The Hiring Process

The Hiring Process Attracting the Best People

Key Topics Covered in This Chapter • Defining job requirements • Recruiting promising candidates • Interviewing • Evaluating candidates • Making the decision and offer

Hiring • hiring is a business process—a set of activities that turn inputs into outputs. • This process compiles information about • job requirements, • the applications of various candidates, • and the deliberations of decision makers, • and produces an outcome: new people on the payroll. • This is a five-step hiring process.

Defining Job Requirements • the primary responsibilities and tasks involved in the job; • the background characteristics needed to perform the job • (education and experience); • the personal characteristics required (E.g., does the individual need to have strong interpersonal skills? Be highly intelligent?); • your organization’s culture (E.g., team-orientation, degree of conformity, reward systems); and • • your managerial style (E.g., authoritative, coercive, • democratic) and its implications for an effective working • relationship.

Primary responsibilities and tasks involved in the job • Make sure you can answer the question: “What does the employee have to do in this job?”

Education and Experience • Can you be flexible in this area, or can relevant experience be substituted for a certain educational background? • Which would be most desirable: • Industry experience? • Functional experience? • Large- versus small-company experience?

Personal Characteristics • Analytical and creative abilities. • Decision-making style. • Interpersonal skills. • Motivation.

Develop a Job Description • A job description is a profile of the job, its essential functions, reporting relationships, hours, and required credentials. • This description will make it possible for you to explain the job both to potential candidates and to any recruiters you may be using to help identify candidates.

Develop a Job Description • job title, business unit, and the name of the organization • job responsibilities and tasks • hiring manager and reporting manager • summary of the job tasks, responsibilities, and objectives • compensation, hours, and location • background characteristics required • personal characteristics required

Recruiting Promising Candidates • Personal referrals from current employees • favored method of expanding the candidate pool, • many companies encourage this through the payment of “rewards” to employees whose referrals are actually hired. • this practice is much less costly than others and often produces more satisfactory new hires • Typical channels include • recruiting agencies, • newspaper ads, • referrals from colleagues, • trade publications, • professional associations, • networking, • campus recruiting, • and the Internet.

Screening Résumés • Consider current employees. • Look outside your organization to bring in new outlooks, skills, and experiences. • Know what kind of person you’re looking to locate a good fit. • Remember that a person’s past job performance is the surest guide to future performance. • Remember that the right education + the right experience + a compatible personality = a good fit. • Beware of the “just like me” trap. • focus on the objective requirements of the job & the candidate’s qualifications.

The Résumés • In the first pass, eliminate the résumés of candidates who: • do not meet the basic requirements of the job. • In the second pass look for résumés that include: • signs of achievement and results—for example, a profit orientation, stability, or progressive career momentum; • a career goal in line with the job being offered (be on your guard here, as applicants are often coached to tailor their purported career goals to match those of jobs to which they’re applying); • attractive overall construction and appearance.

Alert: Red flagsIndicate areas of weakness • lengthy description of education (possibly not much job • experience); • employment gaps (what was the applicant doing during these • gaps?); • a pattern of short-term employment, especially after the applicant has been in the work force for more than a few years; • no logical job progression; • too much personal information (possibly not much job experience); • Descriptions of jobs and positions only, with no descriptions of • results or accomplishments

Interviewing • To provide both the interviewer and the job candidate with an opportunity to obtain the information they need to make the best possible decision. • Telephone-screening interview. • Initial in-person interview. • Second interview.

Structured versus Unstructured Interviews • It’s probably a good idea to steer a middle path between these two approaches—i.e., be flexible in your line of inquiry, but be sure that all interviewees respond to a core set of questions.

Interview • Opening • Body • Close

Openning • Be on time. Be friendly. Introduce yourself and tell the candidate something about yourself. • Examples • “I’m going to ask you about your experience.” • “I’m interested in finding out about you as an individual.” • “We’re interested in finding out whether there is a good fit between your interests and abilities and our organizational needs.” • “I will give you information about our organization.” • “I’ll be glad to take your questions at the end of the interview.”

Responses to Typical Résumé Statements (Examples) • I successfully managed development of a new line of consumer kitchenware. • How was success measured: by revenues, time-to-market, other measures? Specifically, what was your role in the development effort? • I initiated the redesign of key department processes. • What processes? What do you mean by “initiated”? Why did you decide to do this? Why was this initiative important?

Close • Thank the candidate for coming in. • Explain how and when the person will hear about follow-up interviews or decisions, depending upon your company’s policy and your interest in him or her. • Ask if the candidate has questions, especially those that might affect his or her decision to participate in the next step of the process. If you have reached the interview’s time limit, invite the person to call you later with further questions. • Ask whether there is anything that has not been covered or is unclear. • Promote your organization. Remember to target the features of your organization that are most likely to appeal to the candidate. • Shake hands and make eye contact. Walk the person to the door or to the next destination.

Prohibited questions in the United State: • How old are you? • Are you married? • What is your citizenship? • What is your sexual orientation? • How much do you weigh? • Are you disabled? • When did you graduate from high school? • Do you have children? • What country are you from? • Where were you born? • Have you ever been arrested? • Would your religion prevent you from working on weekends?

Common Evaluation Mistakes • being overly impressed with maturity or experience, or overly unimpressed by youth and immaturity; • mistaking a quiet, reserved, or calm demeanor for lack of motivation; • mistaking the person’s ability to play “the interview game,” or his or her ability to talk easily, for intelligence or competence; • allowing personal biases to influence your assessment (you might be tempted to judge someone harshly because she reminds you of someone you dislike);

Common Evaluation Mistakes • looking for a friend or for a reflection of yourself in the candidate; • assuming that graduates of certain institutions or employees of certain organizations are automatically better qualified; • giving too much weight to familiarity with the jargon of your business; • focusing only on one or two key strengths and overlooking the absence of others; and • failing to value motivation to get ahead.

References Checks • Use the telephone to check references. Don’t check references via letter; you probably won’t get much information. • Take a little time to build rapport with the reference; that will make him or her more comfortable with sharing information with you. • Briefly describe the job that the candidate is applying for and ask if this is something for which the person would be well suited. • Ask about the candidate’s style, character, strengths, and weaknesses.

References Checks • Avoid asking vague questions, such as: “Did Jack do a good job managing his department?” • Instead, ask more specific questions, such as: “What was Jack best at?”;“What did his subordinates like best about him?”;“What did they like least?”;“Are there any jobs that would be inappropriate for Jack?”;“What kind of organizational environment would suit Jack best?” • Let one reference lead to another. If a reference gives you some information, ask, “Do you know anyone who could tell me about Jack’s experience in this area?” • The more people you talk to, the clearer a picture you will get.

Making the Decision and Offer • Résumés, interviews, and reference checks all inform the decision making process. • At some point, you must ask yourself, “Do we have enough information to make a good decision?” If the answer is “yes,” • then it’s time to move ahead with making the hiring decision.

The Job Offer & Offer Letter The Offer Letter • starting date • job title • expected responsibilities • compensation • benefits summary • time limit for responding to the offer

Summing Up • Defining job requirements. • Recruiting. • Interviewing. • Evaluating the candidates. • Making a decision and offer.

Thank You

The Hiring Process