Kimberly A. Miller & Associates, LLC
Law Enforcement Consulting Services
Leading You to Excellence
The Future Of Your Organization Is Now
Getting the right people in the door is extremely important for all organizations; however, it seems to be
harder to attract the candidates that are the best "long-term fit." Although there are many strategies to
improve a hiring process, I will cover a few important tweaks that will help improve your outcomes.
Character
Character is an important concept that is critical for success in all parts of life, but sadly it is not one that
is usually directly assessed in hiring processes. This might be because people are unsure how to assess it
or they feel it is addressed by examining other factors (e.g., criminal records, family dynamics,
employment history). However, based on my experience, there is no substitute for a thorough assessment
of this construct. We all default to who we "are" in the world in all the decisions we make and actions we
take. If you want to truly know what you are getting in an employee, you must craft a process that will get
at their pattern of behaviors over time, because this reveals their "truth." Character questions should be
infused throughout your process (e.g., oral boards, psychological evaluations, and background
investigations) and used to determine the consistency a person has in operating from the specific traits
you are seeking.
So, how do you choose what traits to assess? First, discuss with employees at all levels the traits that are
most important for success at your office. Second, look at the traits of unsuccessful employees or those
you fired over the years and determine which traits they lacked (e.g., honesty, dedication, selflessness).
The list might be long so be sure to narrow it down to those that are most important and reflect the
"essential" qualities needed for a successful employee.
Leadership/Teaching
Leadership and teaching abilities are two additional constructs that are valued by organizations but rarely
assessed for at hire. I am not talking about having a past leadership or training position, I am referring to
having a real strength in these areas. There are many people who are leaders who have never held a
formal position and others who demonstrate patience, creativity and communication abilities that are
essential components of a good instructor. Since hiring should be the first step in a formal succession plan
you should directly assess for these traits during your process.
Similarly to the discussion of character, determine the most important traits of leaders and trainers and
also identify the traits that are indicators of unsuccessful leaders and trainers. Once identified, craft
questions that can identify the presence or absence of these qualities. Although not every candidate will
end up in a leadership or teaching role, if you had the option to select someone who could, even
informally do so, wouldn't that enhance your office?
Improved Assessment
After creating lists of the traits you want to assess, the next step is to write effective questions, but this
process is much harder than people realize. Although space won't allow for a detailed review of question
writing, I will cover two of the most critical components. First, the best questions are historically based,
meaning focused on determining what a person "has done," instead of asking them what they "will do."
This is in line with the saying "the best predictor of future behavior is past behavior." Second, the best
questions are not obvious about what they are assessing. When people are not sure what you are looking
P.O. Box 270624  Fort Collins, CO 80527-0624  (970) 492-5037 
www.KimberlyMillerConsulting.com
Dr.Miller@KimberlyMillerConsulting.com
Kimberly A. Miller & Associates, LLC
Law Enforcement Consulting Services
Leading You to Excellence
for, they are forced to answer based on past experiences because it is what they know best. The problem
with many questions used in agency processes is they are too obvious (e.g., Tell us about how you
normally make decisions), which leads people to tell you what you want to hear, which is not necessarily
their "truth."
One example that is both historically based and inconspicuous is "Tell us three important character traits
you don't possess and describe how this hinders your effectiveness." This question is great for a lot of
reasons. First, it provides a space for a person to tell you something negative about themselves. If they
deny they are lacking a trait or minimize the consequences of not having it, you will already have
determined a great deal about who they are. Second, if they take a risk to tell you the truth, you will
obtain valuable information about them and can use this to determine if they fit your desired character
profile. Finally, since they have no idea what you are looking for they will be forced to pull on their past,
which will reveal their "truth" to you.
A second example of a good question is: "Describe for us the most important quality of a leader and
explain why." After they have provided the answer, ask them to provide examples from their past of how
they possess it. In this series, you not only learn their view of leadership, you also will get a clear sense if
they possess the trait or not and how well they can support having it.
Your hiring process should be crafted to find employees who fit your culture and also possess the
qualities that will enable them to be successful at all levels of the agency. The assessment of character is
critical because it is the foundation for all of our decisions and actions. If you are looking to secure the
future of your agency, make hiring the start of your succession plan. Directly assess for the traits you
want in leaders and instructors because the people you hire today will fill those roles tomorrow. Finally,
the quality of the questions you write and the anchors used to assess them will determine your outcomes.
Be sure to carefully craft these and make sure they can effectively discriminate between people who
possess the qualities you are seeking and those who do not. If you need additional guidance in this area or
have any questions, don't hesitate to reach out.
P.O. Box 270624  Fort Collins, CO 80527-0624  (970) 492-5037 
www.KimberlyMillerConsulting.com
Dr.Miller@KimberlyMillerConsulting.com