Hiring Lessons

It's always a pleasure to hear from clients who have landed! In conversation today with a client who has changed his job-seeker hat for a hiring-executive hat, some interesting things came up:

• Behavior-based interviewing is the best way to really learn what a candidate has done. I taught this method to my client as part of his interview training, and now he says, "If they don't come up with Situation-Action-Result stories within 15 minutes of an interview, they're toast."

• Fit is crucial! This same client now uses Caliper testing for ALL employees at his new company, when he saw how effectively it matched his style with the organization and the team.

• It's best to be forthright with recruiters. Rather than trying to dance around the subject, when he received a competing offer he shared it with the recruiter who was trying to place him. The recruiter had to admit that the second offer was much better! And there were no hard feelings - the relationship remains intact.

• The first few weeks are crucial. "You've got to get out there - get your resume done, hone your messages, make connections, contact recruiters," says my client, now the CEO of a multi-division manufacturing company. His search took about six months in all, three months from first contact to start date.

I like to think that hiring is getting better, one executive at a time, as job seekers apply their personal transition lessons at their new companies.

Posted by Louise Kursmark