Hiring and Retaining Top Talent Blog

Interviewing is a PR Event.
We recently conducted a retained executive search for a VP Marketing . The position had been open for more than six months, during which time the company had interviewed ten people who showed little interest in the position or company. In fact, one offer had been turned down. At first glance, […]

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I came across this list of classic Microsoft Interview Questions on a DIGG post and thought our readers might get a good chuckle. I would never recommend these be used as an interview technique since most of them suggest the interviewer is capable of making an assessment of the intellectual capability of the candidate. I would suggest this is far from the truth for most recruiters and hiring managers when they conduct interviews. Although some may swear by these interview questions - I would put them in the same interview question category as "What form of plant life would you come back as?"

The author claims the questions are from actual interviews conducted by Microsoft Employees. The interview questions are listed at http://www.sellsbrothers.com/fun/msiview/default.aspx?content=question.htm. My favorite of all is the "Why are manhole covers round?" Without cheating by going to this site, can anyone answer this question? Does Microsoft actually conduct interview training to teach hiring managers to ask these interview questions?

Barry Deutsch

© Copyright 2008 IMPACT Hiring Solutions. All Rights Reserved.

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All top talent possess the same characteristic. Their level of initiative far exceeds that of their peers. The tough question that we are frequently asked is "How do you measure intiative in the interview?" If you ask someone "Do you have initiative?" -- who thinks the typical candidate will come back and answer "Heck no, I'm a slug". Of course the candidate is going to tell you what you want to hear in the interview - most of them need a job - they'll tell you whatever it takes to convince you they should be hired.

So, how do you avoid the interview syndrome of candidates spewing back in your face whatever they sense you desire? It can be done by first understanding why initiative is the most important behavioral trait leading to success - far exceeding the importance of the other core traits. We explore the five core traits of success and their related interview questions on our website in the section on Interviewing Top Talent. Top performers demonstrate their initiative by:

Going above and beyond the call of duty

Doing the type of things their peers are unwilling to do

Not procrastinating

Anticipating what needs to be done

Not waiting to be told what to do

Being proactive

Who has someone like this on their staff right now? What if you could get 1 or 2 more? What if everyone you hire from this point forward has strong initiative? Would it make a difference in your success as an executive or manager? My guess is that the difference would be extraordinary!

Intiative is not a trait a candidate turns off and on over their career like a switch. They don't wake up at 25, 37, or 42 and leap out of bed one morning yelling "today is the day I start showing initiative". We're wired to show/not show initiative from some of earliest childhood experiences.

The candidates who achieve the greatest success have a strong consistent track record of showing initiative in almost everything they do. Try to measure this in your next interview and you'll be shocked at the low quantity of candidates who possess strong initiative. We contend only the 25% of all candidates will demonstrate initiative on a consistent basis. We'll explore how to pose the initiative interview question in another blog posting and I'll try to use an example of my Frosh-Soph Girls team to illustrate the importance of initiative.

Barry Deutsch

© Copyright 2008 Impact Hiring Solutions. All Rights Reserved

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Is this what your hiring decisions occassionally feel like? How many times in the past have you crossed you fingers praying that the candidate would make it through the 90 day probationary period?

Why do hiring executives and managers frequently find themselves at this stage of the hiring process? We explore the top ten reasons why hiring mistakes occur in the executive summary on our website. You can read about the summary, download a copy of it under our free resources, or get a copy of the audio program if you prefer to listen to the various errors and mistakes that are commonly made in the hiring process.

I'll offer three key reasons in this  post why this syndrome occurs:

First, most companies do a terrible job in accurately defining their expectations for the position. Most of the time the job description is used as a substitute for the hard work of defining real outcomes and deliverables.

Second, most companies fall victim to high school sports recruiting as their primary strategy. There is a tendency to take whoever shows up at your doorstep as the entire candidate pool. It's important to remember that running ads only attracts a very small percentage of the potential candidate pool and there is usually a very poor overall quality to the caliber of candidate that responds to an ad. See our article on Why Do Most Companies Treat Recruiting Like a High School Sport?

Third, many times the combination of desperation hiring and first impressions leads executives and managers to the wrong conclustions about people. We fall in love during the interview and ignore all negative information. Layered on top of that is a desperate need to get any body into the chair since some body is better than no body goes the conventional wisdom.

Take these three major mistakes and errors and you've got a recipe in which hope becomes the dominant strategy for making a good hire. HOPE IS NOT A STRATEGY. Making great hires takes a well-thought out process, discipline, and the focused effort.

Is the success of hiring great people at your company primarily function of hope?

Barry Deutsch

Copyright 2008 Impact Hiring Solutions. All Rights Reserved.

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What business is your company in?
I spoke today to 300 executives for a company that services cars. Basically they do oil changes, brakes, tires, things of that nature. They have over 160 locations and by all industry metrics are the best in the industry. They are totally focused on customer experience. They are […]

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Finally an article that is starting to understand the right way to hire.
An article in BusinessWeek.com from the Harvard Business Review is starting to address the issue we have been promoting for over 10 years. One that we even wrote a book about. Our Success Factor Methodology hiring system mirrors what […]

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It might mean the company has to change its culture.
Candidates today are not only seeking compensation in the form of money, but also are interested in non-monetary rewards. Companies are constantly asking us”How do we know they will fit in our culture?” Candidates are always saying “I want to leave my company because of […]

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Hiring sales people seems to be one of the most difficult positions companies seem to face. They are used to selling, they always have the answer, some are so smooth and the best are so friendly. So how do you separate the the best sales person from the ones that are embellishing and just good actors.
You […]

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Can anyone think of a good reason why most companies do not invest heavily in hiring training to teach effective job interviewing techniques? Most Managers and Executives are abandoned and left alone when it comes to interview training to effectively conduct candidate assessment. Although many companies are willing to give lip-service to the concept of […]

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Seth Godin’s article on interviewing is right that interviews are a waste of time. Most managers interview on past experience and never test or determines if the person can adapt that past experience to their company and their job. Hiring managers just assume they did a good job before so they will work out in my […]

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