Wednesday, October 31st, 2007 at 11:08am by JRed

Thanks to TIME for releasing this list of their Top 25 Horror Movies yesterday.

One entry they included on this list clearly illustrates the absurdity that can some times override our better judgment.

Surprisingly, they listed Bambi (1942) as one of the “Top 25 Horror Movies of All Time” because the film has a “primal shock that still haunts oldsters who saw it 40, 50, 65 years ago.”

Seriously? Seriously. That’s interesting because I’ve never heard about anyone walking into a Blockbuster Video store on Halloween night looking for Bambi. 

Given the many parallels, this got me thinking about recruiting.

For the purposes of this discussion, let’s pretend that the author who compiled this list was a Hiring Manager. Their primary function this month was to find the scariest candidates (i.e. movies) and ultimately choose the Top 25 before selecting only one.

There was no shortage of candidates because they were able to seek candidates from a number of quality sources (i.e. they had the entire history of film - foreign and domestic - to choose from!) so the only challenge for them was to narrow the group of qualified candidates down to a select few who best matched the job profile.

What’s the job profile? The job profile should have been simple enough to create and understand. Forget about basic responsibilities and qualifications, this Hiring Manager did things right and went far beyond the traditional job description to outline behaviors and performance metrics.

In other words, we’d assume that this Hiring Manager took the lead in identifying not just what the candidate will do (i.e. scare people on a regular basis, time-after-time, year-after-year and regardless of the occasion), but also the specific characteristics a candidate must possess to be successful (i.e. candidates needed to be pure evil; a true villain who created conflict and tension from the opening scene to the last).

So, how in the world did this Hiring Manager end up hiring Bambi when they clearly needed a Monster instead?

The most likely scenario is that a number of factors were at play here. Specifically, I’d guess that 2 of the most common hiring mistakes could be found here in this case…

(a) Relying solely on interviews to evaluate a candidate. I’m sure Bambi was very pleasant and personable in his interview. In fact, he was probably a breath of fresh air to the Hiring Manager given the freaks that he/she was accustomed to meeting for this position. However, the goal isn’t about selecting the candidate who merely presents themselves well and/or better than the rest. It’s about finding the right match for the job.

(b) Evaluating personality instead of job skills. While assessing personality/behavior is an important part of the process we need to remember that it’s only one part of the process and it should never be the most important criteria in a search for Peak Performers. Again, I’m positive that Bambi would’ve aced this portion of the process with flying colors.

There could’ve been a few more factors involved, but I think these are the two most likely to have impacted the Hiring Manager’s decision.

The result? The Hiring Manager not only hired a candidate for the wrong reasons, but they overlooked several Peak Performers (better candidates for the job) who were right in front of them!

Next year, when this Hiring Manager is tasked with the same assignment he/she would be wise to simply ask 3 very important questions…

1. Can the candidate do the job? In this case, the candidate should be able to scare people on a consistent basis from the opening scene straight through to the closing credits (regardless of the viewer’s age; regardless of the time of year). Is the Monster motivated to scare people?

2. Will the candidate do the job? In this case, a clear understanding of the candidate’s motivating factors, personality/behavioral profile and on-the-job characterisitics/traits is essential to being able to answer this question.  Does the Monster enjoy their job and enjoy creating mass horror on a regular basis?

3. How will the candidate do the job? In this case, how has the Monster handled a similar assignment in the past? Have they proven that they can do what will be asked of them and do it at a high and consistent level?

Sadly, our friend Bambi falls short in all 3 areas.

Bambi may be able to scare some people, but not everyone. He’s a cute cartoon character, not a realistic looking villain bent on fear and destruction so I would have to question his makeup and whether or not he “has it in him” to even scare people at all let alone on a regular basis. 

Plus, as far as past performance is concerned, Bambi wasn’t the one who actually created the horror, but instead was only a part of the process. You could say that Bambi has shown that he is capable of doing this job to an extent, but only if part of a larger team/group.

The moral of the story?

Any hiring decision you make is a critical one. Making the wrong decision when you have all the proof you need to make the right one is pure foolishness.

Don’t choose to ingore the truth. Don’t hire Bambi when you need a Monster or else you run the risk of setting your company back even further.

Now that’s scary!

Tuesday, October 30th, 2007 at 1:07pm by JRed

I had an off-site interview this morning at a local Tim Horton’s. For those of you outside of the Northeast and Canada (especially you coffee connoisseurs) these places are Heavenly! And there’s one on almost every street corner!

As I sipped my Double-Double and watched the minutes tick by, it became quite evident that my candidate was either (a) running late or (b) on time, but at a different location.

Although it was disappointing that we couldn’t meet as planned I’d hardly call my time at Timmy-Ho’s a complete waste.

A few observations and musings…

The young workers (college age) behind the counter at the registers can’t stand it when a supervisor tries to teach them the right way to do things. Whatever happened to respect in the workplace? Constructive criticism? Learning on the job? These young employees make it an almost impossible task! Even when the boss approached the employee in a respectful and friendly manner you’d think the cashier was being reprimanded by one of her parents as evidenced by the eye rolling, shaking of her head, heavy sighing and, of course, the back-talking. Proof positive that the generational gap is alive and well as reported and that it is truly affecting the workplace. In closing, there was no “sorry about that” or “thanks for your help” coming from the lips of this disgruntled employee to her boss.

I love that adults who enter the store and get in line 5 minutes AFTER you’ve been standing there still think they have the right to try and cut and move ahead of you. Even better is when the “next person in line please” is called and you step forward because it’s your turn this “adult” gives you the evil eye. Happy Halloween!

I am 1 of 18 total customers sitting in the store at 12:15pm. I am 1 of the 10 men on hand. Of this group, there are 3 couples, 1 threesome and the rest of us are single (although none of them look ready to mingle). I’m also definitely the youngest since everyone else looks to be 70 or older (the next youngest person looks to be about 50). Will this be me in 30-40 years? If so, I hope my wife’s there with me. Knowing me, I’ll probably continue working somehow, someway earning money ”under-the-table” even after I retire because the thought of simply trying to pass the time each day like this is foreign to me. I’m a man of activity! Follow-up with me in a few decades to see if this holds true.

The fact that my candidate and I have missed each other today also makes two things clear: (1) ALWAYS confirm the meeting that morning even if you’re in a hurry and even if you’re confident that you’re both on the same page and (2) a cell phone sure would be helpful right about now! Yeah, that’s right, yours truly DOES NOT have a cell phone (for business or personal use). Sort of the result of a promise I made to myself and my family a few years back. I’ve been successful to this point without one, but every now and then (in times like this) I wish I had one in my pocket. Maybe Santa can help me out with that this year. We’ll see!

Friday, October 26th, 2007 at 3:31pm by JRed

The book opens with several endorsements from some impressive and well-known CEO’s who have worked with the author over the years.

You gotta love any book that begins by saying:

“Some people actually go through life with this unerring sense of direction. What all of these role models have in common is an exquisite sense of who they are, which translates into perfect pitch about how they come across to others. A few people never seem to need any help in getting to where they want to go. They have a built-in GPS mechanism. These people do not need my help.”

I came away from the first chapter intrigued.

I learned that there’s definitely the potential for trouble with success. With success you run the risk of allowing your previous successes to prevent you from achieving even more success.

Consequently, according to this author there are 20 distinct workplace habits that Peak Performers need to break.

You don’t have to be a CEO to benefit from this book. Simply look at your own “personal map” and trace the distance between your vision of “here and there.”

“You are here. You can get there. But you have to understand that what got you here won’t get you there. Let the journey begin.”

An inspiring first chapter to say the least!

Friday, October 26th, 2007 at 11:51am by JRed

Found another great Sales website today. Very informative and it offers a wealth of information.

• Sales Resources 

Set aside some quality time when you decide to visit because you’ll be there awhile!

Thursday, October 25th, 2007 at 10:58am by JRed

When I was in Elementary School there was a program called R.I.F. or “Reading is Fundamental” and it was the greatest!

Once a month, classes would take turns walking down to the school’s cafeteria during the course of a single day only to find each and every table in the cafeteria covered with new books.

Even better was the fact that each student was allowed to pick one book to keep - - for FREE! - - in an effort to encourage reading on a regular basis.

Looking back, perhaps that’s what sparked my interest in reading and writing and why I pursued English studies in college.

Regardless, my passion for reading remains as strong as ever and I’ll usually be in the middle of reading several books (on many different topics!) at the same time.

One of the easiest ways for you to grow professionally on your path to becoming a Peak Performer is to read anything you can get your hands on especially trade publications, industry newsletters, and even self-help books.

Three books I’m currently reading include Lou Adler’s Hire With Your Head: Using Performance-Based Hiring to Build Great Teams, and Werth And Ruben’s High Probability Selling, and Michael Foster’s Recruiting on the Web.

Yet, the one book that has really caught my interest of late is Marshall Goldsmith’s What Got You Here Won’t Get You There: How Successful People Become Even More Successful mainly because it was sent to me as a gift by an anonymous individual.

I love surprises and unexpected gifts!

I plan to share some of the valuable insights from each work with you here at least once a week although I highly recommend you pick up one of these books for yourself at your local library or even purchase one.

From what I’ve read of each so far they it would definitely be a worthwhile investment for those in Recruiting and/or Sales.

In an age where a wealth of information is at our fingertips and literally available to us through a simple keystroke and push of a button, we owe it to ourselves and to our business partners to be well-informed.

Besides, being a Peak Performer means that you need to be viewed as a true expert in your field and the only way to become an expert is to obtain expert knowledge.

Start simple.

Perhaps sign-up for the monthly newsletter from that website you visit regularly. Whatever you decide to do the point is to make the effort and to be consistent and follow-through.

I’ve never heard anyone say that too much knowledge was a bad thing for them or that it negatively affected their performance at work.

Quite the contrary!

It’s like my good old grandpa always says, “Use your noodle! If you don’t use it, you’re gonna lose it!”

Wednesday, October 24th, 2007 at 10:31am by JRed

Here’s a story from Michigan Lawyers Weekly about an age-discrimination case. 

The evidence supports the plaintiff’s claim that his direct supervisor (who referred to himself as “the Terminator”) taunted him as “the old man on the sales force,” removed him from a profitable account because he was “too old” and told another employee that he needed “to set up a younger sales force” before he could discharge the plaintiff.

The facts of the case demonstrate that the direct supervisor repeatedly mocked his employee’s age, removed his employee from a lucrative account because of his age, and told other employees he wanted younger Sales Reps. He also threatened to fire salespeople (after all, he is “the Terminator”), he participated in personnel decisions, and he repeatedly stated that he had fired people himself.

The case is moving to trial to determine one key element derived from these facts.

The organization asserts that the Terminator’s statements are not relevant because “he was not a decision maker” regarding the Old Man’s employment.

Unfortunately for them, the Terminator was the Old Man’s direct supervisor, he notified the Old Man that he would be discharged, and he personally signed the Old Man’s termination letter presenting himself as the sole decision maker in all of this.

Unfortunately, I fear that this story is an all too common occurrence in corporate America these days. No, not the aspect of age-discrimination (although that’s certainly a growing problem), but granting Sales Managers the power to make hiring and firing decisions at will.

I don’t want to issue a blanket statement and paint all Sales Managers with the same brush, but I have to say that a majority of the challenges we face each year stem from having to work with Sales Managers who have a secondary responsibility to recruit a sales force.

Often times they are left alone without any involvement from an HR professional. As you can see by this story, that’s a risky approach.

I’m not saying that a Sales Manager shouldn’t have a say in who gets hired and who needs to be let go, but in this day and age there’s no excuse for not having a legal process in place to deal with this issues.

Let’s face it, a Sales Manager’s primary function is to lead a Sales Department towards the goal of making the company more profitable. If you ask your Sales Managers to handle the entire recruiting function from the start to the Start Date without any help and/or guidance you’re asking for trouble.

When it comes to the Sales Managers we work with, we do everything we can to make the recruiting portion of their job as effortless as possible. Once we get them to the point where they trust us as experts in our field and trust that we’ll do the job they’ve asked us to do it becomes smoother sailing from there.

Still, if organizations want their Sales Managers to retain the right to hire and fire sales professionals at will then they need to properly train their Managers in this area of expertise.

Show them how to assess a candidate, teach them how to interview, and most of all tell them what they can and can’t say.

If that seems like a daunting task you could always partner with a first-class recruiting firm such as Paramount Recruiting Partners, LLC and we’ll do the heavy lifting for you.

Tuesday, October 23rd, 2007 at 2:26pm by JRed

There’s a reason why I absolutely love reading the posts on The Hire Sense blog from the good people at Select Metrix.

Their posts are always smart, informative and straight to the point. Today was no exception.

A pet peeve of mine is the varying levels of power that the traditional Resume carries from one company’s Recruiting Department to another.

When it comes to Sales recruiting, I share in their frustration with the propensity many organizations still have in using the Resume to filter candidates.

Subsequently, they offer ONLY three items of interest in the event that an organization insists on continuing down this road - - Performance, Progression, and Punctuation. It’s worth checking out the link for a brief description of these items.

Quite frankly, these are the only items I would ever suggest that an employer uses to filter Resumes so I think they were dead on in their assessment of this unfortunate trend.

The only thing worse is when companies continue to use this approach even after entering a formal partnership with a professional recruiting firm such as ours.

Businesses need to trust that their recruiting partner is an expert in their field and they need to trust that we are going to do they job they were asked to do.

Let’s face it, we don’t get paid unless one of our candidates gets hired so you can rest assured we’re going to do things properly to ensure a quick and easy hiring decision.

One thing that separates Paramount Recruiting Partners, LLC from the rest is the fact that we are very detailed in our approach and we perform an in-depth and thorough screening before assessing the candidacy of Sales professionals.

Employers can take comfort knowing that we’re not going to simply send you a Resume and hope that it sticks because we don’t filter Sales candidates solely by their Resumes.

Instead, we will provide you with specific information in the form of a Profile and Pre-Screening Questionnaire (in addition to their Resume) to clearly demonstrate to you why we know that the candidate is a strong fit for your position.

In conclusion, Derrick Moe eloquently offers this suggestion:

“For Sales, it is far more valuable to interact with the candidate via phone and email. These are the mediums in which they work so our focus is on them there. When hiring Salespeople, I would recommend you put your focus there as opposed to drawing too many conclusions from a Resume.”

Amen!

Tuesday, October 23rd, 2007 at 1:54pm by JRed

We all know that learning how to write strong Job Descriptions/Job Ads is one key to attracting Peak Performers.

Developing this skill takes time.

Obviously, your description/advertisement should be built with your core recruiting philosophy in mind.

For instance, if you know that your company/client will offer a compensation package that is much more attractive than the industry standard you might think that leading with that information is the key to success.

Alternately, if you know that your organization/client offers a salary that is significantly less than the current market you’ll probably decide to lead by describing the opportunity and challenges.

One area that is often overlooked is the Position Title. Don’t underestimate the impact that the right Job Title can have in attracting Peak Performers.

Paramount Recruiting Partners, LLC works on everything from Entry Level to VP of Sales positions. You’d be amazed at how often our call back rate increases with the SAME candidates when we present an opportunity with a “more-important-sounding” Title.

There’s absolutely no deception involved in this approach. Our job is to accurately present the true nature and scope of the opportunity that’s available so that a professional can make an informed decision.

Besides, most of the time we simply realize that our client has created a Title that misrepresents the strategic position they need to fill and we feel it’s our job as the experts in this field to make the necessary changes in order to find the best-of-the-best. 

You should always try to come up with 2-3 alternate Titles for the position you’re working on. Not only will this help you focus your sourcing and networking efforts, but it will also serve as a magnet to other peak Performers who might have otherwise missed your ad because they were searching for jobs using completelty different keywords than the ones that were originally provided.

Be careful not to go overboard with this though. That is to say that you never want to misrepresent your client and their opportunity to a potential candidate. Plus, candidates can see right through this.

If a position is originally labeled as being one for an “Account Executive” you might also consider using ”Sales Representative” or even “Outside Sales Rep” for the Title, but you wouldn’t think of calling it a “District Sales Manager” or “VP of Sales” type of position.

MOUNTAIN TOP TIP #9: WHAT’S IN A NAME? EVERYTHING! SOMETIMES FINDING THE RIGHT JOB TITLE IS THE KEY TO FINDING THE RIGHT PEAK PERFORMER.

Monday, October 22nd, 2007 at 10:28am by JRed

If you’re a Recruiter just starting out the best advice I can give you is to develop a system that allows you to track your performance.

In this business it’s all about being as efficient as possible and finding the best-of-the-best as soon as possible and long before your competition.

One surefire way to improve your success rate is to track and accurately assess your performance on a regular basis.

These performance markers are called metrics and you can pretty much design things to measure just about anything.

One word of caution, however, is to make sure you don’t go overboard.

For Recruiters (especially us Peak Performers) it’s easy to get caught up in measuring anything and everything. Why? Because we enjoy validating our work and our efforts in an industry that is often in short supply of giving out respect and praise even when it’s warranted (from our business partners).

So, what should you do to make sure you’re not spending more time on administrative tasks like recording recruiting metrics instead of actually recruiting?

Personally, I suggest you start simple by tracking the following 3 areas…

• Prospecting / New Partnerships: You can’t make placements unless you have REQs to work on. Generating a steady flow of new business in the form of new partnerships with various employers is critical to you long-term success. Be sure to track not only the number of phone calls and emails you make to prospective clients, but also the sources where you found those leads.
• Sourcing Candidates: What if you could begin in search confidently because you knew EXACTLY where the candidate who will be hired is going to come from? It’s not as far-fetched as you might think. If you track where you’re consistently finding top talent and also keep note of who gets interviewed and who ultimately gets hired a clear picture will begin to emerge. Over time, you’ll know where to invest your time, energy and money to place ads and/or network with candidates.
• Call Backs: You can’t make placements unless you have candidates. Most Recruiters will settle for a 20%-30% call back rate, but Peak Performers should strive for 75% or better. Try different techniques and track what works and what doesn’t. If you’re having trouble in this area start here. 

Of course, there are MANY different metrics that a Recruiter can track in an effort to improve their overall performance and success rate. The above is simply a suggested starting point.

A popular article from 2003 by Kevin Wheeler lists some of the top strategic recruiting metrics and discusses them in greater detail if you’re interested in learning more.

The point to all of this is simple.

Peak Performers earn their status because they are CONSTANTLY looking for areas where they can improve. Self-assessment is a crucial and necessary component to success.

Whatever metrics you choose to track the beauty is that you will develop a system that is uniquely your own.

Over time, you’ll begin to clearly see what works and what doesn’t.

If it’s not broke, don’t fix it. If it is broke, get yourself to triage immediatley!

Friday, October 19th, 2007 at 11:35am by JRed

I guess even Telemarketers prepare before a cold call.

Gone are the days of simply sitting down at your desk, putting on your headset, and calling from a list of numbers in front of you.

Case in point, earlier in the week I received a call and voicemail from a “Shelly” who claimed she was calling to discuss a new online recruiting tool. I was too busy to call her back that same day, but I made a note to make a follow-up call even though I knew that we probably wouldn’t be interested. This morning was my attempt at following up with her.

Imagine my surprise when I dialed the number (her extension in hand) and after one ring was greeted with a 10 second advertisement for a 1-800 number (an adult chat line) instead! I even hung up and dialed the number again just to be sure I had it right.

Telemarketers going to these extremes is definitely new to me. I mean, this person who called me on Monday and left a message sounded professional and knowledgeable. Well, it worked because it got me to call their number - - twice - - so mission accomplished for her I guess!

Minor annoyance and aggravation aside, there is something we can learn from this.

Preparation is key.

In today’s virtual world, there’s no reason why you can’t spend a few minutes online to get all the info you could ever need to make a formal, knowledgeable, professional cold call to a prospect. If by some chance you have to leave a voicemail like this young lady you’ll still be in a position to leave enough info to generate curiosity.

This particular Telemarketer did a great job in that sense! She had our company name, number and enough info at her fingertips to be able to read it back to me to make it sound like she was who she said she was

Adding that she simply wanted to speak to me to verify this information (she also wanted to know if we were an executive search firm or a staffing firm) and to tell me more about their product/service was also a nice touch.

Thinking back I probably should’ve been a little skeptical because she never gave the name of the company she worked for - - a red flag for sure.

In case you’re wondering if I simply wrote down the wrong phone number from the message she left the answer is no. I actually saved the voicemail and just checked it for verification.  

So, thank you Mrs. Telemarketer. For once, I’m not completely annoyed by your tactics to get me to do what you wanted me to.

Truth be told, I kinda respect it this time around.