Welcome to the February edition of the Hire Score Newsletter. My name is Barry Shamis, for all you new subscribers, and my goal is to provide you with tools and techniques to help you recruit and hire better employees. This month I am going to devote the entire newsletter to one subject. This is a subject that is the most lethal poison to good hiring practices.
The subject is "Ambiguity". Simply stated, ambiguity can be characterized as fuzzy thinking. Let me show you a couple of ways that ambiguity can sink your good hiring practices.
Ambiguity first sneaks into the hiring process when you build a profile for the open position. (Not building a profile is the ultimate ambiguity) I teach my Selecting Winners clients to build performance-based success profiles. These include detailed descriptions of both what the person needs to accomplish (the right things) and the critical requirements to get it done (doing things the right way).
The traditional approach to hiring generally begins with a job description, which is a vague collection of job responsibilities and education and experience requirements. The job description lacks the detail necessary to paint a crystal clear picture of the successful person. Responsibilities only tell you what the person was supposed to do versus a specific list of performance-based outcomes. Education and experience requirements don't list the specific behaviors necessary for success in your environment.
Let's take a look at a couple of examples. You are hiring a sales rep in your Seattle territory. The job description typically has the following statement, "Responsible for all sales activities in the Pacific Northwest". This is a classic example of ambiguity creeping into the process. To remove the ambiguity, you need only look at the type of statements found on our performance-based success profile: "1. Will sign 4 new clients within the first 90 days, 2. Will have a pipeline of deals equal to $250K, 3. Will generate $100K from existing clients within 90 days, 4. Will have established four new reference accounts."
Remove the ambiguity by listing time-based, specific, measurable and quantifiable performance outcomes. Think about which approach will help you better explain an open position to a prospective candidate. Which list gives you the best chance of developing your list of critical requirements?
Now let's look at the second half of the profile, the critical requirements. This is where old Mister Ambiguity really rears his head. At a presentation I delivered today, someone asked me how to interview for character. My honest response was, "I have no idea!" What is character? He went on to say that character is someone who has integrity. I said, "Now, I am really confused." These non-specific labels lead to ambiguity.
It is impossible to interview for labels. Honesty, integrity, flexibility, teamwork are just a few examples of labels that will get you in trouble. I have always preached that you can only interview for behavior. So your challenge is to translate these labels into behavior.
This is simply done using the Selecting Winners "Magic Sentence". "How does someone with ______ behave?" If you want to interview for character, first define it by asking, "How does someone with character behave?" You might respond by saying they make and keep their commitments. You might say they treat other people with respect. You might say they present a professional image to clients.
Here is the key question, "What is the behavior necessary for success in your position?" When you answer this question with a series of behaviors, you remove the ambiguity from the profile. Behaviors are easier to communicate to the rest of your interview team. Behaviors are easier to interview for. And most important, behaviors are predictors of success.
Next, I want to show you how ambiguity can sabotage the interview. You have heard me preach about the benefits of good interview questions over and over again. One big reason for this is that good interview questions remove ambiguity by forcing the candidate to give you specific answers.
"Tell me about your sales experience at ABC." "Give me an example of a customer problem you have dealt with." These are two classic questions that allow ambiguity to creep into your interviews. In the "Tell me about" case, you have opened the door for the candidate to go anywhere they want with the answer. Instead, you want to ask specific questions that get the exact information for which you are looking. For example "How many financial institutions did you close last year?" or "Step me through the sales process you used to close the ABC deal."
In the "Give me an example" case, you want to steer them to a specific example. How about, "What was the last customer problem you handled? How did you deal with it?" These questions take the person to a specific situation and results in you getting specific behavior information.
Don't let ambiguity slip into your questioning process. Make certain that all your questions are specific. Make certain that when you ask a question, you are looking for specific information.
Finally, don't let ambiguity into your decision making process. Support your evaluation with behavioral examples from the interview. This will allow you to make your decisions with confidence. When someone questions your hiring decision, your response should be "I know so" not "I think so".
DEATH TO AMBIGUITY!
Prize Winner
Last month we kicked off the Putting Selecting Winners Into Practice Contest and we have our first winner. Bill Diamond from Siebel Systems submitted the winning entry. Bill talked about how on two separate occasions, he used the probing techniques he learned in our workshop to unearth hidden information about candidates. In one case, the probing caused him to reject a candidate because of lack of substance. In the other case, he had a candidate that did not look very good on paper and seemed to be missing some key experience. But Bill dug in, applied the techniques we taught him, and it turned out the candidate was great. (Bill said 2 other departments have already tried to steal this guy away) Way to go Bill!!! You win a free registration to one of my upcoming internet-based seminars (a $750 value).
I want to thank everyone else that sent me stories this month, I do appreciate them all. But, it is a new month so you all have another chance. For those of you that are new to the newsletter, you need to submit a story about how you have put into use any of the ideas you have read about in this newsletter or learned in one of our workshops or lectures. You must submit your story by the end of the first week of March and it must be submitted to contest@selectingwinners.com.
Once again, the purpose of the contest is to make sure you are putting these ideas to use.
Question of the Month
"Why should I bother to do reference checks when I know I won't get good information? John M Seattle, WA
Great question John. You need to conduct reference checks because it is the best opportunity to verify and validate the data you got during the interview. Just remember these few tips and your reference checks will be great. 1. Prepare your questions in advance. 2. Ask effective, closed-ended questions. 3. Don't ask for opinions or judgments. These three simple steps should help.
A Quick Rant
I read a newsletter last week written by one of my competitors and to my surprise, he attempted to copy some of my ideas. They say that imitation is the sincerest form of flattery, but somehow, I get the feeling that he was not attempting to flatter me. This happens a lot in this business, so it is not surprising.
But, I want you all to know that I work long and hard searching for the latest information on the subjects of recruiting and hiring. I am on a constant vigil for new ideas, which I then test before reporting to you. Every idea you read in this newsletter is mine. If they fail, I accept the blame. If they work, we are all closer to winning the battle for talent.
I appreciate each and every one of you taking the time to read the newsletter each month.
A VERY RARE SALE
I find myself in a very unusual situation. We have been selling our Complete Common Sense Hiring System for almost two years now. This product contains all the information from our one-day Selecting Winners workshop. Included in the package are 8 audiotapes, 2 videotapes and a 250-page reference manual. We sell the package for $997 dollars on our website. Unfortunately for me, (lucky for you) UPS just delivered a shipment that must have shared a truck with that gorilla from the Samsonite suitcase commercials years ago. The beautiful case that the kit comes in got cracked and torn. The tapes, videos and manual were undamaged.
So here is the deal, I have exactly 16 damaged units. To the first 16 people that send a FAX to 614-985-1999 with your desire to order one or more of these kits with cracked cases, I will sell these to you for $250. That is 75% off the normal price. I can promise you will never see this price again. My office will contact the 16 lucky people and get the necessary ordering information from them. Remember, the only way you can get one of these 16 units is to send a FAX to 614-985-1999 immediately.
Have a great month recruiting!
Barry Shamis