Hiring the Best!

As many organizations begin reviving themselves managers will once again face the daunting task acquiring talented associates. What are the keys to consistently building a winning team out of all the prospects who slide across your desk?  This is a matter of who you ask. We will offer some specifics on the next page but first hear this. Great candidates don't stay available for long. When your recruiter calls or you come across that hot prospect; be prepared to act, and have your hiring team poised for action. Finding a candidate, getting them through the preliminaries and exciting them about the opportunity is great. Don't ruin it by scheduling a face-to-face a month away. You lose the momentum, the excitement and, very likely, the candidate.

Some very successful managers feel you should always look for people smarter than you are, at least in a particular area. Finding intelligent associates are important to building corporate strength.

Case Study - Jim, VP HR 
Jim believes that to build a great organization, you need to hire “people that are smarter than you in particular areas.” She treats each interview as a conversation. When interviewing candidates for senior-level openings, Jim tries to find out “who somebody really is—how they think.” He says, “Initiative, intellectual curiosity, personal authenticity, and a reasonably high tolerance for ambiguity are important characteristics [in hires].”

Case Study - Donna, COO
Donna looks for “where someone wants to go” in his or her career—but also looks at where he or she has been, not just in terms of recent jobs and education but in terms of life lessons. He says, “It’s incredible how many smart people with excellent credentials are really clueless about what it might take to get people to work together. Considering that later in their career they will be responsible for managing hundreds or thousands of people, this becomes a significant issue. Personality, and the perception that a person could work well with others, no matter what their economic lot in life, counts for a lot. Any sign of elitism is the kiss of death.”

Case Study - Ronald, Corp. Trainer
“My favorite and most frequently asked question of MBAs is, ‘What's the best practical joke you've pulled off, and why?’ In that question I am looking a sense of creativity, a willingness to have fun, and at a deeper level an ease with others that’s made evident by a willingness to joke around and take some risks. Moreover, the question breaks down some of the seriousness and tension in the interviewing room. And as a bonus, I've gotten a more than a few good ideas for my own practical joke endeavors!

“In a more general category, I like to get a sense for how MBAs deal with graphical representations of relationships. Simply put, can they understand, interpret, and, more importantly, convey the meaning and the ‘so what?’ of a chart. So much of what a manager or a consultant needs to do consists of understanding numeric relationships and then conveying the key message to others. I'll place a relatively simple chart in front of first-years and ask them to explain it to me as though I was a client new to the concepts. This helps me identify individuals who are comfortable with analytical analysis and who can explain such relationships to others.”

Case Study - Lasalle, Venture Capital Partners
Lassalle hires executives, including CEOs, for his portfolio companies. He says, “I want to find out if this is the person who really made things happen in his or her prior positions. Sorting the doers from the posers might be the hardest task of interviewing. Also, I always ask why the candidate wants the position—not because there is a right answer, but because: 1.) I want to hire a person who will probably stay for awhile; 2.) if the candidate is just kicking the tires, I know not to focus too much time and energy on him or her; and 3.) I want to know the candidate is capable of making purposeful decisions. I am always open and honest about the pros, cons, risks, and rewards of a position. It’s an incredible waste of time if someone leaves a job because it’s not what he or she bargained for. Also, openness and honesty are fundamental to building a working relationship based on mutual trust and respect.”