During my three-year tenure at the agency, I hired
fourteen employees. One of the most remarkable was
the last hire. In a job market overflowing with qualified
individuals, we received over 60 resumes during just the
first week. They arrived by fax, e-mail, snail mail and
several candidates personally delivered them. These
resumes described high school graduates with decades
of experience, high school graduates with no
experience, people with associate and bachelor
degrees, a few people with graduate degrees, and even
one person from Russia who was experienced in
computers and was certain we should have an
interpreter fluent in Russian.. Determination was
definitely his strong suit - he sent an electronic
resume, faxed another, mailed still a third, and called
me three times.
Not unlike most businesses, my hiring process
started
with reviewing each resume and sorting them into three
piles: "Definitely Not," "Maybe," and "Definitely Call."
>From the definitely-call pile I identified about twenty
people that I considered worthy of an interview. With
additional review, which I agree was subjective at best,
I narrowed down the list to ten candidates. These ten
were scheduled for face-to-face interviews.
During this interview the candidate completed a
behavioral profile (DISC). Based on the results and my
impression from the interview I made a determination if
he or she would be scheduled for an interview with the
entire staff.
By this stage of the process, the field was
narrowed
down to no more than five people. All ten of the staff
interviewed each candidate for an average of one hour
and rated each candidate on pre-established criteria.
We then discussed our responses and observations
regarding his/her suitability for the position and whether
we thought he/she might fit into the office culture and
work well with our team and clients.
Prior to my leaving the agency I completed a time-
cost
analysis of our hiring process. A conservative estimate
of the time and assessment-related costs to hire an
employee (excluding my secretary's time to schedule
interviews, open resumes, check references, etc.) was
as follows:
Ads - $ 350.00
Review resumes - $ 630.00 (average 20 minutes
each)
Phone interviews - $ 180.00 (average 20 minutes
each)
Initial interviews - $ 260.00 (average 60 minutes
each)
Administration / review of DISC - $ 200.00
(average 45 minutes each)
Group interview / de-briefing - $1300.00 (average
1.5 hours each)
From my calculations, I determined it was costing
the
agency $2920.00 just to interview each new hire.
This of course did not include the highest
cost - the cost of lost opportunity. While interviewing
these candidates, I was deferring other responsibilities,
including training and coaching the staff and working on
fund development.
Likewise my staff was taken away from working with
their clients.
Fortunately, several of the candidates who passed
through our hiring criteria went on to become good
employees. But this wasn't always the case. Among
the fourteen people hired, several didn't quite fit.
This, of course, put me digging back into the piles of
resumes, weeding through the "Definitely Call" pile and
getting into the "Maybe" pile.
On the average I spent approximately 37.5 hours
per hire
reviewing resumes, conducting phone interviews and
administering and reviewing the DISC behavior profiles
for each support staff position even before the "main
interview
event". Looking at this one other way, almost an
entire week of my life was spent in this necessary
screening function but also a job that took me away
from both
revenue-producing and client-supporting activities.
With the introduction of the Total APS (Applicant
Processing System), I took a look back at my old hiring
process. I wondered how much time and money I could
have saved my agency had I had a system like Total
APS.
Total APS would have enabled me to screen
candidates
electronically via a job board. Total APS would have
allowed me to create job specific filter questions (such
as "are you available to work weekends including
Saturdays and Sundays) allowing candidates to self-
quality or disqualify and avoiding many needless phone
calls to unqualified, unmotivated and uninterested
candidates. Filters also could have disqualified
candidates
based on their level of experience or education alone.
Total APS automates the
responses to
candidates who are disqualified (as our Russian
applicant would have been). My secretary would have
loved this function. In this case he would
automatically have received an e-mail thanking him for
their interest but informing them they were not eligible
for this position.
For individuals who "pass" the initial screen, they
are
automatically invited to complete one of three
screening or selection psychometric assessments.
Total APS would have qualified these candidates with
little time investment on my part.
Comparing my previous hiring process with Total
APS, I
realize now that I could have saved the agency over
$1000 per hire on wages alone and well over $6000
during my first year on the job when I hired five new
employees. Equally if not more important by having all
candidates screened using the
TotalView(tm) assessment, I would surely have
avoided
interviewing several candidates
and even hiring one employee who failed miserably in
the job after only three months.
What is Total APS?
Perfect Labor Storm Alerts #136 to #140
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Fact #136
Alzheimer's disease is costing American businesses
$61 billion a year, double the amount just 4 years ago.
Fact #137
$36 billion per year is lost productivity by caregivers
needing to leave work or being distracted on the job.
Source: Training, October 2002
Fact #138
Half of all people who suffer from carpal tunnel
sundrome miss 30 or more days of work per year.
Fact #139
The average cost per employee with carpal tunnel
syndrome is more than $13,000 per case.
Fact #140
More than half of carpal
tunnel syndrome cases are not work related.
Source = Workforce, September 2002.
"The Perfect Labor Storm Fact Book: Why
Worker Shortages Won't Go Away" is HERE! Order your
copy today - $7.95 includes free shipping for limited
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Order your copy of The Perfect Labor Storm Fact Book today!
Only 1 seat left -
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
- for the next CriteriaOne Train-the-
Trainer scheduled for April 21 - 23 in Lancaster, PA.
Learn to identify and assess essential core
competencies, select the right psychometric
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Begin to Hire Competence with Confidence.
Managing Values, Valuing Results
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
"Avoiding a disconnect between the cultures of worker
and company"
When people are hired, they come with
personalities - individual preferences to think and
behave in certain ways. And yet many managers still
downplay the impact that personalities has on
performance (or the lack of it) and continue to rely on
experience, education and "gut feeling" as the primary
rights of passage for hiring the "right" people.
To read more about Managing Values, Valuing Results as published in Business2Business, click here.
A Closer Look at Behavior-Based Interviewing
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Behavior-based interviewing has been around for 25
years, but the practice has recently been gaining
momentum with the increasing demand for skilled and
competent employees.
"Behavioral interviewing" is defined as an analysis of
a candidate's potential abilities by examining skills that
have been used in past job performance. The main
difference between this type of interviewing and a
regular interview is that candidates are asked to give
specific examples of how they acted in the past,
instead of being asked to share their opinions or ideas.
To read more about Success Stories using behavioral
inteviewing, Click Here.
To conduct a behavioral interview, interviewers
need to know what to look for in a
candidate's response. Online Interview Generator(r)
pairs specific "target behaviors" to over 60 competency
based interview questions.
Online Interview Generator(r) (IG) allows users to
create company and job specific customized behavioral
interview guides in minutes. Satisfied IG users include
hiring managers, employers, human resources
professionals, and consultants.
As an IG user, you can choose an already-
developed interview guide from our Job Library of over
40 standard job titles (from Administrative Assistant to
COO), then quickly and easily edit to fit
your open job. Or, you can choose to design your own
interview guide from "scratch" using our extensive
database of 65 competencies, and over 1,500 different
target behaviors (interview "answers"), and
corresponding interview questions.
IG is extremely versatile and flexible - it can be
used for selection in every industry, business and
organizational environment. IG is inexpensive and cost-
effective; clients can purchase interview units
separately, or through a site license.
View a sample Interview Guide created with Interview Generator.
What Is It That Employees Really Value?
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
6 Proven Motivators are revealed in Understanding
Business and Values.
Order your copy of "Understanding Business Values
and Motivators". (Yes, Understanding Business Values
and Motivators is finally here.)
Understanding Business Values and Motivators is
an introduction to understanding the six business
values and motivators that drives human performance.
In this book, Ira Wolfe describes how each of the
motivators affects peoples' behavior in the workplace
and how managers can tap into those motivators
to increase productivity and improve performance.
Order your copy today - only $12.95. Want a copy of
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Preview Understanding Business Values and Motivators today.
Just the facts:You've all heard of Murphy's Law
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
But who was Murphy?
The term was coined in 1949. The Murphy in
question is Captain Ed Murphy, a development engineer
assigned to Colonel J.P. Stapp's research on the rocket
sleds that tested the limits of human endurance of high
acceleration at Edwards Field, Calfornia.
Murphy was referring to a particular technician,
whose name has been lost to history, who had wired a
piece of equipment incorrectly when he remarked, "if
there is any way to to do things wrong, he will." A few
weeks later in a press conference, Stapp credited his
program's safety record to planning for Murphy's Law.
The rest was history.
Online Self and 360 Competency Assessments
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Janus Performance Management System - tailored to
match individual needs by developing the competencies
that are most relevant for every job.
Janus provides a comprehensive, step-by-step
planning design to help manage this process effectively.
Janus not only provides a suite of goal setting and
appraisal forms and templates to help this action
planning process, but also helps to ensure that all
reports are in plain language, complete,
comprehensive, and easy-to-use.
Build customized reports in minutes
36 Janus Critical Core Competencies are based on
the principles of the Balance Scorecard.
View a sample Janus report.
Contact Information
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
email: iwolfe@super-solutions.com
voice: 717.656.4632
web: http://www.super-solutions.com
