Customer Reviews

You're Not The Person I Hired!: A CEO's Survival Guide To Hiring Top Talent

5 star:		(4)
4 star:		(0)
3 star:		(0)
2 star:		(0)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

An excellent compilation of clear concepts that every executive should know and practice. This book clearly shows how hiring should be done. Any senior management person with experience will recognize the importance of getting the right people for the job and this book provides the roadmap. It is not a panacea, the answer requires a fair amount of effort and preparation. But there is tremendous value here.

This book's title is "You're Not the Person I Hired!" Let me add this thought: "This Isn't the Book I Thought I Was Getting." It's better! I've immediately added it to my Top-10 List for 2009.

The authors warn, "When you are tempted to rush a hire, think in terms of Return on Investment over the course of years, not months." They quote Michael J. Lotito, "If you spend a lot of time figuring out who you're going to hire, you'll have to spend far less time figuring out who to fire."

I've noticed two startling trends in leadership and management these last four years in my consulting and management workshops. 1) Poll after poll, I ask leaders and managers if they've ever read a book, listened to a CD or attended a workshop on "Effective Delegation." At best, less than five percent of the room stands up. 2) Ditto for "Effective Hiring Practices." People must think they're good at it--and don't need any professional development. Not!

This book delivers. How many "Useless Interview Questions" have you asked recently?
* Tell me about yourself.
* What are your strengths?
* What are your weaknesses?
* Why do you want to work here?
* If you were an animal/tree/plant, what would you be?
* How do you feel about long working hours?

OK. So those don't work. What should you ask, according to the co-authors? They list five key questions, including: "Would you please give me an example of a situation in which you have demonstrated initiative?" In your search for what they call the "Top 5% Talent," you'll find that top performers are self-motivated.

The authors warn that you must unlearn some bad habits--but effective interviewing and hiring skills can be learned. Rule #1 is "Describe the opportunity they want, not your needs." (Their Success Factor Snapshot(tm) methodology "clearly defines what the new executive must achieve during the first 12 to 18 months, and dramatically increases hiring accuracy.")

The tools and insights leap from dozens and dozens of pages, like:
* The Cost of One Bad Hire Worksheet
* The Top Ten Hiring Mistakes and How to Avoid Them (desperation hiring, fishing in shallow waters, and inappropriate "prerequisites" used too early in the selection process)
* How to avoid Jane Clone hiring, and worse--getting stuck in the Anti-Clone Zone
* Why the "first step to staffing up with Top 5% Talent is to remove deadwood."
* How to spot a bad hire within the first three to six months
* How to tell the difference between non-candidates, sleeper candidates, selective candidates and aggressive candidates (80 percent of your applicants)
* How to market your position--and how to avoid the top five worst sourcing strategies

The Number One hiring mistake: "Inadequate job descriptions drove the hiring process; these focused solely on experience and skills, not company expectations. A staggering 93 percent of searches that resulted in new executive failure made this mistake at the outset."

The solution: eliminate tired-out, traditional job descriptions and instead, create measurable expectations around four S.O.A.R. areas: Substantial Departmental Goal, Obstacles, Action, Results. (Three cheers for authors who focus on the Results Bucket, one of 20 in my book, Mastering The Management Buckets: 20 Critical Competencies for Leading Your Business or Non-profit.)

Chapter 8 delivers remarkable insights in the Culture Bucket. The book lists a three-page self-test with 14 cultural dimensions (with three options for each). The authors warn that cultural mismatches will torpedo unprepared candidates. Example: Which of the following three statements defines your organization's views on "Work/Life Balance?"
* If you have a life elsewhere, that's your problem. We certainly didn't issue you one.
* We want you to take care of yourself so others don't have to do your job when you're sick.
* Happy, healthy workers make better, stronger companies. Onsite yoga, anyone?

This is a no-brainer resource for anyone who interviews or hires people. (Let me think about this...buy one more book that might help me...or keep hiring people I ultimately will need to fire because they're a mismatch?)

This book is amazing. From the perspective of an employee, from the perspective of a business owner, and from the perspective of a manager: I don't care what the title says, you ALL need to read this book. Twice if need be. Don't believe me? It's your loss, but don't say that I didn't warn you. - Heath D. Alberts, C.E.O. - Digital Ninjas Media, Inc.

We ordered this book as a tool to assist with aligning the goal setting process, hiring practices, orientation and performance evaluations.