The document summarizes key points from a professional development workshop on hiring top performers. Speakers at the event discussed hiring for cultural fit, writing performance profiles instead of traditional job descriptions, and developing a proactive recruiting strategy focused on attracting top talent. An effective recruiting strategy involves instilling a talent mindset, defining superior performance, investing in talent, hunting for talent continuously, leveraging internal and external referrals, building university partnerships, following up on past candidates, and thinking outside the box.

1. DMA 05
Professional Development
Workshop
October 15-16, 2005
Speakers:
Jerry Bernhart, President, Bernhart Associates Executive Search
Tim Prunk, CEO, Vistrio
Cathy Maslyn, Director of Human Resources, CMS Direct
David Williams, President and CEO, Merkle
Ken Clark, Vice President of Business Development, Hawthorne
Executive Search

2. Hiring Top Performers

3. 1- Hiring for Cultural Fit
2- Writing Performance Profiles
3- Developing a Recruiting Strategy

4. Cultural Fit Frustrations
• “Not such a great fit”
• “Bad chemistry”
• Candidate fits at one level but not another
• Candidate refuses the offer (not salary)

5. Cultural Attributes
• How people treat each other
• What people can discuss
• What is rewarded
• Risk tolerance
• How decisions are made
• What teams mean

6. Questions for Cultural Fit
• Success
• Challenges
• Environment
• Offer

7. “Tell me about your greatest
successes. What caused your
success?”

8. “Tell me about your greatest
challenges. What caused them?”

9. “What kind of environment do
you need to be most
successful?”

10. “What’s important to you to see
in an offer?”

11. Writing Performance Profiles

12. Traditional Job Description:
List “must have’s”
Years of experience
Required skills, education
Can filter out A players
Performance Profile:
Defines successful performance
Includes mission-critical
objectives, with time-line
Creates performance standard
More attractive to A players

13. Performance Objectives:
1- Conduct a comprehensive review of current marketing efforts: During the first 30 days, audit the
existing marketing infrastructure, develop budgets, interact with direct reports and establish cross-
functional relationships.
2- Coordinate the development and launch of the new brand: The CMO will play a key role in
creating valuable brand equity across marketing channels. Develop and implement a complete
branding strategy across all marketing communications. The CMO will participate on other cross-
functional teams to ensure that an accurate and consistent brand identity is delivered in company
objectives, programs and results.
3- Create a database marketing infrastructure: The CMO will design the framework of a data-driven
marketing organization with an information-rich data warehouse as the foundation to test, analyze, and
adapt direct marketing strategies to grow revenues and maximize ROI. The CMO will infuse the best
practices of campaign management including list generation, experimental design creation and back-
end analysis. Within six months, critical performance objectives will include researching and
segmenting the database, overseeing installation of campaign management software and staffing the
data-mining and analytical department.
4- Develop research and testing for the creation of marketing strategies to acquire new members:
The acquisition of new members will play a critical role in achieving our client’s vision of becoming
the leading brand in its industry. Within six months, begin the design of testing scenarios to provide
quantifiable results to support acquisition strategies.
5- Deliver the marketing strategies to achieve objectives and continuously improve ROI:
The successful candidate will develop new and innovative ideas, set the strategic direction and deliver
the programs that will directly impact business growth. This individual will use his/her exceptional
leadership attributes and a strong bias for action, the ability to build high performance teams and a
“pioneering” attitude.

14. Developing a Recruiting
Strategy

15. Old Strategy
• Grow your own talent
• Recruit for vacant positions
• Use a few traditional sources
• Advertise to job hunters
• Stick with compensation
ranges
• Recruiting is about screening
• Hire as needed
New Strategy
• Pump talent in at all levels
• Hunt for talent all of the time
• Tap many diverse pools
• Reach out to “passive
candidates”
• Recruiting is selling and
screening
• Develop a recruiting strategy
for each type of talent

16. Instilling a talent mindset
• Do you believe having better people is how
you will stay ahead of your competitors?
• Do you believe that strengthening your talent
pool is a crucial part of your job?
• Have you convinced all of your managers to
make talent a crucial part of their jobs?
• Have you established a gold standard for
talent, at all levels?
• Are you deeply involved in hiring decisions at
least two levels below you?

17. Instilling a talent mindset
• Do you talk with your people about talent
frequently?
• Are you prepared to invest real money in talent?
• Are you holding your leaders, and yourself,
accountable for three to six specific actions to
strengthen your talent pool in 2005?

18. Define Superior Performance
• Six to eight competencies
• Define poor/average/superior
• Benchmark for evaluation and promotion

19. Invest in Talent
• Value creation drives pay
• Pay according to market equity
• Break the rules

20. Hunt for Talent All of the Time
• Create an “A” list
• Be a talent scout
• Opportunistic hiring

21. Internal Referrals
Offer Real Reward$

22. Tell the World
Include every touchpoint

24. Colleges and Universities
• Intern pipeline
• Scholarship
• Speaking opportunities

25. References are Gold
• Good PR opportunity
• Who do they admire?
• Be a detective!

26. Follow Up with Past Candidates
• Might be on the market again
• Might know someone
• Who do they admire?

27. Think Outside the Box
• Target “passive” job seekers
• Consider other industries
• Military