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EMPLOYEE SELECTION

“A 7 will always hire a 6. A 6 will always hire a 5, A 5 will always hire a 4, but and 8 will always hire a 10!”

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The Purpose of this Workshop

To improve employee selection by: identifying the specific actions and behaviors that are regularly required or demonstrated on the job that contribute significantly to mission accomplishment and job success.

Isn’t This HR’s Job? You may be wondering, “Isn’t this HR’s job?” If you have a strong human resources and / or recruiting department, it can be a tremendous asset in finding and recruiting A- players. However, as the leader of an organization, you must own the ultimate responsibility improving its talent base. Hiring A-players is an organizational priority, not just a Human Resources priority. “It is the job of the leader to get the right person in the right seat on the bus” Jim Collins, Good to Great. Hire Smart Smart hiring is the key to successful managing, and the key to smart hiring is preparation. Preparation will yield positive and long-term financial and workplace results. Poor hiring takes its toll on:

The bottom line – the average cost to replace an employee is 1.5 times her or his annual salary.

Workplace morale- generally if you are replacing a worker he or she

has created turmoil in the organization that will require attention to heal.

Productivity- beyond the obvious point of missing the productivity of

the employee, consider the time spent by: human resources, leadership and administrative staff in the firing, recruiting, interviewing, hiring, indoctrination and training of the new employee to get him up to speed.

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A Few Facts and Opinions

1. Untrained interviewers take an average of 4 minutes to make up their mind about a job candidate.

2. Untrained interviewers spend as much time giving information as

getting information.

3. As humans we think we are incredible judges of character that we can look someone in the eye, get a feeling and go with it.

4. Untrained interviewers have a success rate of 9% over chance.

5. Most interviewer training focuses on what not to ask rather than what

to ask.

6. Always spend more time hiring someone than it would take to but a refrigerator (consumer report says 15 hours).

7. When making an employment decision your efforts should be directed

toward “lawful discrimination.”

8. Compare people against standards to avoid consciously or subconsciously stereotyping them against our idealized notions about people (if they look like us or fit our model of success).

9. Situational questions identify people who can “talk” about situations;

we need people who can perform in situations (role play).

10. Confirming questions get in the way, validating our positive or negative assessment and / or bias.

11. Trained interviewers learn to defer decision making until ALL of the

facts are in.

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Steps in Interview Preparation

Review what happened to cause the opening: new position, termination, voluntary separation. Why?

Review the job description. Ensure a full and complete understanding

of the job requirements and those of the next two levels about the current position. Why?

Meet with the Selection Team. Determine the process and define what

role each will play.

Determine the position criteria that are regularly required to be demonstrated on the job that contribute significantly to mission accomplishment, job success and are consistent with organizational values. Two types:

1. Interpersonal- those actions or behaviors for success that

involve the influence on or interaction with one or more persons.

2. Technical- those actions or behaviors that do not require the

employee to influence anyone but require knowledge or specific skills.

80/20 Principle- look at the top 20% of your work force and determine

what they do and how they behave that is different from the other 80%. Seek those characteristics in your candidates.

Develop the list of interview questions and role plays that satisfy the

need to identify skills, knowledge and personal traits desired. Every Position is Unique Each position has different actions and behaviors for success criteria and its own mix of interpersonal and technical criteria. (ex., a machinist will require mostly technical skills while a customer service representative will require mostly interpersonal skills).

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Predictors The instruments and techniques used by the organization to predict whether a candidate will practice the desired behaviors once hired.

Diplomas and Certificates

Assessment Tests

Personality Tests

Interview Data

Job Tryouts

Reference Checks

Probationary Ratings What are the current predictors used by your organization? THERE IS NO PERFECT SELETION SYSTEM!!! The typical interview is the least reliable predictor.

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Involve Other Team Members You accomplish eight things:

1. You stress the fact that hiring the right person is a priority.

2. You make sure the Team Leaders are thinking objectively about the talent on their teams.

3. You determine whether your current leaders know any A-players in

your industry. (Networking)

4. You assess the quality of your own leadership team. Do the leaders perceive a need for better talent on their teams? Would you work for them? If not, what makes you think any other A-player would?

5. It invests them in the hiring process.

6. It puts everyone on the same page regarding job responsibilities.

7. It makes them more supportive of the new hire.

8. It increases the willingness to help orient the new hire.

The Continuum of Hiring:

Conduct position analysis

Identify competencies

Develop questionnaire with existing employees for job candidates

Screen Applicants

Conduct Interviews

Evaluate Candidates

Research Background

Present job offer

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Validity and Reliability In order to be fair (and legal) the process used to make hiring decisions must be valid and reliable. Valid

The degree to which the interview accurately measures an applicant’s future job success or failure.

The extent to which a predictor measures characteristics which are

important to job success or failure.

o Content Validity- selection procedure justified by showing that it representatively samples significant parts of the job.

o Criterion Validity- the selection procedure is justified by a

statistical relationship between scores on the predictor and job performance.

o Construct Validity- identifying the psychological trait which

underlies successful performance on the job and then devising a selection procedure to measure the presence and degree of the construct.

Reliable

The degree to which the interview generates consistent information even if different interviewers are interviewing the same person.

The extent to which the predictor measures what it is intended to

measure and the extent to which the measure would be duplicated if performed again on the same person.

A-Players are attracted by high standards. Don’t apologize for conducting a rigorous selection process. The best candidates like to feel they are joining an exclusive club when they join your team.

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Questions for this Workshop

1. Why are most interviewers ineffective when using the interview as a selection technique?

_______________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________ 2. Why does most interview training focus on what NOT to ask rather

than on what to ask? _________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________

3. What are the most important behaviors for employee success in a given position?

_______________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________ 4. How can we most accurately predict whether or not an applicant will

practice those behaviors if hired? ______________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________

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Setting the Organizational Standard Position criteria and employee behaviors must be consistent and aligned with the organizational culture to include: Vision, Mission, Core Values and Service Levels. What are your organizations?

Vision Statement: ________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________

Mission Statement: __________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________

Core Values: ________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________ Service Levels: ________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________

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If your organization has not articulated these concepts ask yourself the following questions:

1. Where does the organization spend its time and money? _______________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________ 2. What are the organization’s priorities? _______________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________ 3. What are the principle inputs that go into decision making? __________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________

Using a recent job that you hired for (or had been hired for) define how the position aligns with the organizations: Vision, Mission, Core Values and Service Level. ____________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________ ___________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________

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Exercise: Identify Position Criteria: Using the Who Gets Hired Role Play in the back of this chapter, write three interpersonal and three technical criteria for the job.

Begin the sentence with a verb

Avoid weasel verbs like “coordinates”, “monitors”, evaluates”, “assess”, etc.

Focus on behavior and action (things that we could see them doing

or experience them doing).

Avoid talking about knowledge, skills, and abilities. Identify what the employee would “do” with the knowledge, skill or ability.

Position Criteria The specific actions and behaviors that are regularly required or demonstrated on the job that contribute significantly to mission accomplishment, job success and are consistent with organizational values. Interpersonal #1 Interpersonal #2 Interpersonal #3 Technical #1 Technical #2 Technical #3

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Group Discussion Pick a Job Description that all in the group might need to hire.

Priority is important in establishing the “key” actions and behaviors required for success. What are your key actions and behaviors?

Percentage of time is helpful in determining which actions are significant. How often will the candidate need to display these?

Pareto analysis allows us to focus on the most meaningful 20% of our actions that produce 80% of our results.

o Are the key actions you identified above the ones that will produce 80% of the employee’s success on the job?

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Writing Predictive Interview Questions Most organizations leave the development or at least the selection of interview questions for the human resource department to compile. It is imperative that you as the leader be intimately involved. Concept:

A criterion-referenced question asks a person to describe their specific behavior in a real job (or life) situation.

o What did you do? o How did you do it?

If they behaved consistent with the criterion in the past it is more

likely that they will do so in the future.

The question becomes a predictor. Example: Criterion = “Resolve employee conflicts”

Question = “Describe a specific incident from your recent past where you effectively dealt with two employees who were in conflict with one another?” Follow Up = “What did you do?” “How did you do it?” ________________________________________________________ These questions skirt or miss the point:

Fuzzy - “Describe your style of dealing with employees in conflict.”

Poor – “Are you usually effective when handling conflict

situations?”

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Practice Assessing Questions Please read each of the following questions and do two things:

1. Identify the criterion being assessed. 2. Check if it is a “good question”, a “fuzzy question”, or a poor

question.” Why? Why are you a good candidate for this job?

What is the criterion being assessed?

Is the question: Good__ Fuzzy__ Poor__ What do you think are the three most important aspects of this job?

What is the criterion being assessed?

Is the question: Good__ Fuzzy__ Poor__ Describe your approach to dealing with difficult co-workers.

What is the criterion being assessed?

Is the question: Good__ Fuzzy__ Poor__ How many days do you feel is acceptable to be absent from work in a 90 day period?

What is the criterion being assessed?

Is the question: Good__ Fuzzy__ Poor__ Describe a job or situation where you have to deal with the public. What did you like most about the situation? What did you like least?

What is the criterion being assessed?

Is the question: Good__ Fuzzy_ Poor__

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Practice Writing Questions For each of the following criterion write a good predictive question: Criterion #1 “Operates a large vehicle safely in traffic.” _______________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________ Criterion #2 “Resolves personal conflicts with difficult coworkers.” _______________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________ Criterion #3 “Arrives at work on or before scheduled starting time.” _______________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________ Criterion #4 “Delivers excellent customer service.” ______________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________ Contrary Evidence Techniques and methods used to gather information to paint a more realistic picture of the candidate. “If you think a candidate is too good to be true, you are probably right!” Design and ask questions to identify times when the success behaviors were missing. Practice Write a contrary evidence question for the following criterion. Criterion “Resolves personal conflicts with difficult coworkers.” ____________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________

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Questions to Gain Insight For the most part, you will want to stay away from questions that can be answered: “Yes or No.” You want the candidate to open up and talk. Here are some questions to consider:

What parts of your present (last) job do you feel that you’ve done particularly well? Why?

What parts of the job have been difficult? Why?

Could you describe some particular problems you’ve encountered

with supervisors, coworkers, customers, or suppliers and how you’ve handled them?

Could you tell me the aspect of you work history of which you are

most proud?

What aspects of the job are most important to you?

What benefits do you feel that you bring to this organization?

What are your expectations of the organization?

What are you looking for in your next job?

What knowledge or experience would you hope to gain from your next position?

What about this particular position made you decide to apply for it?

How a candidate answers these types of questions will give you an idea of his or her aspirations, reasons for wanting the job, strengths and weaknesses, and what about him or her work experience she values.

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Know the Legal Implications As managers, you all need to know there are questions you simply cannot ask during an interview. It is important to know all of them to avoid putting yourself and your organization at risk. How versed are you? Read each question below and make if it is legal or illegal.

1. How old are you? Legal__ Illegal__ 2. In what year did you graduate high school? __ __

3. Are you over the age of eighteen? __ __

4. How many years have you worked in this field? __ __

5. Have you ever been arrested? __ __

6. Have you ever been convicted of a crime? __ __

7. Do you have experience using Microsoft products?__ __

8. Would you be willing to relocate if necessary? __ __

9. Do you have children, and if so, what child care

arrangements do you have? __ __

10. Are you authorized to work in the United States? __ __ 11. Would you be willing and able to work overtime? __ __

12. What do you consider an acceptable number of absences in a year? __ __

13. Do you plan to have children? __ __ 14. Do you rent or own your home? __ __ 15. Have you ever taken family leave? __ __

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16. Do you have any handicaps? Legal __ Illegal__ 17. Do you own a car? __ __ 18. This job requires driving. Do you have a valid driver’s license? __ __ 19. Are you married, single, divorced or widowed? __ __ 20. Where were you born? __ __ 21. What church do you belong to? __ __ 22. For what religious holidays will you need time? off to celebrate? __ __ 23. Can you work Saturdays? __ __ 24. What was your maiden name? __ __ 25. What hobbies do you enjoy? __ __ 26. Do you belong to any work related professional organizations? __ __ 27. Are you currently using any medication? __ __ 28. What languages can you speak? __ __ 29. How much does your spouse make? __ __ 30. Have you ever been in rehab for drugs or alcohol-related problems? __ __

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The questions that you can legally ask a job applicant are: 3,4,5,6,7,8,10,11,12,18,23, and 28. The rest are illegal with the exception of 16, 25, and 26. These three questions are both legal and illegal. To get away with them, you will need to walk a fine line. You can’t ask someone about any physical disability unless they will keep them from performing their job and that still leave the door open for “reasonable accommodations.” As for asking about hobbies and work-related professional organizations, you can, but you cannot make any candidates provide a complete list of all their activities. Finding the Best Candidates Finding the best candidates for a job is not always an easy task. A common mistake managers make is to assume that the best way to recruit staff is to place a print add in the newspaper or a journal. The technological advances of the last decade have dramatically changed the face of advertising. In fact, in 2006, more money was spent for the first time advertising jobs online than in the classified section of newspapers. Online recruitment is so huge now that it accounts for 25 percent of all Internet advertising. Some are free or nearly free. Here are some highly regarded recruitment sites:

Monster.com CareerBuilder.com Craigslist.com Hotjobs.com Headhunter.com Careers.Yahoo.com

Note: You may also have luck using professional association sites such as: APWA; AWWA; WEF; SWANA, etc.

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Prescreening Applications If you are lucky enough to receive a large number of applications, it is wise to prescreen them using a rated criterion scale based on qualifications and some specific disqualification criterion. Select the best of the best for interviews. The Interview Panel Most organizations use a panel to conduct initial interviews. In order to ensure that the panel runs smoothly, appoint a panel leader. That person has the responsibility of starting and ending the interview, keeping it focused, and making sure the candidate is a comfortable as possible. Assign each member of the panel specific questions to ask, but allow everyone to ask follow-up questions. Conducting the Interview

Before the interview, set aside 30 minutes to review the candidates resume and application.

Make notes and questions specific to his or her background and

experience.

Find a quiet, private place to conduct the interview, avoid distractions.

Be aware of time. Start on time. Do not let any panel member dominate the process.

Keep a clock in your line of vision to know how much time you have

left. Candidates tend to get uncomfortable if they see an interviewer checking a watch.

Give the candidate your undivided attention.

Be prepared to sell the organization.

Expect the candidate to ask questions about the organization to

include: promotions, turnover, organizational culture, the last person who held the job.

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Scoring Responses to Questions Decision rules for scoring responses to “GOOD” predictive questions.

Score +1 one point when the applicant described an excellent response to the situation that clearly demonstrated his or her effective practice of the criterion behavior.

Score – 1 minus one point when the applicant did not clearly

demonstrate her or his effective practice of the criterion behavior. Remember three things:

1. Rate the response not the situation they describe.

2. Ask clarifying questions (how, what, when, where). If the response is unclear ask for specifics and examples.

3. Avoid asking leading questions or verifying questions. These are

questions where you give them the answer, or a strong hint, within the question.

EXAMPLE:

Criterion Resolves conflicts between customers. Question Describe a specific incident from your recent past where

you effectively dealt with two or more customers who were in conflict with one another.

Answer +1

The applicant described a response to the situation that clearly demonstrated his or her effective practice of the criterion behavior.

-1 The applicant did not clearly demonstrate his or her effective practice of the criterion behavior.

Reason for numerical

choice

In the example she gave the customers shook hands on the deal and said it was only the applicant’s help that allowed them to get past their animosity.

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Practice Scoring Select a question from your pervious exercise in writing questions. Working in triads, have one person answer the question and have two people score it. Criterion

____________________________________________________

Question ____________________________________________________Answer +1

The applicant described a response to the situation that clearly Demonstrated his or her effective practice of the criterion behavior.

-1 The applicant did not clearly demonstrate his or her effective Practice of the criterion behavior.

Reason for numerical choice

Questions; Where each rater’s scores the same? Were each rater’s reasons the same? Remember to: Focus on the criterion.

Always leave time between interviews (especially when multiple interviews are involved) to do your ratings and discuss the reasons for your rating. This will ensure that you focused on the criterion and that there is good inter-rater reliability.

Take good notes during the interview to help in the review and evaluation process.

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Reference Checks Identify specifically what you want to know from the reference. This is usually coordinated with and conducted by a Human Resources representative. Using the “Who gets Hired” role play identify three questions you would ask when calling a reference” 1.______________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________ 2.______________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________ 3.______________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________ How do we identify what information we need from the reference? Problems encountered when checking references: Weighing the alternatives: Potential lawsuits from negligent hiring or non-hiring

Potential lawsuits from previous employees for violation of privacy and / or slander.

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The Criterion-Based Interview Plan Plan the Interview

Review job requirements Define the criterion Develop criterion based interview questions

Plan the Environment

Allow plenty of time (especially between interviews) No interruptions Comfortable environment

Conduct the Interview

Ask predictive questions Manage the interview Seek evidence (follow-up questions) Seek contradictory evidence Take notes Protect against closure (do not make statements that predict a

hire or non-hire)

Weigh total predictor outcomes against criterion

Include interview evidence with other predictors Ask:

Do you really have enough information?

Am I being Objective? Am I being pressured by someone or the system?

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Final Exercise Identify the 3 most important interpersonal criteria for your current job:

1. ________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________

2. ________________________________________________________

________________________________________________________________________________________________________________

3. ________________________________________________________

________________________________________________________________________________________________________________

Identify the 3 most important technical criteria for your current job:

1. ________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________

2. ________________________________________________________

________________________________________________________________________________________________________________

3. ________________________________________________________

________________________________________________________________________________________________________________

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Now you are equipped to hire your replacement. Write one level 1 question for each key criterion listed on the previous page. Interpersonal Questions:

1. ________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________

2. ________________________________________________________

________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________

3. ________________________________________________________

________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________

Technical Questions:

1. ________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________

2. ________________________________________________________

________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________

3. ________________________________________________________

________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________

Now be prepared to interview your instructor using these prepared questions.

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Exercise: Who Gets Hired Role Play Read the following background sheet on Mary Richards and Bill Cook: A medium-sized manufacturing company located in a medium-sized city is looking for a supervisor to oversee a computer pool consisting of thirty female employees and an executive secretary. The function of the department is to prepare all accounting, financial, production, and sales documents for the firm. The current supervisor, who has been in the job for two years, has been promoted, creating the vacancy. He has practical accounting experience and an associate degree in human resource management from a local community college. It is company policy to promote from within the firm whenever possible. Two employees have applied for the position, each knows about the other’s application. Mary Richards is currently the executive secretary to the outgoing supervisor. Mary is twenty-eight and has been in the department for five years- two as a computer pool employee and three in her present position. She is thoroughly familial with the requirements of the department, is considered atop-notch worker and is well liked and generally respected. Mary’s life style is considered by some to be unconventional, but it has never interfered with her work. She is unmarried, supports women’s liberation, and has said that were she to become pregnant, she would keep the child. Mary had previously applied for the position of department supervisor at the time that the current supervisor was hired. Mary was told that the current supervisor was selected because of his greater experience and better knowledge of human resource management. Since then, Mary has completed an associate degree in accounting from the local community college and she is taking a course in supervisory skills there. Mary has told friends that if she does not get the job this time, she will probably file a discrimination complaint with the regional office of the Equal Opportunity Commission (EEOC). Bill Cook is the other applicant for the supervisor’s job. He has a bachelor’s degree in business administration from the nearby university and is twenty-three years of age. He has worked in the accounting department (a department that uses documents prepared by the computer pool) for eighteen months and has obtained a thorough understanding of company operations. Consequently, his line supervision experience is limited, but he has studied supervision and human resource management in his university program and is considered to have outstanding managerial potential. Bill is married and the father of one child. He is a Rotary Club member who coaches Little League baseball. He considers himself to be in the center of the political spectrum

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and is against abortion. Bill is generally well thought of and has demonstrated an ability to get along with people. He sees the supervisor’s job as a significant step to a higher managerial position in which he could demonstrate his managerial potential and therefore does not anticipate spending more than two or three years in the position.

1. Write one interview question that you plan to ask Bill, who will be played by your boss or co-worker. You only have one question so be certain it provides you with adequate information to reach a hiring decision.

Question for Bill: ____________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________

2. Your boss or co-worker will now play the role of Bill and give you a score: (1) excellent, (2) adequate, or (3) poor, on the quality of your question.

3. The process is now repeated with your boos or co-worker playing the

role of Mary. Scoring is done the same way as in question #2 above>

Question for Mary: ____________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________

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NOTES: