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Journals of an HRD by Youssef Salloum
The Excitement of a Blind Date
We live in an era where your competitors can duplicate anything from your
strategy, products, technology, marketing, pricing, supply chain and the list goes
on and on. The one thing that cannot be duplicated is the collective effectiveness
of your employees, which creates the soul & culture of your organization. As the
gatekeeper of the selection and hiring process, just like any guest entering your
home, it is your role to ensure that they fit into your company’s culture and they
will enrich the souls of others.
In a series of articles, I will share with you my recruitment strategies and tools of
the trade that will guide you and put you in a better position when it comes to
hiring the right person which in my mind is the most important ingredient in a
company ‘s success.
The Story of Steve (All characters are fictional)
Steve is a South American national who was identified as an exceptional
performer by his company CMV due to the outstanding sales results he delivered
consistently over the last two years.
Today, Steve is managing a team of four key account managers covering the
capital city of Buenos Aires in Argentina which is where the headquarter (HQ) is
located. His organization sees great potential in him with a strong endorsement
from his Leader Alex who identifies allot of the same qualities and competencies
he had in Steve and he is supported in his thoughts by Hanna the VP of Human
Resources (HR).
To reward and retain Steve, HQ wants to expatriate him on a three-year
assignment where he, his wife and two kids would relocate to Dubai the Host
Country (HC), which is also the Hub of their Middle East (ME) Operations. He will
assume the role of Regional Sales Director ME that was created due to the
growth of the market and CMV wants to solidify its market positioning and share.
In his proposed assignment, Steve would overlook the entire sales of the ME
region with a team of fourteen Sales Managers directly reporting to him.

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CMV fearing it might lose its key employees due to the slow down in the
European market and weak results in South America and Asia, was looking to
expatriate high performers to the ME and Steve would be at the top of their list.
The idea was briefly discussed with Steve and he found it to be appealing from
two angles, first from a career perspective, the experience & exposure would add
to his development and groom him for bigger opportunities in the future. Second,
the Dubai lifestyle was appealing as the UAE enjoys a tax-free living and not to
mention the great weather most of the year. Both of these factors were far too
great of an opportunity for him to pass up and he did not want to let down Alex
whom he considered as a mentor.
Communication would not be an issue for Steve as he is fluent in English
however his wife and two kids will struggle as they only spoke Spanish. The
company agreed to pay for private English classes to help them during their
transition for the first year should an offer be made.
In order to go ahead with the move and present an offer to Steve, the sign off
was needed by the local team in the ME represented by the GM and the HRD of
the ME although the weight of power belonged to Alex & Hanna.
How to prepare for a Blind Date
“Somebody once said that in looking for people to hire, you look for three
qualities: integrity, intelligence, and energy. And if you don’t have the first, the
other two will kill you. You think about it; it’s true. Warren Buffet
Conducting an interview to me is like going on a blind date, there is a feeling of
hope and excitement in the air. When I receive a CV, it is the equivalent in date
terms to a friend or the HR Recruiter in corporate world seeing a potential in this
relationship and that there is a potential fit. I personally do not look at a CV
before my date trusting the competencies of my team in knowing the type of
individual we are looking for this particular position.
During the interview process and in order to ensure that the best candidate is
recruited for the role, I try to break it down to a science always keeping in mind
that the purpose of the process is to find the best possible candidate and
put them in a position where they can succeed.
The first element that I focus on during an interview and I believe is the most
important is their character, which I break down to commitment & integrity.

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This is very important to me because in one’s character just like in any
relationship, you get to find their level of Caring, Transparency, Vulnerability,
Honesty, Fairness and Authenticity all key indicators that will help determine
whether this relationship has the potential to be a good fit or not.
A person’s character is not easy to measure however there are several tools that
can help you such as psychometric & personality assessment surveys and
reference checks. I would advise you to do the assessments and reference
checks after you have met the candidate in order not to have any pre judgments.
Call me old fashioned, I still believe that the most efficient way to get to know a
person is Human-to-Human interaction and I avoid doing interviews via
telephone of web conference. I do not just focus on the words being said by the
candidate in an interview, only a small part of communication involves words to
be precise 7%, tonality accounts for 38% and body language accounts for 55% of
communication. This is why I believe that your Emotional Intelligence (EI) is more
important than your IQ. EI deals allot with your beliefs, which are embedded in
your values.
For candidates being interviewed, your reputation is your most important and
your most vulnerable asset, so always protect it. Think of yourself as a brand and
how you chose to market yourself to your potential employer can be the
difference in getting or losing the job or even getting a promotion in your own
organization. Trust is key in corporate world, if lost it can be salvaged however
just like a broken mirror, you can always fix it but you will always see the cracks
so protect your brand.
I use the below questions during an interview to get information on the
candidate’s Character:
• Who are five people alive or dead that you would & would not have dinner
with? This gives me information on how well they deal with the
unexpected and I politely interrupt the candidate while they are in the
middle of going through their experience. You will be surprised how many
people are not able to answer these two questions and derails them the
rest of the interview.
• If your life had a soundtrack, what song would be playing in the
background and can you hum it? This will let me know if they are able to
have fun in their work and not afraid of exposing their vulnerability.

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• How many cars does your country have? This will give me insight on their
analytical thinking & imagination and remember there is no right or
wrong answer, you are looking for the thought process.
• When was the last time you did not follow policy and why? Reveals their
level of honesty & fairness.
Remember that it is not the person that is speaking the most who is leading the
conversation but it is the person that is asking the questions and navigating the
conversation to get the desired information. Practice on your listening skills,
we have two ears and one mouth for a reason.
The second criteria that I focus on is their level of competence that is split
between their capabilities & results. The elements that I look for will allow me
to explore their Skills, Knowledge, Experiences, Reputation, Credibility,
Cultural awareness and Performance.
I achieve this through a line of questioning where I pay a great deal of attention
to the details provided in a candidate’s answers. If they can take me through the
story with a clear descriptive explanation then I know they have walked their talk.
Below are some useful competencies that I look for and questions that will be of
value to you when evaluating your candidate:
Competence 1 Strategy & Execution: able to devise and communicate strategy
which is aligned to business goals, then task and motivate others to achieve
targets
Questions to ask:
1/ Describe a business strategy that you created and delivered? (What was the
objective, what approach did you take, how did decide on that approach, how did
you make it happen)
2/ Have you ever developed a strategy? How did you do that?
3/ What are the key factors you need to understand to develop a business
strategy? Give me a real example.
Competence 2 Customer Relationship Management: able to establish
credibility and build relationships with customers, ensure that is aware of
customer needs and expectations, constantly striving to deliver same

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Questions to ask:
1/ Describe a time you had to establish a new relationship with a customer? How
did you do that
2/ Have you ever had to work with a difficult customer?
Competence 3 Leading & Managing People: able to communicate objective
and targets to team members, motive, coach and manage them to ensure
success
Questions to ask:
1/ Have you ever set up a new team – how did you do that?
2/ How do you lead your team?
3/ Have you ever had to manage a poor performer – how did you handle that?
Competence 4 Budget Management: effectively plans for and manages
expenditure
Questions to ask:
1/ Have you managed budgets? What size, how did you ensure expenditure was
in line with budget, what challenges did you face
Competence 5 Service Delivery: effectively delivers service in line with Service
Levels, Contracts and agreed standards.
Questions to ask:
1/ Describe a time you set up a new service relationship with a customer
2/ Have you ever had a time when you found it difficult to deliver a service to a
customer
Competence 6 Cultural Awareness: Understands the different cultures and
knows how to work with them
Questions to ask
1/ What experience do you have of working with people from different cultures
2/ What have you learned when dealing with people from different cultures
3/ What are the key differences between culture X and Culture Y
To Steve (hire) or not to Steve (hire)
Steve visited Dubai last week and I met with him for about 90 minutes. Based on
my experience the decision to Steve or not to Steve will come down to a simple
math that I created. First let us look at why companies look to expatriate
employees.

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The purpose of expatriation from a company’s perspective is to bring in
knowledge or experience that is not available in the local market and from an
employee’s perspective to add to their experience and part of their career
development.
What companies need to identify are the risks and rewards of such a move. I
break it down to formulae that I created based on the Cultural Awareness Gap
(CAG) and the Ability to Adapt to a new Country (AAC) minus the Technical
Knowledge gap not available in the Local market (TKL). If the score of your TKL
is lower than the combined scores of the CAG & AAC then the marriage will most
likely not succeed and end up costing the company more.
(Cultural Awareness Gap + Ability to adapt to new Country & Environment) –
Technical Knowledge not available Locally = To Steve or Not to Steve.
I thank you for your time and I hope that you found value in the content.
BIOGRAPHY
Youssef Salloum is a respected educator and speaker on Leadership. His
purpose is to develop people and organizations to make the world a better place.
For over a decade, Youssef held several Human Resources leadership roles for
a number of leading organizations in a variety of sectors and he is currently the
HRD for a Fortune 500 company.
In addition, he delivers the breakthrough trainings Leadership Awakening and
The Art of Leadership.
Throughout his career, Youssef advised hundreds of professionals, senior
executives and helped them breakthrough to reach their career, business and
personal goals.
Through his trainings, Youssef supports several charities that help
underprivileged children and educate them. He currently resides in the United
Arab Emirates with his wife Chantal.
If you wish to sign up or receive more information, direct your queries to
inspire@youssefsalloum.com Twitter @youssalloum