HIRE ATTITUDE, HIGHER ALTITUDE:

FINDING YOUR NEXT TOP PERFORMER

Presenter: Steve Hrop PhD., VP, Organizational

Development Services

May 5-7, 2015

Portland, OR

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Session Topics

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• Tradeoffs between Skills/Experience and “Fit”

• Assessing Potential “Derailers”

• Interviewing o The Job Interview: A Conversation for

Success

Sheryl Barden, Aviation Personnel International

• Checking References

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CALIPER’s Expertise

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• Over 50 years of consulting

experience

• Unparalleled database of

scientific research

• Assessed almost 4 million

across the globe in over

28,000 companies

• Unsurpassed competence in

total talent management

• Offices in 13 countries

• CALIPER Assessments– one

to fit every situation

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Some of Our Clients

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Which box do you tend to target when hiring?

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HI

LOW JOB EXPERIENCE / KNOWLEDGE / SKILLS

HI

Personality

Traits

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Hiring Tradeoffs: A Perennial Dilemma

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HI

LOW JOB EXPERIENCE / KNOWLEDGE / SKILLS

- Behavioral Interviews -

HI

CALCULATED RISK BUT THE PAYOFF OF SELECTING

THIS CANDIDATE COULD BE

ENORMOUS ONCE HE/SHE

COMES UP TO SPEED

NO WAY

BEST FIT

EASY WAY OUT BUT IS THE CANDIDATE LIKELY TO FIT

IN AND BE A TOP PERFORMER?

FLIGHT RISK?

OVER FIT

Personality

Traits and

Abilities

Key Issue: “Role Players” versus “Pipeline Players”

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* Attitudes and Values

* Motives (actual drivers)

* Traits & Derailers

•Knowledge

•Experience

•Education

•Credentials

•Appearance “Can Do”

“Will Do”

and “Fit”

Iceberg Model of Assessment

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The Three Legged Stool

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STRENGTHS

(KSAs)

DERAILERS

(Behaviors)

•Fix

•Ignore

•Outsource (Delegate)

•Work-Around

WEAKNESSES

(KSAs) •Leverage Them

•Natural Tendencies

•Two Faced

•Manage (not fix) Them

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Two Types of Derailers

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Negative Derailers

• Failure to deliver on promises

• Poor interpersonal skills

• Not adaptable to change

Double-Edged Derailers

• Skepticism (disengaging?)

• Cautiousness (indecisive?)

• Extreme Self-Confidence

Empathy

Cautiousness Urgency

Risk Taking Ego-Strength/Resilience

Ego-Drive Aggressiveness

Assertiveness Leadership

Problem Solving/

Decision Making

Abstract Reasoning

Urgency Risk Taking

Cautiousness Flexibility

Thoroughness Idea Orientation

Personal Organization/ Time Management

Cautiousness Risk Taking

Thoroughness Urgency

External-Structure Self-Structure

Interpersonal

Skepticism Accommodation Gregariousness

Sociability Empathy

0 10 20 30 40 50 60 70 80 90 100

Potential Double-Edged Derailers

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Job Fit

Knowledge, Skills,

Experience,

Personality, Derailers

Derailers

Personality

The 4-Factor Model for Selecting Top Candidates

Cultural Fit

Personality,

Derailers

Advancement

Potential “General” Abilities,

Personality, Derailers

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“ ”

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85% of your financial success is due to your personality

and ability to communicate, negotiate, and lead.

Shockingly, only 15% is due to technical knowledge.

---Carnegie Institute of Technology

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Candidate Supply

Chain

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• Hiring Process

•Recruiting

•Screening Process

•Selection Process

•On-Boarding

•Training

•Coaching & Development

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Common Mistake

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The most common – and fatal – hiring mistake is to

find someone with the right skills and experience but

the wrong mind-set and/or “expectations”

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Hiring Process: Screening Phase

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Job Candidates

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“Too many candidates

are more successful

on their resumes than

they are in the job”

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Four Types of Candidates:

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Very Active – need a job and aggressively looking

Less Active – want a better job and occasionally look

Semi-Passive – want a better job but not actively looking

Very Passive – don’t want another job

Digging for Gold: “Not looking” but willing to talk/network.

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Phone Screen

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While many managers select

on the basis of “gut feeling”

and above-the-waterline

factors, the best managers

have learned not to hire, but to

screen, on the basis of these

factors.

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Phone Screen Best Practices

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• Objective: determine if the applicant meets the basic requirements of the role; it is

NOT a selection interview

• Screen for weaknesses and “knock out” factors

• Verify information on the resume and application form

• Ask specific “knock out” questions (e.g., ability to travel 50% of the time in a 5-state

territory)

• As a screening tool, it should be much less “intimate” than a selection interview

• The “pregnant pause” (Silence is Golden)

• To surface weaknesses and other “negatives”, selectively apply TORC (threat of

reference check)

• Provide a “Realistic Job Preview”

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Phone Screen Interview Questions

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• What successes are you most proud of and what did you do to achieve them?

• What habits do you have that contribute to your success?

• Why are you considering making a job change at this time?

• Describe your “perfect job”

• If you had a complete understanding of all the plusses and minuses of this job opportunity, what factors would most influence your desire to remain a candidate?

• What do you know about our products and services?

• What attracted you to this opportunity?

• What does your current supervisor consider to be your strengths and areas for improvement?

• Name of supervisor for each position on the resume

• Reason for leaving each position on the resume

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Hiring Process: Interviewing

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Two Types of

Interviews

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• Behavior-Based Interview

(BBI) – “Vertical”

• Chronological Career

Interview (CCI) –

“Horizontal”

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Two Types of Interviews

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HI

LOW JOB EXPERIENCE / KNOWLEDGE / SKILLS

- Behavioral Interviews -

HI

CAREER INTERVIEW AND CALIPER

PROFILE CRITICAL FOR ASSESSING APPLICANT “DNA” FACTORS

RELEVANT TO SUCCESS

BEHAVIORAL INTERVIEW INDUCTIVE METHOD,

FOCUSED ON KEY SKILLS,

ORIENTED TO SPECIFIC EXAMPLES,

CRITICAL FOR ASSESSING WORK-RELATED

BEHAVIORS AND SKILLS

Personality

Traits and

General

Abilities

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Behavior-Based Interviewing

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A structured interview process that focuses on gathering specific, job-related, real-world

examples of behaviors the candidate has demonstrated on previous jobs.

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Career Chronological Interviewing

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• Topgrading

Bradford D. Smart, Ph.D.

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Reference Checking

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• Gathering Data from Additional Sources

• Increases validity … fills gaps from Assessment Interview

• Easier to Obtain for Internal Candidates … Important to Sample on Key External Candidates

• Focus on:

• Context in which person worked with candidate

• Accomplishments, highlights and lowlights

• Candidate’s strengths and shortcomings

• Any competency gaps / inconsistencies from interview

• How they think person would perform in new role

Reference Checking = Mini-Interview

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• Schedule a time with the reference in advance of the interview. Be clear on the purpose of the call and let the reference know the name of your candidate in

advance.

• Introduce yourself and give the specific reasons for the call - how you got their name, the role for which the candidate is being considered, and your role in the

process.

• Confirm the confidentiality of your call.

• Ask the following questions to learn about the candidate:

- What was (or what is) the basis of your knowledge about the candidate?

- What was your role at the time? Their role? The reporting relationship?

- What was (or were) the time frames(s) in which the two of you worked together?

- What were the candidate's key accomplishments in this role?

- What was not accomplished as well as it might have been?

- What were the candidate’s overall strengths in this role?

- What developmental needs or shortcomings did they display?

- Based on my assessment of the candidate he seems to have difficulty with ___________. I’d welcome your thoughts on this issue.

• If there are gaps/inconsistencies from assessment interview, probe for data on specific critical success factors / criteria.

• If there was more than one job in which the reference managed the candidate, you may wish to add the following:

- What prompted you to appoint the candidate in this role?

- How were their responsibilities and challenges different?

- Looking back, what growth did they demonstrate in this job verses earlier ones in which you knew them?

• After briefly describing the role for which you are considering the candidate (including scope, critical outcomes, special challenges, key experience and skills

requirements), ask the following:

- Based on what I have told you, how do you see the candidate performing in this role?

- In what areas would you feel most comfortable about their ability to perform?

- What areas do you think would pose the greatest risks?

• Thank the person, reiterate the confidentiality, and ask this final question:

- Is there a question which I did not ask, or something important which I should know, that you would like to share?

Reference Checking Interview Guide

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Thank you!

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