Monthly Archives: March 2013

Mar 25 2013
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Business, Growth, Improvement

Change Your Process to Find Better Candidates

The-Right-CandidateAfter reading a couple of blogs from the Harvard Business Review Blog Network–“Don’t Hire the Perfect Candidate” and “Why Employers Aren’t Filling Their Open Jobs”–it’s apparent that the recruiting process is broken…and not just for the reasons mentioned in these posts. The problem starts with our love of lists: grocery lists, to do lists, wishlists, top 10 lists, you name it. Companies and recruiters tend to believe they can apply this list mentality to finding the best people for a given role. So what do they do? They create a list of everything “the successful candidate” must have. There are two major reasons why this doesn’t work.

  1. It ends up wasting a lot of people’s time.
  2. It forces people to be lazy about assessing candidates.

Time gets wasted in numerous ways: people trying to figure out if they check enough boxes to get in the door; job seekers stretching the truth about their experience, hoping for that interview; recruiters and hiring managers discussing or interviewing candidates who don’t really meet the list criteria; and on and on. It’s a mess.

When the recruiter or hiring manager has this massive list of credentials, that’s exactly what they use to determine how viable a candidate is. It’s not efficient; it’s lazy. Worse, they are likely missing out on exceptional candidates because they don’t have the exact experience or pedigree enumerated in the job posting. Remember that the leaders of Enron and most of the recruits to the investment companies and mortgage houses that led the way to the recession also checked a lot of boxes on a lot of job posts. Look where that got them.

Just because people match the list it does not mean they will have automatic success in the role. How do they contribute to culture? How do they respond to certain situations?

Both authors of the HBR blog posts recommend a mix of investing more in recruitment and retention, reassessing the market and lowering expectations. While there may be validity to those, I would start with a much simpler premise–ditch the list. Instead, create a profile that matches the individual with the role. Doing so successfully really requires three things:

  • A brief narrative (about 100 words) about the characteristics valued in the person
  • The strategic intent of the role (no more than three bullets; more than that and you’re getting too tactical)
  • What a typical day in the life looks like

This is a challenging process, no doubt, and takes time to get it right. But the beauty of it is that it forces you to truly think about how the role contributes to the overall success of the organization and the kind of person who will be the best fit.

More qualified candidates will apply. You will review their cover letters and resumes differently. Your interviewing process will change as well. Most importantly, you will do a much better job of bringing real talent into your organization, not just a bunch of box checkers. And the organization will, in turn, be even more successful.

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Mar 12 2013
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Fiction

Book #11 – Brother Odd

Brother OddFor my 11th book in my quest for 50 books in 2013, I went back to Dean Koontz’s Odd Thomas, selecting Brother Odd, the third in the series. I had previously read Forever Odd for my 6th selection. In all honesty, I couldn’t help myself. The book was sitting there on my nightstand, aching to be read.

As usual, Koontz marries thrills, fantasy and wit into his storytelling, making yet another fun, entertaining and difficult-to-put-down novel. Wryness permeates the entire story. For example, about three-fourths of the way through the novel, the narrator, Odd, shares his perspective on the tool of his nemesis, stating it is an apparition that is “fearsome but, in the end, less real than such threats as a man with a gun, a woman with a knife, or a U.S. senator with an idea.”

The story line itself delves into the philosophical nature of our being. Though the setting is an abbey, it is not overtly religious. Instead, it forces us to contemplate what we, too, would do if we had great power. Would we find ourselves as morally corrupt as the antagonist? Or would we seek to find a deeper connection with those less fortunate?

There are several character series out there to enjoy. I hope this is one you choose to explore.

Mar 06 2013
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Communication, Politics

Book #10 – ARGO

ARGOI decided to read ARGO for my 10th book in my quest for 50 books in 2013 as much to see what the fuss was about related to the movie as to learn about the rescue that I remember from my childhood. I even had a cassette recording of the news that I made myself the days the majority of the hostages were released. That cassette may actually be sitting in a storage unit.

Anyway, the story of the six houseguests that had been rescued so many days prior to those held at the embassy was a mystery to me, as it was to so many others. I have a new admiration for the CIA and Canada, particularly how an inherent mutual trust occurred, which led to the mission’s success.

One of the salient points from the book is to create a strategy that best fits the situation, instead of taking the safest, most predictable route. Another key point: paying attention to every detail associated with the strategy, including areas where there can be a Plan B and where a Plan B simply doesn’t exist. These are lessons we can apply in nearly every aspect of our lives, even if actual lives are not at stake.

Of note, I was not aware until reading the acknowledgements at the end of the book that the screenplay had been written prior to the book. I’m looking forward to seeing it on film, knowing that there will be liberties taken from the actual account.

While to book was well written, there were times where the prose felt forced, as though the CIA stepped in to the story and insisted that some aspect of the story be told in a certain way. Because of the quality of the story, this can be overlooked, and the book makes for a decent read.