Strategy Insight

In the course of my nearly 25 years as a CEO, I have realized that skills and capabilities alone do not guarantee success. I have come to appreciate the importance of making certain that the employee reflects the values and the management philosophy of the organization.

Permit me to share with you a very practical way to implement a program that will dramatically improve your hiring process. It is one that we used so successfully that Inc. Magazine chose to publish it in one of their books.

Our process began with an understanding of the assignment. We then made certain that the candidate had the skills, experience, and competencies necessary to perform the assignment. We then scheduled meetings with the two most senior people available. The purpose of these meetings was to verify that the skills were present and to determine whether there was a cultural fit.

Here are some examples of the questions that we asked of these candidates.

• What do you consider your greatest accomplishment and why?
• Why do you think you were successful?
• What is the single most important idea you have contributed to your present job?
• How do you go about making important decisions?
• If you had a magic wand and could change two things about yourself, what would they be?
• Give some examples of how you get people to accomplish projects. How do you motivate them?
• Describe the importance of your job within the company’s overall business plan.
• How do you go about learning something new?
• Who was the best boss you ever had? Why?
• Name something you have really wanted to do, but have never been able to do, even when there was an opportunity.

Nearly all of these questions are designed to elicit information about the personal behavioral styles and values of the candidate.

After explaining how our company accomplishes its mission, we reviewed the management philosophy, a written document that articulates how we conduct our business. This is important because it is imperative that the candidate believes that s/he can also fit into the company’s work environment. Assuming we still believed that the candidate might be a good fit for the assignment and the company, we then ask for references.

We then began the part of the process that Inc. Magazine found unusually valuable. The candidate received a tour of the office and was invited to meet with the people who worked at our company. They are encouraged to ask any questions that come to mind. This allowed the candidate to determine if we operate in a manner that is consistent with our management philosophy. The management philosophy thus comes alive for the candidate.

Equally important, we gained the insight of the people who might be working with the candidate. These people really ask the most difficult questions because their questions reflect very pragmatic concerns, such as how they will work together. This dialogue tends to be more personal and real because the context for the conversation is one of sharing and discovery by both parties. Later on, we asked our people what they thought and whether they would like to work alongside the candidate.

Before the candidate leaves for the day, we provide him or her with references concerning our company and asked him or her to call them. These references are clients who have agreed to speak with our candidates.

From these conversations, the candidate learned firsthand what signing up to be a part of our company and culture truly means. Do we really go to the extremes that we speak of to delight our clients? Do our employees really take their role as a trusted advisor seriously? Equally important, we received the benefit of yet another round of high-level, personal interviews that helped us to understand what concerns the candidate has, and most important, whether the client would welcome the opportunity to work with the candidate.

Although this particular approach is uniquely geared for external, customer-facing positions, everyone in an organization is there to meet the needs of at least one internal customer. This model may be easily modified to allow for some version of customer feedback.

Our interview process concluded with the reference check. This check was not performed by an office manager or a Human Resources staff member but rather by the person who will be the direct supervisor of the candidate, should he or she be hired. They have the strongest interest of anyone in the capabilities of the candidate because the candidate will have a direct impact on the supervisor’s own success. Of course, these people should be guided by the human resources department regarding the types of questions that they may ask.