Frank’s Employment

What a treat to participate in the “Nuts and Bolts of Hiring” series by Evelyn Canabal, sole proprietor of Professional Development Services.  And thanks to Valley Industrial Association for sponsoring this event!

Much of the recent conversation about interviewing was already familiar to me, since interviewing is such a substantial part of my function as a staffing consultant.  Even so, there’s always something more to learn or a different way to think about something familiar.

Evelyn was talking this week about the four parts of an interview: building rapport; gleaning information about the candidate; giving information about the company or organization; and closing the conversation.  We discussed at length how challenging it is to build genuine rapport with an individual without stepping across the line into personal information that we cannot legally take into consideration (such as marital status, political affiliation, religious activity).

Evelyn remarked that many interviewers have stopped using that classic, generic rapport-building invitation, “Tell me about yourself” for exactly this reason.  I suggested that an alternative would be, “Tell me about yourself as a worker/employee.”  This still leaves the door open for rapport, but directs the conversation toward the employment-related nature of your interview.

What questions can and can’t I ask in an interview?

Perhaps the one thing that makes a hiring manager the most nervous about an interview is the fear that they may be asking “illegal” questions.  Those who don’t interview on a regular basis are often afraid to carry on a normal conversation with an applicant for fear that they are going to cross that line and get themselves in trouble.

For the record, it is illegal to discriminate on the basis of race, color, religion, sex, national origin, ancestry, citizenship status (with regard to employment), age 40 and over, marital status, physical or mental handicap, military service, unfavorable military discharge, and sexual orientation.  For more details, you can access this link - http://www.state.il.us/dhr/.  

You cannot ask questions that might lead to discrimination in hiring.  What you can do is ask questions related to the skills needed for the job.

Can they perform the functions of the job?

The key to the legality of your interviewing questions is this - can the applicant perform the functions of the job?  Your first line of defense is to have a detailed job description for the position you are looking to fill.   With that in hand, a question might go like this:  “This job requires that you stand on your feet for up to 8 hours each day.  You will be filling and lifting boxes that weigh up to 30 lbs each from a conveyor and stacking them on a pallet, and repeating this up to 50 times each day.  Can you do that?”  Or another; “This job requires that you be proficient using Excel and able to set up spreadsheets from scratch, including formulas and macros.  Can you do that?”  “Can you give me examples of projects where you did that?”

Having a list of specific questions will accomplish two purposes.  One, you can address all of the requirements in an effort to determine the applicant’s fit for the job.  Second, you will keep yourself out of trouble by not straying into subjects that are inappropriate.

Phone Interviews

Under most circumstances, a face-to-face interview is preferred.  However, if you need to hire a receptionist or a customer service person, someone who will be regularly talking to customers on the phone, then first conduct a phone interview.  Call them at their home and talk to them over the phone before you meet them in person.  This will simulate the experience that your customers will have when they make contact with your company. 

Structured vs. unstructured

You are likely to learn more about the applicant if you don’t hold to a highly structured interview format.  Make your list of necessary questions, but avoid merely reading one after the other.  Make some small talk, ask them how the drive was from their home to your office, chit-chat about the weather or sports, etc.  Be pleasant and help them relax.  You will learn more about their personal side while avoiding the “wrong” questions.

Like meeting a new friend

When they are more relaxed with you, they will talk more freely and you will find out more about them.  Treat them like you are meeting a new friend.  Even if you don’t hire them, they will say good things about you and your company to others and make it easier to recruit the right candidate.

What are the most common reasons for losing a top candidate?

Not moving quickly

This is the single most common reason why employers are not able to hire the best candidate during the recruitment process. 

Too many times, I’ve seen a manager who is shorthanded and in desperate need of more help, but not get someone hired because they don’t have the time.  I have sympathy for that scenario but it severely hurts your ability to hire the best available people.

I’ve also seen employers who admitted they interviewed the perfect candidate, but put them on hold because they wanted to “see if there was anyone else out there” for comparison.  By the time they got back to the candidate they liked earlier, they had accepted another job.

If you have been lucky enough to find the perfect candidate, it is very likely that someone else has found them, too.  The best people get hired the fastest and don’t remain available for long, so the company that moves quickly gets first choice.

If you are considering someone who is currently unemployed, don’t think that you are more in control of the process.  They may be more desperate and are likely to grab the first offer they get.  Even if your offer would have been better than the other guy’s, it is very difficult for someone sitting at home to turn down a job offer and wait for one that might come sometime in the future.

Not paying a competitive wage

Compensation is highly important during the initial recruiting and hiring process, more than it is for a current employee.  Once someone is entrenched with a company, compensation drops lower on the list of factors.  At the beginning, its importance can’t be underestimated. 

Review the help wanted ads on the internet to see what other comparable jobs are paying.  If you are in the Chicago-west Fox Valley area, you can contact the Valley Industrial Association in Aurora (http://www.valleyindustrialassociation.org) and request their Wage & Salary guide for the Fox Valley.  It is updated annually and contains the most accurate local wage and salary information available.

Creativity and flexibility also goes a long way toward assembling an attractive compensation package.  If their “bottom dollar” is above your range, consider specifying when whey will have their review(s) and what their raise will be at that time.  Your offer of employment could say “Your starting annual salary will be $50,000. We will conduct a review 6 months after your starting date.  Upon successful completion of your review, your salary will be increased to $55,000. We will conduct a second review on your one-year anniversary date.  Upon successful completion of this review, your salary will be increased to $60,000.”

Also consider a “signing bonus”.  Just as in professional sports, a cash bonus at signing can be a strong attractor.  For instance, if you are $10,000 under the starting salary level required by the candidate, consider a $5,000 signing bonus.  This money “up front” will be very difficult for them to pass up and you will have saved money compared to matching their salary.  Then, upon reaching their annual review date, you are still $10,000 below the level you would have started negotiating from.

We were recently working with a company in need of an operations manager.  We recruited an excellent candidate and they proceeded through the interviews, then to the offer.  He required a minimum starting salary of $105,000.  They offered $104,000, and the candidate turned it down.  He said that it wasn’t just the $1,000 difference.  To him, it reflected a corporate attitude of trying to cut corners in important areas, and was a glimpse of more problems to come.

I have seen instances of where a company made a point of starting someone above their “bottom dollar” just to impress upon the employee the importance they held to the organization.  The candidate also understood that a lot was expected of them and performed accordingly.

You won’t hire someone who is “Overqualified”

I define an overqualified candidate as someone who previously had a more challenging position, earned more money and you are afraid that they will leave as soon as they find a job paying more money than yours.  Right?

For my business, I will hire someone “overqualified” every chance I get.  I have a philosophy - I would rather have someone really outstanding for a short time than someone average forever.  If you hire someone who is “better” than who you normally have in a position, you raise the bar.  You improve the performance of that position, you may find others are performing at a higher level and you won’t want to settle for average again.  Their co-workers won’t either.  They often bring new ideas that you might not have received otherwise. They learn the job faster, minimize the time spent training and besides, they might stay.  Salary is one of the top two reasons of why a person accepts a position, but salary drops to about 4^th on the list of why people keep a job after they are settled in. 

Not Selling them on your company

This isn’t all about YOU.  Yes, you are responsible for the success and prosperity of your company and need to closely scrutinize the candidate but they have a lot at stake, too.  You are potentially their paycheck, their career and their future.  They have as much reason to worry about the company’s success as you do.  A savvy job hunter will have questions about the company’s stability, profitability and growth potential.  You must be able to adequately address their concerns and entice them into your company.

Hiring a Temp for a Permanent position

There are two reasons why this policy will hurt your chances to find the best people.  One, you have access only to the unemployed.  The only people who will accept a Temporary job are those who are currently not working. 

The unemployment rate is approximately 6% in our area.  That means that you do not have access to 94% of the workforce for your position.  In addition to that, there is general agreement in the staffing industry that about 4% of the unemployed are unemployable.  That means that you are able to draw from about 2% of the workforce.

Sure, you have had bad luck in hiring and you want to “try them out” first.  Is it possible, however, that you cannot attract the best people because you only hire the unemployed?

The second reason why temp-to-hire may backfire is that, frequently, they keep looking for another position while temping for you.  They know that nothing is guaranteed and as long as they are a temp, they have no job security.  And, the have no benefits.  They could easily walk into your office one day and say, “Today is my last day.  I accepted a ‘real’ job and start work tomorrow”.

One last point…

Don’t hire someone because they need a job.  Hire the person because YOU need THEM.