Effective Hiring Skills

By, Kaushal Mandalia (kaushal@insighthr.co.in) Niyati Bhat Jathal (niyati@insighthr.co.in)

Some basics

What is HRM?
Human Resource Management is the process of ACQUIRING, training, appraising, and compensating employees and attending to their labor relations, health and safety, and fairness concerns. Acquiring/ Hiring is the 1st step of Human Resource Management.

Hiring and YOU!!!

What will be your role ?

Manpower planning Preparing Job specifications and Job Descriptions. Sourcing of resumes in reference to job specifications & job description using job portals, referrals, intranet & consultants. Scheduling of interviews Facilitating / conducting preliminary interview Offer letter release & handover Ensure interview reimbursements & expense management Generate & maintain recruitment database & productivity reports Pre-joining communication with candidate to ensure joining

What skills should you possess?

Adaptability Skills Imbibing the organisational values and practices Conceptual skills Ability to conceptualise departmental needs and correlate them with the candidates while interviewing. Communication skills - Verbal, written & non-verbal

Customer focus Candidate, Senior Management, Placement Consultants, Campus officials.

Process orientation Ability to comply and improvise the procedures

Persuasive & Persistent - Convincing candidates effectively

Computer skills Mastery in PowerPoint and Excel

HRM Its All About Results !!

For many years it has been said that capital is the bottleneck for a developing industry. I dont think this any longer holds true. I think its the work force and a companys inability to recruit and maintain a good work force that does constitute the bottleneck. -F. K. Foulkes

Why Hiring Important?

Your success as a manager is simply the result of how good you are at hiring the people around you. Finding the right people is the single biggest problem in business today.

Defining Todays Job

OLD
Knowledge,

NEW skills,
Competencies Jobs

abilities Jobs defined as bundles of tasks Employees perform strictly definable tasks

defined by competencies Jobs are flexible

Defining Qualification Standards

Old
Time Served Occupation-specific Minimal Requirements Limited Whole

New person competency-based approach Optimal Profile More assessment options Encourages career mobility

assessment

options Limited career mobility

Bad Hire.
Not a Team Player

Un Professional

Lacks Skills

Bad Hire
Not my job syndrome

Part of the Problem

Good Hire Ideal Candidate

Able and Suitable

Teamwork

Willingness

Ideal Candidate

Professional Behavior

Problem Solving Attitude

Foundation of Hiring
Why
Why you want to hire candidate?

How
How you make sure that you get the candidate as per your needs as per your expectation for specific outcome?

What
What you will do now to complete your hiring process

Hiring Process
1

Identify Requirement Post Job Advertisements / Ask for References

Screen Applications
Call for Interview Select and Offer

Two ERRORS Possible

Recruiting the Wrong Person

Missing out Recruiting the Right Person

Why this scope for errors?

Known candidate Self Comparison Non Clarity of job profile 1st impression should not be the last impression Personal biases

9 Hiring Mistakes Employers Make

Mistake 1
We want the person who just left the job

Mistake 2
References are taken as a tick box exercise

There is NO better way to really find out about an employee than to find out how they performed in a previous job. This will be much more reliable than any interview process.

Mistake 3
Not selling your company brand

You may think you are the best company to work for but without providing a great impression and an engaging interviewer to a candidate, they wont feel the same.

First Impression is Critical

Mistake 4
The Line Manager is not actively involved
Everyone says their staff are their most important resource but how many times is the recruitment left to the HR/ recruitment department? You will get out what you put in.

Have the prospective manager involved from the start.

Mistake 5
Out of date, too narrow or too vague job specs

Specific Job Description helps you to arrive at a right application at the first place

Stop re-hashing old job specs and work out competencies of the role.

Mistake 6
Over-interviewing

Interviewing a candidate more than 4 times generally means that you are not doing interviewing effectively. Interviews alone only have a 30% accuracy. Try other assessment methods: Group role-plays Psychometric tests Presentations Exercises

Mistake 7
Delaying the Recruitment Process

Dont start the process until you can answer the question if I saw the perfect person tomorrow would I hire them immediately.
Delaying the process sends all the wrong messages to candidates.

Mistake 8
Under-utilising your own people to source candidates
The best hires are generally referrals from someone who has worked for or with someone. Ensuring there is a constant pipeline of referrals is critical to find great talent for your organization. Network your own organization and contacts.

Mistake 9
Over stating the role
If you mis-represented the role at the start, you may hire the person but they wont stay. You have already broken the psychological contract with the employee. They may dis-engage from the start. Be open and honest about the role from the beginning of the hiring process.

Foundation of Hiring
Start with Why

Stephen Covey

What are the 3 important pillars of hiring decision?

Job Analysis

Job Description

Job Specification

Job Analysis
Job analysis is the systematic assembly of all the facts about a job. The purpose is to study the individual elements and duties. All information related to the salary and benefits, working hours and conditions, typical tasks and responsibilities is required for the job analysis. The results of job analysis are job description and job specification.

Job Description
WHAT is the job? It defines Duties Relationships Results expected

It Includes : Job Title Date Title of immediate supervisor Statement of the Purpose of the Job Primary Responsibilities List of Typical Duties and Responsibilities General Information related to the job Training requirements Tool use Transportation Signature of the person who has prepared the job description

Job Specification
WHO can do the job? Job Specification is an analysis of the kind of person it takes to do the job, that is to say, it lists the qualifications.

It includes: Degree of education Desirable amount of previous experience in similar work Specific Skills required Health Considerations

Step 1 : Why
Why
Goal Vision Attitude
Critical Attribute for the Post Competencies Required for the profile

Benefits of Critical Attributes

They improve accuracy in assessing peoples suitability or potential for

different jobs.
They facilitate a closer match between a persons skills and interests and the demands of the job. They help to prevent interviewers and assessors from making snap judgments about people or from judging them on characteristics that are irrelevant to the job in question. They can be used to structure the full range of assessment techniques interviews, tests, group processes and psychometric testing.

Example
Critical Attributes for the position of Marketing Head / Sales

Head / Distribution Head

Knowledge of Product / Process Relationship Management Skills Sales Ability Team Approach

Step 2 : Prepare for Interview

Know the critical attributes of the post that is to be filled.

Scrutinize the CV of the candidate.

Stage managing the interview in terms of location, seating, deciding on the strategy of the interview including the questions to be asked to verify facts, fill in gaps in the CV etc and go into depth of the stated area of experience.

Remember
Knowledge of past behavior is the single best predictor of

future behavior. It pays to gain

as much of this past behavioral

knowledge.

Assessing CV
Look at the CV Structure

Read Information
Identify Gaps and Inconsistencies in CV Estimate the Avg amount of time spent on each job Judge whether candidate is making a logical career move

Screening Process
Use Critical Attributes

Shortlist Candidate for Interview

Rejecting the Candidate Send the information of acceptance / rejection to all candidates well in advance

Arranging Interview
Flexible Schedule

Staging Interview
Scheduling and Timing Interviews Location and Seating Prepare yourself.

Profile of Good Interviewer

Personal Qualities Interest in People Reserved and Modest Person Empathy Warmth and Sympathy Lack of Prejudice Sincerity Good Humor Good Listener High Intelligence Experience Exp of Different Jobs Exp of People Maturity Adaptability / Acceptability Consistency of Judgment Neutral Good Reaction Control Job Knowledge Ability to grasp total picture Sense of Relevance Strength to control interview Systematic Approach Ability to Encourage

Step 3 : Conducting Interview

Few Practical Hints Facial Expression of Interviewer Effect of Voice Not too loudly Should use all range of voice Lubrication / Reinforcement Positive Comments Verbal / Non Verbal Effect of Playing down unfavorable Information Playing down on his difficulties / problems Contradictory Indication Honesty Listening Interviewee is your brand Ambassador. So have empathy and treat them diplomatically

80 : 20 Rule

You Speak for 20% of the Time Let Candidate Speak for 80% of the time.

Interview Process
Evaluate the Applicant To form an impression of candidates personality and abilities Remember that the Best candidate may just be good at interviews

Be aware of any prejudices that may color your first impression

of them An unfavorable impression is hard to change once formed, so it is your responsibility to give a good impression of yourself and your company.

Interview Process
Cover all Facts Check the facts in CV Ask detailed questions regarding their education, their work experience, and their other job related skills

Interview Process
Spotting Gaps in Candidates Employment find out reasons for gaps in a candidates employment history But do not turn yourself in an Investigator Ask the candidate open-ended questions about any gaps and

why they occurred

Focus on how the candidate used the time between periods of paid employment this will give a clue to what motivates them, their aspirations etc

Interview Process
Assessing Abilities In certain cases, the extent of a candidates qualifications may be sufficient to gauge his / her ability to do the job, assuming that the qualifications are appropriate and have been kept up to date.

In most cases, however, relevant or associated work experience

is considered to be a more valuable indication of skill and aptitude. Your job as an interviewer is to assess the candidates professional, technical, and practical abilities using all the information available to you.

ASSESSING A CANDIDATES SKILLS SKILLS WAYS TO ASSESS SKILLS

Organizational: Does the candidate display Ask about the candidates attitude to signs of being well organized and tidiness. Find out how they prefer filing methodical? systems to work, and ask them how they might start to organize a hypothetical project. Analytical: How well can the candidate Ask for examples of their problem-solving analyze business situations and how quickly ability. Describe a difficult situation and ask they can come up with the best solutions? them to pick out the key points and come up with a potential solution. Decision-Making: How well can the Ask about their previous experience. What candidate make difficult decisions, and how difficult decisions have they had to take in quickly can they implement those decisions? the past? How did they reach those decisions? How well did they handle the repercussions? Social: Will the candidate get along with the Ask about the candidates experience of superiors, colleagues, and subordinates with teamwork. Do they prefer to work alone or whom he / she will be working? in a team? Ask them how they would handle a hypothetical problem with a colleague. Communication: How efficient is candidate Assess the candidates verbal skills from the in communicating clearly and confidently? interview itself, then ask about their written ability. Have they written lengthy reports? Can you see them?

Questioning Skills, Patterns & Structure

Asking Right Question in Right Manner Do not use Leading Questions

Questioning Pattern

Broad / Open Ended

Probe

Narrow

Close

Summarize

Open Ended Question

Kiplings Five honest serving men
They encourage the candidate to open up, think, talk at length, and enable you to observe a candidates communication skills and elicit detailed information.

What Where

When
How

Why

While Training is only Showing the path, Walking on to it should be your Choice

By, Kaushal Mandalia kaushalmandalia@gmail.com Niyati Bhat Jathal niyatibhatjathal@gmail.com