48 KEYS TO GOOD HIRING PRACTICES

An NFL team drafts 10 players, sign 15 free agents, 44 players from last year, 20 players from taxi squad, and scouted an average of 4,000 college players each year. How many candidates do you look at?

Follow these 48 Keys to Good Hiring Practices:

1. Avoid 3-minute “snap, emotional” decisions (first impression by appearance, personality, experience, etc.) and ending the interview by selling the candidate on the job.
2. Select on basis of talents/behavior and chemistry––least important is experience, but it is a mistake to avoid putting too much emphasis on experience.
3. Develop job profile––talents/behavior, chemistry, and experience (must and wants, compared analysis or testing). Measure against job profile.
4. Hire enough to become objective. Avoid emotional decisions (use others to interview for you, a team of people). The more you hire, the less emotional you get.
5. Interview the wife of the candidate (your wife helps).
6. Pay referral fee to your employee for finding employees (candidates).
7. Put a sign out front: “help needed.”
8. Hire a consultant or full-time personnel director if hiring 30+ people a year.
9. Use screener for all candidates by phone or in person.
10. Develop a list of must-haves and wants in candidates.
11. Measure attitude (by interview or testing or questions, i.e., Are you lucky? Blessed?)
12. Use open-ended questions in the interview process. Get deep. Ask for examples of accomplishments.
13. Use the same interview process for each candidate––same questions and procedure.
14. Scorecard for each candidate.
15. Measure honesty (reference, testing or situational interviewing).
16. Video/record interviews (delegate listening when not in room or face-to-face). Avoid snap decisions.
17. Perform a background investigation.
18. Perform a credit check.
19. Look for people who have overcome failure.
20. Always check references (never personal friends––either former employer/manager).
21. Medical exam if over 40.
22. Ask for last tax return (your accountant to review).
23. Don’t overemphasize education or degrees.
24. Use the grabber headline in an ad (experiment and test for best response rate).
25. Listen to the candidate in the interview. Take notes.
26. Interview by phone before paying for an on-site interview from out of town.
27. Do a comparative analysis of candidates
28. Look for energy level (hours worked).
29. Look for aggressive behaviors in managers using DISC model.
30. Negotiate with personnel firm/headhunter over price/term and responsibility in writing. Expect personnel firm to replace a person who is hired then leaves before a six-month period.
31. Always hire on 3-month probationary period or as a consultant.
32. Use your network in hiring. Write/call others to ask who they know that is available. List your friends, associates, and competitors in brainstorming list of possible candidates.
33. Ask your salespeople or associates in other cities for best competitive people employed by others who might work for your firm.
34. Use situational (simulations) interviews to measure reactions of candidates to the job and their ability to make decisions.
35. Consider the reverse interview (ask him what expects in a job, wants most, etc.) to measure what motivates, interests in work.
36. Build a culture with future.
37. Use employee applications to measure honesty (Walker example).
38. Use disclaimer at end of the application.
39. Create a pamphlet explaining opportunities, job, and qualifications for candidates (they will say good things to others who may want to apply).
40. Let candidates screen themselves out before your interview by reviewing your rules/policies/mission/culture/expectations in advance.
41. Use a non-compete contract for hiring.
42. Employ people through a temporary agency to try them and then continue with a temp agency for six months once you have decided on them (that covers commission).
43. Have executives sign an agreement to repay moving expenses if they resign within 2 years.
44. Hire part-time people as independent contractors to save money in appropriate jobs.
45. Employ executives as consultants before beginning full time.
46. Avoid selling the candidate in the interview. That’s his job. Your job is to listen, learn and make a good decision.
47. Expect to spend one week per $2,000 of salary you expect to pay to find the right person.
48. Avoid P.O. Box use for responding to your ad––time is too important. Set up a special e-mail address for candidates/job or use fax.
    
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