Problems Regarding Subjective Interview Techniques
Screening the right person for the right job is not an easy task. Oftentimes you have to let go of an employee whom months ago you believe to be the right one. Circumstances like these calls for a better pre-employment testing. Here we have the 4 Keys to consider before hiring the best applicant in your line up.
“I just don’t understand. I used my best interviewing techniques and questions. I checked his references and they were great. My instincts said, “He’s a runner.” I poured my heart and soul into training him and now, six months later, he’s failing miserably. I’m going to have to let him go.” Sound familiar? It has happened to all of us.
One of the most difficult tasks a manager or entrepreneur faces today is finding the right person for the job. Most follow a suggested interview guide and trust their instincts. They hire the individual and hope that with proper training and motivation, the individual will succeed. The difficulty with this approach is that it is human nature to hire people we like and that have similar personalities to our own.
If you are an accountant and are hiring accountants, then you probably have a 50% chance of hiring the right person for the job. But, if you are an entrepreneur or manager, and you are hiring for a position you have little experience in, chances are you will fail and the position will become a revolving door. With the average hiring mistake costing a company $17,000 – $20,000, competitive pressures make hiring right the first time a necessity.
There is a better way. Pre-Employment Testing!
The 4 Keys
JOB COMPATIBILITY
The first question to answer is “Is the individual compatible with what you are asking them to do?” Many corporations today have career broadening assignments for their employees. The notion is based on the idea that the broader the experience, the better the employee. Unfortunately, many employees are miserable in career broadening assignments because their personalities are not compatible with what they are being asked to do. Their performance lags. They become frustrated and what was once a rising star becomes a management problem with an attitude. Usually, the employee leaves before the harried manager can determine the root of the problem. Doesn’t it make sense to determine a person’s compatibility with a new job BEFORE they are hired or promoted?
How is this done? I recommend the use of our ENet Hire or Personality Profile. First, test your most successful people in the position. The results will uncover their dominant job related traits. Our program will then model the results through a process called “benchmarking” or “base lining.” This process creates a hiring or promotion personality trait standard, by which you can compare your applicants or employees to the successful people in the job. If you do not have enough employees to benchmark, then you can use our industrial database of base lines. We have benchmarked over 88 positions from receptionist to CEO.
SKILLS, KNOWLEDGE, EXPERIENCE
The second question to answer is “Does the individual have the skill set to do the job?” This can be determined through good interviewing questions, checking references, and giving the applicant a skills test that is relevant to the position. Recent research has shown that many degreed applicants lack the basic skills to do the job. I sincerely recommend the use of a Basic Skills Aptitude test. My company uses tests that were developed by a Doctor of Education to specifically measure the applicant’s computer knowledge, math, spelling, and vocabulary and grammar aptitude. Bottom line, what good does it do to hire someone who can’t open Windows, add and subtract, or compose a business letter? Make sure they have these basic skills before you hire.
If you want to know if an applicant knows how to sell, I sincerely recommend the use of our Sales Strategy Index. It puts the applicant in typical sales situations and then measures their responses against a known group of top producers.
WORK ETHIC
The third question we must answer is “Will the individual work?” For salaried positions, may I suggest you rely upon the in-depth interview questions provided by the ENet Hire or Personality Profile, and the questions below. The Interview Questions Report provides in-depth interview questions for the applicant’s scores that may be a problem on the job. Also, below are additional interview questions to help you determine the applicant’s work ethic. Feel free to modify the questions to suit your needs.
Mission/Sense of Purpose
Who is the most successful person you know in our industry?
What is your goal in life?
Tell me about your 5-year goal? Your 10-year goal?
For the first year or two, is there any reason why you wouldn’t be willing to commit to working 9 am to 9 pm, three to five days a week?
Tenacity/Perseverance
Tell me about something you have accomplished that required great perseverance?
Tell me about the jobs you have had that required self-discipline and perseverance?
Tell me about something that made you decide to give up and why?
Time Management
Do you use a Day Timer? May I see it? (Look to see if it is filled out.)
How do you prioritize your “To Do” list?
Have you taken any seminars on time management? Which ones?
Character and Credit History
When we conduct our character and credit checks, will we find anything questionable?
Check driving, credit, criminal, and employment history.
Check personal references.
For hourly positions, the questions we must answer are different. We want to know, “Will the applicant show up for work?” “Will the applicant steal from the company?” “Will the applicant take drugs on the job?” “Can the applicant accept supervision?” “What is the applicant’s attitude toward customer service and communication?” To measure these, I recommend our Work Ethic and Core Values tool that was originally developed for Sam Walton and his companies, or ENet Hire. Both are now in use with over 3,000 companies worldwide. Each test has proven very effective at screening out people with absenteeism, tardiness, drug, theft, supervision, safety, job hopping, and customer service problems.
If you would like to learn more about how to interview, please see the “Interviewing Tips” articles in the top left hand corner of this web page.
RETENTION
The final question we must answer is “If I hire this applicant, who inside of my organization is best to manage the new hire and jump start his/her productivity?” How many times have you hired the “right” applicant, seen them perform excellently during the “honeymoon”, then watched their productivity slowly fall into non-existence? Our company has been doing retention research and exit interviews for over 7 years. We have found that personality conflicts now account for 50% of the employee turnover. In a recent research project, we discovered that often a new hire had all the “right” ingredients for success. The new hire was then assigned to a manager or trainer with whom they were incompatible. The result was after 120-180 days, the new hire became de-motivated, disheartened and left.
How can this be prevented? By making sure that the new hire and initial manager are compatible. You can do this by a simple comparison of their ENet Hire or Personality Profile results. If the manager and the new hire are opposites in more than 3 of the 20 job related traits, you may want to assign the new hire to another manager or not make the hire. While opposites may attract socially, they usually fight at work. If the differences are not as extreme, then have an initial conference and show the new hire and manager how they are alike and how their differences can benefit each other. Often, just showing two people how they can attack a problem from their different perspectives is enough to promote teamwork and jump start productivity.
CONCLUSION
With hiring mistakes costing the average company $17,000-$20,000, competitive pressures necessitate “hiring right and promoting right” the first time. In order to do this, you must have a complete picture of an applicant’s or employee’s strengths and weaknesses and how they will fit into your organization. This picture must include an assessment of their skills, their personality, their work ethic and consideration of compatibility with the immediate supervisor.
To see why companies worldwide are using Employee Selection and Development, Inc.’s services to help them hire right the first time and reduce employee turnover, you are invited to send in a “problem information sheet” so that we may analyze and discuss you company’s hiring problems.
Theresa Dotts is author of this article on Certified QuickBooks ProAdvisor. Find more information about Certified QuickBooks ProAdvisor here.
One way to make sure you’re hiring the right person is to avail of services that will help and guide you with regards to these matters. It will be cost effective for the company. This is a better option than having to deal with high employee turnover.
How to Hire an Asset, Not a Liability
Every company would like to hire an employee that will be an asset instead of a liability. This is why there are certain qualifications to consider before hiring a person especially if the job handles a very important task. This is very true when you’re looking for someone to do your bookkeeping. We know how important it is to keep tract of the business’ daily financial transactions.
How to Hire an Asset, Not a Liability
Finding the right employee to fill any position is important but it becomes even more critical when you are filling a bookkeeping position. This person is responsible for inputting & maintaining your valuable financial information. If it is not accurate, the repercussions could be devastating to your business! Not only could it cause problems with the IRS & State Government but also with vendors, customers, creditors, etc.
If you hire the wrong person, it can cost you nearly 3 times
that persons’ monthly salary to correct the mistake.
Source: American Management Association
Whether you are hiring a staff bookkeeper or a 3rd party bookkeeping service, you need someone in charge of your books who has the training and experience to get the job done right. But finding a quality bookkeeper can be a challenge – unless you know what to look for.
FIRST, they need the right qualifications (resume)
It’s important to understand that bookkeepers are not necessarily the same as accountants. An accountant’s job is to provide financial advice and prepare taxes ~ a bookkeeper’s job entails the day to day things like recording income & expenses, reconciling bank statements, processing invoices & administering payroll.
The qualifications to look for in a good bookkeeper include:
ACCOUNTING KNOWLEDGE – Many people think only an accountant needs accounting knowledge. The truth is anyone who has anything to do with your financial information needs an understanding of accounting and how the big picture all fits together. This will help to ensure that your records are accurate & it will save you a lot of money because your CPA won’t have to spend as much time “fixing” things before they do your taxes.
EXPERIENCE – Although education & training are important, there is no substitute for experience. A qualified bookkeeper may or may not have a degree in accounting – some of the best bookkeepers you’ll find don’t. In fact, hiring someone that has only completed a couple of bookkeeping courses and has no actual bookkeeping experience is a recipe for disaster.
TECHNOLOGICALLY COMPETENT – You want to keep your books on a computer, not by hand, so ensure that your bookkeeper is competent in using a computerized bookkeeping program like QuickBooks.
FAMILIAR WITH INDUSTRY – Having a bookkeeper that is familiar with your industry will shorten the learning curve & provide better details.
NEXT, they need the right personality (interview)
While it is important to make sure the applicant will “fit in” with the other members of your team, you also want to make sure they have a “bookkeeper” personality!
DETAIL ORIENTED – Bookkeepers live for details & accuracy. Therefore, it is vital for them to have detail-oriented personalities. If the person seems disorganized during the interview, that’s a good sign that they may not be the right person for the job.
INTEGRITY – Not only do you want someone who won’t steal from you but you also want someone who will make sure no one else is either! Also, someone with integrity will understand the importance of confidentiality and not discuss company financial information with ANYONE. If the applicant divulges private information during an interview about other companies they have worked for, you can be sure they will do the same with your company information.
PROBLEM SOLVER – Problems arise almost daily in any business. You want a bookkeeper who is a thinker and who is willing to help figure out solutions.
PROACTIVE – A good bookkeeper isn’t afraid to ask questions if they don’t understand – they don’t just “wing it” or code everything to “miscellaneous”. Also, a proactive bookkeeper may help anticipate financial issues before they arise – keeping “issues” from becoming “problems”.
FINALLY, you need to verify their qualifications & their personality!
There are 3 types of applicants:
Those that tell the truth about their job experience, those that exaggerate & those that lie!
Many businesses still make staffing decisions based on a resume & an interview. Although both are important to the hiring process, they are not enough to insure a proper fit. In addition to a work reference check, you may also want to verify academic credentials by calling their college. A credit history check and a criminal background check are good tools to help reduce the risk of embezzlement. Pre-employment testing is also a very valuable & under-utilized tool!
The best way to increase the chances of hiring the ideal employee
is to test the applicant for the required skills.
Source: American Management Association
Pre-employment tests include the cognitive ability test (predict future job performance), the personality test (evaluate social interaction skills), the aptitude test (assess basic academic knowledge), the integrity test and the specialized skills tests (QuickBooks or other software). You will probably not want to give an applicant all of these tests, but you should look at each of them to determine which would be most beneficial to your company.
• Most of these tests can be found at www.resourceassociates.com
• The American Management Association recommends the DISC test (a personality test), it can be found at www.internetassessments.com.
• A QuickBooks skills assessment exam can be found at www.qbtests.com. These exams are industry specific so the applicant is tested on the skills they will need for your business. Also, the feedback from the test isn’t just a test score; it’s an overview of what level of user they are & what duties they should be able to perform in QuickBooks.
(These websites are my personal favorites but there are other sites offering these services).
The expression “An ounce of prevention is worth a pound of cure” applies 10 fold when hiring a bookkeeper. If you don’t spend the time and money finding the right person to begin with ~ you will spend much more time and money cleaning up their mistakes and starting the hiring process all over again.
The bottom line is finding a qualified bookkeeper is PRICELESS!
Theresa Dotts is author of this article on Certified QuickBooks ProAdvisor. Find more information about Certified QuickBooks ProAdvisor here.
Positions like that of a bookkeeper is something that we shouldn’t take lightly. Their job is very important especially for the accountants who will make use of their recordings in preparing the financial report. Imagine the credibility of these financial statements if you have an employee who’s performing poorly on his bookkeeping job.