PICKING WINNERS
KEVIN C. EICHNER
Picking Winners…
There is nothing more important to your
success than hiring (and developing)
great people.
 You can either hire smart or manage
tough… but I’ve never met anyone who
can manage tough enough. No matter
how hard you try, you can never atone
for a weak hiring decision.
 Hiring can represent as much as 95% of
a manager’s success

Strong & Weak Interviewers
Strong Interviewers:
Recognize two aspects
of interviewing
1. Info gathering –
analytical, fact
finding method
2. Hiring decision –
intuitive component
reinforced by 8-10
factors of success
Weak Interviewers:
◦ Too emotional – 1st
impression/personality
◦ Overly intuitive –
short cut the process
(use a few
factors/traits)
◦ Too technical – good
at info gathering but
weak with decisions
(analysis paralysis)
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95% made bad hiring decisions
95% said hiring is #1 or #2 in importance
95% don’t like the hiring process
Everyone felt the interview process was
inaccurate (57% accuracy in actuality)
No decisions are made in 30 minutes or less
(interviewers are confident, but not always
accurate)
Confident yes decisions are made in 1 – 3
hours
# of different assessments = # of interviews
3 wks to 3 months to assess new hire
competency
Hiring Attitude Survey

“Companies spend hundreds of
thousands of dollars to reengineer a
flawed process with error rates of 5 –
10%. One with a 20% error rate would
be considered out of control and shut
down! Yet the one process that is
considered most important (staffing)
has a 40+% error rate and we persist.
Process Reengineering & 6 Sigma
Hiring Accuracy
Hiring Accuracy
Hiring Accuracy

The accuracy of
the hiring
decision depends
directly on
whether a
candidate is
being measured
on their ability to
get the job or on
their ability to do
the job…
Get the Job
Personality
1st impression
Handshake
Affability
Confidence
Assertiveness
Appearance
Extroversion
Boss match
Do the Job
Initiative
Team skills
Competence
Management
Org skills
Intellect
Leadership
Staffing
Accomplishments
Type I & II Errors in Hiring
Very Good
Not Very
Good
Very Good
Hired
Great
Decision
Hired
Error I – Falls
Short
Not Very
Good
Not Hired
Error II –
Good
Performer
Not Hired
Great
Decision
Think of your last hires both internal and
external.
 Was there a difference in the process
used?
 In general, what process do you follow for
external hires?
 Are decisions made on a candidate’s
ability to do the job or get the job?

Exercise #1 – Reflect on Your
Hiring Practices
Objective – to develop a method for
outside hiring that closely approaches the
accuracy of internal hiring decisions.
 Internal decisions – “doing” oriented;
past performance dominates the decision
 External decisions – “having” oriented;
based largely on the candidates
background
 Some “have” but can’t “do”; others can
“do”, but don’t “have”

Picking Winners
Having vs. Doing
Predictability
Primary Hiring
Decision Criteria
Outside Hire
55 – 70 %
Internal Move
80 – 90 %
Past Experience
Past Performance
Skills & Academics
Talent, Energy, Team
Skills, Leadership,
Potential
Personality &
1st Impressions
Underlying
Difference
Heavy Experience
Globalize S&W
Light Experience
Balance of S&W
Having of Skills
Doing of Activities

“We must redefine job descriptions and
postings to reflect what needs to get
done rather than what a candidate needs
to have.”

Outcome-oriented rather than inputoriented

Better predictor of future performance
Having vs. Doing

More hiring mistakes are made in the
first half-hour of an interview than at
any other time. (delaying decisions by
30 minutes can eliminate 50% of hiring
mistakes)

First impressions are based on emotions,
biases, chemistry, personality and
stereotyping.

Staying objective is hard work!
Emotional Control
1st Impressions

When you think you’re going to enjoy the
interview, you’re in trouble….

The relaxation response causes us to
ignore negative data, globalize strengths,
begin selling, and stop listening

If we like someone, we don’t push hard
enough.
Positive “Yes” Response

Some candidates bother you from the
start.

You must fight through this initial
characterization. Recognition is the
first step to emotional control.

Keeping the emotional switch open is
the key to an accurate, unbiased
assessment.
The Negative Response

YES – we become
relaxed &
comfortable
◦
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Ignore negatives
Maximize positives
Globalize strengths
Stop listening
Start selling

NO – we are bored,
uncomfortable,
uptight
◦
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Emotional Switch
Ignore positives
Maximize negatives
Globalize weaknesses
Stop listening
Undersell the job
Performance
(Doing the Job)
+
Character
(Doing the Job Right)
Initiative, drive, talent,
leadership, management,
team skills, decision
making, focus, results,
intelligence, skills, vision
Honesty, commitment,
integrity, responsibility,
goal orientation
+
Personality
(Working with the Team)
Attitude, warmth, style,
pace, affability, poise,
social confidence,
presence, dress
Basic Hiring Formula
The Top Down Approach
Reflect on your interviewing style. What
emotional behaviors do you demonstrate?
 How do you feel those behaviors are
functional or disfunctional (how does
being emotional work for you?)
 What are some ways that you could keep
yourself more objective?

Exercise #2 – Staying Objective
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Recognize your emotional state
20 minute phone interview
Don’t start the interview right away
Use a preplanned structured interview
Measure 1st impressions after 30 minutes
Change your frame of reference
Listen 4x more than you talk
Treat the candidate as a consultant
Talk about real work
Use panel interviews
10 Ways to Stay Objective
 Assessing
past performance & job
competency…

Performance = Talent x Energy (squared)
+ Team Leadership
+ Comparable Past
Performance
+Job-Specific Problem
Solving
Performance-Based Interviewing
◦ Getting at the Performance Equation…
Q1: Motivation (talent x energy) – Please think of
the most significant accomplishment of your
career
Q2: Team Leadership – Please think of the most
significant team accomplishment of your career
Q3: Past Performance – Please think of the most
significant accomplishment of your career
Q4: Job-specificity – If you were to get this job,
how would you solve this job-specific problem?
Performance-Based Interviewing

Assessing Past Performance:
◦ Develop a trend analysis to judge increases in
performance and responsibility
Performance-Based Interviewing
 Determine
Job Competency
◦ Anchor Objectives:
“We would like to
accomplish {objective} during the next year.
Tell me about your most significant related
accomplishment”
◦ Visualize Objectives: “As we’ve
discussed, {objective} is an important
aspect of this position. If you were to get
the job, what additional information would
you need to know and how would you
accomplish this objective?
Performance-Based Interviewing
Funnel Your Questions

Observing good visualization:
 Job-specific problem-solving
 Verbal communications
 Reasoning and thinking skills
 Adaptability and flexibility
 Self-confidence
 Insight and job knowledge
 Creativity
 Organizational skills
 Logic and intellect
Performance-Based Interviewing

Unlock Character/Values
◦ “Tell me about a time that you were totally
committed to a task.”
 The ability to persevere under difficult conditions is
an essential characteristic of top performers. It’s
the character component of energy.
◦ Determine if commitment is to an individual,
team or company.
◦ Much of this is revealed in the other portions of
the interview
Performance-Based Interviewing

Personality and Cultural Fit
◦ Personality is, in an absolute sense,
unimportant. How candidates used their
personality in achieving results is what’s really
important.
◦ “What three adjectives best describe your
personality? Give me examples of when these
traits have aided you in performing your job.
When have they hurt?” (Sizzle alert!)
◦ Look for change, growth, and candor.
Performance-Based Interviewing
Think of an important position in your
organization that needs to be filled.
 What are the specific competencies that
drive performance for that position?
 Develop some specific questions that can
be asked to determine a candidate’s job
competencies for that position.
 Now funnel to the next level.

Exercise # 3 – Selecting
Performance Objectives
Hiring is not at the top of the list of fun
things to do…so there is a natural
tendency to “short-cut” the process.
 Completing the 10-Factor assessment
doesn’t take any extra time, especially if
you become familiar with it and integrate
it with the interview.
 All 10 are important…don’t make a
decision without considering each factor.

10-Factor Candidate Assessment

Energy, Drive, and Initiative
◦ Don’t compromise here….universal trait of
success.
◦ Key to personal success is to do more than
required.
◦ Low-key candidates do not necessarily lack
energy and enthusiasm.
◦ Look for special projects and extra effort in
those with little experience
10-Factor Candidate Assessment

Trend of performance over time
◦ Examples of major accomplishments and org
changes for the past 5-10 years
◦ Excellent candidate has had comparable jobs
and is showing upward growth
◦ Also look at staff size, complexity of issues,
standards of performance, rate of company
growth and level of sophistication
10-Factor Candidate Assessment

Comparability of past
accomplishments
◦ Anchor the SMART objectives
◦ Use work-type profiling to ensure a good match
◦ Make sure each interviewer has a copy of the
SMART objectives with them during the
interview
10-Factor Candidate Assessment

Experience, Education, Industry
Background
◦ Strong experience and education can
sometimes offset a weaker accomplishments
rating
◦ Examine experience in the context of the
environment
◦ Direct industry experience and education
deserve some extra credit
10-Factor Candidate Assessment

Problem solving and thinking skills
◦ Understanding the work, solving job-related
problems, anticipating needs
◦ Ability to use previous knowledge and
experience in solving problems
◦ Quality of questions asked
◦ Use the visualization approach
10-Factor Candidate Assessment

Problem solving & thinking skills
(cont..)
◦ Candidates should exhibit high intelligence..
 Technical intelligence: strong analytical skills,
processing of detailed info and systematic
thinking
 Tactical intelligence: marshalling resources,
getting team results, practical solutions, bottomline focused
 Strategic/Creative intelligence: thinking/planning
future, understanding long-range consequences,
conceptualizing ideas, big picture, out-of-the-box.
10-Factor Candidate Assessment

Overall talent, technical competency
and potential
◦ Represents candidate’s ability to grow, develop
and take on bigger roles.
 Thinking skills: job specific problem-solving
 Business understanding: holistic view of
organization
 Technical skills: ability to apply or learn job
specific skills
10-Factor Candidate Assessment

Management and Organization
◦ Managed, built and developed groups of similar
size (to job) and achieved similar results
◦ Use project to get at organizational skills
◦ Use org charts to find a pattern of building,
developing and managing strong teams
◦ Beware of candidates who complain about
team, talk about management success in
general terms, or who have lots of team
turnover
10-Factor Candidate Assessment

Team leadership – persuasion &
motivation
◦ Ability to tap and harness the energy of others.
◦ Two dimensions
 The subordinate team
 Peers/subordinates in other departments/outside
◦ Extroversion vs. introversion
◦ Attitude and confidence
10-Factor Candidate Assessment

Character – values, commitment,
goals
◦ Summarizes a persons integrity, honesty,
responsibility, openness, fairness in dealing
with others and personal values
◦ Adler recommends saving for last
 Ask basis of personal values system
 Ask why they want to change jobs
 Look for goal setting/achievement pattern
 Ask how candidate is getting ready for
promotion
 Look for frank and open responses
10-Factor Candidate Assessment

Personality and cultural fit
◦ Look for accomplishments and flexibility in a
variety of contexts
◦ Use ABC to determine the preferred
relationship pattern
◦ Personality should be used for disqualification
(ie: conflict, ego, inability to work with others)
10-Factor Candidate Assessment

Fatal Flaws…
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Management role doesn’t seem to be growing
Too assertive
Dominant or stern personality
Extremes in behavior –too analytical, too
friendly, too persuasive
◦ Answers that are too general (sizzle)
◦ Too many I’s or we’s (balance)
10-Factor Candidate Assessment
Interviewer Professionalism
Weak assessments can be a result of a
bad interviewer rather than a bad
candidate
 Candidates judge the quality of the
company and the quality of their
potential supervisor by the quality of
the interview and interview process
 Be prepared, be aware of emotions,
train and assess interviewers, get
written assessments of candidates, use
at least an hour of discussion

Benefits of Strong Staffing
To the Company
To the Manager

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Short Term
◦ Reduced turnover
◦ Increased
Productivity
◦ Efficiency
◦ Legal

Long Term
◦ More responsive
◦ More innovative
◦ Competitive
advantage
◦ Flexible workforce
Short Term
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Save time
Natural transition
Clarify expectation
Basis of PM
Long Term
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Become better mgr
Stronger staff
More promotable
More effective
team

Everyone involved in the hiring process
needs to build competencies in staffing.
How will you embed the skills and
processes for “picking winners” into your
organizational culture?
Final Exercise – Picking Winners