This month we are going to discuss hiring entry-level people, talk about recruiting from competitors and answer a question about using testing as part of your hiring process. I just got back from speaking at the largest Customer Support Conference in the world, which was held in Orlando. A theme that came up during my presentation and that I have been asked a lot about lately was how you interview entry-level candidates. This does not just refer to people right out of school but also to people who might be switching careers as well.

As always, the key to a good hire is developing your success profile. You need to paint the picture of the successful person before you can even think about interviewing. Those of you that have heard me speak know I call the success profile your roadmap to success. Here is an analogy that might help. It doesn't matter how good a driver you are (your instincts, gut-feel, etc.) or how good your car is (your interview process), if you don't know where you are going, you probably won't reach your destination. So, let's build a profile for an entry-level candidate. Start by clearly identifying your expectations. What must the person accomplish to earn the label of success? Make certain your expected outcomes are clear, measurable and realistic. A few sample outcomes might be: Responds to 25 customer calls per day, Resolves all outstanding issues within 24 hours, Documents all calls in the tracking system.

Once you have your list of outcomes, you need to identify the knowledge, skills and abilities necessary to meet those outcomes. An absolute must in any entry-level position is going to be the ability to learn. You might also consider: The ability to follow instructions, Listening skills, and Organization Skills.

The single best technique to help you build your success profile is to benchmark. successful and unsuccessful people. Think about the last entry-level person you hired that turned into a star. How did that person handle tasks and situations? How did they behave? Also look at someone that has not worked out and ask the same questions. You will see patterns.

This exercise should result in a very clear picture of the successful person that includes both what they need to accomplish and the knowledge, skills and abilities to get it done. You now have your roadmap.

Next, you have to prepare for your interviews. You know my favorite interview technique is to get as many examples of past behavior as possible. This is particularly difficult with entry-level candidates because they don't have much experience, or related experience. The technique to overcome this is to look in their past for opportunities to demonstrate similar behavior. Using "ability to learn" as an example, look for situations in the person's past where they had to learn something new. How long did it take them? What tools did they use? How did they put the new information into practice? Remember, past behavior is the best predictor of future behavior.

I had a business owner share a story with me recently. He said he hired a new person, gave them all the tools and opportunity to do their job but they failed. He had expected them to figure out how to get from point "A" to point "B" without any input from him. But the person couldn't figure it out. Once he outlined a path and gave them very specific instructions to follow, the person did well. He asked if there was a way to have predicted this in advance.

My answer was, of course. He needed to focus on how the person had handled similar situations in the past. I am certain that he would have discovered that every time the person was left to figure it out on their own, they struggled. But, when they had a clear plan to follow, they were successful.

It is much more difficult interviewing entry-level candidates because there isn't as much data to work with. But, if you make the effort to build a good success profile, and focus on getting examples of similar behavior from their past, you can pick winners.

I had an audience member in one of my speeches this past month ask the following question: Do think it is unethical to recruit from direct competitors? Your reaction is probably similar to mine in thinking how naïve can you be! But, I dug in a little and it turned out that he had a very legitimate concern. His company was located in a smaller community and he had done a very good job of establishing the company as an Employer of Choice in the community. He felt that raiding other companies would tarnish his reputation.

This turns out to be a fabulous opportunity to apply my Unique Hiring Proposition (UHP) principle. He was probably correct in assuming that if he actively pursued employees at his competitors, it might be viewed as negative. The solution is to have the applicants come to him. I told him to take his good reputation and form a message about going with a winner. The best way for him to play that card is through publicity.

I told him to announce to the local media that they were expanding the business. I told him to try to get the "local company makes good" angle. And, as part of the story they would mention that the company was going to need to hire "X" number of new people to support the growth. Total cost to him was zero. And, the people would be coming to him instead of him trying to recruit someone out of a competitor.

I have always said it is better to out-think your competition when it comes to recruiting. Here is a situation where we started out with what seemed like a silly question and turned it into a unique recruiting opportunity.

At a presentation I delivered today to a group of CEOs, one person opened by complaining that there just aren't any people to recruit. Tem minutes later he said, I surrender!" Because the group thought of 5 or 6 places he could look for candidates that he had never thought of before. Brainpower almost always wins!

Question of the Month
"How do I integrate testing into my selection process?"
This question has come in from a number of people. I will give you a short answer this month and will go into great detail in a future newsletter. Testing, when done properly, can add tremendous data to your hiring process. If you are going to use any type of assessment instrument in your hiring process, start by making certain the tools you use are quality tools.

The instruments you select should be validated, have a track record and most importantly, they should have been designed for pre-employment testing. There are a number of tests being mass marketed for pre-employment testing but they were never designed for that purpose. You want the test to add data to your selection process and help you predict success.

At the high end, you want a tool that allows you to benchmark. It helps to determine the best practices of your best people and then measure candidates against that standard. If the tool doesn't allow you to benchmark, it is far less effective. I would recommend that you check out www.effectiveselection.com to learn about a variety of excellent tools. More on this next month.

Finally, I hope you will check out my new e-book, Hiring Made Easy, Solutions to Your Hiring Problems. This is the compilation of all the great questions I have been asked, with my equally great answers. You can learn about the book at www.hiringmadeeasy.com .

I am off to Hawaii to prepare for our Selecting Winners worldwide company meeting. All of our instructors and business partners from around the world will be joining us for our kickoff. During the meeting we will be releasing version 11.0 of the Selecting Winners Workshop along with 3 new workshops. I will tell you all about them next month.

Let me end by saying a sincere "Thank You!" to all of you that have attended our workshops and speeches. I know that I am very fortunate to be surrounded with a wonderful group of people to work with and great clients to serve. Have a great Thanksgiving Holiday!

Have a great month recruiting!
Barry Shamis