work for any position for which you ’ re hiring and can be asked in 30 – 45 minutes over the phone or in a short meeting .
Once you ’ re down to the top three candidates , it ’ s time for the Chronological In-Depth Structured ( CIDS ) interview — a thorough 3 – 4-hour interview covering a candidate ’ s entire career history , with the objective of discovering behavioral and performance patterns that are likely to repeat themselves at your workplace . When hiring , bear in mind that past performance is the best indicator of future performance .
The length of this interview offers several benefits :
1 . A Players like a vigorous process and are leery of companies that make it too easy .
2 . “ Professional ” interviewees can ’ t keep up
the façade for hours .
3 . Meanwhile , those who are not initially comfortable will have time to relax and open up .
4 . Besides , what ’ s 3 – 4 hours now vs . thousands
of hours of headaches if you hire the wrong person ?
At MOM ’ s , Nash leads the 3 – 4-hour Topgrading interviews with candidates for major positions , like successful CFO candidate Kelly Moler , while MOM ’ s managers do abbreviated interviews with other employees . “ It ’ s the most effective method I ’ ve come across ,” says Nash . The company goes through each candidate ’ s entire work history , as recommended , and ask questions about whom they reported to at each job , including the spelling of that boss ’ s name , to show that the company is serious about checking references . A typical follow-on question is , “ What will so-and-so say about you ?” “ It ’ s a real truth serum ,” says Nash . ( This process is called TORC — Threat of Reference Check — in the Topgrading methodology . It works !) Interviewers will also ask candidates to discuss a time when they had to deal with a difficult boss or when someone said something painful to them . “ We ’ re looking for people who receive candor well ,” says Nash .
CHECK FOR CULTURE FIT
As emphasized earlier , MOM ’ s has customized the interview to its values . Nash believes that people who had to earn money for themselves as teenagers tend to be well-grounded , so the questions might include ,“ What did you spend money on as a teenager ? How did you get that money ?” ( Hint to future candidates : You will not impress the team at MOM ’ s by saying your parents gave you a $ 100-a-week allowance .) An interviewer might also ask questions like , “ Do you discuss religion and politics with people ? When was your last passionate debate ? Who was it with ? And what was it about ? How did it turn out ?” “ If the answer to the last question was , ‘ I ’ ll never respect that person again ,’ we know the person isn ’ t open to different ideas ,” says Nash .
TEST-DRIVE POTENTIAL EMPLOYEES
Though it ’ s not always possible , the best way to select the right people is to have candidates work with you for several weeks . For frontline hires , temp-to-perm placement firms are popular because they allow you to test-drive candidates . For management hires , see if they can work with you in the evenings on a consulting basis . The founders of Google appointed Eric Schmidt , chairman of the board of directors , for four months before making him CEO .
Zappos requires all new hires , no matter what the position ( executive , programmer , marketer ), go through a four-week training program that includes extensive time working in its call center serving customers . During this trial period , they offer these newbies a $ 3,000 bonus ( besides their salary for the month ) if they quit , guaranteeing that only those who really want to work at Zappos stay . Since acquiring Zappos , Amazon has adopted something similar for fulfillment-center workers called Pay to Quit . In an employee ’ s first year of work , the offer is $ 2,000 . It goes up by $ 1,000 every year after that until it hits $ 5,000 . The idea , writes Amazon CEO Jeff Bezos in his 2014 letter to shareholders , is “ to encourage folks to take a moment and think about what they really want . In the long run , an employee staying somewhere they don ’ t want to be isn ’ t healthy for the employee or the company .”
WILL , VALUES , RESULTS , SKILL
It ’ s important to hire the best A Player you can find for each position in your company based on four criteria and in this order :
• Will : a desire to excel , act with courage , persevere , learn , and innovate
• Values : the test for culture fit ; do they align with your core values ?
• Results : in the end , can they deliver on your KPIs / outcomes ?
• Skills : the least important since most skill sets need updating every five years Doing so builds an internal momentum and strength that pays dividends for years . You hire the right people and life is great ; you hire the wrong people and life is miserable . n
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