Interviewing and Selecting the Best

Create a Culture of Engagement

Kathleen Dodaro, Ph.D. — Thu, 02 Jul 2009 16:47:40 -0400

Did you know?

...The companies on Fortune's list of the "Best 100 Companies to Work For" increased their stock price by 14% per year between 1998 and 2005.

...Highly engaged employees outperform disengaged colleagues by 20-28% according to the Conference Board.

...Towers Perrin found over a three year period of time companies increased their operating margins by 5.75% when their employees were engaged.

The current economic climate has caused many companies to just stick to their core business. However, what companies cannot forget to do is still look for talent that will embrace the culture of their organization and continue to engage their current staff. The reason is simple, "It Affects the Bottom Line" and nothing is more important now than staying profitable!

Is Talent Getting Away?

Kathleen Dodaro, Ph.D. — Tue, 24 Mar 2009 14:52:30 -0400

Authors frequently share tips on how HR professionals can attract talented candidates. Yet, over the past 15 years, I have talked to hundreds of individuals who were currently looking for work or who had recently been seeking work. All too often they shared their discontent with the job seeking process. Every one of them shared how poorly they were treated and how, more often than not, they never heard back from the employer after they applied for a position.

Many of these individuals I knew personally. Furthermore, I had extensive knowledge about their work history and ethics. These individuals were top candidates. They were educated, experienced and hard-working. Yet, they remained on the unemployed list way too long!

Is there a sigma out there that puts a label on someone who is unemployed? Does unemployed or recently laid off, mean the person is not worthy of a job? How frequently have these individuals been turned away from jobs that they could have become superstars if given the chance? Is there an unwritten law that says �??Thou shall not hire someone who is unemployed? If they are unemployed, something must be wrong with them.�??

I wish I had the answer. In the meantime, I would suggest the following:

· Do not assume that a person who has been laid off is not a good worker.

· Do not assume that a person who made a lot more money than you can offer will not be interested in the job or that he/she will not stay.

In this challenging economic climate you might find the most talented individuals are looking for work. Do not miss out on an opportunity to hire a superstar.

The Rage to Engage in This Challenging Economic Climate

Kathleen Dodaro, Ph.D. — Sun, 22 Feb 2009 22:44:55 -0400

What can you do differently to engage and keep talent? Take these steps:

1. Develop a formal succession plan.

2. Let applicants know that your organization cares enough about retention to develop and implement a succession plan.

3. Be honest, people are not afraid of what they know. However, they are afraid of what they do not know.

3 Traits that Define Good Candidates

Kathleen Dodaro, Ph.D. — Tue, 23 Dec 2008 11:06:28 -0400

Throughout my career I have always felt that if someone was willing I could teach him or her how to be a superior recruiter, compensation specialist, or benefits administrator. As a matter of fact, I had a reputation for hiring people with little to no experience in HR and turning them into top producers. What was my secret?

I looked for three traits in individuals.

* If they were HUNGRY. Did they have heart? Did they want it bad enough? Did they have the passion for victory?

* If they were HUMBLE. Where they willing to admit when they made a mistake and take appropriate measures so they would not make the same mistake again?

* Where they SMART? Did they listen and have the capacity to learn?

Try my formula. It works! Dr. D

Consultants: Are they worth what you pay them?

Kathleen Dodaro, Ph.D. — Sat, 15 Nov 2008 18:22:21 -0400

On any given day over the last few years, human resource professionals probably have read multiple articles about how important it is to match the candidate to the culture of the organization. This is not an easy task. Therefore, many HR professionals have engaged consultants that profess how much experience they have in recruitment marketing strategies and attracting the right talent to any given organization.

In good faith, HR professionals have paid these consultants to help them conduct national employment campaigns based on the assurance that the advertising/marketing strategies will attract the right talent to their organization. What many HR professionals never discover is that these consultants have never worked in an HR department; yet they put themselves out there on various websites and podcasts as an expert. Caveat emptor, because these self-proclaimed professionals have never stepped in an HR office. If you want to increase your odds of hiring the right talent for your organization, check out the credentials.

Establish the Person-Organization Fit

Kathleen Dodaro, Ph.D. — Sun, 19 Oct 2008 13:52:51 -0400

Individuals and organizations are most successful when they possess similar values, goals, and interests. Similar attributes between individuals tend to improve communication and liking, which affects an employee�??s morale and organizational outcomes. Recruiters and managers frequently hire based on skills and education, and terminate employees for their poor behavior. Therefore, it is imperative that a recruiter focus on hiring employment candidates that want to embrace the culture of the organization.

Tips for conducting an effective interview:

· Obtain facts about a person�??s life and work history

o Conduct background checks, credit checks, and references

· Predict whether the individual will demonstrate skills that are important for a specific job

· Seek evidence about both the strengths and weaknesses of a candidate

· Confirm that there is a culture match between the organization and the candidate

Why Organizations Need to Develop a Talent Pipeline

Kathleen Dodaro, Ph.D. — Sat, 20 Sep 2008 18:21:43 -0400

The economic climate, globalization, technological developments, and fierce competition are all reasons that organizations need to develop a talent pipeline. Key positions in an organization cannot remain vacant nor can an organization afford to take a replacement mentality. More importantly, organizations cannot afford to hire someone that will not work in the best interest of the organization.

Finding talent is not easy; therefore, organizations cannot afford to lose talent. They must cultivate and groom key players to take future leadership positions. Of more significance, they must continually seek talented job candidates and recognize those that will have the emotional fortitude, experience, and skills necessary to move into leadership positions.

How can organizations be certain they are attracting and retaining their fair share of talent?

1. Create a talent management system

2. Train recruiters to recognize talent

3. Remember recruiting and sales are synonymous - promote what the job will offer the candidate

Watch for more details next week.

Conducting an Effective Behavioral Interview

Kathleen Dodaro, Ph.D. — Tue, 02 Sep 2008 23:47:45 -0400

It is important to set goals and clearly identify what needs to be accomplished during the interview process. First, the interviewer should attempt to accurately measure whether the candidae has the skills, education and technical experience to perform the job. Second, it is important to sell the positive features of the job and the organization. Third, to help the candidate make an appropriate choice, it is necessary to provide a balanced view of the challenges and the rewards of the job. To manage the interview with any degree of success, the interviewer needs to accomplish all of these goals.

The interviewer must also devote adequate time during the interview measuirng the candidate's ability to do the job and avoid misleading messages. If there is a plan for the candidate to interview with several members of the team, it is importnat to avoid redundant interviews. Hearing the same messages and answering similar generic questions in each interivew is a waste of everyone's time.

Finally, it is imperative that the interviewer develop a scoring mechanism. The candidate's answers to the questions asked need to be rated. Did the candidate provide the types of answers that deserve a high or low score? It is important to remember that the behavioral interview is just one tool that should be used to determine a candidate's ability and willingness to perform the job. If the interviewer cannot adequately rate the candidate's answers, the value of the interview decreases significantly.

Hire the Best: Use Behavioral Interviewing

Kathleen Dodaro, Ph.D. — Sat, 23 Aug 2008 22:55:31 -0400

The premise of behavioral interviewing is that past behavior predicts future behavior. Behavioral interviewing is well supported in all the literature. However, recently, I asked a recruiter how she rated the answers to the questions she asked. She said, "I don't." Behavioral interviewing as a process is good, but just asking an open-ended question and not knowing how to rate the answer is a problem.

Organizations should consider doing content validity studies to determine if their behavioral interviewing process is working. Are you really hiring better candidates as a result of the behavioral interview?

If you want to know more about evaluating your interviewing process stay tuned...

Does Your Applicant Tracking System Really Work?: 5 Tips to Recruiting Top Talent

Kathleen Dodaro, Ph.D. — Fri, 08 Aug 2008 17:12:41 -0400

Today, employers from every industry face a major challenge finding and retaining employees who will be effective within their organization. The types and combination of skills needed in the work place contribute to the challenge of finding and keeping good employees. In an effort to streamline the sourcing and selection process, most organizations moved to an automated applicant tracking system which is used to identify job candidates who are a good match for open positions.

In the beginning, the move to the online process seemed like the right thing to do. After all, everyone was talking about �??going paperless.�?? However, now many organizations are finding that they are loosing good candidates somewhere in the process. Furthermore, applicants frequently complain about it just being a numbers game and, more than likely, they will never hear from many of the organizations even though they are a perfect match for the position, spent 30+ minutes filling out the online application and answered various questions about their background that at this point in the game probably are not relevant.

What can organizations do to be certain they are not losing talent?

Tip #1

Test your online applicant process. Does it work? Are you really asking for the information that is needed at this point? Are applicants receiving errors messages after spending the better part of an hour attaching documents?

Tip #2

Check to see if the knock out questions are eliminating the wrong people? For example, an employer recently found out that applicants did not understand the question about education. The job required a Bachelor of Science but the preference was a Master of Science. Because of the way the question was worded, applicants that had a Master�??s Degree were eliminated.

Tip #3

Verify that the job description that is displayed is an accurate reflection of the opening.

Tip #4

Don�??t leave the posting on the website for an indefinite period of time. It is sending the wrong message to the applicants. They may wonder about the following: �??Why has the position been open for so long? Is the organization just testing the water and really has no intention of filling the position?�??

Tip #5

Treat the candidates with respect. Remember the old saying about how, when individuals are not satisfied about the way they are treated, they will tell at least ten people. Can your organization really handle that much bad press?

Remember the new generations at work are not as forgiving. They want technology that works!

Fact or Fiction: Great candidates get lost in cyber space - Part II

Kathleen Dodaro, Ph.D. — Thu, 31 Jul 2008 17:07:48 -0400

If you read the blog I posted on 7/19/08, and want to know the answer to the question: "Fact or Fiction." The answer is fact. The persistent applicant that made several attempts to apply for a position because the employer had set up road blocks was a great candidate that the employer will never talk to again. The candidate was highly educated, experienced, and had great references. More importantly, the candidate was a perfect fit for the position.

If we really want to capture talented individuals, then why do we make it so hard for them to apply for a position? Do you really know how many candidates you lose because your applicant tracking system did not work that day?

Stay tuned...I will provide some helpful tips next week.

Fact or Fiction:Great candidates get lost in cyber space.

Kathleen Dodaro, Ph.D. — Sun, 20 Jul 2008 12:08:44 -0400

Is there really a shortage of talent or do organizations make it so hard for applicants to apply for a job that they just give up? How can we select the best if we never talk to the best?

Picture this: The job candidate finds a job online that is a perfect match to his skill set. The applicant follows the online instructions to apply for the position only to receive an error message indicating that the transaction cannot be completed. The candidate refuses to give up and several clicks later the applicant finds the phone number, fax number and name of someone in HR. The persistent applicant calls the person in HR and leaves a message. The HR person is so busy that she does not have time to return the call. The applicant faxes a copy of his resume and cover letter. Several hours later the applicant calls the person in HR again. This time, as luck would have it, he reaches a voice on the other end of the phone only to find out that she is not the person who is handling the recruitment efforts for that position. She kindly refers the applicant to the person who is doing the hiring for the position. This time the applicant is told that he now needs to email his resume and cover letter to an entirely new email address even though his resume is sitting on the fax machine.

Tell me�?�.fact or fiction? Stayed tuned for the answer next week.

Recruiting the Older Worker - Part IV Retention

Kathleen Dodaro, Ph.D. — Wed, 09 Jul 2008 12:56:57 -0400

In summary, hiring older workers and placing them in positions that will be of value to the organization is just the beginning. Motivating and retaining them is the next step. What we have to remember is that a key factor in perpetuating an organization's succcess is providing an employment climate that ignites an employee's intrinsic motivation. However, an organization's employment climate is important to all generations, not just the older worker. So, what does everyone want? Here is one recipe that works for all generations.

-Necessary tools that will enable them to be successful on the job

- Respect whether they have years of experience or just a few

- Recognition, self-actualization and a feeling of belonging

- Work that adds value to the organization

- Being empowered to make decisions that relate to their work

Recruiting the Older Worker - Part III

Kathleen Dodaro, Ph.D. — Mon, 09 Jun 2008 16:47:47 -0400

How Does a Company Best Utilize the Older Worker?s Skill Level?

During the past few years the stock market has taken a downward turn several times. The baby boomers that have been approaching retirement during this period of time are now looking at their investments and saying, ?I cannot retire.? More importantly, many of them do not want to retire. Why? Well this is the generation that invented the 60-hour work week, found identity in what they did for a living, and vowed never to get old. The question is, ?What type of jobs will make these individuals flourish and add value to the bottom-line??

No one will deny the fact that this generation is one of the most educated generations to date. So, is the business world best served by letting these individuals walk into the shadows without tapping the energy and passion they have for work one more time? I say NO! I do not believe that Wall-Mart, Wendy?s, and McDonald?s can offer the jobs in which their skill level will be utilized to the maximum.

One possible solution is to look at the areas in which older workers have knowledge and expertise and hire them for jobs in which these traits are needed and valued. An example of this comes from a police agency that employs retired officers to handle their property room. These individuals, because of their prior experience, realize the importance of maintaining a chain of custody and keeping their areas neat, organized and accessible. Their job role is quite different now but their backgrounds are invaluable to the organization. Another similar avenue would be to hire older workers to ?fill-in? when other workers are sick, on vacation, or leave the organization. In a sense, an organization could create a temporary pool staffed with their own retirees.

Stay tuned for Part IV.....

Recruiting the Older Worker Part II

Kathleen Dodaro, Ph.D. — Fri, 30 May 2008 14:06:46 -0400

Should companies actively recruit the older worker?

From where I sit, the answer is a resounding ?yes?, for a number of reasons.

First and foremost is the fact that as the ?baby boomer? generation reaches retirement, there will simply not be enough workers to replace them; the resulting labor shortage will be huge and must be filled.

Increasingly, this problem is being addressed by the United States as well as other countries in the world including Australia, the United Kingdom, and New Zealand. In many cases, the solution is to recruit and/or retain these baby boomers who invented the 60-hour work week. As many of them will say, ?We are not done yet.?

The reasons are many but the most prominent are:

They want to work past retirement
They are loyal
They have a wealth of experience
They want to stay active, both physically and mentally
They are more settled and secure

Stay tuned for Part III?.

Recruiting the Older Worker - Part 1

Kathleen Dodaro, Ph.D. — Thu, 15 May 2008 17:47:20 -0400

When I think of the word ?recruitment," I immediately envision a soon to be college graduate attending a career fair on campus and being courted by a number of corporate recruiters

What about the ?older? worker, and by that I mean the baby boomer, who 1) was forced to take an early retirement; 2) has had his/her pension wiped out by a corporate scandal; or 3) wants and needs to work past retirement age because his/her retirement income is insufficient. These individuals have already worked 30-40 years, possess a wealth of knowledge, have proven themselves in the work world, and want to continue to work and contribute to an organization.

Several questions arise from this scenario and bear discussion in the future. Should companies actively recruit the older worker? For what type of jobs? How does a company best utilize the older worker?s skill levels? What will be the cost? How will they fit in?

Part 2 will provide some recommendations.

"Engagement" & Recruitment

Kathleen Dodaro, Ph.D. — Thu, 01 May 2008 16:54:11 -0400

In the May 28, 2008 issue of TIME magazine, an article was published about employee engagement. The basic premise is that if you work toward ?engaging? employees by welcoming them, letting them know they are valued, asking their opinions, and generally making them feel they are an integral part of the company, they will be happier and more productive which will affect the bottom-line.

This has proven to be the case as multitudes of companies are now utilizing on-boarding to promote employee engagement and reduce turnover. However, when does this ?engagement? start?

I believe it begins with the recruitment of potential candidates. Recruitment is not just about telling candidates what your company has to offer. It is also about getting to know the candidates, asking them about themselves, understanding their values and goals and helping them recognize their alignment with the organization?s climate and culture.

Hiring Diverse Candidates

Kathleen Dodaro, Ph.D. — Fri, 25 Apr 2008 16:19:19 -0400

The workforce of today is comprised of business people from multiple generations, various ethnic backgrounds, and different abilities. These individuals are all important to the bottom-line. The question arises: "What can a company do to proactively seek and retain diverse candidates?"

The answer lies in the organization taking steps to provide a diverse culture for their employees. Because you hire people from different age groups, different ethnicities, and different backgrounds does not mean you are embracing diversity.

A few suggestions:

o Encourage open communication

o Examine growth opportunities for equality

o Reduce bias in performance standards

o Ensure upper management understands and values diversity in the organization

o When problems arise, change the culture, not the people

Finding the Right Candidate

Kathleen Dodaro, Ph.D. — Thu, 10 Apr 2008 15:37:27 -0400

Attracting the right people to your organization is done by being certain that the message you are telling job candidates is consistent with what they will find as an employee. An organization?s culture, a system of shared meaning held by employees that differentiates the organization from other organizations, is the first point in which there should be a match between the candidate and the employer.

The one thing that is imperative is to be certain that your recruitment brand reflects your culture. A recruitment brand succinctly identifies your employment value proposition; ?Who are you? What are your values? What do you have to offer employees? How will they be treated?? These are the questions that potential employees want to know. Does your employment brand provide answers to these questions?

Hiring the Best and the Brightest

Kathleen Dodaro, Ph.D. — Mon, 31 Mar 2008 16:53:07 -0400

Turnover continues to increase costs and reduce productivity. One way to reduce costs associated with replacing employees is to hire the right employee the first time around. To make this happen you need to know what you want in an applicant before you start recruiting. Here is how to hire an MVP:

� Research continues to identify the need for employers and employees to share common values. If the employee cannot buy-in to an organization?s corporate culture the first red flag should be raised.

� What a candidate is looking for in a job needs to match what is being offered. It is important to take some time in the interview addressing just this issue.

� Remember that most of the time managers hire candidates based on skills, education and experience and when they fire them it is for behavior. So, hiring a team player that possesses the appropriate behavioral traits for the job is imperative.

� It is a known fact that employee loyalty looks different than it did 20 years ago. Most employees will have over 27 jobs in their career compared to 4-7 in the baby boomer era. However, job-hoppers, those that stay on a job less than two years, are sure to increase turnover costs.

� Only hire individuals you trust. During the interview find out if the person will do the right thing when faced with a difficult situation. Ethics are still an important trait!

� Hire candidates who can do a great job now and have growth potential as well. Building the pipeline for future higher-level positions helps prepare organizations for the future.