Welcome to the November 14, 2007 issue of The Total View

Published by Success Performance Solutions, Written by Ira S. Wolfe

Visit our Human Resources Blog and Perfect Labor Storm Blog where we can post daily (and more often) human resource updates, news, and Perfect Labor Storm facts. 

What's Inside this issue of The TotalView:

1. Are you and your managers asking legal interview questions?

Interviewers should ask themselves two questions before interviewing a job applicant:

1) Is the question relevant to the particular job for which the candidate is applying? Should interview questions be used to prove discrimination against you in court, the EEOC will evaluate the merit of the charges based on "business necessity."  But just because it is a business necessity, it might not be legal. And even if it is legal, it might not be deemed a business necessity.  Asking questions that aren't legal or aren't necessary or appropriate could get you into a whole heap of trouble.

2) Am I asking all applicants for this job the same questions? If you need to ask a candidate a question about race or religion, for example, out of "business necessity," make sure you ask those questions to anyone else who applies for that particular position.

Which job interview questions are illegal?  Here are a few examples of illegal job interview questions.  

Topic: Race/Color

Wrong:  What is the color of your skin?

Right:  ?

Topic: Religion

Wrong:  What religion are you? Do you believe in God? How often do you attend worship services? What are your religious denomination and/or affiliations?

Right: ?

Topic: Nationality/Language

Wrong: You've got a strong accent; did you just cross the Mexican border? Where were you/your parents born? What's your citizenship status? What's your maiden name? What's your first language? How did you learn to speak ____?

Topic: Age

Topic: Sex

Wrong: What's your marital status? Are you pregnant? Do you plan on having a family anytime soon? How many kids do you have? What are your childcare arrangements?

Right: ?

Topic: Affiliations

Wrong: List all the clubs and social organizations to which you belong.

Right: ?

Topic: Personal

Wrong: How tall are you? How much do you weigh? Why do you wear your hair like that? What kind of music do you listen to?

Right: ?

Topic: Disabilities

Wrong: Do you have a particular disability? How severe is it? Do you have any diseases? Fill out this medical history for you and your family.

Right: ?

Learn the "right" way to ask legal interview questions.  

More books and tools to improve behavioral interviewing skills.   If your 2008 plans call for hiring better and higher retention, call us at 800.803.4303 or 717.291.4640

2. Perfect Labor Storm Warnings   

Every day I receive dozens of stories highlighting

another shortage of workers. Each week I'll post

one or two of the more interesting ones.  This week's

post is:

The nation's largest oil products pipeline system faces the impending retirement of a quarter of its workforce and competition from other industries for new employees as it prepares a large expansion of operations, its chief executive told a US Senate committee on Nov. 6. Oil and gas industry consolidation sharply reduced employment by more than 500,000 jobs from 1982 through 2000, Colonial Pipeline Co. President and CEO Norm Szydlowski told the Senate Energy and Natural Resources Committee during a hearing on energy industry employment. "While Colonial's employment remained relatively stable during those years, we have had to deal with the same shrinking pool of candidates applying for careers within the overall industry. We are competing hard for candidates who may have fewer skills than candidates 10 years ago," he said in his written testimony.

Industry-wide, the petroleum sector estimates 27% of its workforce is within 5 years of retirement. That figure is the same for Colonial's workforce. The problem is worse among the people who operate the pipeline, where nearly one in five employees is eligible to retire within 2 years," Szydlowski said.

Read more about skilled worker shortages in the NEW Perfect Labor Storm 2.0 (soft and hard cover versions)

Now on Sale!  Perfect Labor Storm 2.0 (soft and hard cover versions)  

Order today and save 25%.

NEW Chapters!  Generational Conflicts in the Workplace, Managing the Future Workforce, Attracting Young Employees in a Seller's Job Market plus hundreds of new facts, trends and stats.

View Table of Contents  

Save 25% off retail by ordering now.

Hard Cover: $29.99         Soft Cover: $19.99  

Your Price: $22.49           Your Price: $14.99

To order Perfect Labor Storm 2.0, call 800.803.4303.  Discounts for orders of 10 or more.  Specify hard or soft cover.

3. The Millenials Are Coming  (as seen on 60 Minutes)  

Stand back all bosses! A new breed of American worker is about to attack everything you hold sacred: from giving orders, to your starched white shirt and tie. They are called, among other things, "millennials." There are about 80 million of them, born between 1980 and 1995, and they're rapidly taking over from the baby boomers who are now pushing 60.

They were raised by doting parents who told them they are special, played in little leagues with no winners or losers, or all winners. They are laden with trophies just for participating and they think your business-as-usual ethic is for the birds. And if you persist in the belief you can, take your job and shove it.

As correspondent Morley Safer reports, corporate America is so unnerved by all this that companies like Merrill Lynch, Ernst & Young, Disney and scores of others are hiring consultants to teach them how to deal with this generation that only takes "yes" for an answer.  

Watch "The Millenials Are Coming"  

Learn more about the Millenials and other generations in The Perfect Labor Storm 2.0: Workforce Trends That Will Change The Way You Do Business  

4. Test Hourly Employees Using The Telephone

E-Net Hire enables any hiring authority, from any location, to administer an overt integrity assessment that has been custom-tailored for that particular position, and to receive the results instantly over any phone line. Through the use of these assessments in position profiling, the likelihood of matching candidates to the position and creating an effective development strategy is enhanced.  

Learn more about E-Net Hire.

5. Sales Personality and Skill Tests

Pre-Employment and Development Assessments

What makes top performing salespeople tick?  Recent validation studies and thousands of empirical experiences prove that behavioral styles and personality traits give managers a leg up in hiring salespeople who can meet and exceed expectations. Success Performance Solutions offers sales personality and skill tests to screen, hire and develop high potential salespeople from the hourly retail associate to global account managers and sales managers.

More about Sales and Sales Management Tests

6. Interview Skills Builder

No more excuses! Use the Interviewing/Selection Skill-Building Booklets to improve your employee's performance on interviewing and hiring the right employees.   Simple but complete.  

Improve Interview Skills

7. Speaking Schedule: Ira S Wolfe  

2008:  

January 21 - Institute of Management Consultants (Dallas, TX) - Workforce

                      Trends That Change The Way You Will Do Business

January 22 - Optimance (Dallas, TX) - Workforce Trends That Change The Way

                       You Will Do Business

October 2008 - American Staffing Association Annual Meeting - Workforce

                          Trends That Change The Way You Will Do Business

Call 717.291.4640 to schedule Ira for your next meeting or conference.

8. Quotes from Hire Authorities

"If you keep hiring only people you like, you can kill a company."

Permission is granted to consultants, managers, business owners and HR professionals to reproduce content from this newsletter for your internal publications, or to distribute copies to your workforce, on the condition that you reproduce the credits and contact information as follows: "Reprinted with permission from Ira S Wolfe and Success Performance Solutions. Copyright 2007 Ira S Wolfe." We also hope you will forward the newsletter in its entirety and recommend to others that they subscribe.

Ira S. Wolfe Copyright 2007 - All Rights Reserved. Reprints and other distribution by permission