It’s amazing how difficult we can make things!

Just think about the way many of us put together interview schedules.  Let’s say we decide to bring candidate “Charlie” to our site for a day of interviews.  Typically, the first step would be to drop Charlie’s resume onto the desk of John, an Administrative Specialist, and request that he arrange an interview schedule.  John knows what will happen and dislikes you for the task already: He will call 7 or more people to try to get 4 of them to agree to interview Charlie on the appointed day.  Most will “be busy” and some will play the politics of asking, “So, who else will be on the interview schedule?”  Others will agree, but only for a specific time.  After wrestling to put the schedule together, John will finally have four people to interview Charlie – and they likely will not be those who should be conducting the interviews; rather those who are available.  Shouldn’t it be easier with better outcomes?

The answer is an absolute yes.  Pre-designated selection teams are the answer!  It takes a little effort up front, but very little from then on to have a fine process.  It starts by identifying those people who should see all the candidates for job openings within a specific department or job family.  These people will make sound selection decisions due to their knowledge of the department/job content – coupled with having seen all the candidates for the job to select the best of them.  We all realize that there are times that one or more of this team may not be available due to illness, business travel, vacations, etc., so we appoint a solid “alternate” for each team member.  We then establish specific roles on the team for each member – which would include the purpose of their interview.  It is also important to make sure that all team members have been trained in effective interviewing.

With the organization of pre-designated selection teams, John, our frustrated Administrative Specialist, organizes the interview event by simply using the list of team members and their roles for the hiring department; and if one of the primary team members is absent, the alternate is scheduled as a replacement.

The value is immediately significant!  Now, not only is the scheduling process much easier, the interviewers will present the company more professionally, will not repeat the same questions over and over, and when they have their selection meeting they will have collectively gathered more and better information with which to make the selection decision.  If they have been trained correctly, they will also have significantly reduced legal exposure and will have sold the company well.  What’s more is that selection teams may exist for finance, sales, logistics, engineering, operations, etc.  Those teams get very familiar with the job openings and requirements in their areas and develop content expertise.  Because they will have seen all the candidates, their comparative selections will be better.

Don’t reinvent the wheel for each interview schedule.  Selection teams are the best practice!

Practice does not make perfect; Perfect Practice makes perfect!

The ISAAC Network, LLC is a consulting firm specializing in the issues that surround recruiting, employment and retention since 1994. Typical offerings include recruiting/employment process consulting; outsourced employment services (bundled or unbundled); competency modeling; interviewer/selection training; web-based employee surveys and analysis; workforce planning; mentor programs; and professional/executive search services. With offices in both New York and Tennessee the firm works with organizations of all sizes and types across the U.S. (and Canada). Call to discuss your issue in confidence at either 865-448-8700 (Townsend, TN) or 585-223-8810 (Fairport, NY).

In an interview, does your organization know what it’s looking for?

Or do you?

Over the last 34 years that I’ve been involved in interviewing and selection of professionals from the entry-level to the boardroom, I’ve been trained and practiced a variety of methods of interviews.  My professional observation is that regardless of the training or the skill of the interviewer, the vast majority of them attempt to scrutinize six primary areas of the candidate’s background.  Those are:

• Affect – The way one presents him/herself (dress, punctuality, professionalism, deportment)
• Education – Major, quality of school, GPA, reasons for choices
• Experience – Type, length, quality of employers, turnover, training
• Performance – Indicators of how well the person performed and was esteemed
• Potential – How well will the candidate fit here; now and in the future
• Character – Indications of work ethic, initiative, interpersonal skills, and other characteristics (in more sophisticated terms, the competency model)

My complaint is not that these six factors are not important, but that all too often, the “test” is subjective and left up to the “gut feeling” of each individual interviewer.  Even in excellent organizations, there are many untrained interviewers and the questions asked are often not predictive of the candidate’s future success and in the worst case are not lawful (and create legal exposure).  Do all the interviewers look for the same, relevant information?  Do your interviewers collaborate so they aren’t all asking the same questions?  Do they understand all the legal considerations?

Then, once the candidate responds, how does the interviewer arrive at his/her rating?  Is it the same rating at which other interviewers would likely arrive or is it wholly subjective?  Is there a rating scale definition to which all the interviewers subscribe?

Many companies will not hesitate to spend months and many dollars to support a new capital expansion of a couple of million dollars …but they will make a million dollar hiring decision with no training and a couple of 45 minute interviews.  As we go through this extremely important process, let’s do it really well!

“If you hire well, you will go higher!”

The ISAAC Network, LLC is a consulting firm specializing in the issues that surround recruiting, employment and retention since 1994. Typical offerings include recruiting/employment process consulting; outsourced employment services (bundled or unbundled); competency modeling; interviewer/selection training; web-based employee surveys and analysis; workforce planning; mentor programs; and professional/executive search services. With offices in both New York and Tennessee the firm works with organizations of all sizes and types across the U.S. (and Canada). Call to discuss your issue in confidence at either 865-448-8700 (Townsend, TN) or 585-223-8810 (Fairport, NY).

Let me define “game time.” In our business of helping clients be successful in generating the best of candidates, interviewing and selecting well and retaining their human capital, game time will be that point where they are again focusing on attracting, hiring and retaining a world-class workforce. We all know rationally that we can’t just simply stop recruiting, building our reputation as a premier employer, developing and maintaining our relationships with our sources for candidates …but, when business is bad, that’s what we’ve done. Many organizations have, because of hiring freezes, layoffs, reductions-in-force, etc., significantly reduced or even stopped their efforts to maintain their campus recruiting presence, develop and maintain their relationships with recruiting and search firms, maintain levels of advertising and public relations to build their attractiveness as a fine place to work and even to communicate well to their own employees!

We have learned from previous experience that a company can’t expect their employees to stay when the job market becomes competitive if they weren’t well treated in the past. So now, let’s fast forward into the near future. Data tells us that we will encounter a significant talent shortage in many fields when the job market normalizes. In fact, when things get better the market will really heat up due to the lack of hiring over the prior years and months which have left great holes in the organization and created large gaps in the company’s ability to find “ready replacement” talent internally when an employee leaves or retires. So …I pose the question again. “When it’s game time, will you be ready?”

Are you an organization that has focused on treating your remaining employees with great respect through much communication, openness and appreciation? Have you conducted employee surveys and focus groups so you know (not surmise) what your workforce is thinking? Have you made a conscious effort to maintain your relationships with recruiting and search firms, consultants, employees (for referrals), publications, etc. so all of these will be trusted partners who will be committed to assist you? Can you count on their support and will they say good things? Have you maintained your campus recruiting relationships by keeping a positive campus presence, supporting their efforts, scholarships, awards, minority recruiting programs, coop and intern programs, etc.? When the market comes back, where will you be in the game?

“It doesn’t cost much to do the right things to prepare yourself in the war for talent.”

The ISAAC Network, LLC is a consulting firm specializing in the issues that surround recruiting, employment and retention since 1994. Typical offerings include recruiting/employment process consulting; outsourced employment services (bundled or unbundled); competency modeling; interviewer/selection training; web-based employee surveys and analysis; workforce planning; mentor programs; and professional/executive search services. With offices in both New York and Tennessee the firm works with organizations of all sizes and types across the U.S. (and Canada). Call to discuss your issue in confidence at either 865-448-8700 (Townsend, TN) or 585-223-8810 (Fairport, NY).

Many previous surveys demonstrated that most organizations, though being aware of the issues of the retiring baby-boomers, the aging workforce, different generations working together, etc., really didn’t understand the specifics of the impacts on them. Now that we’re in “survival mode” many companies are making mistakes that they might regret later. Let’s talk …

Just prior to the bottom falling out of the market, we all realized that well over 40% of our employee base was comprised of “Baby Boomers” who would become retirement eligible within a couple of years. We were all concerned about the loss of institutional knowledge, mentorship, etc. In fact, there are many companies and even many individual departments where the data is even more alarming! That hasn’t changed. In fact, the Society for Human Resources Management (SHRM) reported in their Workplace Forecast Executive Summary for 2006-2007, “demographic trends most likely to have a major impact on or cause a radical restructuring of the workplace”, some very notable data. Within the top five of these trends were; Aging of the workforce (#2), Demographic shifts leading to a shortage of skilled workers (#3) and Retirement of large numbers of baby boomers at around the same time (#4). Also in the same report, the fourth most significant “economic trends most likely to have a major impact or cause a radical restructuring of the workplace” was “Labor shortage at all levels.” As we deal with severe economic uncertainties and attempt to quickly reduce costs we may make bad decisions without some appropriate efforts toward workforce planning. When it comes to our workforce, the supply hasn’t much changed; just the current demand. When we reduce our workforces without careful study, it may be compared to lightening our load by throwing our most treasured possessions out first! Also, with extremely limited opportunities to hire, we should be maximizing our decisions.

So, Workforce Planning 101 asks, “do you really know your human capital inventory?” Do you really know, for instance:

• The number in each department who will be retirement eligible within X years?
• Of those who will become retirement eligible, how many will actually leave?
• Your diversity balance within each department?
• The cost of losing key employees?
• The available supply of the types of people necessary to run your business (those with the specific education, experiences, compensation, locations and interest)?
• How the way you currently treat your people will affect their willingness to stay when the market improves?
• How the way all the above and more will affect your ability to recruit, develop and retain your workforce in the future?

It makes good sense, especially when we are making such critical decisions, to do some basic workforce planning. Even if we’re having difficulty attempting to predict our future business needs, we can all have a much better understanding of our current human capital assets. With better knowledge, we can make better decisions. An investment in workforce planning makes sense considering the stakes!

The ISAAC Network, LLC is a consulting firm specializing in the issues that surround recruiting, employment and retention since 1994. Typical offerings include recruiting/employment process consulting; outsourced employment services (bundled or unbundled); competency modeling; interviewer/selection training; web-based employee surveys and analysis; workforce planning; mentor programs; and professional/executive search services. With offices in both New York and Tennessee the firm works with organizations of all sizes and types across the U.S. (and Canada). Call to discuss your issue in confidence at either 865-448-8700 (Townsend, TN) or 585-223-8810 (Fairport, NY).