On Fridays, California Employer Daily will often be given over to an “E-pinion” column by Jennifer Carsen, Esq., ERI’s Managing Editor. If you’ve got an idea for a 500-700 word column on any topic of interest to
Today’s guest “E-pinion” columnist is Eric Herrenkohl, who says that managers would get better results with their recruiting efforts if they gathered data to support their instincts.
Herrenkohl is founder and president of Herrenkohl Consulting, a firm that helps small and mid-sized businesses build “A” player teams. Here are his tips on the importance of data-driven decisions:
1. Define Key Results for the Position
The first step to successful hiring is always clearly defining what you need. I recently spoke with the head of corporate recruiting for a major corporation. He teaches his recruiters that there is nothing more important than clearly and explicitly defining what you need a new hire to do and what accomplishments and experience best prepare someone to do the job.
While no one disagrees with this step, it is often ignored. A best practice is to have five to seven individuals who know the role and its requirements come together for a session where the key results for the position are agreed on. This approach defines the position and earns the buy-in of the individuals who participate.
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My firm takes this process one step further: We use an online job benchmarking tool to create a customized benchmark for the position—a 20-page report that captures the key skills, motivators, and talents for the position, and generates a set of interview questions applicable to the role.
We typically create five to seven key results that define the position. We then design an interview process that will determine if candidates have demonstrated the ability to achieve these results in previous jobs.
2. Try Tandem Interviewing
Having two people conduct each interview is another strategy that provides you with better data on the job candidate. One interviewer asks questions. The other one observes and listens to the candidate and asks follow up questions. After the interview, interviewers compare notes on the candidate’s “story.”
By combining an “A” player HR leader and a line executive or manager as an interview team, you get the benefit of both people’s expertise. Every time I conduct a tandem interview, I find the other person catches something that I missed, and vice versa.
3. Ask Follow-up Questions
Interviewing expert Kurt Einstein once said, “The first question you ask elicits the programmed answer. The follow-up question gets to the truth.” Simple follow-up questions such as “How did you make that happen?” or “Can you please tell me more?” are some of the most important questions you will ask in an interview.
Excellent candidates will provide you with specific, detailed descriptions of the steps they took with their team members to create results. Weak candidates will provide you with vague answers that lack detail.
4. Threat of Reference Check
The “threat of reference check” approach involves asking every candidate to provide you with the name of every direct supervisor during their career to date. The candidate will have an increased incentive to be honest with you, and you gain more reliable data upon which to make your hiring decision.
5. Always Conduct a Post-Game Analysis
Holding a discussion with other interviewers immediately after conducting interviews almost always bears fruit. Insist that all interviewers take detailed notes during the interview. Ideally, within 24 hours after an interview, everyone who interviewed a candidate should meet to discuss the individual’s strengths and weaknesses relative to the job being filled.
Make sure that all interviewers have an opportunity to share their impressions, particularly if there is a mix of senior and junior executives involved in the interview process. Often, the junior people have a better grasp of the technical aspects of a job. It is important that their impressions—good and bad—not be squelched by senior people expressing their views too soon.
If you follow the interview process described above, your gut feel and the facts should be fairly well aligned. Your gut feel will have become much more accurate as a result of creating a data-based interview process.