Need help finding employees? Wondering how to do a more efficient resume search? Or how about simply how to hire most effectively? ClearFit Co-Founder Ben Baldwin explores these topics and more in this exclusive presentation. Visit www.clearfit.com for more details.

1. How Small Businesses Compete with
Big Business for the Best Hires
Ben Baldwin, Co-Founder

2. An Intro …

3. 1999

4. 2011

5. I have a question ...

6. Hiring is not a problem …
right?
Technology has fixed it …
right?

7. 50% of all hiring decisions
are mistakes
– Peter Drucker

8. Hiring is broken!
Average employee
tenure has been
dropping like a
stone and employee
turnover rates
continue relatively
unchanged
* Employee Benefit Research Institute, 2006 ; HR.com, All-Time Low Employee Tenure Draining Knowledge.

9. Hiring is broken!
On average, 45% of new hires
leave in the first 6 months
and 15% of new hires are
fired within the first year*
* Charles A. Handler, Ph.D. (2009) Using Technology to Support Informed Decision Making Within the Hiring Process

10. Hiring is broken!
Employee turnover costs
range from 1/2 to 5 times an
employee's annual wages*
* Charles A. Handler, Ph.D. (2009) Using Technology to Support Informed Decision Making Within the Hiring Process

11. Buyer beware!
Money-back guarantee!

12. The
predictive
value of
traditional
recruiting
methods is
about 14%*
*Robert P. Tett, Douglas Jackson and Mitchell
Rothstein, Personality Measures as Predictors of Job
Performance, Personnel Psychology, Winter 1991,
Michigan State University’s School of Business

13. Progress?

14. Hopeless?

15. Yes
You’re in deep doody

16. Agenda
1. Your time isn’t too valuable
to spend on preparation
2. If you build it, [there’s only a
slight chance that] they will
come
3. Beware: “hire first, ask
questions later”

17. 1. Your time isn’t too
valuable to waste
on preparation

18. Why invest your time with
hiring preparation?
Your strength is managing
weak employees … right?

19. Why?
Hiring smart people has been the
single most important thing
- Bill Gates
The difference between an
A team and an A+ team
is $1 billion
- Paul English, Founder of Kayak.com

20. Focus
1. What do
you need?
2. What don’t
you need?

21. What do you need?
Job Fit
Experience
Experience
AND
Cultural Fit
Personality

22. What don’t you need?
Can they part with their
expense budget?
Do they need an
“important” title?

23. Analyze and decide

24. 2002

25. 2003
1st in the
American League
West with a record
of 96 wins and
66 losses ...

26. You can
predict
who will
succeed

27. How?

28. Ask: what
business
you are in
… really?

29. Ask: what
is success
for your
job?

30. Ask: what type of person
do you need?
Job A Job B
" Take leadership
" Take Leadership
" Influence others
" Team-Oriented
" Driven
" Service-Oriented
" Recover from setbacks
" Self-Regulating
" Tolerate risk
" Learn & Problem Solve

31. Ask: what type of person
do you need?
Sales Rep Manager
" Take leadership
" Take Leadership
" Influence others
" Team-Oriented
" Driven
" Service-Oriented
" Recover from setbacks
" Self-Regulating
" Tolerate risk
" Learn & Problem Solve

32. 2. If you build it, [there’s
only a slight chance
that] they will come

33. When someone mentions the
name of a person that they think
is exceptional, I give myself
seven days to track them
down, make an offer and have
them accept it.”
- Paul English, Co-Founder, Kayak.com

34. Understand your target
1. What is their
job acceptance
criteria?
2. What is their
job search
process?

35. Sources for candidates
Job boards can be tricky
for small business
*CareerXroads 9th Annual Source of Hire Study – www.careerxroads.com

36. Employee referrals

37. Social media

39. Network
Give > Get
2 ears, 1
mouth

40. Teach

41. Be careful
Halo effect
Diagnostic
bias

42. Be very careful
Attractiveness
influences
interview
results*
*Richard Ilkka, Business Communication Quarterly (1995) 11-18.

43. Be very, very careful
EEOC
OFCCP

44. Hire slowly …
… fire quickly

45. Have a process
Write it down

46. Make it consistent
1. Everyone processed/
assessed using the
same tools (even if
they’re your friend)
2. Interview template with
questions that work
3. Multiple interviewers

47. Why?
1. It’s predictive
2. It’s faster
3. It’s fair

48. Men wanted for hazardous
journey. Small wages, bitter
cold, long months of
darkness, constant danger,
safe return doubtful. Honour
and recognition in case of
success.
(Ernest Shackleton's 1914 ad in the London Times for his
expedition to cross Antarctica from sea to sea, via the pole)

49. Shackleton received
more than
5,000 applications*
*http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ernest_Shackleton

50. They were trapped in
pack ice for four months
None of his men died

51. Pack ice = Retail
$2,000 to
leave after
training

52. Focus on culture

53. Focus on culture
Sales Rep Manager
" Take leadership
" Take Leadership
" Influence others
" Team-Oriented
" Driven
" Service-Oriented
" Recover from setbacks
" Self-Regulating
" Tolerate risk
" Learn & Problem Solve

54. Take baby steps

55. What’s in our future?

56. Show how they’ll fit-in

57. 3. Beware: “hire first,
ask questions later”

58. Avoid
unstable
people

59. How do we identify them?
57% of hiring managers say they've caught
a lie on a candidate's application*
*CareerBuilder.com survey, 2006..

60. Use effective questions
1. Open-ended
questions
2. Based on candidates’
strengths/weaknesses
3. Pause …

61. Use effective questions
Dig deep
Ask:
“Please think about your most
significant accomplishment. Now,
could you tell me all about it?”
*Lou Adler.

62. Use effective questions
Can they set goals?
Ask:
“What important target dates did
you set to reach objectives on
your last job? How did you set
the dates? Exactly what were they,
and what were your results?”

63. Use effective questions
Can they lead?
Ask:
“Individuals vary in their ability to use
power or persuasion to influence others.
Give me an example of a time when
you used either power or persuasion to
guide another person to a worthwhile
objective. Be specific. Exactly what did
you do, and what were your results?”

64. Use references
Use references to minimize
exaggeration
Ask:
Who was your last boss? What will
they tell me about your strengths
and weaknesses when I call them
this afternoon? Outcome: more
honest discussion of weaknesses.
*Scott Armstrong interview on MakeHiringEasy.com blog.

65. Use consistent scoring

66. Watch body language
1. Neck touching
2. Rubbing fingers together
3. Shoulder up
*Joe Navarro.

67. Check backgrounds

68. Get multiple opinions
Have others
interview them:
1. On different
days
2. In a social
or other
setting

69. Try before you buy
1. Problem-
solving
interview
2. Salary
negotiation

70. Invest yourself in hiring …
… to avoid spending even more
of yourself in managing and firing

71. 1. Focus on what’s important
and what’s NOT important
2. Hiring is sales
not just marketing
3. Interview for fit, in addition
to technical ability

72. Follow these steps …

73. … and your wildest dreams will come true
Thank you!
www.ClearFit.com