hamilton - secrets of strategic staffing

Practical Human Resources Solutions 2010

Secrets of Strategic Staffing

HR Florida ConferenceAugust 30, 2010

Ron HamiltonPractical Human Resources Solutions

www.practicalhrsolutions.com941-351-5502


OBJECTIVESAs a result of this session you will:

� Learn how to align your hiring process with your business strategy

� Be able to identify ways to create a more efficient and effective selection process

� Understand problems with the traditional staffing approach that can impact hiring

� Learn tips and techniques to improve the selection process and eliminate hiring mistakes

� Learn ways to ensure you are hiring top talent


Strategic Staffing Elements

Hiring the right person at the right time to satisf y a business need

• Replacing a position should not be automatic• You should seek to hire a candidate only when

there is a business need not being satisfied • You need to truly understand the strategic directio n

of your organization and business• Based on current and future needs-not the past• There needs to be a partnership between the

recruiter and hiring manager• A consistent systematic approach in making a

hiring decision


The Problem:Hiring Mistakes Are Expensive

6 543

21

1. Cost of mistakes

2. Lost opportunity

3. Management time

4. Recruiting cost

5. Salary

6. Training cost


Strategic Staffing Benefits

RetentionRetention

BusinessBusinessNeedsNeeds

PeoplePeopleDevelopmentDevelopment

RecruitingRecruitingStrategyStrategy

PeoplePeopleNeedsNeeds

HiringHiringStrategyStrategy

Right BusinessStrategy

AppropriateStaffing Level

Lower RecruitmentCosts & Time

HigherProductivity

MaximizeROI

OrganizationalBreadth & Flexibility


Typical Process Problems

Missing Important Information

Problem Cause

Page 1.2

Making Decisions Too Quickly

Rely on Interview Behavior

Asking the Wrong Questions

Concentrating on Impressions vs Data

No Profile

No Profile

No Process

Trying To Read People

Misinformation


Process Design Tenet

Fill The Pot With Data

•Phone Screen

•Phone Interview

•Primary Interview

•Second Interview

•Multiple Interviews

•Reference Checks


Selecting Winners Strategic Staffing Process

Business ModelsDrive Business Needs

Business NeedsDrive Expected Outcomes

Expected OutcomesDrive Critical Requirements

Critical Requirements Drive Effective Questions

Effective QuestionsDrive Quality Data

Quality Data Drive Great Hiring Decisions


The Strategic Staffing Selecting Winners Approach

Develop Profile� Conduct Research� Determine Expected Outcomes� Define Critical Requirements

Recruiting/Screening� Develop a Recruitment Strategy� Use Innovative Sourcing Techniques� Read Resumes/Telephone Screen

Interview Questions� Six Effective Types� EAR’s� The Interview Guide

Managing The Interview� The Correct Setting and Opening� Handling Problem Situations� The Effective Close

Data Verification� Second Interviews� Multiple Interviews� Reference Checks

Decision� Gather All Data� Matrix Evaluation� Use The Standard


Purpose of the Selection Process

Purpose

Page 1.4

Predict Success

Laser Focus


The Behavioral Model

Page 1.7

Principle

Exceptions

Past Behavior Predicts

Future Behavior

1. Change

2. Grow

3. Learn


Are You Hiring the Right People?

Traditional profile� Responsibilities� Process orientation� Defined work groups

Emerging profile� Outcomes� Results based� Virtual Teams

To build a world class organization,you must hire and retain people

with the skill set to match your strategy.


Predicting Success

Page 2.2

JOBTasks

Timeliness

Situations

Style

SUCCESS

“What”

“How”


Success Profile

Page 2.3

Definition

A clear picture of the successful person that includes both what they need to accomplish and the knowledge, skills and abilities to get it done.


Business and Hiring Strategy Alignment


Expected Outcomes

“What must the person accomplish for you to label t hem a success?”

EXPECTED OUTCOMES

Page 2.12

SHORT-TERM EXPECTATIONS

MEDIUM-TERM EXPECTATIONS

LONG-TERM EXPECTATIONS

Process:1. Determine three time frames2. List outcomes for first period

3. Repeat for each remaining time period

4. Must be outcomes

Hint: Start your statements with “Has successfully”


Sample Expected Outcomes

� Sales� Delivered updates on all account plans� Met all forecasts within 10%� Generated 35% of revenue from new business sources

� Customer Service� Successfully respond to all customer inquiries with in 24 hrs� Documented all problem resolutions in knowledge bas e� Has achieved agreed upon rating on customer satisfa ction

survey

� Software Developer� Gained agreement on development plan� Created documentation for all code according to sta ndards� First assigned project met all milestones


Critical Job Requirements

Page 2.14

The qualities and characteristics necessary to meet the expectations.

Familiar with the information and processes necessary to successfully accomplish the tasks of the job.

The ability to use the knowledge to successfully accomplish the tasks of the job.

Handling the tasks of the job in the appropriate manner.

DefinitionKSA

Knowledge

( KNOW )

Skill

( DO )

Ability

( HOW )

Technical Requirements

BehavioralRequirements


Sample Quantitative Requirements

KnowledgeSkills

Page 2.16

Characteristics

Requirement Must Representative BehaviorKnowledge of PCs X Uses wordprocessing, spreadsheet and

database applications in windows environment.


Qualitative Requirements

Page 2.17

Gut Feel Attitude Chemistry Fit

BEHAVIOR

THE MAGIC SENTENCE

How does someone with _____ behave?


Sample Qualitative Requirements

AbilitiesHow they do things

Page 2.17

Characteristics

Requirement Must Representative BehaviorFlexibility X Handles multiple projects simultaneously.


Effective Questions

Characteristics

Definition: A question that gets information that h elps you predict success (behavior on the job)

� Easy to answer

� Only one answer

� Specific planned purpose

� Job-related


Types of Effective Questions

TYPE: Factual

1. How many customers did you work with yesterday?

2. By what percentage did you increase sales last year?

3. What system do you use to manage your time?

4. What financial software do you use?

5.

6.

Definition: Requires an answer with a discrete piece of information

Examples:



TYPE: Action

1. How did you build this year’s business plan?

2. How did you handle the last customer problem that came to your attention?

3. How did you get your last customer to buy additional products?

4. How did you get all the team members to work together?

5.

6.

Definition: Requires the person to describe past behavior (how they did things)

Examples:



TYPE: Candidate Specific

1. How did you manage the toughest deadline on the ABC project?

2. How did you prepare for the presentation to XYZ?

3. How did you come up to speed on the ABC product at XYZ?

4. What was your specific contribution on the ABC project?

5.

6.

Definition: Tailored to the specific person and situation

Examples:



TYPE: Probing

1. Who else worked on that project with you?

2. How long did the project last?

3. What was your specific contribution?

4. What was the biggest change to your product?

5. What were the key milestones of your plan?

6.

Definition: Follow-up, clarification, and detail questions designed to gain more information

Examples:



TYPE: Examples

1. Step me through how you put the ABC project plan together.

2. How did you handle with the last problem employee on your staff?

3. How did you manage changes to the code during development?

4. How did you overcome the price objection during the ABC sale?

5.

6.

Definition: Specific situations that are the same or similar to those the person will face on your job

Examples:


Demonstrated Examples

E = Example� Probe

A = Action� Probe

R = Result

Quantify behavior through the use of demonstrated example questioning technique.

E

A

R


Sample EARs

Requirement:Overcoming ObjectionsExample: What was the biggest objection you faced in the ABC sales cycle?

Probes: At what point did it come up? Who raised the objection? What warning signals did you have?

Action: Step me through what you did.Probes: How did they respond? How long did it take you to make your

point? How did you know you had put the issue to rest?Result: What was the outcome?

Requirement:Dealing with Difficult StudentsExample: Who was the most difficult student you dealt with lately?

Probes: How did the trouble manifest itself?Action: Step me through how you dealt with the person.

Probes: How did the person respond? How long did it take you to turn them?

Result: How did it turn out?


Ineffective Questions

Problem Definition Fix

� You lose control� Response may not help predicted

success

� Difficult to answer� Doesn’t result in specific information� Response won’t help predict success

� Require theoretical answers� Promote canned responses� Create stress� Response won’t help predict success

Theoretical Questions

Open-ended Questions

� Telegraph the answer you want� Non-factual answer may result� Response won’t help predict success

Leading Questions

� Provide little information� Response won’t help predict success

Yes/No Questions

General Questions

Non-specific with more than 1 answer

One Answer

What if ? Past Tense

Gives away the answer

Closed-ended

No Preamble

Yes or No Alwaysfollow-up

Non-Specific Make itSpecific


Building Your Interview Team

Who Focus

To determine “who”, ask:1. Who adds value?2. How many?

To determine focus:1. Assign a subset of critical requirements2. Take advantage of strengths


Multiple Interview Focus

Requirement Hiring Mgr. Peer 2nd Line Mgr.

Presentation skills X X

Tenacity X X

Knowledge of systems X X

Organization skills X X

Political sensitivity X X

Financial skills X X

Negotiation skills X X X


Managing Multiple Interviews

Yes

No

Interview Team

Member

Purpose

To gain multiple perspectives and gather additional data while taking advantage of individual strengths

HiringManager

Interview Team

Member

Interview Team

Member

Meeting #2Meeting

#1

Letter


Decision-making Process

Page 7.2

Decision

Telephone screenRead resume

Face-to-face interview

Second interviews

Reference checks

Background checks

Matrix evaluation

Data G

athering Data E

valuation

Multiple interviews


Evaluation

Page 7.6

Principle

Evaluate everyone against the standard


Evaluation Matrix

Page 7.7


Questions