Hiring tips: Smart people doing dumb things

by Mitch Byers :: July 14th, 2008 :: Posted in Selection & Hiring |

Malcolm Gladwell, author of The Tipping Point and Blink, was the first speaker at the May 2008 New Yorker Conference. “Stories from the near future” was the theme of the two-day conference. Albeit condensed, here are his words and my comments from his talk regarding the “challenge of hiring in the modern world.”

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Hiring tips: Selecting the right performance indicators

by Mitch Byers :: July 11th, 2008 :: Posted in Selection & Hiring |

Talk at Remington: A dozen strategies

by Mitch Byers :: May 15th, 2007 :: Posted in Selection & Hiring |

Hiring managers beware — numbers don’t lie

by Mitch Byers :: April 23rd, 2007 :: Posted in Selection & Hiring |

On your next coffee break, take a minute to read this WSJ story by David Wessell, The article, Lack of Well-Educated Workers Has Lots of Roots, No Quick Fix, highlights the hiring challenges you continue to face, even though there are a growing number of college graduates.

A history of the U.S. workforce

Early 1900s – A majority of Americans only had an 8th grade education. Our agrarian society required more hands in the field, leaving less in the classroom.

Late 1920s – Over half of the next generation of workers were going to high school, though not all that started high school earned a diploma.

1955 – The average Americans age 30 completed 10.9 years of education.

1980 – In 25 years, the education level for the average American age 30 surged dramatically – to 13.2 years of education.

2005 – The pace slowed considerably in the succeeding 25 years. The average American in their 30s now has 13.9 years of education.

The average number of years of education continues to rise slowly in the U.S. The global view, however, puts our modest advances in perspective. Most developed nations are easily running head-to-head with the U.S. And we are lagging behind Japan, Korea, Canada, Belgium, Ireland, and Sweden in the number of 25 to 34 year olds with college degrees.

More education = More $$$

For most graduates, completing a degree is financially rewarding.

1982: College grads (undergrad) were paid 40% more than high school graduates

Today: College grads are paid 75% more than those with high school diplomas

It is clear that a better-educated and more technically-skilled labor force is required for today’s job market.

Not everyone makes the cut

Even though a college education provides a clear financial advantage, there are many young people who are not up to the challenge.

25% of 18 year-old Americans have NOT graduated from high school.

About 65% of new high school graduates attend college, but 13% drop out their first year and 43% of those between 22 and 34 never complete a degree.

By my estimation, only about 1/3 of all potential U.S. high school graduates continues to collage and obtains an undergraduate degree. The 75% additional pay can be tracked to both the higher level of education/skills and simple supply and demand factors in the economy. Of course, the millions of workers who have chosen the U.S over their native soil have softened the supply side. Still, the outlook of selecting employees from a large pool of well-educated, loyal and highly motivated candidates may well be part of our history.

If education is the problem, then a complete overhaul of our education must be the right solution. However, any changes will be hard fought and measured, at best. While Congress muddles through education fixes, business leaders must move forward and develop their own solutions.

Have you thought about a long-term workforce strategy to attract, hire and retain your employees? Do you have a training program in place to keep your employees current in technologies? Are you developing your employees to your competitive advantage?

Maybe a well-planned and executed training plan is the key. Maybe providing incentives for those who best adapt, create and inspire is the solution. Maybe an end-to-end hiring and performance review program, which rewards mentoring and developing others is the trick. Maybe the solution is developing better criteria to screen candidates against.

Lots of maybes. Please share your successes and maybe we will have a few less maybes.

The role of the hiring manager in recruiting

by Mitch Byers :: August 3rd, 2006 :: Posted in Selection & Hiring |

Topgrading

by Mitch Byers :: July 30th, 2006 :: Posted in Selection & Hiring |

A new acquaintance of mine, Tony Cinello, President of Anthony Andrew, LLC. suggested the book “Topgrading” by Bradford D. Smart. Smart defines Topgrading as filling every position in the organization with an A-player, at the appropriate compensation level.

An “A Players’ is defined as one who qualifies among the top 10 percent of those available for a position. An A Player is best of class. Tony leads a retained search firm in Dallas and is definitely an A Player.

I am up to page 70, so can not yet provide a full opinion of the book. However, I was intrigued to learn that A Players make up only 25% of most company’s workforce. The balance of the workforce are divided into 3 categories:

• 25% chronic B Players
• 25 % chronic C Players
• 25% B/Cs who are able to become A players, after develop or redeployment into a more suitable position.

1. Needle in a haystack—it’s great fun to find a wonderful candidate who makes a real difference when hired.
2. Need to pay the rent—most of us need income. Along the way we’ve found that we’re good at this gig. It pays the bills
3. Order out of chaos—20 to 30 plus requisitions, countless resumes to review, tons of voice mail, endless emails, visits from desperate hiring managers, the list goes on and on. Most of us thrive in an environment where there is just way more to do than could be done every day.
4. Trust the process—unless you’re from the throw as much *!&# against the wall and see what sticks crowd, most highly successful recruiters know what works and make sure they’re doing enough of the right kinds of activities to keep the machine running.
5. Gotta Play on a team—some folks are happy working from home but most of us get our jollies working closely with others. There’s a lot to be gained by being part of an organization. You have to love walking through the office and seeing all those smiling faces of people you placed and their totally satisfied managers who see you as a valuable business partner.
6. Art and science—finding wonderful candidates by using innovative sourcing techniques is invigorating. This is the same thrill as gold prospectors must feel when they hit the mother load.
7. Technology junkie—lots of us just love technology. Why do the same mundane task day in and day out if you can automate it? How many ways can you be connected?
8. Love to network—it may be working a room at a trade event, making phone calls, IMing, emailing, Googleing, or blogging but we just love to network with people
9. Share the wealth—working with new people, showing them the ropes and cultivating talent is truly rewarding.
10. Doing the impossible—we’ve all had that impossible to fill position. Who doesn’t want to be Superman or Superwoman? Defying the odds and making it happen is the best rush there is.

I don’t know Simon, but based on his list, I’d say he is an A Player.