How To Hire The Best People
I had a partner who would tell clients that when they made a job offer they were halfway to making a hire. Finding and interviewing great people is only the beginning process in hiring great people. Working with those people through the interview process to the point of accepting an offer can play as big a role in hiring great people.
Some companies emphasize the performance of employees in the first 90 days of employment. Hiring companies should place equal emphasis on the performance of hiring managers in conducting orientation and training after a company has made a huge investment in attracting and hiring great people. I once placed a very talented applicant with a San Francisco company. When the new hire showed up for work, the head of his department at the new company was on vacation.
The person managing the orientation for the new applicant unfortunately had one foot out the door in leaving the hiring company and made a mess of the orientation. The new hire lasted three days. He resigned and returned to work for his former employer.
Applicants do need to prepare for interviews. I have worked with a lot of hiring managers who decline to go ahead with applicants who do not come to the first interview with enough knowledge of the hiring company to have a good idea whether the company is a place where they would like to work.
The best companies and the best hiring managers assume an equal responsibility in learning about an applicant before the person walks through the door. Without looking back at the applicants’ resume, the best hiring managers will know where the person went to college, the person’s collegiate record, where the person has worked, as well as the person’s career progress and accomplishments. The best hiring managers will have a list of questions for information that he hiring manager cannot know by simply reading an applicant’s resume.
I have had hiring managers tell me that they did not believe that they should sell an applicant on a position or a company. This point is excellent. The role of the hiring manager is not to sell the applicant on the company, but to do the best job possible in representing the hiring company by preparing for the interview and being 100% percent focused on the applicant during the interview.