Retention Begins With Hiring

Have you ever had the sinking feeling that the candidate you hired just a month ago isn't the right person for the job? You were so careful in the hiring process - what went wrong? Often it is because your intuition or gut got in the way during the interview process. But - let's start at the beginning by taking time to set the stage for the right hire.

1. Be sure that you have posted an accurate job description.
Responsibilities and functions of a position change as frequently as everything else in the workplace. Be sure that you have an accurate, current description of the position.

2. Screen for experience and be sure the screeners knows what you are looking for.
The screener's job is to check tangible factors for the position. The real work belongs to the interviewers.

3. The interview: The best predictor of how a person will behave in the future is how he or she has behaved in the past.

Behavioral interviewing is designed to help you:

o ask questions that will provide you with information about what the candidate actually did and said in situations similar to those they will experience in the open position

o observe the thought processes and feelings of the person as they were involved in similar situations

Each of these observations contributes to more accurate assessment of the skills, behaviors and attitudes of each candidate, and assists decision making that is based on objective data, not just intuition and personality.

Example:

"Think of a time when you had to stick your neck out to resolve a problem."

The candidate may give you an abstract answer to which you reply, "Please think of something specific" -- and then give them time to think.

Help them with: "Tell me about the situation. How did you decide what was needed? What did you do? How did you feel about your role in finding a solution?"

Here's what will happen:

The candidate will typically do the following (and this is what you want):

o Break eye contact with the interviewer

o Briefly pause while visualizing an event

o Resume eye contact

o Describe a specific life/work event

Usually, it will be a positive response.

Contrary questions at this point are crucial. Otherwise, when you hear what you wanted to hear or you are beginning to feel good about this candidate, your gut takes over and clarity goes right out the window. Result? You may hire the least qualified of your candidate pool.

A contrary question is just what it sounds like: it is to look at the other side of the situation.

Critical next step: You repeat the example question, saying. "That was helpful. Now think of a time when you had to stick your neck out to resolve a problem and it didn't turn out so well. What did you do next?"

Do not let them off the hook about the contrary question. Let's face it, everyone interviewing for this position solves problems well - especially when they are fairly simple problems. What you really want to know is what do they do when it is not so easy. You're looking for how they handled a problem that needed a different solution that would work, in spite of the difficulty.

If you conduct your interviews in this way, you will select the right candidate for the right reasons. You have begun the retention process !

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