This article originally appeared on the HireVue blog and in this month’s issue of THE VUE, HireVue’s monthly newsletter. To sign up, go to theHireVue home page and scroll down to the newsletter sign up on the right.

Without great employees even companies with the best products can struggle to be successful. But in the mix of all of those resumes and names that come through your door, how do you actually measure candidate quality? Measuring candidate quality can be broken down into three distinct parts of the hiring process:

1) Pre-Screening
2) Interviewing
3) Post Interview

The pre-screening phase is one of the most critical and where untrained recruiting teams (and poorly designed process) often miss high potential candidates.   In this phase, the actual measurement is frequently managed in a much more quantitative way through Applicant Tracking systems or other tools that do pre-employment screening, the dreaded “knock-out” questions or through a series of more open ended interview style questions.  While these pre-screening methods are effective, and relatively proven – they can leave the door open to over look high-potential candidates or those that would have highly transferable skills. That’s why whenever possible I recommend more interactive pre-screening methods including phone screens and especially the virtual type video interviews that allow hiring teams to see candidate’s thinking on their feet as their responses to those pre-defined knock-out questions are recorded and stored for review. Companies like HireVue have made this extremely simple and cost effective.

The second phase, the Interviewing phase, is where the actual candidate quality can be determined.  It is where you can see (or hear) a candidates passion for your organization and the position, see the cultural fit for yourself and determine a match.  It is where you can truly learn about the success and failures they have had – and how they learned from each of them.  It is the most important part of the process and also the most time consuming. The power of a solution like HireVue is that it actually allows you to reach a wider set of candidates with less manpower behind the process and lets the recruiting team focus on evaluating the quality of a person’s answers on a particular topic or question in an effective and efficient way.

The final phase, the post-interview phase, was traditionally thought of as the most reliable when it came to determining candidate quality.  Unfortunately, many companies have stopped the practice of speaking freely about past employees and candidates have learned to share only the very best of their references with a company.   In cases where a reference does speak negatively – other questions have to be addressed – was it a bad company/job fit, was there a personality conflict, are there other extenuating circumstances that would explain why your star candidate wasn’t a star at 1 of his last 3 companies?

Even for companies who follow this process measuring quality can be pretty subjective since it depends so much on your company culture, the needs of the job and the expectations of the hiring manager. At the end of the day, making a successful hire means depending on your people. To do this, you need to make sure to give them every opportunity to bring their knowledge and experience to bear in every stage of the hiring process without crushing them under the weight of the work. I see video playing an enormous part in that over the coming years. It allows your hiring teams to see more, evaluate quicker and at a higher level of accuracy and, if coupled with the right tools, collect feedback and gain consensus far more efficiently. Video tools can be enormously helpful, but they will never replace the highly skilled recruiter. They are the actual moving parts of the company that get things done, win the wins and manage your culture.

TRULondon.  We laughed, debated, danced, drank, learned, challenged, complained, ate, walked, got lost,networked and most of all fell in love with London (Regardless of how many times the phrase “I hate London” was uttered) & Re-Ignited a passion for our industry and the future that we are building within it.

My blog is going to focus on the behind the blogs info – i.e. the fun stuff. (See links to all other “real” blogs below”)

TRULondon Quotes

• I’m her bodyguard
• Disco Jesus – (Favorite Quotes: I’m a bit frightened, Do you know who she is? & Its Time for you to go now)
• I Hate London
• VIP Room
• “You make the funniest faces”
• Breakfast Club
• Wrong Hilton
• “Look what I just bought”
• Our bathroom has no light
• Duke of Wellington – (Includes: “I’m not losing my phone again after I just got it back”)
• Interesting Pool Trick at the MauMau
• Wardrobe Change on the Dance floor
• You’re drinking what?
• “Of course I know where I’m going on the Tube”

TRULondon Playlist

• Empire State of Mind – Jay-z (This song was EVERYWHERE)
• All the Single Ladies – Beyonce
• American Boy – Estelle
• EnterSandman – Metallica
• Freedom – George Michael
• I kissed a girl – Katy Perry
• Three Little Birds – Bob Marley
• Poker Face – Lady Gaga
• Can’t Touch This – MC Hammer

There have been a number of my co-track leaders that have written some amazing blogs about the event – Check them all out to learn what we learned while there.  For me, the unconference knowledge share is a much harder one, since so much of it is built around discussion vs. lecture – but they do an excellent job of wrapping it all up.

My Thoughts on TRULondon What was the ROI? You’ll Never Be Rich (Its TRU)

My Thoughts on the Recruiting Unconference Talking Gen Y Blues (TRU) TRULondon

If GenY is Nonsense why do we keep Talking about It?

Where Will Social Media Be in 2 Years?

Today’s guest post (1 day delayed because of no wifi access) is an amazing guest post by Ben McCall of RethinkHR that came out of a great phone convo.  Yep, phone.  I know.  Sidenote: He is amazingly smart and ready for a new challenge in HR – you should check out his blog and HIRE him!

So this is has been a loaded topic since Christ was born. Since Darwin and the Catholic Church stopped talking to one another. It has been battled over since the thousands of soldiers came home from World War II. And yet again when Pensions and 401K’s were dumped on the employee to manage. Ok maybe none of this true. Maybe it is all ludacris but at the same time – to me – that is the way I feel about the argument on differences in generations. From the way we comb our hair to how we interact and where and when we have conversations. The generational topic has always been loaded. Filled with opinions and perspectives that are both valid and ludicrous.

First a short series of sporadic definitions (more like opinions which change from person to person) on each generation:

Baby Boomer

Generation Jones

Generation X

Generation Y

So what does all this mean? If you look closely at each definition as describe by the oh-so-always accurate Wikipedia what they basically say is that we are different. I argue we are not, that it is only the context in which we do things and sometimes the environment in which we do them. People could argue that exposure to technology and information, early career versus lots of experience. Even the old military-style-of-“Yes Sir and Yes Mam” of working relationship could be argued but really why even argue. Because if we are so different, will we never agree?

So this is why we say – STOOPPPPP!!!

-       Everyone has something to say but no one will agree: so to follow the quote that I love by Bill Cosby – “I don’t know the secret to success but I do know the key to failure… trying to please everyone.” I don’t think you can please anyone in this issue. Period.

-       For some it’s more than just a conversation: Let’s face it, there are those that live and breathe the argument. They make a case, study statistics and will never change their minds.

-       Depth Perception: Some, no matter how hard you try, will never see another side.

-       Get over yourself and the differences: I get the fact we need to understand what makes us different in order to interact and see how we can best move towards a goal. I also understand that there are differences, but come on, why do we focus so much on the differences when we could look more at the similarities?

-       I am different than you: But isn’t everyone. At one point in all of our careers we have questioned the position, the company, the people and even our personal direction.

Most of the arguments are me versus you.

-       If you want to cry there are better things to cry about: In a time we have mass world disasters and wars, famine, job losses and business inability or unwillingness to be innovative, why in the heck are we having this lengthy conversation.

-       I work harder and longer then you: We all work hard and long depending on who we work for whether we love our jobs or hate them. We are also lazy and don’t do anything sometimes. Does that make me any less committed then you?

-       It’s not about differences or generations. It’s about CONTEXT: Everyone likes music; I may like Hip Hop and Country while you enjoy Heavy Metal and Opera. But hell, Baby Boomers, Gen X, Gen Y, Millennial’s we all like the Beatles! So let’s all get in one room and “come together, right now…”

Beatles – Come Together

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So what are we for and what are we against?

I am not against having the conversation at all. For some it can be enlightening and a learning experience. However, for many this subject is like politics or religion. Once you are in the sites of a sniper looking for death, you might as well give your life up because you will be trapped behind their cross hairs.

I’ve been writing, blogging and speaking on Gen Y issues since 2006 when ERE gave me a blog called Gen Y’d (See my 1st post). As one of the “old” Gen Y’ers – I have watched the evolution of “us” in the workplace from the eager recent college grads entering the workforce as our nation was reeling from it first major terrorist attack, the mini-boom of “the talent war” and the current state of record breaking unemployment. I have seen the reality of the “why” we are distrusting of corporate America, less loyal than the boomers to a corporate setting and the reason so many of us strive to be entrepreneurs.

To a degree – the debate shouldn’t even really exist – we are a lot like our counterparts were when they were in their 20’s – we want the same types of thing of out life, have the same goals and dream the same dreams they did.

The difference lies in Expectations.

Our generation has been raised in a “me” culture, a world full of immediate gratification, instant access and always being told we can do (and be) anything. We’ve had computers in our homes since elementary school, cell phones & internet access since early in our high school years and only know about punch cards because of what Gen X’ers tell us.

Our reality and immediate need for gratification has shaped the way we do business, interact with our friends and live our lives.  It has built amazing social networks, changed the history of news and impacted the way companies market, interact and work.  Gen Y’s expectations are changing our culture (or are a subset of the culture we live in one can argue).

We want it all, and we want it now.  And we see nothing wrong with that.

The vision that we all had of “having it all” when we grew up was built out of the defining moments we watched on television, read about on the internet and heard about via friends we may never meet.  We want to have what our parents have (or more) by the time we hit 30 – not 50.

Prior generations would wait their turn.  Be patient.  Accepted that life doesn’t move as fast as we want.  In the workplace they accepted (and understood) the idea of promotion and compensation based on tenure not performance.  That you have to “earn” the right to have an opinion.

Our generation wants to learn – everything – now.  We want to prove ourselves and be promoted and compensated based on our success and value – not how long we sat in our cube in a week.  We want to show you a different way to look at things.

We want you to understand that our expectations don’t take any value out of what you have done in the workforce.  We don’t want you to look down or discourage us.  We want to learn from you and evolve (Rapidly).  We don’t think we are better, faster, stronger, smarter than the generations before us.  We don’t think we are “entitled” to it.  We just aren’t afraid of expectations.

We want YOU to have expectations of US to do something AMAZING!

On Wednesday -  I have an amazing guest post on the topic by Ben McCall of RethinkHR – he’ll talk about why the debate is getting old – lets work together and move on!  (I AGREE!) Sidenote: He is amazingly smart and ready for a new challenge in HR – you should check out his blog and HIRE him!

I should have been a girl scout. Apparently, being a girl scout would have totally prepared me for life. I would have learned leadership, how to sew badges on a sash, self-confidence, sales, and that if I eat enough cookies I can win a prize.  Most importantly, I would have learned to live my life by their motto: Be Prepared.

Unfortunately, I was not a girl scout. (I was a brownie for exactly 1 meeting and quit – long story involving pigs and crafts and cheesecake)

Yesterday, was quite possibly the busiest day I have had so far this year. I had more calls scheduled yesterday than I typically have all week. It was back to back to back all day. On top of it – I realize that this time next week I will be in London. I didn’t so much realize, as I was bombarded with “aren’t you so excited for london” messages yesterday.

In this carefully crafted and planned day –  I took an unknown call that wasn’t on the schedule from a number I didn’t recognize. I was totally not prepared. In my world – I assume if I email, people will email me back – when they call – well, it catches me by surprise. In this case,  I was falling over my words and am pretty sure I sounded like a bigger geek than I really am – and as I got off the call I thought – “Why did I even answer that when I was in the middle of something and totally unprepared for what was on the other end?”  Then I sent an apology message and asked to reschedule.  Which then made me think “really?  wow – I’m only making it worse – maybe they didn’t think it was as bad as I did.”  I did end up scheduling a followup – so either maybe it didn’t go as bad as I thought, or they want to see if it is possible that I can trip all over my words. Again.”   Ugh. Welcome to my life.

Anyway….Yesterday, CornontheJob did a post on the benefit (or lack there of) of dressing professionally for phone screens. I’ve done a post recently on why I am totally OK dressing in yoga pants and a tank top when on the call with anyone I am on a call with.  Like many other great debates of our time, its never going to get resolved – there are people on both side of the discussion that make valid points.  But I think the real argument that people make (but miss) is the fact that not “mentally” putting yourself in that (work) place can make you unprepared.  Being unprepared makes you less productive and not accomplish what you are set out to accomplish.  This is especially true if you are new to a flex/life or working from home.  When I first started – I needed to dress up a little more – I had been doing it for a long time and it felt right.  Now, I don’t.  At all.   I can be rock it anytime – except when I am not at all prepared.  Then I suck.

I so should have been a girl scout.

Here’s a hint: It wasn’t the Budweiser horses (once again) making friends with a farm animal.  Seriously – fire your advertising group.  Like TODAY!!!

Another hint: it wasn’t the Sketchers ‘Shape-ups’ shoes.  I can’t believe they wasted their money advertising the ugliest shoes ever.

What I wish I had seen was the job boards doing something radically different – not trying to vy for the funniest commercial – but doing what people know them for – finding people jobs.   How much publicity, press and overall good will would it have made for them to use their slots to feature jobseekers that were looking for jobs – not sappy sad stories – but “Hey, I’m awesome – here’s why”

Not that the fiddling beaver wasn’t funny but…we all know my talking etrade babies are the funniest commercials ever. Seriously. I love them.

When Yahoo first announced last summer that they were looking at dropping selling HotJobs I was excited and thought – “its about time”.  Let me be blunt.  HotJobs sucked after Yahoo bought it.  As an outsider – Yahoo took what could have been a true competitor for the Monster’s and Careerbuilder’s (this was back in early 00’s, remember, market still open) and let it die amongst their land of “ooh, shiney’s”*

On the day after the announcement – Monster stock closed down about 12% – a sign that some of the other people that matter may have some questions about this deal – or more specifically how much was paid (A whopping $225million).  I can see where they are coming from, again, Yahoo made HotJobs suck.

Why didn’t I like YahooHotJobs?

As a jobseeker, it was the last place I would look.  While it seemed pretty straight forward, the search functionality was not very good.  I could search for a job in my town, select “local cities” and end up with jobs 2 states away.  Granted, that is only like 70 miles, but still – hardly what I would consider local!  If i wanted to refine, I could select individual cities…one by one…ugh.  Most of the jobs on there were also posted on Careerbuilder or on Monster.com and the site was a bit of a waste of time with limited to no new information.

As a recruiter, it was the last place we would ever post a job. With the exception of certain pockets of the country, quite honestly, we never got responses that were unique to hot jobs.  This was on all types of jobs – all different locations of the country – all different companies.   It was like the nice guy that everyone knew but no one ever asked out.

As a entrepreneurial spirit, I felt like they were wasting a good thing. In the land of google we now live in, lets think back to 2002 and remember how prevalent Yahoo was.  They were really positioned to really launch this and instead it got lost in Oooh Shineyland – which is where a lot of companies lose their way (seriously – focus on one thing well don’t try to do everything at once poorly)

Why do I like this acquisition?  

The job seekers Win!!

One less place to search.  One fewer job board that has bad technology fighting for the attention.  Combined forces could result in even more improvements to the product and in the long run.  Less competition for $$ means more jobs potentially being posted which means easier/faster response to getting a new job.

As a Recruiter, I am saving money!

For the most part – HotJobs was not as widely used of a product, and many of the companies who did use it were posting it in conjunction with something else – so a lot of them will be able to cut some $$ out of their budgets and reallocate it elsewhere (hmm…like a new ATS or the GenYUnconference…or whatever, just some ideas)

Because it was the right buyer…from a business perspective.

With Monster being the buyer – HotJobs will finally have someone that has an interest in the market and making it a better product.  I don’t know, but I would assume that “hotjobs” is just going away and Monster will integrate into all of the networks (including Yahoo.com) that HotJobs was a part of.

Also, this means we’ll get to see more of Trump.  (I hope it won’t be with drag queens on the streets of NYC though)

Today’s guest post comes to us from Edita Isufi a future HR Leader and a student in Steve Boese’s HR Technology Class.

I came to the United States all the way from Kosovo, the youngest European country that is still struggling to find its identity in Europe.  Right after its independence, three years ago, it was referred to as the “United State’s 53rd state” because of the close political relationship we had built with them during the war.

Now, three years later, Kosovo still lacks economic stability and social welfare as well as employment opportunities. If you really think of these sensitive issues that are essential for national development you get lost within them and forget about HR and human capital that directly contribute to the problem.

So, before coming to United States I came across an article that talked about how HR professionals must become strategic partners in organizational decision making.  For a second I remember asking myself: Ok, but what about HR? Do we really have one?

I was so isolated hearing about all those political and economic problems that I couldn’t really find the logic behind the role of HR in all this. Hence, I wanted to explore and learn more about what HR can do to develop talent and how the right talent that meets organizational goals can be found.
This is exactly one of the reasons why I decided to pursue my master’s degree In Human Resource Development in the United States.

Before I go further, here are a couple of “reasons” why organizations ignore the importance of HR in Kosovo:

• High unemployment rate (around 60%) make organizations consider the right talent for granted because there is always more demand for jobs than supply.
• HR does nothing else except for hiring, firing and payroll so why spend money for an HR department when we can have the management itself do that function when there is a need for talent.
• We still have to focus on issue like economic instability and inflation hence HR is not a priority.

There are many organizations in Kosovo that believe in HR and its future as strategic partner. However, few of them have sort of a general idea of what a strategic partner really means; yet few know about the selection, development and retention programs without even mentioning succession planning. I have to admit, succession planning was a totally new term for me too. ☺
And I know it sounds like I am making a comparison between United States and Kosovo and it would be stupid if I did. However, I know that that’s what the organizations worldwide are striving for and it’s all about human capital. Well, guess what, Kosovo will have to start thinking about it too because nothing and none is going to wait or care if it can make it to compete globally or not.

At the end of this year, I will be leaving United States for good and I know that I am transferring valuable knowledge with me. What really frightens me, if that’s the right word to use, is if I can apply what I have learned about HR to my workplace too.  As far as I know, there are few or no HR professionals back there and if you don’t have people to work on HR development then it will be tough to go on this journey alone.

So, where do I start? Where do all people like me start? Can social media make a change in the way people think about HR? Do we have to send more students abroad to learn about HR? How do I get to convince organizations that HR really matters and that after all it’s the human capital that leads to economic growth?

Blame the sub-zero temperatures outside, or the fact that the #genYunconference dates have to change, or that I’m just feeling a bit sassy today – but this week I am rolling out a #WTF Friday post – because, well, this week a lot of stuff made me think that.

I’m setting my sites on Social Media Experts AKA Guru’s or Rockstars.

I am not a social media expert.  Guess what, neither are you!  You may have a lot of followers and make money convincing other people you are – but you (more than likely) aren’t.

How do I know this?  Because:

1. Your “expert” status is self imposed.  No one else called you that.  If they did -it was someone that you were just introducing twitter (or something else) too so they are way off the skew of what they consider and expert and don’t count..
2. You tell me.  Seriously?  Do I even need to explain this one?  Ok..read on
3. When I follow you (back)  on twitter you respond with an automated DM telling me you are and “expert, guru, rockstar, etc” and then frequently include a link back to the latest “e-book” you’ve written on the subject.  #lame

While I’m on the subject – STOP USING THE TERM ROCKSTAR!!!!   Seriously.  Enough.  It has made its way onto a gazillion blogs lately – a few were obviously done in a more sarcastic term – but the majority think they are serious.  WE ARE NOT ROCKSTARS – There are not really HR, Accounting or any other job in corporate America Rockstars.  There are people that kick a$$ at their jobs – but still, they are not rockstars.

Seriously.  Please. Stop.

To Clarify: “Rockstar” – If you are using that term in anyway but sarcastically, well, I just have nothing else to say.  We work in corporate america.  We are not rockstars.  We are not even real stars.  And for most of you – you don’t even Rock.

For the last 2 day’s I’ve been uber corporate. It is hard to believe, but true. I’ll have pictures to prove it later.

I was up and out of the house by 7 am with hair done (ie. no ponytail), make up on and dressed (ie. no yoga pants).

I went to breakfast meetings, tweetup’s, business lunches and seminar’s on social media.  And I did it all in heels – 4″ black Nine West Stiletto’s to be exact.

Yesterday, I met someone for lunch at the (Formerly known as) Sears Tower.  As I stood in the lobby waiting, hundreds of guys rushing by with smiles on their faces and comfy shoes on their feet – all I could think about were my comfy Merrell’s that were waiting for me in the car.

It then made me think about corporate dress codes and just how silly they are when you really think about it.  People should be allowed to dress in what they want for the job they have.  We are grown ups.

Does the guy at McDonalds flip better burgers because of his starched button up short sleeve shirt instead of a t-shirt with the company logo?  Does the kid that delivers mail in corporate america really need to be wasting the $27,000 a year his degree from an overpriced university is paying him to get his foot in the door to buy suits to wear to work? Does my wearing pajamas yoga pants all day make me less able to analyze spreadsheets and make decisions?

Ummm. NO!