Hire Candidates With These 5 Traits – or Prepare to Perish – ERE.net…

There are of course some answers that I think are always incorrect — “I have no ambition”, “I’m the smartest guy I’ve ever met”, or “I give up easily” — but the correct answer for your organization should be determined by you.

I will also have to disagree with your position about interview questions. While, there is not a “law” which cites or clarifies specific questions related to “soft skills” as illegal. This does fall under the umbrella of hiring practices and discriminition.

As an overview, a former colleague has just been through a very unpleasant legal process. The company he works for liked using what it referred to as “thought provoking and insightful interview questions”, similar to, if an ice cream what flavor, among others. A candidate who was not hired file suit (California–land of the lawsuit). Although the company supported its process citing that these questions were to assist in employee and team interaction, essentially determining employee soft skills and fit (which is a big “no-no” word–employee match–yes, employee fit–no). The result was not positive for the company.

As I indicated in my initial response, there are many people who ask questions that should not be asked–and have never had an issue. My point was to provide information that there are risks–people can choose to do whatever they like–but they should also be aware of possible consequences.

Merlynn

@ Carol: ISTM that one of the secrets to corporate success is APPEARING to be somewhat (but not too much) innovative, while actually not going beyond the conventional tried-and-true. It’s one thing if you own/control the company, but quite a different thing if you don’t…

Cheers,

Keith

Secondly, his questions are not illegal. True BBI is done this way. It is what I recommend and train my clients to do.

@Keith: I draw from more than just my own personal experience. The ownership, management, and HR teams at Jameson Publishing and our sister organizations have shared our collective experiences (from retail, grocery, services, manufacturing, employment firms, military, non-profit, consulting, automotive, etc.) with each other plus studied and communicated with a variety of hiring managers and business owners, drawing from their experiences to form what we consider best practices. I just happen to be the person who was tasked with communicating those best practices and expanded that into my book. I still consider myself a student of hiring, and plan on learning from others for the rest of my life.

Thanks to both of you for your interest!

@ Jim: I went to your LI Profile below. You have been a successful publishing executive and before that a magazine and newspaper publisher. While you have probably successfully hired substantial numbers of people in your time, ISTM that does not make you an expert on effective hiring in general (which the tone of the article implies), though if you restated your experience as being a guide to hiring people in your segment of the publishing industry or even as a guide from the perspective of a SMB hiring executive, that would be valid.

Finally, I’m glad to hear you are a cancer survivor- my mother and grandmothers weren’t.

Stay Well,

Keith

……………………………………….

Vendor Working Group Chairperson & Board Member
RSPA

Nonprofit; 1-10 employees; Retail industry

July 2010 – Present (2 years 4 months)
President/GM
Jameson Publishing

Privately Held; 51-200 employees; Information Technology and Services industry

December 1998 – Present (13 years 11 months)

Jim has 2 recommendations (1 report, 1 partner) including:

3rd Douglas C., Managing Editor, Jameson Publishing
2nd Tracey Lugo, Global Marketing Communications Manager, BlueStar

Owner/Co-Publisher
Espy & Roddy Ink

July 1993 – December 1998 (5 years 6 months)

Publisher of SportsLook magazine and the Millcreek Independent Beacon newspaper

Jim has 1 recommendation (1 report) including:

3rd Christine D., Freelance Writer, Millcreek Independent Beacon

I find quite a few issues with the statements in this article–many have already been identified and I do not want to rehash what others have stated very well.

However, I would be interested in how a CEO is going to explain to his/her shareholders the spending of significant amounts of revenue on talent that does not exist yet? One would not need an egg timer to clock the CEO’s departure.

Unless anyone wants to spend a significant amount of time in court for “illegal hiring practices”, you might want to re-think those “pre-employment questions”. I believe it would be advantageous to remember that only those skills/qualifications related to or required “to do the job” should be asked of the candidate.

Granted, I am aware that there are many people who ask questions that should not be asked–but, why encourage it?

Merlynn

Cheers,

Keith

Cheers,

Keith