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

1. Three Hiring Secrets Turn Gut Instinct into Hiring Success.
2. Best Practice Tips and Resources
3. Perfect Labor Storm Alerts #201 to #205
4. Think Before You Send!
5. Train-the-Trainer: August 18-20 - Everything you need to
know to hire more of the best people in less time.
6. Rise and Shine! Hear Ira Wolfe on the WJJZ hot seat.
7. New! Hire Competence with Confidence Workshop:
Taking the Guesswork out of hiring hourly employees.
8. Summer/Fall Workshop and Speaking Schedule
9. Are You Wasting Too Much Time Sorting Through Unqualified
Resumes?
10. Reduce team conflicts fast with DISC Behavioral Style
Indicator
11. Are we there yet?

1. Three Hiring Secrets Turn Gut Instinct into Hiring Success.

Just like his movie namesake, Harry thought the woman sitting across from him had it all. Sally, the job applicant, was articulate, bright and showed real commitment. "This decision is a real no-brainer," he thought. And that's when Harry hired Sally.

Sally had good feelings, too. As she listened, she grew more excited. "This is perfect," ran though her mind as she accepted Harry’s job offer. Flushed with excitement, Harry and Sally looked forward to a lasting working relationship.

Six months later, Harry is second guessing his decision. What happened? Harry wondered how his instincts could be so off-base.

Well, maybe Harry followed this advice taken from Forbes.com columnist Scott Reeves: "When hiring workers for your small business, compatibility is often harder to find than competence…..There are no secrets to hiring. Make a list of needed attributes, stick to it--and trust your gut…..Competence is assumed before the interview, because you don't waste time talking to people who don't meet the minimum qualifications."

It’s good advice, up to a point. It might be harder to pinpoint compatibility than competence. That’s what evidence suggests when an employee is hired because of skills and later fired because of attitude and behaviors. However, simplifying reasons why hiring decisions go bad may be counterproductive. Actually, it is hard to sort out both compatibility and competence.

Reeves also suggests there are no secrets to hiring. "Trust your gut," as he suggests can lead to costly hiring mistakes for managers like Harry, or you. Predictability studies consistently show the reliability of decisions made from gut instinct is just slightly better than flipping a coin.

Consider the cost when you lose the toss and hire the wrong employee. The U.S. Department of Labor places the cost at one-third or more of a new employee’s annual salary for the hourly worker and many times that amount for management, sales, and executive employees. The real cost of terminating the employment of an under-performing or troublesome employee escalates when you factor in lost opportunity, lost productivity, training costs, additional recruiting costs, severance packages, and litigation. This hefty sum ranges from more than the annual salary for an hourly worker to nearly twenty times the annual salary of a key senior executive.

Finally, Reeves states "competence is assumed before the interview, because you don't waste time talking to people who don't meet the minimum qualifications." That means you base that assumption on information provided by job applicants in resumes. Let’s check out the accuracy of a job applicant’s memory by looking at research findings. One study shows that fully 53 percent of resumes reviewed contained falsified information. When human resources staff verify salaries they found 51 percent of job candidates provided misinformation at least some of the time.

There’s more: the Korn/Ferry International Executive Recruiter Index (Part IV) released earlier this year, show that among job applicants 68.7 percent fabricate reasons for leaving prior jobs, 68.2 percent exaggerate results and accomplishments, and 45.2 percent enhance previous job responsibilities.

Is it any wonder that so many managers feel like Harry? Maybe you are among that group. With so much dependence on guesswork and subjective opinion, what can a manager do to get more favorable odds for making a sound hiring decision? I recommend three steps, which are:

1.Identify the skills (core competencies) that are absolutely required for the position. Core competencies are not part of a job description, which identify areas of responsibilities. An entry level and hourly employee generally requires three to five basic skills, supervisory staff five to seven basic skills, and a manager between seven and 10 core skills to do a job.

2.Develop two to four behavioral interview questions for each core competency or skill to learn what an applicant does effectively, how he or she achieves goals, and meets or exceeds expectations. Managers using a structured behavioral interview can improve hiring success rates by nearly 50 percent.

3.Complement the behavioral interview with online personality tests.   Regardless of interviewer skills and the job-relatedness of the interview questions, the interview process is still fraught with personal bias. Job-specific personality tests bring scientific objectivity and reliability to an inherently subjective system. Web-enabled technology means business owners and manages can evaluate candidates night or day, quickly, fairly and accurately, no matter the size or location of your business.

Now, here’s where a simple solution can solve a complicated problem. CriteriaOne, developed by Success Performance Solutions, makes it easy for you to gauge competency and conduct behavioral interviews. It’s the reason why so many of our clients, including hundreds of small businesses in the US and Canada, are hiring the best employees and replacing them less often.

Our consultants, who can help you avoid hiring mishaps, are an email or phone call away.

2. Best Practice Tips and Resources

Increase your hiring success by over 50%.
Interview Generator is an easy to use database of interview questions to assess an individual's competencies and behaviors.
http://www.super-solutions.com/behavioral-interviewing.asp
Call or email for online pricing. CD pricing on the web.

Order your first Interview Guide and receive The Manager's Guide to Interviewing and Hiring Top Performers (A $9.95 value)

Wanted Talent Detectives! Competency Identification and Job Analysis training for owners, managers and HR professionals -

Free Downloads and Quizes
Interviews Questions - What You Can and Can't Ask

Test your Interviewing IQ

New! Depression is costing employers $2,000 to $3,000 more per employee in medical costs than other employees. How much are depressed employees adding to your health care costs?  Use the depression calculator.

3. Perfect Labor Storm Alerts #201 and 205

One imminent threat for employers is how to continue funding employee health care premimums and still remain profitable. To add fuel to this fire, worker shortages in several high demand specialty areas will force employees to take off more time from work in order to get the proper care they need due to a lack of providers. This is occuring just at a time when new births are higher than they have been for years and more and more health care providers will be needed to care for our aging boomers and old-old population. Fewer providers also means the cost for services will only increase.

Fact #201: Since 1996, graduates of U.S. medical schools who enter obstetrics and gynecology training programs has dropped 23 percent.

Fact #202: The number of residents training in orthopedic specialties dropped from 3,029 in 1993-1994 to 2,759 in 1998-1999,

Fact #203: Residents training in the area of cardiovascular disease has been steadily declining between the same period, from 2,440 to 2,055.

Fact #204: In radiology, 4,236 residents entered the field in 1993-1994 compared with 3,687 in 1998-1999.

Fact #205: The number of oncologists in training dropped from 659 in 1992-1993 to 247 in 1998-1999.

SOURCE: Journal of the American Medical Association.

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 - $7.95 includes no shipping costs for limited time only.

Get the forecast LIVE at your next meeting or conference. Now scheduling 2004-2005 keynotes - Ira Wolfe, What's Ahead In Hiring Trends or Generations in the Workplace - You can't work with them, You can't work without them.

4. This e-mail message is perfectly clear: Think Before You Send!

Twenty-five percent of companies terminated a worker for violating e-mail policies according to a poll conducted by American Management Association and The ePolicy Institute. This is up from 22 percent last year.

Twenty percent of employers, up from 14 percent last year, had e-mail records subpoenaed for lawsuits or regulatory investigations and 13 percent of companies have faced lawsuits based on employee e-mail messages.

"It's very, very common," said Nancy Flynn, executive director of The ePolicy Institute, a training and consulting firm based in Columbus, Ohio. Flynn often testifies as an expert witness in court cases involving e-mail. "If a workplace lawsuit is filed, you can pretty much count on the fact that e-mail is going to be subpoenaed, and now instant messages are starting to be subpoenaed."

About 0.5 percent of companies said instant messages have been subpoenaed.Most workplace lawsuits involving e-mail messages involve sexual harassment, racial discrimination or hostile work environment.

Looking for a place to start writing an e-mail policy, Internet usage protocol, and more? We recommend the Manager's Pocket Guide to eCommuncation.

5. CriteriaOne® Train-the-Trainer: Competency Identification and Performance Management

Special Fee for The Total View readers - save an $500 off our registration fee of $1595. Your fee only $1095.

Become a certified CriteriaOne consultant. Learn to identify competencies, complete a job analysis and interpret behavioral, values and personality assessments. The next Train-the-Trainer will be held from August 18-20, 2004 in Lancaster PA. Register early and save $500 and bring a 2nd person at no additional cost.

Register online or call 717.656.4632.

2. Rise and shine!

For all you sleepy-heads who missed Ira Wolfe's interview at the crack of dawn on July 11, you have another chance! We awaiting our digital recording and will soon have it available on CD-Rom. Ira was interviewed on Phildelphia Focus/Empower Half-Hour, a Philadelphia public affairs program hosted by Lehronda Upshur. Lehondra interviewed Ira Wolfe on The Perfect Labor Storm and how to motivate employees.
To order a copy of this 30 minute interview, click here.

Other recent interviews:
The "Resu-mess" on WHP-TV (Harrisburg, PA). View the interview with Sherry Christian and Ira Wolfe.

Worker Shortages Loom Ahead. Jim Plummer, PA Radio (a Public Radio affiliate) interviews Ira on The Perfect Labor Storm.

In August, Ira wil be a interviewed on CN8. Watch for more details.

7. Hire Competence with Confidence!

By Popular Demand! The first in a series of online training programs for small business owners and hiring managers about how to avoid costly hiring mistakes by using the newest assessment technology. Learn when and how to choose the best pre-employment test for both hourly employees during this 45 minute presentation followed by a question and answer session.

Participation is limited to the first 10 registrants. Registration is only $29.

To register, click here.

Future workshops: The ABCs of DISC, Understanding Business Values and Motivators, Get the TotalView before You Hire, Evaluate Employees Online and more. Watch for dates.

8. Summer 2004 Workshop and Speaking Schedule

Just announced! Ira will be a presenter at the 2005 International Builders Show in Orlando, FL at the end of January. Watch for more details.

July 26, 2004. Recruiting, Training, and Retaining a Diverse Nursing Workforce, Sponsored by Healthcare IQ, Radisson Hotel, Chicago, IL. Ira will join leaders at this event from University of Pittsburgh Medical Center, Baylor Health Care System, Northwestern Memorial Hospital and Duke University and Health Systems. To vie the conference schedule,

August 18-20, 2004 - CriteriaOne Train-the-Trainer: How to Identify Competencies and Use Assessments for Hiring, Promoting, and Managing Performance. The Hampton Inn, Lancaster, PA. Call 717.656.4632 for more information and to reserve your seat. Limit - 10.

September 1, 2004 - Ethical Shenanigans: How Susceptible Is Your Business? Small Business Group Breakfast. To reserve your place, call The Lancaster Chamber at 717.394.3531. Speaker: Ira S. Wolfe

September 13, 2004 - What is This Thing Called Emotional Intelligence .And Why We Need It In The Workplace?" Sponsored by Clemson University; Location - Harrisburg, PA. Speaker: Marilyn Walker

September 27, 2004 - Best Practices in Performance Consulting, Atlanta, GA. Sponsored by International Quality and Productivity Center. Speaker: Ira S. Wolfe. Ira will join leaders from Dell, Microsoft, HomeBanc, Harley-Davidson, Hewlett-Packard, Putnam Investments, EDS, Synovus and Internal Revenue Service.

9. Are You Wasting Too Much Time Sorting Through Unqualified Resumes?

Eliminate The Hassles and Headaches Associated With Screening Candidate with Total APS.

The Total Applicant Processing System enables the small and medium sized employer to do online recruiting and screen applicants with customizable and scorable filtering questions with a click of the mouse.

Use Total APS to recruit and screen applicants for your next job opening.

How do your employees fit on your team. MAP your entire team on our Style Insights Wheel. Identify strengths and minimize conflicts easily.

Get the DISC wheel online. It's included FREE with each DISC Behavioral Style Indicator and DISC Sales Style Indicator Report.

11. Are we there yet?

Parents were surveyed by Goodyear Tire and Rubber Co. on how many times children ask "are we there yet" during road trips. Nineteen percent asked more than 10 times. Other responses were:

6 to 10 times - 14%
2 to 5 times - 36%
1 time - 11%
Never - 20% (Must be short trips or great DVDs!)

Contact Information:
Success Performance Solutions 2481 New Holland Pike, Suite 2, Lancaster, PA 17601

email: tv@super-solutions.com
voice: 717.656.4632
web: http://www.super-solutions.com

To learn more about Success Performance Solutions or read back issues of The Total View, stop by our website at www.super-solutions.com.

Order your personal copy of Understanding Business Values and Motivators.


Order your personal copy of The Perfect Labor Storm. at


Ira S. Wolfe. 2004 - All Rights Reserved. Reprints and other distribution by permission only.