The New Normal: Intentional Hiring

Ready for Recovery: Hiring in 2010

Killer Interview Questions

I have been recruiting for 20 years in the area of accounting and finance. One thing I can tell you for sure is that the hiring process is never easy. It’s hard. Interviewing well is probably one of the most critical skills in my profession as well as one of the factors that most deeply affects my clients.

Think, for a minute, about how absurd an interview can be. You have to sit down with a virtual stranger and be able to assess how a person will work and behave after spending only a brief time with them. Afterward, you must listen to what their references say about them and perceive what their references are not saying. Maybe you bring them back for a second interview, or have team members interview them as well. . .whatever you do, if you hire them, you will be spending about 2000 hours or more with them a year. You will trust the person you hire to perform well and bring results.

Jack Welch says, “…hiring great people is brutally hard. New managers are lucky to get it right half the time. And even executives with decades of experience will tell you that they make the right calls 75% of the time at best.” With that in mind, I decided to call some of the top financial managers in the DFW area to ask them what interview questions they considered to be the most critical. Their answers were telling. Although some of the interview questions they ask deal with the requisite skills provided for the position they are filling, the questions most of them considered vital had to do with a person’s attitude, character and work ethic. That being said, these questions could work in a variety of professions, and their answers could just bring the additional clarity you have been looking for in an interview.

1. Are you a leader or a follower?
-Rob Graham, Corporate Controller, Permian Tank and Manufacturing, Inc.

Whether the person is a leader or a follower, they should be a good team member. The manner in which they answer this question could be an indicator of how they will fit in with your department, your team and in the specific role they are applying for.

2. In five words or less, describe yourself.
-Rob Graham, Permian Tank and Manufacturing, Inc.

You can glean a lot from the way people describe themselves. Most interviews contain a sort of “tell me about yourself” question, but this question forces the applicant to be precise. Management style, personality type, leadership ability, work ethic, and even personal priorities can be discovered through this kind of question.

3. What do you do when you are not working?
-Jason Kulas, CFO, Santander Consumer USA

This is one of my favorite questions. When a candidate begins to talk about their hobbies and their interests, I get a better idea of who they are and what their priorities are. If someone has a hard time coming up with outside activities, it can be an indicator that their life is out of balance, or that they are not able to be transparent.

4. How do you build capacity in those you lead?
-Joe Christian, Director of Rates and Regulatory Affairs, Atmos Energy

Managers are a dime a dozen, but true leaders are worth their weight in gold. Organizations are more commonly looking for those individuals who can not only lead others, but build skills in others. For management positions, asking this question can help you determine if the candidate values mentoring and building capacity, which will raise the level of expertise in your organization.

5. Tell me how you successfully bridged the gap between your traditional finance/accounting skill set and company operations? How have you contributed to the company strategy or mission statement?
-Rick Nunnally, CFO, Cheldan Homes

Larry Winget, in his book, It’s Called Work for a Reason!, says that employees are not paid to work hard. Employees are paid for results. It’s important to know that the candidate sitting across from you in an interview has the ability to actually make a difference in your organization. In today’s market, employees need to be contributors in whatever role they are in and be responsible for value-added results. No one has the patience or the money for cubicle-fillers anymore. Candidates must be able to articulate how the organizational performance will be positively impacted as well as sell their expertise.

6. Tell me about one of your most significant accomplishments.
-Rick Nunnally, CFO, Cheldan Homes

This is a great question. With this question, not only will the candidate reveal a major accomplishment, but the interviewer will able to assess what the candidate perceives as significant.

7. Our company has a successful [accounting] team in place. How do you see yourself leading/interacting with an established group?
-Mark Gaddis, President, Dallas Door and Supply, Inc.

New employees sometimes struggle with integrating into a well-functioning team. New managers or team leaders sometimes struggle with established teams the most. It is imperative that the person you are hiring be a good match for your existing team. Relationships and teamwork are crucial in any organization. Be sure to enable your team with a new employee that will be able to join in on existing success as well as bring innovative ideas to the table.

8. Describe a conflict you were involved in at work and how it was resolved. How did the work continue after that?
-Mark Gaddis, President, Dallas Door and Supply, Inc.

Every employee experiences some level of conflict at some point in their career. As the candidate explains the conflict to you, you can assess their conflict-resolution skills, as well as how well they recover and move through sensitive situations.

In this economy it is more important than ever to make the right call when you are hiring. In the long run, retaining quality employees means finding the right individuals in the first place. Employee turnover takes resources away from your core business, costing up to 1.5% of the position’s annual salary. Take the time and make the effort to ask the right questions now, and you will be building a team that can affect your bottom line in this economy and the recovery to come.

700 Resumes! Now What?

As the economy cycles, there are employment cycles as well. With economic highs, employers traditionally find it far more difficult to identify qualified job candidates. When we are facing a low in the economic cycle, there tends to be an abundance of job applicants.

In the past, attracting applicants could be accomplished by running newspaper ads. Today, most companies have resorted to advertising job openings on the major job boards. Access to information has resulted in much greater applicant flow for many employers, which ultimately results in an inability to efficiently process applicant data.

For example, there was an Ohio school that received over 700 applicants for one open janitorial position!  A common misconception is that because employers are receiving an enormous amount of job applicants that it makes it easier to find qualified candidates.

• Clear Job Description ~ Make sure that the experience required, minimum skills needed, and the salary range of the position are clearly defined.  Many job boards also allow you to add “screener” questions which will rank the applicants based on their questions and ultimately help you identify the most qualified candidates.
• “Thanks for Playing” Plan ~ Have a plan on how you are going to deal with the applicants that don’t meet your requirements.  I would recommend a standard email or letter thanking them for their interest, but also letting them know that he/she isn’t being considered for the job.  If you have ever been on the other side, it is much better to know you are no longer being considered than not to know!
• Interview Process ~ Clearly define the interview process once you have identified the stars.  Remember that the longer you drag out an interview process and the more steps you add, the more likely you are to lose a good candidate, and that is the last thing you want to do after picking them out of 700 resumes.

Those of us that were in human resources in 1999/2000 were dealing with an economy where running an ad, or posting a job resulted in little response and screening applicants was almost non-existent. Employers were increasing salaries, paying significant employee referral bonuses, and even paying sign-on bonuses to attract qualified candidates.

Now, employers will have to deal with the mixed blessing of an overwhelming response to open positions. Unfortunately, there is no easy answer to address this. Human resource professionals will have to screen the applicant responses or hire someone to do it in order to fill open positions.  Most companies either have corporate recruiters to do this job, or they hire companies like ours to do it for them.

Delta Dallas offers a Contract Recruiters program as an area of specialty. Please contact us for more information if this is an issue for your company that is costing you time and money.

TIPS to hiring A Players During Tight Economic Times

In today’s market companies are wanting to do more with less.  Selecting the type of “A” Player employee that can help grow your business as well as contribute in a variety of ways is a hot topic for business leaders today. Not only are the concrete skills and abilities of an employee critical to success, soft skills are what companies are finding make the difference between the “A” and “B” players.  Below are TIPS for success in 2009 to increase your ability to attract the stars.

Guidelines to Hiring:

Do not Settle -  “A” players are out there. Know what are “must-haves” for the position and stay true to your expectations.

Beware and investigate -  Due diligence with information gathered will separate the truth from perception of the truth. Do not take everything that the candidates say at “face value.”  In other words, it is very easy for candidates to fall back on “lay offs” or “reorganization” or “downsizing” as reasons for leaving, thinking that hiring authorities will not verify.  It is your responsibility to confirm the details.

Time kills deals – “A” players do not last long in any economy, and companies who are ready to get what they want are making timely decisions and not thinking twice.

Sell the Sizzle – “A” players are being pursued by multiple opportunities, and you have to be competitive in presenting why they should come to work for you. Be prepared to answer questions that include: What makes their position impressive?  Why would someone want to work for their company? What sets you apart from their competitors?  You need to be passionate about the company and give the “A” players a reason to pick you and your opportunity.

You get what you pay for – Be prepared to be competitive with your “A” player candidate in terms of compensation, benefits, job responsibilities, and role within the company. Companies need to realize the investment that they are making today will serve them well in the future. Yes, companies are being fiscally frugal, but cutting cost with a potential of higher returns is not a recommended strategy.

What To Look for in an “A” Player:

Be open minded to the definition on an “A” player – Consider core strengths and well as experience to evaluate how the candidate will impact your company. Looking outside of the normal mold of the job description when reviewing resumes of candidates can present great potential.

Commitment to success and positive thinking – You want to hire an individual who has a natural inclination towards personal excellence and determination towards problem solving

Ability to wear different hats – Select candidates who can contribute to your company in multiple ways.

Right “FIT” for any job means having core characteristics – Company culture encompasses various facets that can make or break the employment relationship . Energy level, communication style, problem solving ability, past behavior in the work place, occupational interests, and way of thinking and doing business needs to be addressed in identifying “A” players.