KBB - November/December 2012 - (Page 20)

KBIS SPECIAL SECTION Hiring Right Contrary to conventional wisdom, skills and experience are irrelevant Just to clarify, the word is “irrelevant.” It doesn’t read “not important.” There is a difference between something being relevant and being important. Of course, having the right skills and experience is important to performing a job well; it’s just not relevant when hiring. Skills and experience are simply the tools one brings to the job. One’s ability to use these tools effectively is what counts. Just because you have a hammer and saw in your garage, doesn’t make you a ne nish carpenter. LEAVE THE PAST BEHIND Since most people have been taught interviewing is about the candidate’s skills and experience, the interviewer tends to ask a lot of questions about the past. For example, “What have you done in this area?” or “Have you ever done X?” Those trained in behavioral interviewing will take those same questions and convert them into requests for speci c situations from a candidate’s past, such as, “Give me an example where you have done X” or “Tell me about a time when you had X as an issue.” All of this may be good to know, but the fact is you really don’t care about any of this. When your new hire shows up on Monday morning, you no longer care about all their past accomplishments. The only thing that matters to you is whether or not they can do the job you are hiring them to do. They may have the best skills and all the right experience, but if they can’t effectively apply them, then whatever they claim to have is of no use to you. Have you ever hired a person who had all the right skills and experience? They interviewed well, providing all the right answers, and their resume read like the job description, but after you hired them, they fell at on their face? This has happened to just about everyone who has ever hired. Why does this happen? It’s usually because people’s skills and experience are not primary indicators of their ability to do your job. These are at best secondary indicators and more often than not, misleading indicators. Yet these are the indicators that most hiring managers rely on. A good hiring methodology shifts the focus from the person’s skills and experiences to how they will use these to do your job. If they can’t apply these effectively in their new position at your company, then they may be a great person, but they aren’t the right candidate for the job. So how do you put the candidate in the job before you hire the person? Following are three tips to keep in mind: 1 2 3 Stop asking questions that start with “have,”“what,” “have you’ and “tell me about a time when.” These are all ne to know but they should be used for probing after the example and not for the example. That is a huge difference. The famous who, what, when, where and why questions are for probing deep and not for opening questions. “How” questions should be used for the opening question. One of the biggest challenges facing hiring managers is getting them to shift to asking “how” questions. For example, “How would you decrease costs by X percent?” “How would you increase gross margins by X percent?” “How would you go about implementing a complete systems upgrade of our ERP system?” “How would you increase market share in your territory?” After asking the “how” questions, delve more deeply with the ve Ws—who, what, where, when and why. Following these steps will shift the interview from a candidate listing what’s already on their resume to having them explain how they would apply their skills and experiences to do the job. If the candidate can’t apply their skills and experiences in the new job, then one has to question whether or not they are the right person regardless of skills and experience. SHIFT THE FOCUS Instead, focus the interview on the primary reason for interviewing, which is, “Can they do your job?” The key to successful hiring is having a methodology that puts the candidate in the job before you hire them. It is not about determining if the candidate has the right tools. It is about determining if they can use those tools effectively to get your job done. This is why behavioral interviewing often falls short. Behavioral interviewing was once a quantum leap forward in how interviewing was performed; however, it too has run its course. Great interviewing is more than getting examples of the past. It is about doing your job. The tag line for behavioral interviewing, “past performance is an indicator of future performance,” isn’t always the case. The reason most hiring processes fail is because it is easy for a candidate to talk about their skills and experiences. Some might even embellish in this area. It is signi cantly more dif cult to explain how they would apply those skills and experiences in your company, with your culture, your resources, your budget constraints and all the aspects that make your company different from the company they are leaving or just left. ■ —Brad Remillard is a speaker, author and trainer with more than 30 years of experience in hiring and recruiting. Through his corporate workshops and industry association speaking engagements, Remillard demonstrates how organizations can effectively attract, interview, hire and retain top talent. He is also the co-founder of Impact Hiring Solutions and co-author of You’re NOT the Person I Hired: A CEO’s Guide to Hiring Top Talent. For more information on Remillard’s hiring training programs or speaking, please visit www. bradremillard.com. 20 + K BB November/December 2012 / www.kbbonline.com / The Of cial Sponsor of KBIS www.kbis.com http://www.bradremillard.com http://www.bradremillard.com http://www.kbbonline.com http://www.kbis.com

Table of Contents for the Digital Edition of KBB - November/December 2012

KBB - November/December 2012
Contents
Online Contents
Editorial
Show Director’s Note
KBIS Special Section
Web Savvy
Trends
2012 K+BB Product Innovator Awards
Products
Design
Opinion
Ad Index
Favorites

KBB - November/December 2012