Employer Tips
In today's Candidate driven market, it is crucial that the
employer is as prepared for the hiring process as is the candidate. Below we
have added some important information to help you, the hiring manager, succeed
in selecting the best and brightest talent for your company. Feel free to
contact us with any questions or for additional information.
Tip #1 -- What
Candidates are looking for in a new Company
What will motivate them towards your company if they have two
offers in their hands for the same amount of money?
- Financial stability of your company
- Geographical location
- Working environment
- Challenge
- Reputation of the company
- Chemistry of co-workers
- Opportunity to learn
- Opportunity to grow
- Flexibility
- Recognition
- Excitement
- Technology
- Status
- Workplace diversity
- Work ñ Life balance ( * NEW FOR 1999* )
Tip #2 -- Nine Pitfalls
of Employment Interviews
by Will Helmlinger [11/1/98]
The interviewing process can be a very unnerving situation for
many hiring managers. In fact, when surveyed, over 90% of people indicate they
hate to interview. It is no wonder why the interview itself yields only a 14%
accuracy rate.
Is your situation hopeless ... doomed to an 86% failure rate?
It can be, or you can improve your odds by avoiding nine pitfalls.
Consider these common mistakes:
- Personal attitudes, mental alertness , and biases.
Your personal mindset plays an integral part in the success of
any interview. Every time you conduct an interview, you must be alert and
attentive to the applicant. Yes, we all have our pre-dispositions. However, if
you are biased against a person for any reason ... you miss out on a potential
employee that could impact your company positively. Keep your mind open; it
creates a world of possibilities.
- Decisions made too slowly/quickly.
Ever been rushed into making a decision and regretted it later?
How about the great applicant that got away because the decision making
process took too long? There is absolutely no magic when it comes to timing
your decisions. Up front, advise each candidate the process that they will go
through. Clarify the length of time it will take to make a hiring decision.
The applicant will let you know if that time frame works for them ... and it
will save you a lot of headaches.
- Applicant data misinterpreted.
Ever been surprised when the person who shows up for work is not the same
person you interviewed? What happened? You may have misinterpreted the
information they gave you, in part because of factors No.1 and No. 2. You have
to listen to each statement the applicant says. Avoid placing your
interpretation on it. Record information factually and you will stop hearing
what you want to hear. Make sure your pre-employment tests are yielding the
results you want and unmask the real person, not just the interview person."
- Negative information sought too readily.
Knowing that hiring mistakes have been made in the past,
perhaps by you, you want to avoid the same mistake again. Yet, mistakes are
repeated over and over. Why? People, too quickly, look for negatives about a
candidate so that the applicant can be eliminated from consideration. No
applicant is a perfect "10". They all come with blemishes. You must look for
positives and weigh them against the negatives.
- Pressure to fill position which affects judgment.
You have a major project to complete ... The current employee is about to
leave; you are pressed to hire someone so that the current person can train
the new one ... The boss is demanding you to take action ... You're tired of
interviewing so many candidates.All these business
pressures can lead to hiring mistakes. Everyone is placed in a pressure cooker
situation in their jobs. However, would you go out on a blind date and after
15 minutes propose marriage? Yet, hiring managers often decide to hire a
person and enter into Marriage this quickly. Succumbing to pressure has its
costs.
- Don't look for patterns and a main theme.
Statistically, over 80% of employment terminations are a result
of behavioral and value mismatches. However, the only patterns that many
hiring managers look for, if they look for them at all, are work experience
patterns. All too often, managers neglect to compare the patterns that exist
in the resume to the patterns that develop during the behavioral interview.
Everyone has at least one main theme and clear behavioral patterns in their
life.Do you use a validated assessment tool to verify
your expectations against what the applicant can't articulate?
- Interviewer talks too much.
The old 80-20 rule clearly applies here. The more the
interviewer talks the less the interviewer learns. You can never learn
anything while you are talking. Ask a question, then listen. You will be
amazed what you will actually learn.
- Jumping to conclusions and failing to see candidates as having
strengths and weaknesses.
True story. One Vice President of a major company, while interviewing, quickly
jumped to a hiring decision ... would the applicant play basketball and
softball on the company's team? Once you have decided to hire the person
mentally, nothing negative that the person says afterwards will matter. The
result - another hiring mistake.
- Telegraphing correct responses expected by the way you ask questions.
Ever been asked, "Can you work overtime or travel?" (While the
interviewer is asking this question, their head is nodding up and down.) The
logical response, (if the applicant wants the job) will be, "Of course, I can
work overtime and travel. No problem." You, the interviewer, have learned
nothing. You have not discovered the true answer. The applicant has given you
exactly what you want to hear. Avoid closed ended questions.
Copyright 1999 by Will Helmlinger. All Rights Reserved
http://www.deliveringsolutions.com
Tip #3 Cost per Hire
(figuring your actual cost to hire an employee)
Take a look at your department budget of last year and add the
following costs/expenses:
| Advertising |
__________________ |
| Agency Fees |
+_________________ |
| Job Fairs |
+_________________ |
| Internal referral bonuses |
+_________________ |
| College recruiter |
+_________________ |
| Candidate travel reimbursement |
+_________________ |
| Special projects i.e.; billboards, etc. |
+_________________ |
| Testing costs |
+_________________ |
| Relocation |
+_________________ |
| Credential verification |
+_________________ |
| Temp. fill pending hire |
+_________________ |
| Direct cost of company recruiting Staff; salaries, space,
overhead |
+_________________ |
| |
=_________________ |
Total divide by the total number of people hired last year is
your Cost per Hire.
Tip #4 -- Counter-Offer
Counter Measures
In today's market, it is not uncommon for candidates to
receive several offers at once. One of which will be the dreaded counter offer
by the candidates current company. If this happens, your time, our time and the
candidates time is all lost. It's a lose-lose situation, and therefore one that
you and I need to work together on to prevent.
It is important for you to gain as much info and knowledge of
the candidate, with our help, as you possible can. I will discuss in great
detail the subject of counter-offer with the candidate and measures to overcome
that counter-offer. By you supplying me with ALL the info. I request from you
and keeping communication open between you and I during interviewing, and during
the offer preparation stages, we can work together to obtain a successful offer
acceptance.
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