Question
How about some smart tips for the hiring managers out here? I have a Ph.D. in Physics but there doesn’t seem to be a calculation for selecting the best job candidates and, believe it or not, even though we use A.I. in our work, that doesn’t suffice, either. So what’s the secret?
Nick’s Reply
Making good hiring decisions may not be as challenging as doing Physics, but it is just as easy to make a serious hiring mistake as it is to err in a complex mathematical calculation.
Unfortunately, managers forget that hiring employees succeeds only when basic rules and techniques are followed.
Here are the basic rules of smarter hiring that I teach managers to help them pick the best candidates for any job any time.
How to define the job you want to fill
Good managers know the work that must be done and the goals and targets being aimed at. That’s why the best job descriptions are written by department managers.
Job descriptions done by human resources departments tend to be drawn up to attract large numbers of candidates rather than a few highly qualified candidates.
Rule: Let the manager for whom the new hire will be working write the job description and do the screening and hiring.
How to find the person
Many companies look in the wrong places. When you run a job posting, you are inviting anyone with an Internet connection to send in a resume. Valuable time is wasted reading through all of them even if you use A.I. to sort the pile, simply because an online job description is not a good filter. More is not better.
Rule: Act like a professional headhunter. Don’t advertise and solicit anyone that’s willing to apply. Hunt for the right person
- Examine the best companies in the business. Learn what types of people are making those businesses successful.
- Ask experts in your field about the best people they come in contact with.
- Ask your customers and vendors the same questions. After all, they not only know your company; they work with other companies in your field.
- Review trade journals to learn about star performers who are attracting industry-wide attention.
Rule: Ask appropriate colleagues to run through the same exercises to generate additional strong candidates.
How to evaluate a resume
No resume tells enough on its own to give a clear indication of whether or not you want that person working for you. Even though few job seekers still use a cover letter, it sometimes reveals more about a candidate’s true qualities than even the most impressive resume.
Use the resume only for background information to “fill in the blanks” about a person. The historical information is practically useless because what someone did for another employer in the past can’t tell much about what they can do for you in the future.
Rule: Pay more attention to what the candidate says in an e-mail or phone call about your company and how they can serve as an important asset. What you really want is not a list of past accomplishments, but evidence that the candidate has done some homework about your company and your industry. Look for evidence that the candidate understands the company’s needs and problems and has a handle on how to help.
How to conduct the perfect job interview
Give all candidates a short list of the problems and challenges that your department and your company face. Ask them to be prepared to present strategies and solutions when they come to an interview.
That turns a routine interview into an active working meeting in which candidates must demonstrate how they would work if they were hired by the company.
Rule: Start with a one-on-one session between candidate and working manager. Then, open it up into a group interview. Invite your staff and managers of related departments with whom the candidate would come into contact if hired.
Caution: The interview should not be a grilling. It should be an informative exchange of ideas. The more you can observe the candidate interact with people inside the company the less you will have to rely on psychological profiles and other largely useless tools to judge whether they will fit into your business.
(See also: The single best interview question.)
How to evaluate past experience
A candidate’s past experience is useful only to the extent that it might predict how they will perform in the job being filled.
Trap: All jobs evolve and change. The job being filled today may not be the same job in just two or three months.
What to look for: Whether the candidate can demonstrate that they can not only do the work you want done, but can also ride a fast learning curve without falling off.
Look for evidence that the person can learn quickly, that they display intense curiosity as well as a willingness and an ability to accept and adapt to change.
How to check references
Check the references the candidate provides. Avoid contacting the current employer unless you have obtained specific permission from the candidate to do so.
What to ask: When the reference is a former boss or supervisor, ask these two crucial questions.
- If you could take Joe aside today, what advice would you give him about being a more successful employee? That will indicate whether the candidate has flaws that really matter.
- If you could re-hire Sarah today, would you do it? If there is any hesitation, it could mean the candidate has drawbacks that aren’t readily apparent.
How to know if someone is fibbing
Watch for the job candidate who talks too fast, who can’t quite make eye contact, who answers even short questions with long-winded answers. All could be indications the candidate is stretching the truth… or lying.
Fabrication is common in job interviews — especially if the interview is intense and fast-paced. You must decide for yourself how much weight to place on suspected or even obvious untruthfulness.
Candidates are most apt to lie about their previous salary, claiming to have earned more than they did. (They may factor in non-salary payments such as potential bonuses, expected future raises, estimated value of stock options, for example.) But even as a prospective boss, there is not much to gain by asking about previous salary. The salary you pay should be based on the candidate’s value to you, not on what someone else thought they were worth.
The hiring issues and tips I’ve offered are far from exhaustive. What are your suggestions for how to improve the hiring process (which I think is very broken today)? What are the best questions hiring managers have asked you? If you’re a hiring manager, what hiring techniques have led to the worst hiring mistakes?
: :
While we are at it: A job description should not be a wide-ranging laundry list of everything that the last guy did.
What few things do you honestly need to have done? What are the metrics, if any. Some positions honestly don’t require metrics, and this is perfectly fine. Unless you just need metrics so you can micro-manage, and maybe you should disclose this tendancy as well.
During a few interviews I’ve asked this question of the interviewer. If you could distill this job into the top 3 things you want done by the person who fills this job, what would those 3 things be? This is not meant to be a “gotcha” question. I want to know what they want in the person hired for the position.
No one has been able to answer that question. If the hiring manager doesn’t understand the most vital tasks that need to be performed by the employees, how can they make a hiring decision?
@Anna: I think that’s the most important question a job applicant can ask. It’s a variation on what I call the “best question” (see link above). My experience mirrors yours: few managers can answer it.
Another reader shared a story about a top Big Pharma job he interviewed for. The Sr. Scientist running the division couldn’t answer the question, either. A few weeks later, the candidate that asked it learned the company had eliminated the job. Did the question trigger that? I guess yes.
“If the hiring manager doesn’t understand the most vital tasks that need to be performed by the employees, how can they make a hiring decision?”
Having been a job seeker in the “dot-bomb” era (1999-2003) I began to collect observations about the job hunt. Eventually, I developed two lists: 9 reasons to advertise a job; 9 reasons to interview a candidate. Below is one note from the interview dance.
3. The hiring manager has recently been promoted, and does not want to give up the influence
gained in the original position. But, senior management insists the hiring manager will
need help in order to be effective. The hiring manager will create impossible criteria
in order to “prove” that no suitable replacement can be found, anywhere, and senior
management should rest assured the hiring manager can do both jobs.
@Geno: I’ll bet you’ve got loads of these. And I’ll bet we could produce a book full of them!
“And I’ll bet we could produce a book full of them!”
Taking this at face value; you’re my major source for advice on inside “headhunter” info.
Yes, have collected 18 observations regarding job postings and interview purposes. Regards a book, well. . . .I do have a raw, unpublished book regarding job hunting. Working title is The Job Search; Make It Your Business.. The thrust is that the job seeker is a business owner, a solution provider, seeking clients; doing so as a small business, not a job supplicant.
@Geno: We both agree on the job seeker as a small business. I think it helps keep an eye on the ball. I like your book title!
Thanx, Nick
Seems that providing solutions during an interview is simply free consulting for the “hiring” company. Been there, done that, too often.
@Geno: I never recommend doing free work. You must decide whether the employer is trying to scam you. But I do think being able to demonstrate you can do the job is key — as long as you don’t give everything away!
“I never recommend doing free work.”
Understand.
It can be quite impossible to accurately determine if one is being taken advantage of.
@Geno
Agree—you have to be careful about what you give away.
I had one company wanting me to take a “skills test.” The test involved fixing a screwed up spreadsheet, fixing a slide deck for a presentation and writing. When I asked how long I would get for the test I was told 2 hours. I started to take the test and realized it was nothing more than getting free work. I provided a few suggestions and left it at that. Never heard from the company, of course.
“I started to take the test and realized it was nothing more than getting free work.”
If I hadn’t been in financial need of a formal job, I would have laughed at the entire hiring process.
Was invited to interview for a position with a “marketplace” software company (reverse auction support). There was only one other person invited to interview; whom I noted in the lobby area of the company. Also noted she was way more attractive than I, and had a peppy personality. Was informed on the way home, that the other candidate had been hired.
Three weeks later, I received a call from the HR department of the “marketplace” company, asking if I was still available for hire. I chuckled, and stated that I had done absolutely nothing meanwhile to improve my skills and experience in the three weeks since I was rejected. I paid for that little display of arrogance, but never complained.
Remember to include negatives about the job. No need to pay for someone to interview if they don’t know what they are getting into. I interviewed for one job that involved 3 month + cruises a year, on a WWII surplus freighter off the Aleutions. (Radar studies of Russian and Chines satellite launches). Someone might be willing to take the job, but you want to screen out those who would not.
USS Pueblo redux?
“Remember to include negatives about the job.”
Good idea.
Seems to me these rules can be reverse engineered (at least to a limited extent) to help job candidates prepare for interviews as well.
@Askeladd: You caught me! :-) When I answer questions for managers I try to embed useful tips for job seekers, too! Keep in mind: There are always at least 2 in the interview, and whether they realize it or not, they’re both on the same side and the rules are mostly the same.
I laughed when I read about failing to make eye contact. I tend to make eye contact and that was a criticism by a local unsophisticated guy who was very uncomfortable as he brought it up after with someone he was gossiping with. Unfortunately that’s how small town Eugene OR responds to women they find extremely threatening. Very odd. Needless to say, he didn’t choose to hire me. Toooo scary.
@Marilyn: Oh, you uppity women! ;-)
Thx for noticing. It’s a gift.
“Unfortunately that’s how small town Eugene OR responds to women they find extremely threatening. Very odd.”
Perhaps not odd, at all. I found that people under 40, regardless of industry, are uncomfortable with direct contact in circumstance. My uninformed guess it that is comes of being too much on social media, or job experience where the person generally avoids human contact, to a large degree. Maybe it is only situations where 20-somethings are facing older, more experienced, more at home in the world at large people.
It is apparently a socialization thing, where people feel safe when they can avoid being scrutinized for personal traits. . . .such as being online the majority of their day. Unfortunately, it is not something one can expect to see reverting back to a time when social interaction meant being in proximity to other humans.
Great advice and likewise the comments.
The best question for a candidate not to ask is one I’ll always recall
“What do you guys do?”
@Don: Add that to the list of “snappy answers to stupid questions*”! That is, deploy it tongue-in-cheek if they as you a stupid question.
* With apologies to Mad magazine
I urge everyone involved in hiring to network. Even if (especially if) there are no current roles available.
As simple as buying someone a coffee once a week.
This not only provides people to contact when an opening does appear, it provides a sense of what the local talent pool looks like.
Interesting topic this time Nick.
As you and the regulars know, I am what the country calls and “undesirable” because I have 0 college and actually fix the things that make white collar jobs possible. From what I have seen and been through in 34 years of work there are some issues with these rules.
1 Let the manager for whom the new hire will be working write the job description and do the screening and hiring.
This almost NEVER happens especially in blue collar jobs as the managers and supervisors rarely understand the job for which they were hired, let alone what they actually need as they are more often than not hired from the outside and don’t spend time in the “dirty” areas.
2 Act like a professional headhunter. Don’t advertise and solicit anyone that’s willing to apply. Hunt for the right person
I agree with this, however it only seems to apply to white collar, which is why you hear CEO’s and the like claim there is no talent or skills are non existent when it comes to the actual work. Majority of the blue collar folks are told they are expendable from day one. There are no organizations or networks generally for blue collar jobs. In my industry the movers and shakers are people like Richard Rawlings. He is not going to know who the “best” talent is out there as he does not work within the “industry”.
3 Pay more attention to what the candidate says in an e-mail or phone call about your company and how they can serve as an important asset. What you really want is not a list of past accomplishments, but evidence that the candidate has done some homework about your company and your industry. Look for evidence that the candidate understands the company’s needs and problems and has a handle on how to help.
Good advise, however the beginning of this should say in CAPS and BOLD, CONTACT EVERY QUALIFIED PERSON BY PHONE FOR AT LEAST A 10 MIN CONVERSATION, 24 HRS AFTER APPLICATION BEFORE REJECTING THEM..
4 Start with a one-on-one session between candidate and working manager. Then, open it up into a group interview. Invite your staff and managers of related departments with whom the candidate would come into contact if hired.
This would be nice, except in most companies there is no cross training or cross talk so sales has no clue what service does, HR has no clue what management does ETC. The last time I had a one on one with an actual hiring manager was 25 years ago.
Now, the candidates past experiences can be decoded through a resume as long as the resume is used as it should always be, a log of past jobs and responsibilities. To much emphasis is put on this tailoring garbage. In the field I left there are LOTS of people working that LIED about credentials and actual knowledge. In mechanics if you get something wrong it can cost lots of money or even life itself…..
The problem here is the MANAGERS and HR can’t identify a piston from a spark plug, it is all about sales and CSR scores.
Now the mention about checking references, From what I have gathered it is now “illegal” to ask a former employer if they would hire the candidate back, or anything other than “Did JD work for you?”
There is also the stark fact that in the blue collar world references are few in management. It is almost always a fellow employee as the reference IF they choose to put their neck out.
In my case I have no professional references, everyone I worked for is either dead, the company closed, or have retired and cut all industry contacts.
I wish these rules would be used in ALL types of work from blue to white collar, teacher to politician. maybe then we could find common ground and stop with the BS.
The other very large elephant in the room is the new young “managers” who act like Second Lieutenants, think they know all and listen to know one. They view ANYONE older than them as a “boomer” and someone to be exiled from society.
Yes folks, one could say I am jaded, y’all would be somewhat right, It is more about respect……tired of the disrespect.
I have seen lots of promoted low level managers believe that now they have the position, they also have all the answers.
The US military, even the federal agencies, have some sort of formal training required for people newly assigned to management/supervisory positions. Haven’t worked for the majority of commercial companies, but also have not read of a similar process for management positions.
What I have observed, in working for 5 civilian companies, and interacting with dozens of others, is that those companies do sometimes offer training for “skilled” positions, but not for management.
The common thread seems to be belief that the best managers are former “skilled” employees; chief wrench-benders, who can throw everybody else out of the room and fix “the problem” themselves.