Discover the secrets of one of the world’s leading talent acquisition experts
In the newly revised Fourth Edition of Hire With Your Head: Using Performance-Based Hiring to Build Great Teams, influential recruiting and hiring expert Lou Adler delivers a practical guide to consistently identifying and hiring the best people and scaling that process throughout your company.
This book will help you address your hiring and recruitment issues, not just by making you more efficient, but also by reforming your entire process to align with how top talent actually look for new jobs, compare offers, and select opportunities.
You'll discover:
- Discover what it takes to ensure more Win-Win Hiring outcomes by hiring for the anniversary date rather than the start date
- How to use a "High Tech, High Touch" approach to raise the talent bar
- Expand the talent pool to include more outstanding, high potential and diverse talent by defining work as a series of key performance objectives
Perfect for hiring managers, recruiters, and HR and business leaders, Hire with Your Head is a must-read resource for anyone seeking to improve their ability to find, attract, and retain the top talent the world has to offer.
Table of Contents
FOREWORD 8
INTRODUCTION PERFORMANCE-BASED HIRING FOUR EDITIONS LATER 9
A Short History on the Importance of Hiring Top Talent 9
Being More Efficient Doing the Wrong Things Is Not Progress 10
Creating a Win-Win Hiring Culture 11
The Big Three Hiring Challenges 12
Clarifying Job Expectations Upfront Is the Key to Hiring Outstanding People 12
Why Performance-based Hiring Is the Right Business Process for Hiring 13
CHAPTER 1 DEFINE YOUR TALENT STRATEGY BEFORE YOU DESIGN YOUR HIRING PROCESS 16
Stop Making Tactical Excuses for a Strategic Problem 16
The Importance of Having the Right Talent Strategy 17
Supply vs Demand Needs to Drive Talent Strategy 17
Comparing the Scarcity of Talent vs a Surplus of Talent Strategies 19
Win-Win Hiring: Hiring for the Anniversary Date, Not the Start Date 20
Develop an Ideal Candidate Persona to Achieve More Win-Win Hiring Outcomes 20
Remove the "HAVING" Mindset and Shift to a Performance Qualified Screening Standard 21
Negotiate with the End in Mind 22
More High Touch and Less High Tech -- Convert Strangers into Acquaintances 23
CHAPTER 2 STEP-BY-STEP THROUGH THE PERFORMANCE-BASED HIRING PROCESS 24
Win-Win Hiring: Hire for the Anniversary Date, Not the Start Date 24
Performance-based Hiring Is Designed to Raise the Bar 24
Suboptimization Prevents Win-Win Hiring Outcomes 24
Benchmarking How the Best People Find Jobs and Get Hired 25
Hiring a Great Person Starts with a Great Job 25
Define Success as Performance Objectives, Not Skills and Experiences 26
Source Semi-finalists 26
Conduct the Two-way Performance-based Interview 27
Measure and Predict Quality of Hire 28
Close on Career Growth, Not Compensation Maximization 29
Use Onboarding to Clarify and Prioritize the Performance Objectives 30
Deliver on the Promise 31
Summary 32
CHAPTER 3 THE BEST CANDIDATES ARE OFTEN NOT THE BEST HIRES 33
The Worst Candidates Are Often the Best Hires 34
Category 1: Great candidates must have all of the basic skills listed on the job description 34
Category 2: Great candidates must agree to the terms of an offer before knowing the job 35
Category 3: Great candidates need to be prepared, make a great first impression and be good at presenting themselves 35
Some Great Candidates Become Great Hires, but Many More Don't 36
Great Hires Are Easy to Define but Hard to Hire 36
Category 4: Great hires deliver the results without making excuses 36
Category 5: Great hires collaborate with others and build strong teams 37
Category 6: Great hires effectively organize and manage themselves and their teams 37
Who would you rather hire, a great candidate or someone who delivers the results? 38
Summary -- Avoid the 90-day Wonders 38
CHAPTER 4 DEVELOPING A BIAS-FREE HIRING PROCESS 40
Conduct a Pre-hire Performance Review 40
Never Meet Anyone in Person Before Conducting a Phone Screen 41
Only invite semi-finalists for the full interview 41
Use Organized Panel Interviews 42
Then eliminate the 30-minute one-on-ones 42
Script the Interview and Give Candidates the Questions 42
Wait 30 Minutes Before Making Any Yes or No Decision 43
Be a Juror -- Not a Judge 43
Use Reverse Logic to Reveal and Reprogram Your Subconscious Biases 44
Treat Candidates as Consultants 44
Kill the Gladiators 45
Use a talent scorecard to share evidence 45
Measure First Impressions Last 46
Summary 46
CHAPTER 5 USING THE BEST TEST TO REDUCE UNCONSCIOUS BIAS 47
Two Huge Flaws in Personality Assessments That Are Often Ignored 47
Statistical Validation Understates the Impact of False Negatives 48
Personality Assessments Are Valuable When Used Later in the Hiring Process 49
Take the BEST Test Before Interviewing Anyone 50
Changes in BEST Style Reveals Growth and Flexibility 51
Assess Team Skills by Observing Changes in BEST Type Over Time 51
Assess Flexibility by Observing Changes in BEST Under Stress 52
Increase Interview Accuracy by Becoming Your "Least BEST" 52
Summary -- Use the BEST Test to Confirm Rather Than Predict 53
CHAPTER 6 THE HIRING FORMULA FOR SUCCESS 54
Win-Win Hiring Begins with the End in Mind 54
Predicting Hiring Success Requires Much More Than Assessing Ability 54
The Hiring Formula for Success Captures the Dynamics of Actual Performance 56
The Big Four Fit Factors Drive Motivation to Excel 57
Define the Fit Factors as Part of the Job Description 57
The Fit Factors and Their Impact on Job Performance 58
The Impact of Managerial Fit on New Hire Success 59
Job Fit: Intrinsic Motivation to Do the Work Actually Required 59
Team Fit and EQ 60
Cultural Fit is More Than a Value Statement 60
Summary 61
CHAPTER 7 UNDERSTANDING THE REAL JOB STARTS WITH A PERFORMANCE PROFILE 62
Define the Work Before Defining the Person Doing the Work 62
Hire for Performance to Attract Outstanding Talent 63
The Legal Validation for Using Performance-based Hiring 64
Shifting to a Performance Qualified Definition of On-the-Job Success 65
Different Techniques to Develop Performance-based Job Descriptions 67
Take a Tour of the Factory and Call Me in the Morning 68
Basic Techniques for Determining the Key Performance Objectives 69
Use the Process of Success and the Timeline to Determine the Key Subtasks 69
Benchmark the Best People Doing the Same Job 70
Convert "Having" to "Doing" 71
Use the Four Work Types to Map Performance Objectives to the Company Lifecycle 73
Use the Master Checklist to Develop the KPOs 74
Job Branding -- Creating the Employee Value Proposition (EVP) 76
Prioritize the Performance Objectives 77
Convincing Hiring Managers to Use Performance Profiles 77
The "no time" rebuttal 77
The "When are you going to tell the candidate?" approach 78
The "become a top manager" rebuttal 78
Conduct an "A vs B" test 78
Tell some stories about people who have been promoted 78
Dealing with the diehards 78
Summary 79
CHAPTER 8 CONDUCTING THE EXPLORATORY PHONE SCREEN 81
The Exploratory Phone Screen Drives Hiring Success 81
The Phone Screen Is the "Swiss Army Knife" of Hiring 82
With a Phone Screen You Only Need 3-4 Semi-finalists to Make One Great Hire 83
Use the Phone Screen to Find and Recruit Semi-finalists 83
Conducting the Phone Screen Work History Review 85
Semi-finalists Must Answer These Two Questions 85
Assess the comparability of the accomplishments to the KPOs 86
Connect the two accomplishments to see the trend of performance over time 87
Determine if the person is recruitable 87
Summary -- Use the Phone Screen to Control Your Entire Hiring Process 88
CHAPTER 9 CONDUCTING THE PERFORMANCE-BASED INTERVIEW 89
Checklist: The Performance-based Hiring Interviewing Process 89
The 8-Step Performance-based Interview Guide 91
Step 1: Introduction, Review Job and Discover Motivation for Looking 91
Step 2: Put Your Biases in the Parking Lot by Measuring the Impact of First Impression 93
Step 3: Conduct a Work History Review 94
Step 4: Assess 2-3 Major Accomplishments 95
Step 4a: Assess 1-2 Major Team Accomplishments 97
Step 5: Assess Critical Thinking and Job-related Problem-solving Skills 98
Step 6: Delay the Candidate's Questions Until the End of the Interview 100
Step 7: Determine Candidate Interest and Recruiting Opportunity 101
Step 8: Measure First Impression Again, Last and Compare 103
You can never out-yell a hiring manager, but you can out-fact them 104
Well-organized Panel Interviews Increase Assessment Accuracy 105
The Big Reasons Candidates Should Be Interviewed by a Panel 106
Steps for Organizing a Panel Interview 107
Have all interviewers on the panel review the performance-based job description and the talent scorecard before the interview session starts 107
Script the Performance-based Interview to use as an organizing tool 107
It's vital that there is only one leader in a panel interview with everyone else acting as fact-finders only 107
Leaders can be fact-finders, but fact-finders can't be leaders 108
Capture everyone's insight right after the interview 108
Key Highlights of the Performance-based Interview Process 108
CHAPTER 10 MAKING THE ASSESSMENT USING THE QUALITY OF HIRE TALENT SCORECARD 110
Keys for Conducting an Evidence-based Candidate Assessment 110
Understanding the 1-5 Ranking System 111
Share Evidence in a Live Formal Debriefing Session 111
Invoke the NO 2s! Rule to Raise the Talent Bar 112
The NO 2s! Warning Signs for Each Factor 112
Step-by-Step Completing the Quality of Hire Talent Scorecard 114
Basic Competencies 114
Core Skills 114
Overall Experience 114
Achiever Pattern and Trend of Growth 115
Essential Core Competences 116
Situational Fit Factors 117
How to Accurately Predict Managerial Fit and Ensure a Great Hire 118
Culture & Environmental Fit 118
Addressing the Balancing Act Between Recruitability and Competency 120
Organizing the Interview to Maximize Assessment Accuracy 120
Modification for Problem-Solving 121
Modification for Team Skills 121
Summary 121
CHAPTER 11 COMPARING PERFORMANCE-BASED HIRING AND BEHAVIORAL EVENT 123
Lack of Job Analysis is the Big Gap in BEI 123
Behavioral Fact-finding is the Key to an Accurate Assessment 124
Seeking the Advice and Counsel of Sherlock Holmes Himself 125
Assess Team Skills by Finding Deductive Evidence 126
A Simple Hack to Ensure an Accurate and Unbiased Assessment 126
Summary -- Performance-based Interviewing is BEI on Steroids 127
CHAPTER 12 SOURCING OUTSTANDING TALENT -- BLENDING HIGH TOUCH WITH HIGH TECH 129
Semi-finalist Criteria for Prequalifying Candidates 129
Small Batch, High Touch 130
Understanding the Sourcing and Recruiting Funnel 130
Two Buyers: The Hiring Manager and the Top Person 130
Make It Personal -- Let's Go for a Career Ride 131
Sourcing Checklist 132
Implementing a Scarcity of Talent Sourcing Program 133
Think Small Batch, High Touch: Source Semi-finalists 133
Conduct a Career Zone Analysis to Find Out Where to Fish 133
Use Supply vs Demand to Implement a Targeted Multi-channel Sourcing Plan 135
Develop an "Ideal" Candidate Persona 136
Prepare Customized and Targeted Messaging 138
Job Branding and the EVP 138
Job Postings, Job Boards and Reverse Engineering 139
Tag Lines that Speak the Language of the Ideal Prospect 139
Use Emails as the First Step in a High Touch Process 140
Direct Sourcing and Networking 141
A "Clever" Boolean Search to Learn the Basics of Direct Sourcing for Semi-finalists 142
Diversity Matters 144
Using LinkedIn Filters to Find More Achievers 145
In-direct Sourcing and Networking 145
Getting Referrals is Still the Best Way to Find Outstanding Talent Quickly 145
Convert Strangers into Acquaintances Before They Become Candidates 146
Weak Connections are Recruiter's Gold 147
Leverage Your Employee Referral Program -- Create a PERP 148
Summary -- Networking Rules! 149
CHAPTER 13 START THE RECRUITING PROCESS WITH A CAREER DISCUSSION, NOT A SALES PITCH 151
Conduct Career Discovery on Your First Call 151
First, Put the Right People on the Bus -- Only Semi-finalists 152
Only Ask "Yes" Questions and Don't Take "No" for an Answer 153
Overcome Preliminary Objections and Concerns 153
How to Answer the "What's a Career Move?" Question 154
Review the Person's Profile Before Describing the Job 155
Build a 10-minute Relationship by Controlling the Conversation 155
Recruiting is Getting the Candidate to Sell You, Not You Selling the Candidate 156
How to Handle Compensation by Not Discussing It Too Soon 156
Gain Concessions to Negotiate the Offer as a Series of Steps 158
Summary 158
CHAPTER 14 RECRUITING AND CLOSING TOP PERFORMERS 160
The Basics of Recruiting and Closing 160
Recruiting is Not Selling, It's Listening 160
Stay the Buyer from the Beginning of the Process to the Very End 162
Make Passive Candidates Earn the Job to Increase Its Value 163
Minimize the Negatives; Accentuate the Positives 163
Don't Make an Offer Until You're 100% Sure It Will be Accepted 164
Testing and Negotiating the Offer by Getting Continuous Concessions 164
Position Your Job as a Career Move 165
Avoid Job Hopping Syndrome 166
Testing Offers 167
Use 1-10 Test of Interest to Uncover Concerns 167
Closing, Testing and Negotiating Offers 168
Closing Upon a Concern 169
Use a Secondary Close to Test Seriousness 169
Use a Counterproposal to Get 100% Commitment 170
Summary 172
CHAPTER 15 LEVERAGING HR TECHNOLOGY TO IMPLEMENT PERFORMANCE-BASED HIRING 173
Using the Trickle Up Approach to Validate the Impact 173
Use SeekOut to Build a Talent Pipeline of Outstanding Diverse Talent 174
Hiretual.com Offers a Unique AI Approach for Sourcing the Hard to Find 175
Phenom Converts Workforce Planning into a Strategy Asset 176
AI for Screening Has a Powerful Tool with pymetrics.ai 177
Creating an Internal Mobility Platform Using SmartRecruiters 177
Using Greenhouse to Maximize Quality of Hire 178
Conduct a Reference Check Before Making an Offer Using Checkster 178
Use Onboarding to Start Delivering on the Promise 179
Feedback Process Control with OutMatch.com 180
Create a Win-Win Hiring Culture 181
CHAPTER 16 USE PERFORMANCE-BASED HIRING TO CREATE A WIN-WIN HIRING CULTURE 182
Deliver on the Win-Win Hiring Promise 182
The Performance-based Future of Hiring 183
Create a Win-Win Hiring Culture 183
Building a Win-Win Hiring Culture Starts with the Right Talent Strategy 184
Hiring as an Integrated System, Not a Sequence of Separate Steps 185
Benchmarking Best Practices 185
Measure and Manage Quality of Hire 186
Use High Touch to Create an Outstanding Candidate Experience 187
Take the Risk and Bias Out of the "Yes" Decision 189
Hiring Strong People Is the First Step in Managing a Great Team 190
APPENDIX 191
Performance-based Hiringsm and Legal Compliance 191
APPENDIX 2 194
Exploratory Phone Screen Talent Scorecard 195
The Performance-based Phone Screen 196
Quality of Hire Talent Scorecard 197
The Performance-based Interview (1/2) 198
The Performance-based Interview (2/2) 199
The Ideal Candidate Persona (1/2) 200
The Ideal Candidate Persona (2/2) 201
About the Author
Index
