Estimated reading time: 4 minutes

Dan’s Biz Bookshelf: 'Who: The A Method for Hiring'

We’ve all hired the wrong person at one time or another. It’s a mistake that, if left uncorrected, can keep on giving for a long time. It reminds me of the adage, “Hire slow, fire fast.”

In their book Who: The ‘A’ Method for Hiring, Geoff Smart and Randy Street share the best ways to hedge your bets in hiring and improve your selecting and hiring techniques. You will probably get rid of your hiring headaches and mistakes, which are often caused by putting more emphasis on who we hire than on why we hire.

Smart and Street say that hiring mistakes happen when managers:

• Are unclear about what is needed in a job
• Have a weak flow of candidates
• Do not trust their ability to pick out the right candidate from a group of similar-looking candidates
• Lose candidates they really want to join their team

Voodoo Hiring
If you find yourself often wondering how a misfit got on the payroll, then it's possible you are using one of the top 10 “voodoo” hiring methods:

1. The Art Critic. A good art critic can make an accurate appraisal of a painting within minutes. With executive hiring, though, people who think they are naturally equipped to "read" people on the fly are setting themselves up to be fooled, big-time. 
2. The Sponge. A common approach among busy managers is to let everybody interview a candidate to soak up what they can. The Sponge's ultimate assessment of the person he hires rarely goes deeper than, "He's a good guy." 
3. The Prosecutor. Prosecutors aggressively question candidates, attempting to trip them up with trick questions and logic problems. Trick questions might land you the most knowledgeable candidate, but knowledge and ability to do the job are not the same thing. 
4. The Suitor. Suitors are more concerned with impressing candidates than assessing their capabilities. They spend all their time in an interview talking and virtually no time listening. Suitors land their share of candidates, but they take their chances with a candidate actually being a good fit. 
5. The Trickster. These are the interviewers who use gimmicks to test for certain behaviors. They might throw a wad of paper on the floor, for example, to see if a candidate is willing to clean it up, or take him to a party to see how he interacts with other partygoers. 
6. The Animal Lover. Many managers hold on stubbornly to their favorite pet questions—questions they think will reveal something uniquely important about a candidate. Not only do questions like this lack any relevance or scientific basis, but they are utterly useless as predictors of on-the-job performance. 
7. The Chatterbox. This technique has a lot in common with the "la-di-da" interview. You're supposed to be picking up a future trusted colleague, not someone with whom you can bat around baseball stats. 
8. The Psychological and Personality Tester. The APA Handbook of Industrial and Organizational Psychology recommends against using these types of tests for executive selection decisions, and with good reason. Savvy candidates can easily fake the answers based on the job for which they are vying. 
9. The Aptitude Tester. Tests can help managers determine whether a person has the right aptitude for a specific role, such as persistence for a business development position, but they should never become the sole determinant in a hiring decision. 
10. The Fortune-teller. Just like a fortune-teller looking into a crystal ball to predict the future, some interviewers like to ask their candidates to look into the future regarding the job at hand by asking hypothetical questions.

We’ve all been guilty of conducting some form of voodoo hiring and interviewing. So, what do we do about it? The authors suggest the following system for hiring as a solution:

• Scorecard: By defining “A” performance for a role, the scorecard gives you a clear picture of what the person you seek needs to be able to accomplish.
• Source: Systematic sourcing before you have slots to fill ensures that you have high-quality candidates waiting when you need them.
• Select: Selecting talent in the “A” method involves a series of structured interviews that allow you to gather the relevant facts about a person so you can rate your scorecard and make an informed hiring decision.
• Sell: Selling the right way ensures that you avoid the biggest pitfalls that cause the very people you want the most to take their talents elsewhere.

Look for Competencies That Matter

Ensuring “behavioral fit” competencies define how you expect a new hire to operate in fulfilling the job and achieving outcomes. What competencies really count?

• Efficiency
• Honesty/integrity
• Organization and planning
• Aggressiveness
• Follow-through on commitments
• Intelligence
• Analytical skills
• Attention to detail
• Persistence
• Proactivity

There are specific competencies that make for an outstanding hire. Ask yourself if your candidate has these abilities:

• Ability to hire “A” players (for managers)
• Ability to develop people (for managers)
• Flexibility/adaptability
• Calm under pressure
• Strategic thinking/visioning
• Creativity/innovation
• Enthusiasm
• Work ethic
• High standards
• Listening skills
• Openness to criticism and ideas
• Communication
• Teamwork
• Persuasion

Everything worth doing in business and life takes intention, patience, and smarts. Take time to evaluate whether a candidate is for the right position, not just for today but into the future as well. This is a serious endeavor. Hiring done right will pay dividends for years, so make sure you do it right. It starts by reading this book.

Dan Beaulieu is president of D.B. Management Group.

Title: Who: The “A” Method for Hiring

Authors: Geoff Smart and Randy Street

Copyright: 2008 by Random House Publishing Group

Price: $27 hardcover/ $14.99 Kindle

Pages: 188