Effective Hiring: Set the Bar High!
April 23rd, 2007This cast shares our most important principle in The Manager Tools Effective Hiring Process: Set the Bar HIGH.
We believe that the biggest invisible organizational personnel failing is hiring poorly. It’s that simple: the vast majority of companies do a terrible job - compared to what they COULD DO EASILY - in hiring the right people.
We’ve said what follows a hundred times. We have systems to test the quality of raw materials coming in to our plants. We reject anything that is even a LITTLE off. We have non-destructive testing methods for inbound materials, and for our own manufacturing processes. Tolerances are incredibly tight. We have financial standards for investing capital that are incredibly rigorous, and monstrously difficult to prepare for at times. We have RIGID standards for EXPENSE REPORTING, for heaven’s sake.
And then, for the most important decisions we make - personnel - we leave the decision to some senior manager who’s never been trained, never been given feedback, is never held accountable, and mostly goes with her gut.
This is like trying to make a gorgeous wedding cake substituting dirt for flour, and adhering strictly to every other step in the process.
We can’t cover the entire process in one cast. But we can start.
Members-Only 
Premium 
Interviewing Series
Stumble it!Trackback URL for this post: http://www.manager-tools.com/2007/04/effective-hiring-set-the-bar-high/trackback/
April 23rd, 2007 at 10:22 pm
Your show are great, but I really like them a lot! =)
Note: Yes, this was me trying to give a nice “complabut” =P
Really appreciate your everlasting devotion to make better managers of us all!
Thank you!
Paulo Köch
April 24th, 2007 at 12:47 am
Ha! That’s the best complibut I’ve heard yet. thanks.
Mike
April 24th, 2007 at 1:08 am
M n M-
Great ‘cast. If only I had been able to listen to this before I was “introduced” to hiring people 2 years ago. Glad to hear that I got the basics right tho’
Looking forward to seeing the assessment matrix posted here in the tools section.
Hope I can make it to the next conference
Keep up the good work,
David
April 24th, 2007 at 2:53 pm
One of the best podcasts I’ve listened to, hands down. As a consultant specializing in this, I’m always battling client perceptions that faster is cheaper and better and that THE key metric is time to fill. Only when cost per hire is reviewed down the road and measured with other key elements (retention costs, quality of hire, hires’ success, etc.) does time to fill even become remotely relevant. Even then, it fails to singulary support a business case to do things as fast as possible. Companies tend to hire for today’s pain, not tomorrow’s gain which makes your comments on hiring for the “next job” so important. That Magic 8 ball is always in the mediocre manager’s rear view mirror. Yes,there are cases where speed is necessary. That means your risks are higher and you must mitigate them better, not give into the tempation to throw away every you’ve built to avoid false positives.
Sorry, I could go on and on…Mark needs his soapbox back
Thanks, guys, for a great reminder and, in some cases, a new truth!
April 24th, 2007 at 4:10 pm
Loved this cast. It was especially good to hear more from Mike. You know, you don’t always have to be the straight man. You have good experience we want to hear as well.
I really appreciated your viewpoints on this as it is a sore point with me as well. My HR dept. usually gives me 2 or 3 candidates to interview and I end up with the best of a bad lot because of a VP who loves to heist the req if not filled within a week or two. Somedays it feels like pushing string uphill. It was nice to hear the cast. I have read several articles on Google’s hiring practices that you will find interesting. They require new hires to be above the collective average of the company, which always raises the bar. Consequently, they only get better over time. How different from other companies…
April 24th, 2007 at 8:18 pm
Thank you fellas, … An excellent ‘cast.
I’m always on the lookout for “future employees”. When I had to recently fill positions, HR had me do the whole deal. Once ALL the applications were rejected, they let me goto my “poaching” list. 1 Phone call, 1 interview and the employment contract was signed on the spot.
Further, keeping your radar helps to create other opportunities.
I have a good relation with 2 recruiters. Over the past 3-4 years, I’m batting 1000 as I gave 4 referals and “they” got 4 placements.
Thanks again for all the work and energy you both put into Manager-Tools.
p.s. Who are Cathy and Travis?
April 24th, 2007 at 9:01 pm
Mike and Mark:
Just finished listening to the podcast today. Very timely as I now manage the hiring for our group. Interviewed someone today who was “good” but not good enough - saved that person and me from making a big and potentially “galatically stupid” mistake. Those mistakes in the past have come back to haunt me and the persons we hired.
Will be working with others in my group who interview on setting the bar very high. This combined with your other interview podcast is making a real difference.
Thanks as always.
April 25th, 2007 at 3:22 am
Hallelujah! You’d think it would be obvious that no one is better than the wrong person, but no. I have that argument with hiring managers day in day out…. ‘I just want to hire, then I can get on with the work’.
If you hire well, you won’t have to do the work. You’ll have someone innovative, creative, smart, who works well with other teams and if you want to be really selfish, who will allow you to concentrate on the career enhancing activites for your promotion.
Watching hiring managers hire mediocre candidates is the the second worst part of my job. Rehiring for that position 6 months later ior a position on the same team because the HM hired badly is the worst.
Wendii
April 25th, 2007 at 1:12 pm
Great podcast! I particularly liked the idea of always looking for talent to have a readily available pool to help the process move along (but not accelerate!).
One suggestion: Some hiring managers might have repeated difficulty finding candidates because the bar is set too high–especially after listening to such a persuasive podcast! The right balance can be determined by an honest appraisal of what is needed for the job.
For example: I may WANT a server administrator to have experience with all the types of servers and OSs we support in our department; however, if I already have someone who is highly experience in Novell servers and have a candidate who is experienced in other systems, I may not NEED a person of that level. Yes, I’m sure the person I “want” is out there. They may cost quite a bit more. Clearly there are some attributes that are not flexible (great attitude, cultural/personality fit, etc.).
One final point related to P&L: Being flexible about how the bar is set is very important when looking at internal company resources vs. external. It is often cheaper and lower risk to train a proven internal performer than to hire a more knowledgeable external candidate.
April 26th, 2007 at 5:01 pm
Wow, great one guys. I want my boss to hear this one.
April 27th, 2007 at 2:31 pm
Very well said! In doubt: NO!
I totally agree and sometimes I’m also allowed to do it
PierG
http://pierg.wordpress.com
April 28th, 2007 at 8:29 pm
Absolutely agree. 100%! In the past I’ve fallen victim (more than once) to the “someone is better than no-one” mentality. There is always pressure to hire. In a small company it is perhaps more the pressure of work to be done and a lack of time, resources, and suitable candidates, which “tempts” us down this route. Hiring no-one results in a “problem” for a few weeks or months. Hiring the wrong person creates a problem for a few years …
April 30th, 2007 at 3:21 am
Wendii-
“If you hire well, you won’t have to do the work.”
Brilliant. Wish I’d said that.
Mark
April 30th, 2007 at 8:44 am
I listened to your podcast on sense of urgency for the second time right after the podcast on hiring. In large organizations it can take 6 months to develop a job description because each step along the way falls behind by days, weeks, and months. We (I) feel the pressure to move fast once the approval to hire is finally received. How much better would the process be to have the sense of urgency in developing the job description and the leisue in the search for the right person?
Ed
May 1st, 2007 at 7:05 pm
[…] http://www.manager-tools.com/2007/04/effective-hiring-set-the-bar-high/ […]
May 2nd, 2007 at 7:31 am
Just one thing I’m concerned about - the danger of perpetuating “it’s not what you know it’s who you know”. Beware of ONLY looking for new recruits from those you know - you then exclude the possibility of someone you do not know being better.
I do have an axe to grind in this - I am unemployed at the moment, through no fault of myself, and the idea that I am looked over because some manager doesn’t know me - because I was with my last employer for a long time or because we are in a different sector - fills me with despair. And they are missing out on me.
“Better the devil you know” is I’m sure not the principal you were trying to put across but it was a message that could be gained from parts of your cast.
May 2nd, 2007 at 8:42 pm
Jan,
I believe networking is as powerful as qualifications and skills to a manager. I am also happier to interview someone I know and have an appreciation of their skills than appraising from a cold CV (Mark’s tactical nuke CV aside). I trained as an Architect and saw several promising designers flounder when promoted to assosciate or partner level. They were not people oriented. The ones that flourished were those with not necessarily the best design skills, but who had the ability to forge relationships with clients and keep a team of consultants moving.
I sincerely hope that you are successful in getting employment soon. As an MT member you have already a two factors in your favour. 1. Access to the MT database of ideas and 2. The intelligence to recognise this is a pretty useful community to hang out in.
Who knows, the next interview, you will shake hands and think ‘I know that handshake - it’s the same as mine…’
Chris
May 3rd, 2007 at 9:07 am
Jan-
Thanks for your comment. Wellington said “give your orders not only so that they are understood, but that there is no way they can be misunderstood.”
Alas, we’re not that good - we can’t take credit for every possible interpretation of what we say.
We didn’t imply or intend that one would hire someone just because they know someone else. But if I DON’T know you, I certainly CAN’T hire you.
The Build your Network cast seems best here.
Mark
May 3rd, 2007 at 7:16 pm
Jan,
If you have not done so, perhaps you can fill out a brief profile in the discussion forum section. It will quickly introduce you to the 12,000 or so registered users and who knows how many guests. And as Mark says, listen to the Build your Network cast if you have not already.
Perhaps some of them want to build a network with you or can refer you to someone else who might help you. Being unemployed sucks and I empathize with your situation.
*RNTT
June 4th, 2007 at 9:25 am
Greetings Mike,
I do enjoy listening to your podcast while driving and i would say i learn
new management skills everyday.
I wanted to know if you will designate podcast for student interns in an organization.
Once again, great tool. Keep up the good job.
Sincerely Jimi
June 4th, 2007 at 10:36 am
Jimi-
Yes, we have a podcast on that, both on the org side and on the intern side.
Mark