prepared forr; AMES SMART HIRING Interview Skills

Today’s Objectives In this session we will: Get alignment on WHO we are looking for – a shared definition of Top Talent Discuss preparation and key resources Review the Interview process and roles Learn how to distinguish A players from the rest Access tools and resources

Today ’ s Context “ The challenge of business today is to provide more with fewer people, for customers who demand more for less. ” -Bill Bonnstetter The right talent in today ’ s complex knowledge-based economy has never been more critical to an organization ’ s survival – nor more difficult to obtain.

SMART Hiring Overview Define Source and Filter Interview and Select Sell

Interview and Select Who do you need on your team to achieve R2 results? How do you define an “A” player Are you committed to avoiding the costs of bad hires as well as the costs of mediocrity?

A - Players A candidate who has at least a 90% chance of achieving a set of outcomes (key accountabilities) that only 10% of possible canidates could achieve. As defined by Geoff Smart in WHO

Cost of Bad Hires Search Agencies Advertising Time spent plowing through resumes Hours/days in interviewing Time in carefully preparing offers Training new people Compensation for under-performers Time develoming unsuitable people Lost productivity from poor performance Legal problem avoidance (firing) Morale impact from turnover Potential liabilities of bad hires Opportunity costs of bad hires $$$ 8-15x Salary ! $$$ 8-15x Salary !

Preparing for the Interview Key Accountabilities front and center Review competencies required for success in benchmark, compare to candidate (Gap report) Review and print: resume, new-hire app and phone screen notes Create/review interview questions

Interview Roles and Objectives HOST: Make Candidate feel welcome, Build rapport SLEUTH: Determine fit for role, as well as potential MARKETEER: Build desire to work at Ames, open up possibilities

The Four Interviews Screening interview (Phone/Skype) Career Pattern (tograding) interview Competency (focused) interview Reference interview

Screening Interview Questions What are your career goals? What are you really good at professionally? What are you not good at or not interested in doing professionally? Why are you looking for a new position? (determine if employed currently) What do you consider to be the 3 “top performer characteristics” of a great Job Title? What was your last salary? What is your target salary? HIRING MANAGER

Get Curious What? How? Tell me more? What do you mean? What did that look like? What happened What is a good example of that What was your role? What did you do?

Career Pattern Interview Chronological Walk Thru of Candidates Career What were the highs and lows of your educational experience For each job in last 15 years ask: What were you hired to do? What accomplishments are you most proud of? What were some low points during that job? Who were the people you worked with? What will Mr. Smith say are your biggest strengths and areas for improvement Why did you leave that job? HIRING MANAGER in Tandem with other

Competency Interview (45 min) Use Benchmark to ID questions Evaluate Gap report Select specific questions from Benchmark report Split between team members

Referral Interviews Testing What You’ve Learned In what context did you work with the person? What were the persons biggest strengths? What were the person’s biggest areas for improvement back then How would you rate their overall performance on a scale 1-10? What about their performance causes you to give that rating? The person mentioned that they strugggled with x in that job. Can you tell me more about that?

Five Master Tactics Interrupt- Own the conversation The three Ps: How did your performance compare to preivous years, to the plan, to peers Check for push/pull Have they painted a picture Look for non-verbal cues, probe

Evaluating Candidates For each Key accountability and each competency you are checking for, score A where you have 90% confidence that they can get the job done.

Debriefing Session Must do! Schedule it in advance, don’t leave to chance Facilitate for STRONG ASSERTIONS Capture pros/cons/need to know more No A candidates? Have the organizational courage to go back to Source!

Tools and Resources WHO: The A Method For Hiring Job Specific Benchmark and interview questions Role Definition (Phase 1 Process doc) Let’s Talk Interviews: Playing by the rules: What you can and cannot ask. This list can be found on a BaseCamp writeboard in staffing project for ez access