HireBetter Blog

Case Study: Living Direct Finds a Leader

April 26th, 2012 | by | case studies, employee relations, hirebetter, human resources, interviewing, management, topgrading

Apr
26

Client: Living Direct

Role: VP of eCommerce and Marketing

Location: Austin, Texas

 

 

 

Sometimes a client approaches HireBetter with a pretty good idea of what they think they need in a new hire and they’re right.  Other times, we get a chance to shine when we help a client realize that a truly great hire can mean so much more for a company than they originally thought.  When Rick Lundbom came to HireBetter, he thought that he just wanted someone to manage his eCommerce and Marketing division.  Little did he know that we would deliver his right hand man who would quickly propel his business to new heights!

 

Intake:

Rick initially was really set on hiring a serious, but simple marketing person.  He wanted someone who had a very strong grasp of traditional e-commerce marketing principals AND was comfortable with big web data.  Furthermore, he wanted someone who was competitive and would thrive while working with his very young team (in his mid-30s, Lundbom is the resident “old guy” in the office).

He had a very specific model of an ideal candidate (even one “perfect” candidate in town who he said we would not be able to get) and a few specific types of candidates that he wanted to target.  He asked us to recruit those candidates first, but still use our expertise to find the right person for the role, whoever that was.

After we did a full intake evaluation, however, we realized that what the client really needed was a leader, someone with the leadership acumen AND technical skills to mentor and inspire his very young team.

 

Strategy and process:

As the client requested, we were sure to recruit the specific candidates that he wanted.  So we did.  And after we finished recruiting, we had three very strong candidates who met Rick’s criteria lined up and wanting the job:

 

  • A candidate with both Internet and retailing experience?  Got it.
  • One with e-commerce experience at a top 200 e-tailer?  Done.
  • Someone like his ideal local guy?  We actually got the “perfect” one who he thought would be unattainable.

 

…But we also found someone better.  From the first time we met him, we had a feeling that Dave was the guy.  Dave didn’t really fit the mold of what Rick said he wanted; he started off in tech and had only later gained an affinity for marketing.  We convinced the client to at least give him a call, and though he remained interested in his other candidates, we could tell that he knew that we might be onto something.

Then came the Topgrading® interview…

After putting the candidates through the VERY thorough Topgrading® interview process, it became abundantly clear who was the right one for the job.  After four hours with Dave, Rick was totally sold.  Though he didn’t look like the candidate the Rick initially had in mind, he knew that Dave was an A-player.

 

Results:

He was right.  Not only has Dave been able to lead the eCommerce and Marketing division at Living Direct, he has become Rick’s right hand man.  “He’s earned my trust,” Rick said.  And more than that, his presence has allowed him to work on growing the company.

“We are up 30% year over year and Dave is a big part of that…but he’s also freed up my time to work ON my business instead of IN my business.”

Dave has been fitting in very well at Living Direct, and even allowed Lundbom to get some much needed R&R: “I was able to take a two-week vacation for the first time in a LONG time.”

There’s nothing better for us than to see our clients so surprised when they see how much great talent can help their business.  Rick Lundbom came to us looking for a simple marketing guru.  What he got was a leader for his company, trust in his new partner, and the time to live his life again.  We’re glad to have gotten to help.

 

Want to see how HireBetter can go above and beyond for you and your company?  Take a look at how we’ve helped other clients, and then drop us a line.  We’d love to show you how HireBetter can help take your talent to new heights.

No Comments »

Charisma in the Workplace

April 10th, 2012 | by | employee relations, hirebetter, interviewing, talent

Apr
10

The Greeks thought that charisma, or “the gift of grace,” was a divine gift.  And when used in business, charisma can certainly help you advance your career.  Think of someone you classify as a “charismatic person” – they’re typically outgoing, personable, and they never meet a stranger.  Everyone wants to be a part of their circle.

So why is charisma so important in business? Olivia Fox Cabane, author of The Charisma Myth, says it is charisma that “makes people want to trust you and follow you…Employees of charismatic leaders experience greater work satisfaction, greater personal commitment, and exhibit higher productivity.”

Not just for bosses

But Cabane points out that charisma is not only important for leadership roles.  All employees can benefit from a healthy dose of charisma. It can often be the deciding factor in determining which ideas are heard in the workplace. Or it can help you when dealing with a particularly difficult co-worker. And everyone can agree that having charisma is beneficial when applying for a new job.  Cabane goes as far as to say that charismatic people are even “viewed as more attractive by their superiors.”

 

Charisma can be learned

So what’s a person to do who doesn’t have that charisma? Do you just hang up your hat and call it a day? Well, thankfully, for those of us with more introverted personalities, you’ll be glad to know that scientists have discovered that charisma is actually an acquired social skill; one that can be learned. Cabane points to Steve Jobs as a prime example. She suggests that with practice, anyone can learn to get into the right mindset and project the body language of a charismatic person.

Here at HireBetter, we frequently get feedback from Hiring Manager that charisma and personality, as well as skill set, played a role in your final hiring decisions.  That is why finding the best qualified candidate is just the first step for us. Using our process of behavioral interviewing, HireBetter is able to present you with candidates who are not just “qualified” for the job. We strive to present you with candidates who also have that “WOW” factor.  And that often comes from having an extra dose of charisma.

No Comments »

What is Topgrading®?

March 5th, 2012 | by | hirebetter, hiring, human resources, interviewing, topgrading

Mar
05

In our previous post, we talked about behavioral interviewing and how it is a superior way to predict how your job candidates will actually perform inside of your company than traditional interviewing.  This week, we’re going to introduce you to a specific type of interviewing that we use here at HireBetter: Topgrading®.

Topgrading® basics 

Topgrading® was created by Brad Smart back in the 1970s while he was working on his Ph.D. studies.  He decided that many companies’ inability to consistently hire top performers was unacceptable, so he began to develop what would become the Topgrading® methodology.

Topgrading® is a method for hiring and promoting top performers.  It is an objective, thorough, and tested way to determine which candidates are most likely to become A Players.  At the center of the methodology is the Topgrading® interview.

 

A Topgrading® interview

A Topgrading® interview will probably look different from most other interviews you’ve seen before.  It is intense.  Very intense.  Lasting four hours and relying only on facts about your interviewee’s past behaviors, this interview cuts through to the core of your candidate.  Candidates can’t really prepare for a Topgrading® interview, because it is specifically designed to strip them down and make it impossible for them to fabricate a false image of themselves.  It helps you collect facts and use those to make your decision.

These interviews are Comprehensive, In-depth, and Structured.  By following this structure closely, we objectively create a picture of each candidate’s personality, motivations, and probability of success.

 

Why we Topgrade

HireBetter uses Topgrading® because it works.  Its history of success goes back decades.   While working with Jack Welch at GE, Brad Smart helped them hire and promote employees who ended up being high performers ninety percent of the time!  We have been using Topgrading® with our clients for years, and we can deliver this same kind of success to your company.  Contact HireBetter to learn more.

No Comments »

Behavioral Interviewing vs. Traditional Interviewing

February 13th, 2012 | by | hirebetter, hiring, interviewing, talent, topgrading

Feb
13

When you interview job candidates, how often do you trust them to truly tell you about themselves?  Do you really expect them to tell you their actual strengths and weaknesses, or do you often foresee a canned, well-rehearsed speech?  (“My greatest weakness is that I work too hard?”)

Behavioral interviews make it much harder for candidates to put their spin on their responses because they employ a totally different mindset from traditional interviews.  Behavioral interview questions demand facts rather than opinions.  And this allows you, as the hirer, to make your own opinions of your candidate’s work, which is where the power should be.

Traditional interviews are easy to distort

A traditional interview might involve a query such as: “How do you deal with conflicts in the workplace?”  It’s designed to answer a very reasonable concern that any interviewer might have, but that question doesn’t solicit as valuable of a response as a behavioral one because it relies on an implied hypothetical situation.

The interviewee has the opportunity to answer a question like that from the perspective of their ideal self.  They can (without lying) say how they think that they would handle such a situation in the future.  Or they might respond with how they generally think they’ve dealt with such a situation in the past.  But the very fact that they’re sitting in a job interview will prime them for giving an answer that is based on what they think they are capable of, rather than what experience has shown to be true.

 

Behavioral interviews let you be the judge

Think about the response that you would get from that candidate if you asked the same basic question in a different way.  If you said, “Give an example of a time in the past that you had a conflict with a coworker.  What, specifically, did you do to settle the conflict, and what was the result?”  Won’t this give you an entirely different answer from the one we mentioned before?

Your interviewee is forced to deal in reality from the get-go.  By making your questions fact-based, you now have to opportunity to learn about a real person, not a hypothetical one.  What they actually do in a given situation is far more valuable to learn in an interview than what they think they can or should do.

 

“Who are you?” vs. “Who do you think you can be?”

Behavioral interviewing gives you, the employer, a chance to paint a picture of your candidate, and then you get to make your own assessment of how attractive they are.  It’s your job to determine what their strengths and weaknesses are, based on what their past experiences tell you.

At HireBetter, we rely on behavioral interviews because our experience has shown us that they provide a superior snapshot of a candidate.  In our post next week, we’ll explain the specific behavioral interviewing methodology that we use: Topgrading®.

No Comments »

How to Hire the Right Size Candidate

January 11th, 2012 | by | hiring, human resources, management, recruiting, talent, videos

Jan
11

In the clip above, HireBetter’s founder, Jonathan Davis, explains how difficult it is for a candidate with a small-business background to “make the jump” to a large company, and vice versa.

The skills and attitudes which may have led to success in one kind of company may set someone up to fail in another.  Even though it may seem like a good idea hire someone from a big company for a small company (or the other way around) some time, it’s a very risky move.  Here’s what our statistics show:

 

  • Hires moving from big companies to small companies fail two thirds of the time.
  • Hires moving from small companies to big companies fail four out of five times!

 

That’s more of a risk than you want to take, especially considering how expensive bad hires are.  Bear this in mind when you’re looking to make your next hire.

For more insights that we’ve learned from years of hiring experience, keep reading the HireBetter Blog and subscribe to our YouTube page.

No Comments »

Workforce Planning: Forging a Path or Flying Blind?

January 4th, 2012 | by | hirebetter, human resources, management, talent, technology

Jan
04

Have you noticed that you seem to get much more done when you actually write out what you plan to do?  Whether you’re shopping for groceries, packing for a trip, or doing your job, a written plan helps you visualize what needs to be done.

Have you applied that same principal to planning your workforce?  Purposeful workforce planning provides an assessment and a decisive action plan.  And considering how the right team is the most critical attribute of a successful company, don’t you think you should do it right?

 

A HireBetter shortcut

We can help, and we’ve developed a simple tool to assist you.  This download will make it easier for you to visualize your goals and plan the steps you need to take to achieve them.

Our complimentary Workforce Planning Tool will help you:

  • Keep track of high performers inside of your company
  • Make note of who needs additional coaching
  • Be sure that your Team lives up to your Core Values
  • Pinpoint who you need to hire each quarter
  • And much more!

Click here to download your very own Workforce Planning Tool, compliments of HireBetter.

 

Planning is the first step, but not the last 

Our tool will help you get started, but it takes a real expert to truly know what (and who) you need.  If you really want to make a meaningful plan and start building a team that will lead your company to future success, contact HireBetter.

Image used under Creative Commons from adesigna.

No Comments »

Two Ways to Avoid Bottlenecks in the Hiring Process

December 15th, 2011 | by | guest post, hiring, networking, recruiting, technology

Dec
15

From time to time, HireBetter’s blog will feature guest posts from writers with a unique insight into a particular talent issue.  Today’s post comes from Kyle Lagunas of Software Advice:

A business is a well-oiled machine, relying on the seamless execution of a number of processes to drive it forward. Disruptions and delays (bottlenecks) will occur unless you keep these processes in ship shape. In the hiring process, bottlenecks are more than just an inconvenience. They can damage company culture and tarnish your brand – making it more difficult to attract and hire top talent. Smoothing out bumps in the road before they turn into more serious issues is essential to the ongoing success of your recruiting and hiring efforts.

Kyle LagunasThat said, here are a couple leading causes of bottlenecks in the hiring process – and ways to avoid each one:

 

 

Sequential hiring style

You post the same ad you used last time, find three candidates to interview, and hope one of them has what you’re looking for. If not, you go back to square one–you post the ad, find three candidates, and the cycle repeats. But relying on the same old iterated process to meet myriad staffing needs is more than shortsighted, it’s inefficient.

The greatest value lies in having a working process. By designing a hiring process that works in tandem with talent management and supports your business strategy, your recruiting efforts will be much easier to manage. You don’t have to read every book ever written on hiring strategies, but you do need a uniform process that meets your organization’s culture, values and needs.

 

Living in the Dark Ages

Without the proper technology, the sheer volume of applications a single online job posting attracts can be nearly impossible to manage. As such, many organizations experience delays at the onset recruiting–which is frustrating for candidates and hiring managers alike. Accepting resumes and screening for experience and qualifications are a part of the process, but applicants perceive that nothing is happening until an interview takes place.

Online application and screening tools help companies maintain momentum by reducing time spent in this initial stage. If you don’t have an applicant tracking system, you need to get one. The first step toward minimizing bottlenecks in hiring is automating the most menial aspects of hiring so you can focus on engagement.

 

Best Practices are the Cure for Hiccups

Strategic staffing requires the cooperation and shared effort of multiple parties, and as with any business process, hiccups and delays in hiring will happen. With a sound process in place that keeps stakeholders informed and engaged, however, bottlenecks will be fewer and further between. By incorporating the best practices that make the most sense to your organization–and by leveraging solid technology–you’ll be better prepared to deal with any other flaws that emerge.

 

About the Author: Kyle Lagunas is the HR Analyst at Software Advice – a company that reviews human resources systems. For further reading on ways to avoid bottlenecks in the hiring process, this article can be found on Kyle’s HR blog in full: http://blog.softwareadvice.com/articles/hr/four-ways-to-avoid-bottlenecks-in-the-hiring-process-1120911/

No Comments »

The Three Reasons a Hire Doesn’t Work Out

November 30th, 2011 | by | hiring, human resources, job descriptions, recruiting, retention, talent

Nov
30

In this video, HireBetter’s founder, Jonathan Davis, explains why so many hires don’t work out.  He boiled it all down to three simple reasons:

 

Reason 1:  You failed to clearly articulate what you need someone to do

Reason 2:  You failed to tell that new person what you needed them to do

Reason 3:  They failed to agree that that’s what they need to do

 

If you want to start making better hiring decisions, you’ll have to avoid these three pitfalls.  And even though there are three reasons, remember, if you don’t get the first one right, the whole process falls apart.  So make sure you always properly define the role.

For more, take a look at HireBetter’s YouTube Channel, and stay tuned to the HireBetter Blog for more information on how to attract, recruit, manage, and retain top talent. 

No Comments »

It’s Your Responsibility: Using CSR to Recruit, Engage, and Retain Top Talent

November 9th, 2011 | by | employee relations, hiring, human resources, management, recruiting, retention, talent

Nov
09

Last week, we posted the first half of our interview with Aman Singh.  In it, she explained how employees in today’s workplace demand that their employers be good corporate citizens.  Furthermore, she showed how companies that embrace Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR) and sustainability are more attractive to job-seekers.

In the second part of our interview, she explains how CSR helps companies attract young employees, improve employee retention, and engage their workforces.  She also warns us about some of the pitfalls that firms may encounter when implementing new socially responsible and sustainable policies.

Follow the jump for our conversation:

Read full story

No Comments »

What Goes Around, Comes Around: How Corporate Social Responsibility Helps Your Recruiting

November 2nd, 2011 | by | employee relations, health, human resources, management, recruiting, retention

Nov
02

Corporate social responsibility (CSR) isn’t on the front of most hiring manager’s minds, but it should be.  Today’s best workers care about the impact that their companies have on the world around them.  A-players love helping companies that do good, do well.

Companies that care about sustainability and CSR benefit in many ways, but some of the biggest gains lie in employee engagement, recruitment, and retention.

 

In Good Company: Aman Singh

I was fortunate enough to get to ask Aman Singh some questions about the subject last week. While working with The Wall Street Journal, Vault.com, Forbes, and many others, she’s studied how corporate social responsibility and sustainability help the companies that embrace it.  Now she runs Singh Solutions, her own CSR consultancy, and maintains the In Good Company blog.

Her insights make quite a compelling case for CSR from a talent perspective.  Anyone who wants a strong, well engaged workforce should take note.  Have a look at our conversation after the jump:

Read full story

2 Comments »

Older Posts