Welcome to the November 9, 2005 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:

1.  Make Sure The Person You Hire is Who He Says He Is

Last week I described how the surprising increase in puffed up resumes is forcing hiring managers to become investigators as well as interviewers.

Despite the risk of being exposed, candidates will likely keep trying to outsmart managers and confound human resouce professionals. Why? Online job boards require that candidates pepper their resumes with needed key words and titles to keep their resume out of the reject pile.

What can employers do to make sure the person they hire is really the right person for the job?

I recommend job matching, a selection process that includes behavioral interviewing, background checking, and personality testing.

The problem with any hiring or employee evaluation system is that many managers aren't very good at interviewing. Quite a few by their own admission aren't comfortable with asking candidates the tough but important questions. This may account for the fact that studies have repeatedly shown that the traditional interview is little better than flipping a coin at making sure the person you hire is not a person you need to fire.

Accurate behavioral interviewing is as much an art as it is a science. Managers who use behavioral interviewing successfully improve their odds of hiring right the first time nearly 50 percent. Behavioral interviewers ask situational questions that require candidates to describe how they had achieved results in the past or how they might perform a similar activity in the future.

A mistake inexperienced managers make during the interview is taking the candidate's first response at face value. A manager who understands the art of interviewing doesn't just stop and jump with glee when a candidate gives the "right" answer. He responds with…."tell me more." The effective interviewer listens to how the candidate describes his performance while observing his behavior, even more than hanging on every work.

Whatever the response, the interviewer is prepared to dig deeper with "describe how your managers and peers might describe your role in this same experience." My rule of thumb to successful interviewing is to follow each question with at least two other related questions.

Background checking can be approached in several ways. Without a doubt, confirming education, past work experience and licensure when indicated is must. This is best accomplished through third-party background check businesses. Reference checking, another form of checking backgrounds, improves the success of hiring significantly - when you can actually get to speak with someone and they are willing to speak to you.
Unfortunately, fear of litigation has negated the value of reference checks.

The holy grail of job matching is the accuracy and reliability of personality assessments. Before selecting assessments, I recommend the whole person approach. This approach includes an evaluation of a candidate's work style, values and motivators, personality fit and for certain positions and roles, cognitive skills. Despite many publishers' claims to the contrary, no one assessment is constructed to predict all facets of human behavior and performance. That is why the most effective hiring and selection systems use multiple assessments (behavioral, values and personality).

By combining personality testing with behavioral interviewing and background checking, managers enjoy a whopping 90 percent success rate in hiring the right person the first time.

One last word of advice: The most important part of job matching is to make sure that every phase of the selection process, from screening resumes to personality testing, is focused on the specific skills required to do the job, how the candidate will fit on the team and in the culture. Without a concerted effort to focus on the job match, interviewers and hiring managers can end up evaluating a candidate's through their personal lens. These viewpoints blur the line between need-to-have skills and nice-to-have traits.

2. Perfect Labor Storm Alerts # 469 to # 471

Don't miss day-to-day updates on Perfect Labor Storm. Save the Perfect Labor Storm blog to your favorites.

Fact #469: Work time spent reading and posting to blogs this year (2005) will consume 2.2% of U.S. labor force hours.

Fact #470: Work time spent at blogs unrelated to work will eat up 1.65% of labor force hours.

Fact #471:   U.S. workers this year will waste the equivalent of 551,000 years (based on a 24-hour day) or 2.3 million work years (based on a typical nearly 40-hour work week) reading blogs unrelated to the job. (Source: AdAge.com. October 24, 2005)

Don't be caught in storm without all the facts. "The Perfect Labor Storm Fact Book: Why Worker Shortages Won't Go Away" is a must-read leading edge forecast that predicts workforce trends for decades to come. Order your copy today - Only $7.95.

3.   FREE e-book for a limited time only!
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A step-by-step guide describing job fit keys to efficient and predictable hiring.

Download Seven Surefire Steps To Hiring High Motivation Employees here:

4.  Hire The Right Employees The First Time with CriteriaOne: The Whole Person Approach System

The job analysis, job matching and performance management blueprint for organizations who want to acquire an unfair share of the best talent in the market - and keep them.

5.  The Manager's Guide to Interviewing and Hiring Top Performers - Only $10.95

Today's tight labor market is forcing organizations to maximize the time they spend attracting and keeping top performers. Organizations that can attract, inspire, and retain top performers are in the position to beat out their competition. This is true both in market share and being able to draw outstanding employees.

This book is for individuals with training responsibilities who are looking for tools to help their managers, supervisors, and/or team leaders interview, hire, and retain top performers. If you or someone in your hiring system has limited experience in interviewing and hiring, this book will help you and your organization to be more proficient in hiring practices.

Includes over a dozen job aid templates for recruiting, hiring, and retaining top performers.

Order Interviewing and Hiring Top Performers

6.  Check Backgrounds before you hire

If, like Pinocchio's nose, each lie a candidate told on his/her resume or during the interview became immediately apparent, business owners could easily weed out employees who cheat and deceive. Because it's not always that easy, how can employers like you tell if an employee is lying about their work experience, criminal background, and education?

Our Background Checks Services include:

• Employment Verification
• Criminal Records Search
• Civil Records Search
• Workers Comp Search
• SSN Verification
• Credit Reports
• DMV Reports
• Bankruptcy Search
• Degree Verification
• Professional License Verification
• Drug Screening

Learn more about Background Checks

Ira S. Wolfe. 2005 - All Rights Reserved. Reprints and other distribution by permission only.

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