in the interviews.

  Start the conversation with:

  “I’m sure you want Joe to succeed, so I just want to make sure I really understand him.”

  This will give the manager a chance to open up.

  Here are some good questions to ask:

  In what capacity did you work with Joe?

  What were his biggest strengths or value to the group?

  Would you say that Joe was in the top 25% in job performance as compared to his peers?

  If you were managing Joe today, what area(s) would you think he could improve most?

  In the interview, Joe told me the story about ___. Can you tell me what happened from your perspective?

  Joe seems to be (character trait). Do I have a correct impression of this?

  In reference checks, it is important what is said, but it is also very important what is not said. The candidate gave you the references, so they should be stellar. If you are expecting to hear very positive comments, neutral responses or lack of comment would be a sign that you should not ignore.

  Also listen for the tone of voice. If there is not excitement in the conversation, you should try to determine why.

  Word of caution: I know at this point in the process you want this to be over. You’ve gone through the many steps to this point, and you’ve gotten your team to agree on a candidate. It is human nature to overlook a few issues. Just remind yourself that a finding out a significant issue will save you 10x the aggravation if you hire a Mis-fit.

  There have been many cases where a candidate was not hired due to a poor reference, and the company that gave the less than stellar reference could be sued. A successful lawsuit would only be for defamation of character �
� knowingly giving false information. People don’t win cases when the facts were correct, or one’s opinion was given.

  If the candidate gave permission to check the reference, the former employer is on even safer ground. For more articles on this topic (legality of reference checks, and a primer on defamation), visit PerfectHireBlueprint.com/Resources.

  As a precaution, many HR departments of larger companies ask that either the reference gives only employment verification and the dates of employment, or that all inquiries are sent to HR to respond. This does not help the case of an employee who has a fantastic record of performance, so it seems that some companies may have gone too far.