Who - Find the right person for the position

I just read a book recommended to me on finding the right people to hire: Who by Geoff Smart and Randy Street.

It is a great, practical guide to finding the best fit for your organization.

Here is the "A" Method:

Scorecard
- What do you want
Source
- Find great people
Select
- Select/identify the person
Sell
- Persuade them to join

Make your Scorecard

Mission
- Short statement describing why a role exists
Outcomes
- 3-8 specific, objective outcomes that a person must accomplish to achieve an A performance
Competencies
- Identify as many role-based competencies as you think appropriate to describe behaviors someone must demonstrate to achieve outcomes
- Identify 8 competencies that describe your culture and place on every scorecard
Ensure alignment and communicate
- Ensure there is consistency and alignment. Share with relevant parties (peers and recruiters)

How to Source

Referrals from your professional and personal networks
Referrals from your employees
Deputizing friends of the firm
Hiring recruiters
Hiring researchers
Sourcing systems (like a spreadsheet or calendar)

Interview techniques

3 P's to clarify how valuable an accomplishment was:
1. How did your Performance compare to the previous year's performance?
2. How did your Performance compare to the plan?
3. How did your Performance compare to that of peers?
People who perform well are generally [pulled] to greater opportunities
1. Push - "It was mutual." "It was time for me to leave." "My boss and I did not get along."
2. Pull - "My biggest client hired me." "My old boss recruited me to a bigger job."

Candidate flags during hiring process:

Does not mention past failures
Exaggerates their answer
Takes credit for the work of others
Speaks poorly of past bosses
Cannot explain job moves
If people most important to candidate do not support change
More interested in compensation than in job
Tries too hard to look like an expert
Self-absorbed

How to select "A" Players

The Screening Interview

What are your career goals?
What are you really good at professionally?
What are you not good at or not interested in doing professionally?
Who were your last 5 bosses, and how will they each rate your performance on a 1-10 scale when we talk to them?

The Who Interview (Walk chronologically through a candidates Career with 5 questions for each job)

What were you hired to do?
What accomplishments are you most proud of?
What were some low points during that job?
Who were the people you worked with?
Why did you leave that job?

Focused Interview(s)

Team members conduct interviews that focus on outcomes and/or competencies on the scorecard

Candidate Discussion

Grade scorecard use skill-will framework
Advance those whose skill (what they are good at) and will (what they want to do) match the mission, outcomes, and competencies on the scorecard

The Reference Interview

Conduct reference calls from people chosen from the Who Interview

Final Decision

Repeat skill-will analysis

How to sell A Players

Identify which of the 5 F's really matter to the candidate:

Fit
Family
Freedom
Fortune
Fun

Create and execute a plan to address the relevant F's during the five waves of selling:

During sourcing
During interviews
Between offer and acceptance
Between acceptance and day 1
During the first 100 days on the job
Be persistent.

Avoid legal problems

Do not reject candidates for reasons that are not relevant to the job
Use the same process for all candidates
Use nondiscriminatory language during interviews and in written forms

Avoid illegal questions - Anything to do with:

Marital status
Intention to have children
Whether candidates are pregnant
When they were born
Where they were born
Medical conditions (unless relevant to the job)
Race or ethnicity
Sexual orientation
Physical or mental handicaps

My distractions