Not All Resumes Are What They Appear To Be

Posted August 25, 2014 by The Metiss Group
Categories: Selection

Before he was famous, Leonardo da Vinci in 1482, at the age of 30, wrote out a letter listing his capabilities and sent it off to the Duke of Milan in hopes of getting a job.  He is credited with submitting the first resume (see copy here).

In a recent Harris Poll on resumes conducted on behalf of CareerBuilder, 2,188 HR pros and hiring managers were asked to cite common exaggerations (i.e. lies) on resumes.  Unlike Da Vinci’s letter, most resumes today are reported to contain exaggerations or be flat out wrong.  Here are the common resume falsehoods and percentages reported:

  • Skills — 57%
  • Responsibilities — 55%
  • Employment dates — 42%
  • Job titles — 34%
  • Academic degrees — 33%
  • Past companies worked for — 26%
  • Accomplishments and awards — 18%

When conducting interviews and reference checks, be sure to validate resume facts.  Challenge candidates on the resume’s veracity and have little tolerance for inaccuracies or embellishments.

Empower your hiring managers to dig deep into a candidate’s resume, and you’ll make more successful hires.

Source: HRMorning.com

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Succession Is A Good Thing

Posted August 13, 2014 by The Metiss Group
Categories: Leadership, Performance Acceleration

We recently met a General Manager who has had an assistant manager working for him for the past six years.  The GM has groomed the protégée well, and the assistant is prepared for a more challenging role.  Unfortunately, the GM is not ready to move on and there is nowhere for the superstar to move up within the organization. Instead of enjoying the luxury of having a competent direct report staying on as his right-hand man forever, the GM strongly urged/requested the direct report look for a GM’s role in another organization.  The GM was beaming like a parent watching their child graduate from college as he told us about all the great opportunities for which his direct report was interviewing.

We admire the GM’s vision, altruism, and business savvy.  By realizing it was time for the direct report to leave and encouraging him to do so, the GM can now develop other leaders in the organization and will have a close colleague he can turn to within the industry.  If the assistant had stayed on, he would lack challenges and growth, would stagnate, and perhaps his work would suffer.

One of our favorite interview questions for leaders is to ask them to describe the accomplishments of their direct reports. How they have developed others provides great insight about their potential as a leader.

Empower your direct reports to gain the skills for them to outgrow their role, encourage them to move on to more challenging roles internally or externally, and you will both experience more success.

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Stay In Touch With Your Future New-Hire After Your Offer Has Been Accepted

Posted August 8, 2014 by The Metiss Group
Categories: Leadership, Selection

You just finished following your selection process and you are ready to make an offer to a superstar. The superstar accepts your offer and commits to starting in two weeks. Now what do you do?

If you found a superstar, someone else is about to lose one. Expect the superstar’s current employer to try to keep them from leaving by offering increased pay, more responsibility, or a promotion. You are at a disadvantage here as the superstar has some allegiance and may have second thoughts. All your hard work and expense following your selection process may be for naught if the superstar decides to rescind their acceptance.

After your offer is accepted, stay in touch with the future new-hire. Coach the superstar on how to handle their company’s offer to stay. Ask them, “What is your current boss likely to offer you to get you to stay? What are you going to do if you are offered more money to stay? What are you going to tell your boss if s/he offers you a promotion?” Give them tips on how to answer. Simply planting these seeds will help your chances of not losing your superstar. Additionally, regular emails and calls are essential to letting the superstar know you really want them. Meeting for lunch before the new hire starts working for you is a good idea. Your superstar will be excited after deciding to come work for you; keep that excitement from wearing off and avoid the risk of losing them.

Empower your future new-hires for success and your career will soar. 

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Use Job Accountabilities During The Selection Process For Better Hires

Posted August 1, 2014 by The Metiss Group
Categories: Leadership, Selection

In his book, The 7 Hidden Reasons Employees Leave, Leigh Branham lists the causes workers quit their jobs as:

    1.    Job not as expected

    2.    Job doesn’t fit talents and interests 

    3.    Little or no feedback/coaching

    4.    No hope for career growth

    5.    Feel devalued and unrecognized 

    6.    Feel overworked and stressed out

    7.    Lack of trust or confidence in leaders

#1 and #2 are a result of not using a job accountability or job definition document in the selection process.  If you don’t have the open job clearly defined before talking to candidates, you are doing them (and you) a disservice.  

Share the job accountabilities with candidates early and often (we suggest before the first phone screen).  Thoroughly cover the job accountabilities during the first face-to-face interview. Share the job accountabilities with reference checks when vetting candidates.  Review the job accountabilities with the candidates one last time before sending the job offer.  Candidates should have little doubt what is expected or whether the job interests them before they accept the position.

Some experts estimate the cost of a poor hire to be two to three times their annual salary.  The cost of developing job accountabilities and using them is nominal.  Empower your selection team to use job accountabilities during the hiring process, and you’ll experience better hires.

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Don’t Let Travel Schedules Preempt Your Regular One-on-One Sessions

Posted July 25, 2014 by The Metiss Group
Categories: Leadership, Performance Acceleration
Tags: ,

If you or your organization claim “our employees are our greatest asset”, you should be doing regular one-on-one sessions with your direct reports. There is no better way to maintain those valuable “assets” than weekly one-on-ones.

When you or your direct report travel, you might be tempted to skip the one-on-one sessions.  Don’t do it; conduct the sessions by phone instead.  It is important for the one-on-one meeting rhythm to be maintained.  Remember one-on-ones build relationships and trust.  Productive relationships and enduring trust stem from predictability.  Rescheduling one-on-one sessions because you or your direct report are not in the office disrupts this crucial rhythm.

Remember, whether it is you or your direct report who is working remotely, maintaining a consistent, predictable rhythm to communications keeps the empowered momentum going.  The purpose of one-on-ones has always been centered around the needs of the direct report; aren’t they more likely to have increased communication needs when you are not physically together?

Empower your leaders to conduct their one-on-ones on a consistent schedule, and you’ll experience more success.

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Are Employees Really Your Greatest Asset?

Posted July 21, 2014 by The Metiss Group
Categories: Leadership, Performance Acceleration

Most organizations promote their employees as being their “greatest asset.”  Unfortunately, most employees indicate they hardly feel like an asset, much less among the greatest assets of the company.

According to the U.S. Department of Labor, the average employee stays at a company for 3.5 years and makes about $40,000 per year.  Therefore the average “employee asset” costs organizations just in wages $140,000.  How much effort do you invest in your employee assets as compared to your investments in other $140,000 assets?  Think about how much time you spend buying and maintaining your computer systems – how does that compare to the time you spend hiring and accelerating the performance of your direct reports?  Ask yourself these questions:

  • Do you give your “greatest assets” daily, customized feedback?
  • Do you invest 30 minutes of uninterrupted one-on-one time weekly with your “greatest assets” talking about their issues?
  • Do you review your “greatest assets'” accomplishments, personal development, core value adherence, and future objectives at least quarterly?
  • Do your “greatest assets” have clear job accountabilities specifying key activities, time percentages, priorities, and success factors?
  • Do your “greatest assets” know what the organization’s goals are and do they have goals that are aligned to the organization’s?
  • Do your “greatest assets” continually work at developing to be a better person – physically, emotionally, intellectually, and spiritually?
  • Do you have a succession plan for your “greatest assets” so they don’t feel trapped in their role?

Remember, unlike most assets on your balance sheet, these assets should appreciate over time so the investment you make in them should continue to net you great returns.  Invest in your greatest assets regularly and empower them so you’ll all be successful.

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How Good Is Your Selection Process?

Posted July 14, 2014 by The Metiss Group
Categories: Leadership, Selection

According to Wikipedia, a business process is defined as:

a collection of related, structured activities or tasks that produce a specific service; a sequence of activities with interleaving decision points.

We recommend every hiring manager have a repeatable selection process consisting of three phases: job and candidate definition, screening, and evaluation.  How do you know if your selection process is any good?  If you can answer yes to these questions, you probably have an excellent selection process:

  • Do your employees respect the new hire for succeeding in your selection process?
  • Would your employees cringe if they had to go through your selection process?
  • Do weak candidates drop out of your selection process because it is too hard?
  • Are superstars attracted to your company because your selection process ensures weak candidates are not hired?
  • Does every new hire, without exception, go through your selection process?

Develop a quality selection process, be disciplined in administering it, and empower your team for success.

Click on the link below to view a recent webinar for the MSU Alumni Association on our recommended selection process.

https://connect.msu.edu/p2phg8iiyp5/?launcher=false&fcsContent=true&pbMode=normal

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Cognitive Abilities More Important Now Than Ever

Posted June 30, 2014 by The Metiss Group
Categories: Leadership, Performance Acceleration
Tags: , ,

We all have varying degrees of steadiness.  Some of us are focused, unyielding, and undeterred by distractions.  Some of us are flexible, multi-tasked, and enjoy distractions.  Some of us are a little of both.

How does the ubiquity of technological distractions today impact our ability to be productive?  How do the super-steady types avoid getting frustrated with all the interruptions?  And how do the easily distracted types garner enough focus to finish anything?

The answer is: we adapt to the situation for short periods of time.  Our ability to adapt is largely a function of our cognitive abilities.  We must continuously adjust our natural style and what feels comfortable to either block out the interruption or respond to it.  Those with strong cognitive abilities are likely to be most successful in today’s work environment.

Are your direct reports developing their cognitive abilities?  Are you screening new-hire candidates for their thinking?  Empower your direct reports to focus on their critical thinking skills and they will be successful.

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Be Prepared For Your Direct Report’s Graduation

Posted June 23, 2014 by The Metiss Group
Categories: Leadership, Performance Acceleration
Tags: , , ,

This is the time of year we celebrate school graduations.  All students embark on their studies with the expectation that some day they will be moving on to another life experience.  In some way, your direct reports have the same expectation.  How prepared are you for your direct report’s “graduation?”

One of the best practices for preparing for the departure of a direct report is to cross-train other team members on key job functions.  Delegate the identification, documentation, and training of these important activities to your direct reports. Challenge them to implement effective backup procedures and test how well they work when they are on vacation.  This gives the leader peace of mind that the job will be covered when the incumbent moves on.

Empower your direct reports to cross-train each other and your group will still be successful when a key member “graduates.”

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Seek Stakeholder Input When Defining A Job

Posted June 16, 2014 by The Metiss Group
Categories: Leadership, Performance Acceleration, Selection

Most parents know the best way to get their kid’s buy-in on family decisions is to have the kids be a part of the decision making process.  We have one colleague who was dreading a family vacation with his two teenagers.  Instead of he and his wife planning the trip, he had his son and daughter plan several of the activities.  The family ended up having one of their best vacations.  Getting group input when putting together jobs is helpful, too.

Whether you are defining jobs using a traditional job description or an Accountability Matrix (our recommendation), you’ll want to get input from people who interact with the individual in the job when outlining the key requirements.

The supervisor and/or HR are generally responsible for defining the requirements for a job.  Soliciting input from those closest to the job, or those impacted by how well the job is performed provides several important advantages:

  • the people working closely with the job know whether it’s being done correctly or not — often because it impacts their work;
  • gaining input from these stakeholders helps create more robust success factors for the job;
  • consulting the stakeholders creates a commitment from them to the individual in the job to succeed since they had a hand in defining it;
  • when coupled with a disciplined selection process, the learning curve is shortened because involved co-workers aren’t just waiting for the new hire to fail.

Just imagine the support felt by a new hire!

Empower hiring managers to ask for input from a job’s stakeholders when defining their direct report’s jobs and they will experience more success.

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