The "Win-Win" Performance-based Hiring Articles, Insights and Podcasts

On Becoming a Super Recruiter

On Becoming a Super Recruiter

When creating a talent acquisition strategy it’s important to note that about 20-25% of those in the workforce are always actively looking for another job. This is the group companies need to target to fill open jobs as rapidly as possible. There’s another 20-25% who are always proactively passive. Don’t even attempt to contact these people unless you’ve worked with the person before. Given this, it’s obvious the candidates you’ll want to hire for your most important roles are in the other 50-60%. While this is the ideal talent market, these people won’t respond to your emails or calls unless you become an expert at passive candidate recruiting. This involves a number of critical skills, in particular:

Exposing the “Veneer of Superficiality” Interview

Exposing the “Veneer of Superficiality” Interview

As a recruiter I abhorred the idea that an outstanding candidate for an important job was being judged by a person who wasn’t a very good interviewer. Sadly, after having debriefed over one thousand different interviewers, I estimate that about two-thirds fell short. And too often the assessments of those who were valid were overridden or discredited by those who weren’t.

Be Careful What You Wish for …

Be Careful What You Wish for …

I’m getting nervous with the proliferation of all of these AI-infused chatbots that will change life and work as we now know it. Some of them are wrong. Really wrong.

Soft Skills are Too Important to Be Called Soft

Soft Skills are Too Important to Be Called Soft

The Hiring Formula for Success shown in the image above defines all of the factors that best predict on-the-job success. Soft skills top the list.

The Best Interview Technique of All Time

The Best Interview Technique of All Time

I think too many people including those in HR, OD experts, hiring managers and recruiters, believe being a good interviewer requires some remarkable insight into human behavior. I think they’re mistaken. There is an alternate path: being a good detective.

The 10 Best Predictors of Success that AI Can’t Find

The 10 Best Predictors of Success that AI Can’t Find

Having tracked the performance of thousands of senior professional staff and managers over the past 50 years it turns out it’s not hard to predict who will be successful. All you need to do is ask candidates to describe their major accomplishments most comparable to the key performance objectives (KPOs) of the open job. As long as you dig deep enough the factors shown below will pop out. Consistency is what matters, though, not one-time occurrences. This preview of the Sherlock Holmes deductive interview describes the probing needed to gather this information.

Everyone Can Be in the Top 25%

Everyone Can Be in the Top 25%

It turns out hiring people who will be in the top half is pretty easy. You just have to stop making hiring mistakes.

The Only Two Questions You Need to Ask to Assess Ability AND Potential

The Only Two Questions You Need to Ask to Assess Ability AND Potential

The other day a candidate asked me how to figure out if he was qualified for a new role given 15 years of experience with the same company.

Back to Hiring Basics: Benchmark How and Why the Top 25% Change Jobs

Back to Hiring Basics: Benchmark How and Why the Top 25% Change Jobs

It turns out that anyone can be in the top 25% with the right job, the right company, and the right hiring manager. But this is a rare event despite having spent $400-500 billion in job postings and HR tech in the past 25 years in the hope of matching the perfect job with the perfect candidate.

Filling Generic Jobs with Generic People is a Recipe for Disappointment

Filling Generic Jobs with Generic People is a Recipe for Disappointment

It turns out that hiring outstanding talent on a consistent basis has little to do with your ATS, which job boards you use or the quality of your competency model. The process shown in the image below (PDF version) will give you consistent great results as long as you do these four things first:

“Tell me about yourself” and other PBI interviewing tips

“Tell me about yourself” and other PBI interviewing tips

The traditional interview process has been shown to be unreliable in predicting job performance, often due to bias, lack of training and a focus on surface-level characteristics. The Performance-based Interview (PBI) is a natural language approach that seeks to assess an individual’s competency, fit and motivation by asking them to describe their past performance in specific situations. Studies have shown that the PBI is a more accurate predictor of job performance than other interview methods, making it a valuable tool for organizations seeking to hire the best candidates. Moreover, the PBI can be used to assess candidates at all levels of experience, making it an ideal method for career development and succession planning.

Without an EVP a Job Is Just a Job

Without an EVP a Job Is Just a Job

If you want to hire a great person, you need to offer a great job, not a laundry-list of skills, experiences and competencies that at best is no more than an ill-defined lateral transfer surrounded by some generic boilerplate. This is even more important today with candidates leaving within 90 days after starting if the new job turns out to be more promise than substance (Fortune, May 2022).

Do This First Before Ever Asking About Goals

Do This First Before Ever Asking About Goals

The worst question about career goals is something like, “What’s your major career goal for the next five years?”

How to Avoid the Staggering Cost of Turnover

How to Avoid the Staggering Cost of Turnover

While it’s hard to believe that a single hiring mistake could cost a company $400 thousand, it’s not so hard to believe when looking at this table showing the incremental profit contribution of employees at these well-known companies. The idea behind this table is that it shows the full financial and business impact a person has on a company, rather than just considering the person’s compensation package.

The ROI of Most Job Postings is Below Zero!

The ROI of Most Job Postings is Below Zero!

Few companies calculate the ROI of the effectiveness of their different sourcing channels but those that do discover referrals are the best with job boards generating more mistakes. And the cost of these mistakes is staggering wiping away the benefits of lower cost and speedier hiring.

The Illusion of Pay Parity and the Glass Ceiling

The Illusion of Pay Parity and the Glass Ceiling

The primary purpose of this post is to argue that compensation shouldn’t be the primary measure of pay equity. The secondary purpose is..

Leverage Your LinkedIn Network to Hire More Leaders

Leverage Your LinkedIn Network to Hire More Leaders

Leverage: Getting more output with less input.

Leaders are force multipliers who get more done with and through people using some type of magical leverage.

Hiring Leaders Requires New Thinking

Hiring Leaders Requires New Thinking

As you’ve discovered if you’d tried to hire any senior level person, the process for hiring leaders for these critical spots is much different than hiring everyone else for this one simple reason:

Hiring More Leaders Starts by Changing Your Hiring Strategy

Hiring More Leaders Starts by Changing Your Hiring Strategy

Many years ago I worked with LinkedIn on preparing a video highlighting the importance of developing a hiring strategy based on attracting the best rather than one designed to filter out the weak. It turns out that without the right talent strategy it’s not possible to hire more leaders on a consistent basis. Chance, hope, the latest technology or job boards won’t help. While the message in the video is still true today, most people will have some Catch-22 excuse why it won’t work.

Don’t Make Strategic Career Decisions Using Tactical Information

Don’t Make Strategic Career Decisions Using Tactical Information

In a post earlier this year I claimed that too many people change jobs for all the wrong reasons. Most often it’s for the stuff at the bottom of the “Maslow’s Hierarchy of Hiring Needs” graphic above, rather than the stuff at the top. Unless they’re (very) lucky, the result is always disappointment, dissatisfaction and regret.

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