Intro

Voodoo Hiring Mistakes

1. The Art Critic - using gut instinct to hire people NB. people who want a job badly can fake an interview.
2. The Sponge - everyone gets to meet them and share notes but they are rarely co-ordinated
3. The Prosecutor - ask trick questions to trip candidates. Knowledge of “trick questions” (e.g. ability to play Chess) and ability are different things
4. The Suitor - you are only selling but not asking the questions
5. The Trickster - e.g. throw a wad of paper on floor to see if the candidate is willing to clean up
6. The Animal Lover - utterly useless as a predictor for job performance
7. The Chatterbox - you don’t need someone who shares your sports fantasies
8. Psychological and personality tester. Savvy candidates can fake the answers.
9. The Aptitude Tester. Ok to use but NOT in isolation.
10. The Fortune-Teller. Hypothetical questions don’t test what the person has done. e.g. what would you do in this situation, etc.?

Other pitfalls

• We should not look for all-around atheletes
• All-around athletes are the candidates who walk into our offices bearing impressive pedigrees, polished attire, and admirable accomplishments in a wide variety of roles. They seem to be able to do it all. They speak well, learn quickly, offer broad insights on company strategy, and convince us that they can adapt to virtually any challenge or task the company might place on their shoulders. In theory, who wouldn’t want someone like that on the team? Yet one of the most consistent findings from our interviews with dozens upon dozens of CEOs and top executives is that hiring all-around athletes rarely works. By definition, they are generalists. That’s their charm. They are good at many things and can wear lots of different hats. But job requirements are rarely general. If you’ve defined the position correctly from the outset, you should be looking for narrow but deep competence.
• The mission should help you find not the generalist who points you to the problem but the very best specialist to help you solve it.
• Don’t hire someone who is a cultural misfit

Definition of A Player

• We define an A Player this way: a candidate who has at least a 90 percent chance of achieving a set of outcomes that only the top 10 percent of possible candidates could achieve.

Four stages of hiring

1. Scorecard
2. Source
3. Select
4. Sell

1. Scorecard

• Mission
• Outcomes
• Competencies

Mission

• Don’t hire an all around athelete. Would you want your GP operating on your heart? Talent needs to be specialised.
• “Success comes from having the right person in the right job at the right time.”

Outcome

• It needs to specific and quantifiable or objectively measurable

Competencies

Core

• Efficiency. Ability to produce significant output with minimal wasted effort
• Aggressiveness. Moves quickly and takes a forceful stand without being overly abrasive.
• Follow-through on commitments. Lives up to agreements regardless of personal cost.
• Intelligence. Demonstrates ability to quickly and proficiently understand and absorb new information.
• Analytical skills. Able to structure and process qualitative or quantitative data and draw insightful conclusions. Shows inquisitiveness.
• Attention to detail. Does not let important details slip through the cracks
• Persistence. Demonstrates tenacity and willingness to go the distance to get something done.
• Proactivity. Acts without being told what to do. Brings new ideas to the company.
• Creativity/innovation. Generates new and innovative approaches to problems.

Others to consider

• Ability to hire A Players (for managers). Sources, selects, and sells A Players to join a company
• Ability to develop people (for managers). Coaches people in their current roles to improve performance, and prepares them for future roles.
• Flexibility/adaptability. Adjusts quickly to changing priorities and conditions. Copes effectively with complexity and change.
• Calm under pressure. Maintains stable performance when under heavy pressure or stress. • Strategic thinking/visioning. Able to see and communicate the big picture in an inspiring way. Determines opportunities and threats through comprehensive analysis of current and future trends.
• Creativity/innovation. Generates new and innovative approaches to problems. • Enthusiasm. Exhibits passion and excitement over work. Has a can-do attitude.
• Work ethic. Possesses a strong willingness to work hard and sometimes long hours to get the job done. Has a track record of working hard.
• High standards. Expects personal performance and team performance to be nothing short of the best.
• Listening skills. Lets others speak and seeks to understand their viewpoints.
• Openness to criticism and ideas. Often solicits feedback and reacts calmly to criticism or negative feedback.
• Communication. Speaks and writes clearly and articulately without being overly verbose or talkative. Maintains this standard in all forms of written communication, including e-mail.
• Teamwork. Reaches out to peers and cooperates with supervisors to establish an overall collaborative working relationship.
• Persuasion. Able to convince others to pursue a course of action.

Remote-working best practices??

2. Sourcing

• Referrals from professional and personal network
• Referrals from employees
• Deputising friends of the firm
• Hiring recruiters
• Hiring researchers
• Sourcing systems

3. Select

A. Screening interview

General

• Scene setting - “I am really looking forward to our time together. Here’s what I’d like to do. I’d like to spend the first twenty minutes of our call getting to know you. After that, I am happy to answer any questions you have so you can get to know us. Sound good?”
• At the end, let them ask questions about the role.
• Ask lots of follow-up questions - What, How, Tell me more. When you have run out of questions, ask them to “tell you more”
• What do you mean?
• What did that look like?
• What happened?
• What is a good example of that?
• What was your role?
• What did you do?
• What did your boss say?
• What were the results?
• What else?
• How did you do that?
• How did it go?
• How much money did you save?

Four key questions

1. What are your career goals?
• Hear about candidate’s goals and passions
• Give the candidate the first word; otherwise, they repeat what you said
• Ideally, they will share goals that match the role’s needs. If they lack goals OR repeat back what is on your website, screen them out
• Talented people know what they want to do and are not afraid to tell you about it
• Candidate should also speak with passion and energy on topics that align with the role
2. What you are really good at professionally?
• You won’t have trouble eliciting strengths
• Ask them for 8-12 strengths. Ask them for examples that will put the strengths into context.
• You are looking for strengths that match the role at hand
3. What are you not good at or not interested in doing professionally?
• If you are not satisfied with the answer, ask them for their “weaknesses”
• If they are bull-shitting, say “that sounds like a strength to me”. Repeat the above question again!
• If you still find yourself struggling, we recommend that you put the fear of the reference check into the person. You say, “If you advance to the next step in our process, we will ask for your help in setting up some references with bosses, peers, and subordinates. Okay?” The candidate will say, “Okay.” Then you say, “So I’m curious. What do you think they will say are some things you are not good at, or not interested in?” Now you’ll get an honest and full answer. The thought that you will be talking to references and verifying the candidate’s answers compels the candidate to be much more truthful and complete than usual. You will be amazed how much of a truth serum this technique can be at this stage of the screening interview.
• You need to identify at least 5-8 weaknesses
4. Who were your last five/four bosses, and how will they each rate your performance on 1-10 scale when we talk to them?
• Ask candidates to list each boss (write their name down) and their rating
• What makes you think your boss would give you a 7?
• You are looking for lots of 8s, 9s and 10s
• 7s are neutrals
• 6s and below are bad
• If you hear too many 6s, screen them out.

B. Who interview

General

• Start with educational experience - highs and lows
• Move to the jobs from the oldest to the newest (reverse chronological order)

Five key questions for every role in the last 15 years (or temper it down to last 8-10 years)

1. What were you hired to do?
• Clear window into role’s goals and targets
• How they thought success is measured- what were their mission and outcomes?
2. What accomplishments are you most proud of?
1. Accomplishments hopefully match the job outcomes. Even better, accomplishments fit the scorecard you are trying to build
2. A players talk about results that is linked to expectations
3. B players talk about events, people met or aspects of the job they liked without talking about results
3. What were some low points during that job?
1. Don’t let them get away with “no lows”
2. What went wrong? What was your biggest mistake? what would you have done differently? what part of the job did you not like?
4. Who were the people you worked with? Specifically?
• Boss
1. What your boss’ name and how do you spell that?
2. What was it like working with him\her?
3. What will (not would) he\she tell me about your biggest strengths and weaknesses?
1. Keep reframing the question to get an answer. What do you think the boss will tell him?
• Team
1. How would you rate the team you inherited on a A, B and C scale?
1. Focus here is to understand how candidates approach building a great team
2. What changes did you make?
3. Who did you hire and fire?
4. How would you rate the team when you left on a A, B and C scale?
• Invokes the TORC - threat of reference check
5. Why did you leave that job?
1. Were they promoted, recruited or fired from each job?
2. How did their boss feel about this? A players are highly valued by their bosses.
3. Don’t accept vague answers e.g. $3M slap

Master tactics

• Interrupting
• 3 Ps
• How did performance compare to previous year?
• How did your performance compare to plan?
• How did your performance compare to peers?
• Push vs pull
• Do not hire anybody who has been pushed out for > 20% of their jobs
• Push. “It was mutual”. “It was time for me to leave”. “Judy got promoted and not me”, my role shrank, I missed my number.
• Pull. My biggest client hired me. My old boss recruited me. A former peer left and recommended me.
• Painting a picture

C. Focused interview

• Interview the candidate

D. Reference interview

• In what context did you work with the person?
• Where were the strengths?
• What were the biggest areas of improvement back then?
• How would you rate 1-10? Why this rating?
• The person mentioned he struggled in the job with this. Can you tell me more

Footnotes

1. “Who: A Method For Hiring”, Geoff Smart