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“A company can have
the right technology,
the right infrastructure,
the right products and
services—yet still fall
short of expectations
without the right people.”
- Ultimate Software
People are the heart and soul of businesses and organizations; they fuel every facet
of success. Attracting, hiring, and engaging the right people is vital for the growth
and success of your company.
We’re in the midst of an ongoing economic recovery, and Millennials—the largest
generation in history (95 million compared with 78 million Baby Boomers)—are
currently filling one out of every three job openings in the United States.
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By 2025, Millennials are projected to make up 75 percent of employees in the global
marketplace. Add this to the incredibly competitive, fast-paced, technologically-
advanced and increasingly inter-connected world that we live in, and hiring the
“right” person becomes both more difficult and more important than ever.
By 2025, Millennials are projected to make up 75 percent of
employees in the global marketplace.
These opportunities, combined with the challenges of the 21st century put talent
acquisition managers in a tough spot. We recognize this and have done some
research to identify what we believe are three essentials to building and maintaining
a high performance workforce.
Table of Contents
Ask Better Interview Questions..................................................................4
Beef Up Your Recruiting Strategy.............................................................8
Don’t Do These 10 Things............................................................................10
Bonus Section.....................................................................................................13
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Ask Better
Interview Questions
Ask Job Candidates to Solve Problems
If you’re not getting exceptional hires, it may be because your traditional interview
process is simply not designed to excite them.
Instead of dwelling on the past, a superior alternative is to ask them to solve real
problems and to demonstrate that they are forward-looking and that they have
solutions for the future.
Top candidates routinely dislike standard interviews because they find them tedious
and predictable. Most interviews are simply not designed to allow a top candidate to
show off their capabilities, ideas, and innovation.
As a result, if you are recruiting for a mission-critical job that requires an
exceptional hire, you simply cannot afford to bore top candidates with standard
interview questions.
Below are four categories of sample questions that put a unique twist on the
interview process and will reveal a good candidate.
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1. Questions to Identify Real
Problem-Solving Skills
How will you identify problems and opportunities on the job?
“The best new hires rapidly seek to identify problems that must be addressed in
their new job. So, please walk us through the steps of the process that you will
actually use during your first weeks to identify the most important current issues
and problems, as well as any possible positive opportunities in your new job.”
Can you identify the likely problems in this process?
“Our employees should be able to quickly identify problems in our existing
processes, systems or products. So please look over this outline of one of our
processes and identify the top three areas or points where you predict that serious
problems are likely to occur.” (Hand them a single page showing an existing process
or system related to this job that you already know to have flaws).
Solve a real problem that you will face.
“Because we need to know your capability for solving the actual problems you will
face in this job, we would like to see how you will go about solving a real problem.
Please walk us through the broad steps that you would take in order to solve this
problem that will be on your desk on your first day.” (Then hand them a half sheet
with bullet points outlining the existing problem).
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2. Questions That Show They Are
Forward-Looking
Forecast the evolution of this job.
“Because our jobs constantly change and evolve, forward-looking is critical if you
are to be successful. So please project or forecast at least five different ways that
the job you are applying for will likely change and evolve over the next three years
as a result of business changes, technology changes, and a faster, more innovative
environment.”
Forecast the evolution of this industry.
“Because we operate in a fast-changing industry, our employees should be forward-
looking, and anticipate and plan ahead for those industry changes. So, please tell
us how often you sit down and focus on the future of our industry? Next, please
forecast and project five trends in our industry and how the top firms will likely
have to change over the next three to five years as a result of these business changes,
new technology, and the need for increased speed and innovation.”
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3. Questions to Help You Better
Understand Your Job Candidate
List and rank your job acceptance factors.
“We know that you have choices, so if we make you an offer, we obviously want it
to meet your needs. And that requires knowing what factors you will use (e.g. pay,
job duties, fit with your manager, levels of responsibility, etc.) to determine whether
‘our job’ is the right job for you. So if you had a choice between two offers for your
next job, please list the top five factors that you would use to evaluate and accept the
superior job opportunity.”
List and rank the capabilities that you bring to this job.
“It’s important to fully understand the strengths of each new hire and how they
match the requirements for the job. So, given the four important categories of
knowledge, experience, education and skills, can you please list in descending order
what you have found to be your strongest five capabilities that will make you a top
performer in the job?”
See what else Dr. John Sullivan has to say about interview questions by viewing
his article on TLNT.
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Recruit a Global Workforce
Successful organizations have embraced the advantages of creating a more global
workforce by leveraging technology like video interviewing and telecommuting to
find the right candidate for the job—no matter where in the world they might be.
Ultimate Software cites data from a recent KPMG survey, which reports that,
“71 percent of HR executives feel that collaborating across international
borders is more prevalent today than just five years ago, and more than
50 percent are considering or have added new international offices.”
Recruit Millennials
Successful talent acquisition programs have been specifically addressing Millennial
candidates applying for positions—a smart move when we consider that they’re
projected to make up 75% of the workforce by 2025!
Beef Up Your
Recruiting Strategy
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This attention on Millennials does not necessarily comprise a total remaking of
the talent acquisition process, but a purposeful implementation of changes to the
recruiting process (like keeping in mind that 83 percent of Millennials own a smart
phone, or that Millennials place a high value on an organization’s mission, purpose
and culture).
Read more of Ultimate Software’s prospective other ideas and trends
in Recruiting.
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Don’t Do These 10 Things
Sometimes the best way to make progress is identifying what you’re not going to do.
Here’s a list of 10 things to cross off your “HR ideas” list.
Treat Everyone Equally
This may not sound good, but your employees are not equal. Some are worth more
because they produce more results. The key is not to treat them equally; it is to treat
them all fairly.
Tolerate Mediocrity
Remember group projects back in middle school? If you got the smart kid on your
team, you probably got an “A” without doing much work. Or maybe you were the
smart kid and ended up doing most of the work. This may have worked in middle
school, but it won’t go well on the job. “A”-players shouldn’t have to, nor do they
want to play with a bunch of “C”-players.
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Have Dumb Rules
You need to have rules, but don’t have dumb rules. Great employees want to have
guidelines and direction, but they don’t want to have rules that get in the way of
doing their jobs or that conflict with the values the company says are important.
Don’t Recognize Outstanding Performance
Remember Psychology 101: behavior you want repeated needs to be
rewarded immediately.
Don’t Keep Your People Informed
You’ve got to communicate not only the good, but also the bad and the ugly. If you
don’t tell your employees, the rumor mill will.
Don’t Have Any Fun at Work
Where’s the written rule that says work has to be serious? If you find it, rip it to
shreds and stomp on it because the notion that work cannot be fun is actually
counterproductive. The workplace should be fun. Find ways to make work or the
work environment more relaxed and fun, and you will have happy employees who
look forward to coming to work each day.
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Micromanage
Tell them what you want done and how you want it done. Don’t tell them why it
needs to be done and why their job is important. Don’t ask for their input on how it
could be done better.
Don’t Develop an Employee
Retention Strategy
Employee retention deserves your attention every day. Make a list of the people you
don’t want to lose and, next to each name, write down what you are doing or will do
to ensure that person stays engaged and on board.
Don’t Do Employee Retention Interviews
Instead of waiting until a great employee walks out the door, conduct retention
interviews. These interviews will help you see what you could be doing differently
and how you can keep your best employees.
Make Your Onboarding Program an
Exercise in Tedium
Employees are most impressionable during the first 60 days on the job. Every bit of
information gathered during this time will either reinforce your new hire’s “buying
decision” (to take the job) or lead to “hire’s remorse.”
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What the Experts Are Doing
to Get and Retain Talent
Below is a list of some of our favorite companies in the Fortune 500 club and what
makes them so awesome.
Check out the entire list.
Offers grants for employees who are first-time home-
buyers below a certain income level. They also
participate in financial counseling.
Has a “time-away” policy for associates that permits
them to take off as much time as they need to
without a quota.
Uses social media to recruit job candidates. They also
have over 100 YouTube videos featuring employees
and describing what they do.
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Designed their headquarters to look like a college
campus and includes a child care center.
Staff won for the fastest corporate team in the annual
race up the Empire State Building steps.
Similar to Chesapeake Energy, Cisco has two large
child care centers.
Matches charitable donations to the dollar, up
to $75,000.
Donates $50 for every five hours an
employee volunteers.
Employees get five paid days off per year to volunteer
in their community.
Makes medical devices physicians use in surgeries.
The company provides opportunities for employees
to see the products in action by watching surgeries.
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Learn More at Our Upcoming Conference
You’re invited to our High Performance Workforce Summit in Atlanta on May 6
and 7.
We have a speaking roster filled with expert CHROs and executives that will
provide you with best practices in the world of talent.
Exclusive Whitepaper Discount Code
By reading this whitepaper you’ve earned yourself an extra 10% off for
the conference.
Just use the code: NILWNLINBQ when you check out to receive your discount.
ALSO, if you register for the conference before January 30th, you’ll save $300.
