Get It Right!

The difference between a good hire vs a bad hire is immense. One of the most important responsibilities of a hiring manager is to “get it right!” In our recently published book, Get It Right or You’ll Regret It, we talk about the lost time and added cost a bad hire can cause a company.

Good Hire

A good hire will add to your company’s culture and contribute to your bottom-line. A good hire fits in, has the same values, understands what needs to be done and doesn’t have to be micromanaged. A good hire is efficient, communicates well, treats other team members with respect, and supports the company’s mission and vision. A good hire is a blessing and makes you, the hiring manager, look like a hero!

Awesome, isn’t it?

Bad Hire

A bad hire will drain your time and energy. A bad hire complains, needs micromanaging, and doesn’t contribute to the productivity required to do the job they filled. A bad hire will often disrupt a well-run department, will instigate fault-finding, and is generally a misfit.

However, it’s not so easy to correct your mistake. It can take months to part ways with a bad hire. Having experienced making a bad hire when I worked for a high-tech company. I cringe when I recall the agonizing year it took to rid my department of this out-of-control individual.

Quick Hires

One of the cautions I have for the hiring managers I work with is to resist the pressure to make quick hires. The wheels of the economy are turning faster, and it’s critical to make sound and good decisions rather than ones you’ll regret because you didn’t pay attention or acted out of haste.

Hire slow, hire smart is the name of the game. Would it surprise you to learn that over 74% of hiring managers who were surveyed said they often hired the wrong candidate?

Invest Time and Pay Attention

If you intend to make good and smart hires, you need to invest time and pay attention. You need to be on alert for signals that are apparent if you take the time to look and listen. Does the candidate pay attention to basic instructions? Do they understand directions? How do they communicate? Are they really a fit for your company’s culture? If you are too quick to make a hiring choice, you might miss the signals that would have avoided a bad hire if you had proceeded more slowly.

Hiring isn’t as easy as conducting an interview and making an offer to the best candidate. The best candidate might not be the best employee or team member. There is a difference. Know that candidates are trained to answer your questions smartly, and if you aren’t a good interviewer, you won’t realize that the answers you are receiving are canned and practiced.

Now that most interviews are conducted via ZOOM or some other virtual platform, it’s critical to assess compatibility, motivation, and attitudes. The best candidate and employee might be the same person, or they might not be. Choose wisely and choose well.

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The post Good Hire vs Bad Hire first appeared on Lane Business Consulting.

There are new details that candidates are having to learn, and managers must learn them too. Don’t underestimate the fact that the candidate is virtual interviewing you and your company, even as you are interviewing them. You must show up virtually with the best professional “look” too.

Prepare & Practice

Practice making the candidates you interview comfortable. Prepare an introduction of yourself and your company or business before you launch into interview questions. Be careful though not to start probing into personal matters that can make a candidate nervous or self-conscious. Consider that if you were welcoming a guest into your home, what would you say to greet them and make them feel welcome?

Set the Stage

Make the effort and take the time for a practice I call, “setting the stage.” It should include introductions; a synopsis of the job you have open; inviting the candidate to take the time to answer your questions thoughtfully; inviting them to ask questions they may have; and outlining the next steps in the interview process.

Your Speaking Style

In virtual interviews, it’s important to speak in a calm and compelling style, which will help the interviewee feel more confident too. If you appear rushed or under pressure or speak so hurriedly that it’s often necessary to ask you to repeat the question, it could lead to a less than optimal interview. Your lack of preparedness and consideration could lose an otherwise great hire.

Focus on Skills

Know that the current quarantine has made living spaces transform into offices. Refrain from making comments about the “home office” that the candidate is showing you during the interview. Candidates have been cautioned to find a quiet and uncluttered space for interviews, and it’s equally important for you, the hiring manager, to find a space that is disconnected from noise or clutter. Keep your questions focused on the skills you are looking for to fill the job you have open. Surely you have a list of questions that will allow candidates to show they have the experience and skills to do the job… or not.

ZOOM Fatigue

We’re all talking about the phenomenon of ZOOM fatigue. If you schedule interviews for late afternoon, you and the candidate may not be in the best form to showcase yourselves. Instead, consider an early morning time when you aren’t weary from other virtual meetings and conversations.

Remember, everyone is adjusting to the increasingly virtual world. We’re all trying to make a good impression through a screen instead of with a handshake and radiating confidence with our physical presence.

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The post Tips for Virtual Interviewing first appeared on Lane Business Consulting.

Hiring the right fit for your team

The challenge of hiring the right fit for your team is not as easy as having a pleasant conversation with someone and plucking the right candidate from a select few. If it were that easy, there would be no bad hires, no decisions regretted, and no time spent training a new employee only to realize that you hired the wrong person.

Knowing that the wrong hire is likely a big expense and a disruption to the organization, it’s important to get it right the first time. Working through the interview process, then realizing that the culture fit or experience fit just isn’t there, you will have to go through the firing process. Then you will initiate the hiring process again, and re-hire, retrain and retain a new employee. This costs not only money but your time and attention which is already spread thin.

Here, then is one way to improve that process.

Define the job

One amazing fact is that hiring managers don’t take the time to define what they are looking for. They somehow think they will magically find a unicorn. Someone who can fill a job they haven’t defined. Instead, take the time to list the requirements, tasks and the hard and soft skills that are important for the job you’re hiring for. Take your list to several of your peers and others who will interact with the person you hire to ensure that you’ve captured the essence of the job.

If you do this well, you will attract the job seekers who see themselves as the perfect candidate and encourage the others to see they aren’t a fit and not apply. Helping candidates weed themselves out will save both you and the job seekers lots of time.

Taking the time to develop a good job description will also be a great foundation for drafting focused and relevant interview questions.

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The post A Quick Message for Hiring Managers During the Interview Process first appeared on Lane Business Consulting.

Interviews via ZOOM

Learning to conduct interviews via ZOOM or some other virtual platform takes some skill to keep the conversation going in addition to asking relevant questions. Some managers have commented that they miss the information that came from in-person meetings.  It takes some thought and preparation to make the interview process a good experience for everyone. If possible send a schedule to the candidate and the interviewers who will be participating in the interview process. Allow breaks for the candidate in between interviewers. A big consideration. If you engage in a panel interview make sure that the questions are prepared ahead of time and are assigned to individuals. It’s a big distraction for the candidate to have interviewers overtalking each other.  It can be confusing and does not give the candidate the best opportunity to showcase their qualifications and strengths.

Interview preparation

Preparation has always been important in the interviewing process and it’s still important if the interview is virtual.  Part of the preparation is ensuring that the technology used works and that the candidate has access to the platform that will be used.

A review of the job description and the candidate(s) resume ahead of the scheduled meeting is important for both in-person and virtual interviews. The hiring manager bears the responsibility to prepare the interview team ahead of time and reviewing both the job description and the qualifications of the candidates who will be interviewed. This preparation will ensure that no one on the interview team will be reading the candidate(s) resume during the interview. A discussion about the important and relevant points to cover can more surely lead to a good interview for both the candidate and the interview team.

Make the candidate feel welcome

Because an interview is virtual doesn’t exempt making a candidate feel welcome.  Be sure to minimize distractions and create a non-distracted environment for everyone on the call. Come to the call with a professional appearance.  Please, no multi-tasking while you are interviewing. Make this a rule and non-negotiable requirement for the interview team.  Inform the candidate that you’ll be taking notes and invite them to do so, too if they are so inclined. Take notes on paper. It’s a big no-no to type during the interview.

Virtual interviewing can be stressful for both the hiring manager and the job candidate. Be conscious of the possibility of miscommunication on both sides of the monitor. You, as the hiring manager, will want to convey a positive image of your organization, company and yourself. The candidates are wanting to portray themselves as skilled, qualified and good hires for your team.

Make sure to let the interviewee what the next steps will be after the interview such as when to expect to hear back from you. Be as specific as possible and keep your word about the time frames. Good candidates have been lost because a hiring manager didn’t adhere to the promised times.

Close the interview with appreciation for the candidate’s time and allow time for the candidate to ask questions.  After the interview a debrief with your interview team to review what worked and what didn’t work will gradually make the experience more productive. It matters for you and the candidates.

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The post Virtual World for Hiring Managers & Recruiters first appeared on Lane Business Consulting.