Questions that Uncover Talent

Research shows that more than 75% of executives today lack any formal interviewing training. The consequences of weak interview skills are lasting and sometimes unrecognizable until it’s too late. The wrong people get hired, or great talent is overlooked. Utilize these 15 questions to your company’s advantage and hire candidates who are truly right for the job.

Here are some great interviewing questions by my friend Russ Riendeau, Ph.D.
Traditional interview questions oriented around performance, duties and responsibility are important, but the answers often obscure a person's commitment or emotional intelligence required for the job. By asking new questions, you’ll be amazed at what you can find out. The findings can help you make better hiring decisions, lower turnover and significantly reduce hiring costs significantly.
Here are behavioral-based, legal, gender-friendly questions designed to flush out the deeper and more complex behaviors and thinking patterns of a candidate for hire.
1. What question do you have for me right away?
2. What would really surprise me about you? What else?
3. What’s your real motivation to change jobs? No, the real reason (test, re-test)
4. What’s your philosophy on goal setting?
5. What reading material would I find on your coffee table?
6. Tell me a story about when you found yourself in an ethical dilemma and what happened?
7. How did you earn money while in college?
8. How far away from home have you traveled? (Have a map on your desk)
9. Draw me a pie chart showing how you spend an eight-hour day.
10. Are you a curious person? If so, show me an example.
11. What’s your favorite success story? What’s your favorite failure story?
12. What should I have asked you that I haven’t?
13. Do you want to be a millionaire? Why? What are you doing to prepare for it?
14. Are you ready to resign from your job in 5 days? What will your employer do when you quit? What do you think they will say about you after you’ve left?
15. Have you ever created a 30, 60, 90-day strategic plan for your job or a future job? (Well, today’s their lucky day)

-Russ Riendeau , PhD has been in the executive search business since 1985.. He’s written five books in the last 12 years and does public speaking and workshops using live music. He is Senior Partner of The East Wing Search Group. He’s also the co-author of a new book, “The CEO’s Guide to Talent Acquisition.” He can be reached at www.eastwingsearchgroup.com, or 847-381-0977

Tech Attire in today's market

Working with a variety of technology professionals, most rise up from the ranks of engineering related jobs. Engineers are notoriously known for focusing on their designs, products and projects more so than their appearance. Hence the pocket protectors, white socks with black pants, tennis shoes with a suit, and bed-head. As an engineer rises in the ranks of their career, most acclimate a grasp of dressing well – realizing the need to interact with non-technical business professionals. Yet I’m always reminding people of the little fashion faux pas’s that they may overlook – making them appear less professional in a management meeting, client visit, trade event or in a job interview.
Harvey Mackay wrote a good article worth reading – even if you may not be interviewing, there are many gold nuggets of information for looking your best.


“No firm came to symbolize the opulence of the economic boom better than Google. With some "workplaces that feature pool tables and volleyball courts," this Internet giant has bent over backwards to woo top performers. Tough times are upon us all, including this mega-search engine. "Google has also begun chipping away at perks," the Wall Street Journal reported recently. "In recent months, it reduced the hours of its free cafeteria service and suspended the traditional afternoon tea in its New York office."
Just months ago, you could get your foot in the door of many an employment office sporting a tattered sneaker. Talent was king. According to the Department of Labor, more than 10 million people were unemployed in December. Of these, more than 1.2 million lost their jobs between September and November. Overnight, job hunting has become a buyer's market, and employers have turned downright picky about who will be offered a coveted spot on the payroll.
A crisp and businesslike appearance is back as an expectation on the part of many prospective employers. A recent New York Times article announced "The Return of the Interview Suit." It quotes Gloria Mirrione, a managing director of a financial services placement firm: "We are back to a time when every company expected both women and men to wear suits and we didn't have a Casual Friday. . . . They are looking for a sharper style. I recommend a strong suit that says you are collected and ready to work."
The article highlights some critical appearance details. For example, a solid black suit screams attention to dandruff flecks or gray hairs. White shirts should be "pristine" and preferably new. Ladies' tote bags need to provide a professional-looking home for one's BlackBerry. In other words, don't look like you're going camping.
The clothes you wear—and they don't need to be expensive—say a lot about your discipline, taste and social poise. That accepted, the most important thing you need to dress for an interview remains your mind.
Learn everything you can about the company and its immediate needs. Any company hiring in this economy is banking on their new employee making a key contribution immediately. Find out what that is.
Times author Eric Wilson suggests scouting a prospective employer's tastes and expectations before an interview. "The key is to research the corporate culture to learn what a potential boss might expect." I like that research to go well beyond appearance preferences. If your prospective boss is a golf nut or is crazy about symphony music, be prepared to say something sensible about these topics.
Sometimes standing out can win the day. One reader, who was no hockey wizard, got a job as a hockey announcer by suiting up as a goalie in everything from mask to skates.
Rob Donkers, a Canadian educator, recently emailed me that a young woman sewed up a job as a "software programming ninja" when she appeared for the interview in a Japanese warrior costume. For most jobs, though, the button-down look is the better bet.
When you enter an interviewer's office, zero in on memorabilia and personal touches:
• What books are prominently displayed on the shelves? Can you share a comment or two about an important lesson you learned from reading one of the authors?
• Autographed photos and civic or industry awards can be particular points of personal pride. If you can offer some authentic praise or admiration, consider making a passing comment.
• The individual's laptop, monitor or other office equipment can open up a conversational opportunity.
A job interview is fundamentally a sales encounter. People buy from people they like. And people hire people they like. It's that simple. People like people who are genuine, pleasant, sincere, easy to talk with and friendly.
Have a clever story, quote, or anecdote or two in mind that you can slip into the conversation. Something positive and memorable. Billionaire Oprah Winfrey, for example, uses an unforgettable trademark line: "I still have my feet on the ground, I just wear better shoes."
Follow-up a job interview with a handwritten thank-you note. They are essential, especially when they mention how you will fit into the company's culture or help meet its immediate business needs.
Paying attention to how you look can help you get a job. For that matter, it can also help you keep one. With companies trimming right and left, they want to retain people who best present their firm's image.
Mackay's Moral: Dress like a mess and you won't see success.”

The Importance of Grooming Future Technology Leaders

Businesses that don’t actively train their people risk losing them—and creating gaping holes in their organization.

By Gary Perman, published in CIO Magazine, July 2008

During an economic slowdown, businesses conventionally shed talent to reduce overhead. Despite the infusion of talent to the employment pool, many companies hunt for skilled workers at a frenzied rate and, surprisingly, cry that they can’t find the talent they need.

One reason for this contradiction is that many employers have not groomed and trained employees for larger roles.

Now they see the chasm created between employees and management. And they face yet another challenge: losing valuable employees to advancement opportunities at other companies. Recession or not, employees are jump ship for better opportunities.

Lack of advancement is one of the primary reasons for employee turnover in a company; it’s a well known fact exploited by headhunters who looking to “poach” disenchanted employees stuck in a dead-end job. When I ask employees and business leaders what they look for in a new opportunity, rarely do I hear “money” as the reason someone considers leaving their employer. The answer is almost always the lack of “career advancement opportunities.”

“I have left a job and have known many to leave their jobs because the hope for advancement was limited or non-existent,” says Pete Murray, formerly a technology service manager with Goodyear. “It just doesn't have to be that way!”

Small firms feel the pain, too, particularly when they begin to grow. Brian Dixon, health IT manager at Regenstrief Institute, an Indianapolis healthcare organization, says he and his colleagues tried for years to explain the risk to top management, but only now are they starting to listen. “We started with an employee survey of our programmers, analysts, software engineers, project managers, and IT support/helpdesk folks. We asked a lot of questions on the survey including staff satisfaction (job, morale, if one is listened to by others, compensation, if the organization is a good place to work), management (e.g., our mgmt team have made decisions that positively affect the org, respond to internal issues appropriately, leadership), training and skills (access to opportunities for improvement, do you have the tools needed to do your job), equity (I am treated fairly), communications (too little, too much), environment (harassment, diversity). For each area we used a 5 point likert scale to measure responses.
this brought the issue to the surface very quickly. Then we had several manager meetings to discuss the outcomes of the surveys, and a committee to work on solutions,” he says. “Lots of dialogue later, we are now working to change annual reviews to include career paths, and top management is listening to our ideas on how to help foster an environment that allows employees to grow into new roles to stem the tide of unhappy campers

I’ve often been asked, if this is such a widespread, common issue, why do companies shed their training experts during tough times? The simple answer is that executives believe they must drive costs down; everything else is secondary, as far as they’re concerned. Pressure from investors to see a return on their investment—no matter what the cost to the overall health of the organization— also drives executives to these short-sighted conclusions. Amazingly, 60 percent of all companies have no succession planning of any kind, according to the Society of Human Resources Management.

Some companies recognize this danger and proactively work on methods to solve the problem. At Portland, Ore., software firm Coaxis, executives recognized a specific gap in their internal staff development, including leadership development and succession planning. They have since developed a plan and a program to address these issues.

Coaxis is building these capabilities on the fly. It started a leadership and management development program and is working with director-level employees, with subsequent phases for managers, supervisors and high-potential employees planned. “I don’t think we are an example of a company that currently exhibits best practice but rather one in which management has recognized the need and has put a strategic HR department in place to do the planning and execution necessary to achieve best practice.” said Mary Carvour, director of human resources for Coaxis.

Before Owens Corning shut down three divisions due to the housing industry decline last year, Tony Friday, then-vice president of sales and marketing of the Homeowners Services Division, implemented a performance management system that rewards all employees, regardless of title or position in the company. At the beginning of each year, every employee works with their supervisor to develop individual goals and metrics which support the organization's goals for the year. If the employee meets or exceeds their goals, they receive a bonus, generally in the form of a percentage of their annual salary or wage. If the company meets its goals, all employees receive additional compensation. If they are not meeting their goals, their supervisor is expected to meet with them for coaching. If they still are under performing, the employee is let go. ”The functional costs associated with high turnover can kill your business and sends the wrong message to customers and job seekers,” Friday says. “Rewarding for the right behaviors is the key to any incentive compensation plan.”

Friday’s emphasis was on bringing in people with the right skills. One success was creating a university-style, in-house training program that gave the employee a career path and helped create an aspirational culture within the organization. An added bonus of these universities is a partnership with local community colleges or universities, which help employees gain credits toward a degree. “We identified high performers within our departments and then put them on a performance track,” Friday said. “We worked to bring them up, focusing on their knowledge gaps and skills, such as increased training in software, programming, networks and team leadership skills. That meant putting them on a four-year plan to bring them up the ranks. Other Owen Corning divisions soon took notice—the success of the program created a buzz throughout the organization and created a positive culture. Career advancement was taking place where before, it was stagnant. My focus is always on people. IF you treat people well, they will take care of your customers. I Implemented moral boosting events …BBQs for employees and their families once a quarter, added a massage bay, and Java Day. “People from other divisions began looking inside our division and wanted to get in rather than our division employees wanting to get out,” Friday said.

Another example, Tony explains “ When we switched from Timberline Software to SAP. We brought in our people for internal focus groups to find out the affects of this transition on our customers, our employee work load and our work groups. We selected a designated ‘champion’ in each SAP team to oversee its implementation – this champion was the teams go to person. We sent this champion to Toledo for some special training in Kaizen Workstream. Kaizen is a lean manufacturing process that works even in a service industry. This process created a great amount of employee buy in, because employees opinions were valued. We looked at how this transition into SAP was going to impact an employees workload, and developed an internal help desk for employee support.” This process contributed to the success of invidual employees not only as positive retention building, but to reduce succession gaps.


Tips to reduce management gaps in your company:

1. Look for shortfalls. If a manager or executive were to leave the company tomorrow, is there someone who can step in and take their place? If not, you have a potential gap.
2. Evaluate whether every individual is pulling their weight and adding value. Has each supervisor identified subordinates who are motivated by career advancement?
3. Identify high-performing employees who exhibit characteristics that justify advancement.
4. Seek employees who exhibit the ability to tackle additional responsibilities or leadership traits.
5. Establish career paths. Creating effective career paths requires two components; knowing the requirements for advancement to the next level, and creating a clear definition of the skills necessary.
6. Deliver high-quality succession training programs, which align with business objectives. Take a hard look at the programs offered. How well do they align with the two universal goals of every executive; increasing revenue and cutting costs? Clearly, any training that improves employees’ critical skill sets will add value to the organization. So will compliance programs and other mandated training initiatives, since they allow you to stay in business.
7. Mold employees by offering a mentorship program. Training time is expensive. Combine training programs and development assignments into experiences that focus on developing specific skills. This can help shorten the learning curve necessary for success. An in-house mentor can save a company a tremendous amount of expense both up front and in the long run.
8. Help employees develop their careers by allowing them to transfer into other areas and expanded their skill sets when promotions aren’t possible. This makes them more valuable to a company in the event an upper-level job opens as well as to the outside job market. By offering this, many employees feel their careers are not stagnating when they are learning new skill sets and transferring into other areas of the company.
9. By planning for succession, companies can reduce or even eliminate talent gaps that cause them to scramble for talent. Growth will always create more opportunities for hiring from the outside, but by using the internal talent and resources first, a company is in a far better position to reduce turnover as well as increase profits.