Hiring Solutions

Are You “Rage Applying” to Release Job Frustrations?

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“Believing the grass is greener at another company will normally cause job disappointment and dissatisfaction.” Jeannette Seibly

“Rage Applying” is not new. It’s a form of “quiet quitting” that occurs when employees feel unappreciated, stuck, micromanaged, or frustrated with an inflexible boss and/or inflexible company policies.

If you’ve ever had a boss criticize your work and fail to offer constructive feedback, you can understand an employee’s frustration. (This is one example of so many!) Today, employees, often in retaliation, spend time blasting out their resumes looking for the greener grass. The problem is that it’s for jobs they don’t know, don’t have an interest in, and/or don’t meet fit job requirements.

As an employee: “Rage applying” is usually not the most brilliant move when feeling frustrated or stressed. It can hurt your future career options.

But there are benefits you can: Improve your interview skills, give you a broader professional perspective, and feel in control of your career. Also, you may find your boss and company look pretty good (the grass isn’t necessarily greener, just different).

As a boss, it’s essential to understand that employees need outlets to express their frustrations with you, the company, and the policies & procedures (that are probably out-of-date). SEE the paragraphs at the end of the article for recommendations.

How to Reduce Your Job Frustrations and Avoid “Rage Applying”

First, talk with your boss: Don’t bypass the boss when having conversations about what’s next and how you can achieve it. Otherwise, s/he can hinder your career progress.

What Do You Really, Really, Really Want? First, list in writing things you want in your job or future job you don’t currently have. Then, select the top 3 “must-have” items. If you get them, don’t keep asking for more, or it’ll backfire!

Complete Your Brag Work. Before pitching to your current boss your “wants,” showcase what you’ve achieved. Saying you’re great and wonderful will only have your boss roll his/her eyes and not take you seriously! So instead, do the brag work before pitching yourself.

Be Willing to Negotiate. Your boss may be unable to provide promotions, new work assignments, or pay increases. Be willing to negotiate for a win-win-win outcome. But remember, having your coworkers upset with you because the boss offloaded your work on them will not decrease your stress.

Pay Is Not a Motivator. Yes, I know. You really need that extra cash. But do your homework. Some pay increases may put you in a new tax bracket, and the net result is less than you’re currently making! So do your research.

Focus on Job Fit. This IS very important and often overlooked. If you’re stressed out a lot, chances are very good that you’re in the wrong job for you. Take a qualified job fit assessment and work with an experienced executive coach to ensure you’re not jumping from one bad situation into another. The bonus is: the awareness could alleviate your current job stress too.

Second, when applying for new jobs: Jumping from one job to another doesn’t quell the frustration or stress. Often, it can hurt promotability and pay increases. For example, if you’ve been unsuccessful in outside sales, look at inside sales or customer service as other options.

Get Real. Too often, we latch on to jobs that sound better and pay more (e.g., sales, being a boss). But usually, those jobs don’t pay more! The other challenges are: those jobs may not be a good fit for you, or you’re not ready! So, take a qualified job fit assessment and remove your rose-colored glasses. This can prevent you from getting snookered into thinking the grass is greener elsewhere. Otherwise, your frustration will follow you and hurt future job opportunities.

Tell the Truth About What You Want. Tailor your cover letters and resumes to the specific job posting and include your brag accomplishments in both!

Take Time, and Don’t Jump. When offered a new job:

  • Take time to review your top 3 “must-have wants.”
  • Ensure everything promised during the interviews is in writing.
  • Never rely on verbal promises that the new boss may not remember later.
  • Otherwise, you may find your new job opportunity isn’t so great.

Talk with Your Network. Now is a good time for lunch and after-work network meetings. Be clear about what you’re seeking. Otherwise, you’ll have many job opportunities that don’t support your career goals. (See Chapter 10 for how to network effectively: The Secret to Selling Yourself Anytime, Anywhere: Start Bragging!)

Do the work! It’ll make a big difference in the quality of your job offers and opportunities.

For ALL Bosses:

It’s a red flag when job candidates:

  • Apply for positions they don’t have the skills for.
  • Have had many different jobs in a short period of time in different companies or geographic locations.
  • Seem scattered and unprepared for the interview(s).

Use a strategic selection process and “Job Fit Triad” (e.g., give equal weight to interviews, job fit assessments, and due diligence). Otherwise, you’re hiring someone else’s problem.

Also, ensure your employees:

Employees that “rage apply” also cause upsets with your team members, ongoing projects, and customer fulfillment. Using the ideas above will reduce “rage applying.”

Last, but not least, get guidance to develop an effective “boss style.” Every boss needs help at some point to address “blind spots.” Yes, they pop up at inopportune times! But addressing them will improve retention, revenues, and results!

©Jeannette Seibly 2023 All Rights Reserved

Jeannette Seibly is The Leadership Results Coach. She is an award-winning international executive coach, speaker, and business author. Her wisdom of over 30 years guides clients to work through sticky situations and challenging relationships. Contact Jeannette for a confidential discussion. PS: She’s also a three-time Amazon Best-Selling Author!

A note from Jeannette about “rage applying:” This is the newest form of an old practice of quiet quitting. This article is written from both perspectives: employee and boss. Contact me for a confidential conversation about how to improve your retention, revenues, and results.

Have you considered the benefits of strengthening your superpowers and becoming a great boss? It’s not complicated, but it does require an experienced sounding board. I have extensive experience guiding bosses and leaders to work with and through their teams to achieve unprecedented results. Contact me to learn more about my in-depth, one-on-one hour coaching program over 13 weeks. Remember, coaching speeds up your ability to win.

Waiting to Choose and Develop Your Successor Can Create Brouhaha

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“Waiting to choose and develop your successors only causes brouhaha.” Jeannette Seibly

There comes a time when you must choose and develop your successors. Usually sooner rather than later! But, too often, leaders and business owners wait until it’s too late and brouhaha ensues!

While you may be a very good leader, the problem is you haven’t taken the time to develop the future leaders or have refused to do so. Instead, you:

  • Thought you had time
  • Have done a poor job of hiring for job fit and no one is able to fill your seat
  • Have narcissistic traits and your ego (male and female) believes you are the only one that can do your job
  • Have a disability or diminishing mental acuity

Brouhaha will happen without a succession plan. Also, failure to choose successors and develop their management and leadership skills will hurt the company’s future. While many companies, especially family businesses, don’t believe conflict within the company will create a negativity, it does. Just read the social media and other media posts. Yes, it can happen to you too!

What Do You Need to Do and Know to Choose the Right Successor

Start Now by Talking It Out. Whether it’s a family member, favored key employee, or outside hire, have many conversations, starting now. During these conversations, learn about their goals and aspirations. If they are not interested or hedge, move on. Tap into your network. Remember, while some leaders have good leadership skills, it may camouflage a poor managerial style. Develop them now. If they refuse, remove them from the written plan.

Remove the natural urge to find a “mini you.” Businesses grow and change and you need the right person who is flexible and resilient.

Hire or Promote for Job Fit. It’s insane to promote a family member, favored friend or employee, or hire from the outside into a role when the person doesn’t fit the job. For example, taking a top operations or finance vice president and promoting them to a #1 position. This can cause havoc if the person lacks the qualities necessary to lead a large group of people across many difference disciplines. Remember, you cannot coach, train, or manage someone into fitting a job if they are a poor fit with the responsibilities!

Pay Now or Pay Later. There is a science to qualified assessments … they are not created equal. Some are designed for job fit use, while most assessments focus only on training and development. Use the right qualified 360-feedback and job fit assessments. These provide clarity about inherent strengths and weaknesses, leadership blind spots, and emotional intelligence. Read how to select the right one: Chapter 9 in Hire Amazing Employees.

 “People are promoted to their level of incompetence!” Peter Drucker (Please, reread … I’ve seen this happen way too often! It is preventable!)

Honor Your Promises. I’ve seen successors hired, but the owner or #1 person refuses to relinquish their role. This can be difficult for many reasons: poor job fit of the newly hired successor, fear of leaving, or unexpected business changes. Have the conversations up front acknowledging changes may happen. Also, provide an exit plan for each of you to avoid any litigation or company brouhaha.

Ensure Coachability. It’s critical the future successor is coachable. Are they willing to learn from you? Are they willing to do the work with an executive coach and develop their mindfulness, decision-making, and interpersonal skills? Remember, while they have been coachable as #2 or #3 in the organization, it is very different being #1. (Too often, #2’s or #3’s success depends on #1 telling the person what to do.)

Can You Get Out of the Way? Letting go of the reins for any reason can be difficult. You’re human and have emotional attachments that get in the way of objectivity, especially when you’ve grown or developed a great business. Be coachable and let go of the reins while you can still enjoy watching and smiling at the next generation’s progress! Getting out of the way requires soul-searching of whether or not you’re ready.

Conduct Internal and External References. While this can be part of the qualified 360-feedback process, beware! Some employees give bosses and leaders high marks because of their likeability. But that does not equate to having the qualities required to be the right leader.  Listen and learn by asking employees (current and past), vendors, and customers for their input.

Start Now and Update Every Two Years. Put the plan in writing and update! Share with the key leaders. Remember, people’s goals and company focus will change. Even a slight shift can cause a big disruption if the wrong leader takes the helm. So, don’t be afraid of modifying as appropriate.

REMINDER! Use this article as a wakeup call if you’re still on the fence. Call me for a confidential conversation. You would hate to have people shaking their fists in anger or stomping on your grave because of your refusal to get real. You have a moral responsibility to honor your employees, vendors, and customers to ensure they are well taken care of. Create your succession plan now and develop those successors today!

©Jeannette Seibly 2023 All Rights Reserved

Jeannette Seibly is The Leadership Results Coach. With over 30 years as an award-winning international executive coach, speaker, and business author, Jeannette’s clients effectively work through sticky situations and challenging relationships to become positive influencers. Contact Jeannette for a confidential discussion. PS: She’s also a three-time Amazon Best-Selling Author!

A note from Jeannette about developing your successor: Too often leaders hang on too long. Then, life happens and there is not a successor(s) to continue and move the company forward. Waiting is not the answer! Get into action now! Contact me for a confidential conversation about what is in your way of moving forward.

NOTE: It can be difficult making the right decisions and the right changes. I love coaching and supporting current and future leaders during critical and strategic situations. Contact me if you want an in-depth, one-on-one hour over 13 weeks. Remember, coaching speeds up your ability to trust yourself. This, in turn, influences your team for unprecedented results that others applaud.

How’s your leadership development progressing? Are you moving forward … or a tad stuck? Do you need a “nudge” or “kick-in-the-butt?” Want to accelerate and soar your results? Get into action by contacting me for a confidential conversation.

How Do You Quietly Hire Employees?

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Quiet hiring is a way to develop talent without hiring new employees or moving current employees to work when you cannot hire the right people. It was declared a new trend by Gartner, a technological research and consulting firm: Quiet hiring will open up new doors for retaining talent without the cost of a lengthy recruitment process.

While “quiet hiring” is new, the strategy is not. Wise companies have used “internal mobility or upskilling” to keep top talent for many years.

But before you jump on this “newest trend,” here are the issues to address before considering this strategy.

How to Use Quiet Hiring

Quiet hiring is how employers fill positions with current employees and leverage current talent. Normally, it’s done on a temporary basis, or you risk employment law issues.

For example:

  • If your company is a bank and needs someone at the teller window for several hours a day, it’s an excellent opportunity for a loan officer to learn more about the bank and its customers’ needs.
  • If your insurance company needs help in the claims department for a month, you may have one of your underwriters work there temporarily.
  • If your company is in any industry and needs help auditing for a quarter, you may place one of your IT people in that role.

What Are Three Criteria to Implement Quiet Hiring?

  1. It would be best if you had buy-in from your employees. Remember, any change can be scary to them. Be sure to communicate the intention, what is expected, and the benefits to everyone, not just those being “quietly hired” into new roles. Remember, it’s a temporary change and will not affect their benefits and compensation plans.
  2. How to Start the Conversation. You may say, “We/I value your contribution and would like to temporarily use you in a different role (or to take on additional responsibilities). Are you willing to do so?”
  3. Stay Connected. If there are problems before or after the transition, it’s essential to address them immediately. Remember that different teams have different work styles, and bosses have different work expectations (e.g., remote v. onsite, punctuality v. lateness).

How You Use Quiet Hiring to Improve Your Employees’ Skills

  1. Provides Skill Development. It’s a great way to help broaden an employee’s knowledge of the company. It allows them to experience how their normal position impacts the temporary one. Acquiring these new skills prepares them for promotions, new work teams, and other future opportunities.
  2. Reduces the Need for Layoffs and Terminations. It’s a great way to keep good employees by temporarily moving them into different roles or departments.
  3. Helps Them Understand the Impact of Work Quality and Decisions. The added benefit of quiet hiring is that they can learn about the impact they create when making changes in how they do their work or when making decisions. For example: Moving a sales rep into customer service is a great way to experience the aftermath of how the company’s products and services work with customers. (Also known as cross-training.)
  4. Training is Critical! Like anything new, it’s essential that you provide a training program and on-the-job training coach to ensure consistency in how work is done. Remember, they are transitioned to the new position temporar If they make any changes, it can inadvertently impact the entire company and its customers.
  5. Participate in Job Rotation or Job Sharing. These are more formal ways that “quiet hiring” top talent can develop the skills required for future opportunities.

Beware of “Quiet Hiring” Pitfalls

  1. Job Fit Issues. Placing a good employee in a position that does not fit their capabilities means you will lose a good employee. Use a qualified job fit assessment to reduce these types of issues. Remind them it’s temporary. However, if there are consistent problems, you must move them back to where they were doing well.
  2. Unwillingness to Move to New Position. If the move requires the person to be onsite or the person has other concerns such as commute and flex time, address them upfront. It costs time, money, and energy to train people in positions they usually don’t work in; since it’s only temporary, it may not be worth the effort or upset.
  3. Keep the Same Benefits and Comp. If you don’t, you will risk employment law concerns. Contact your HR or employment attorney to determine local, state, and federal impacts — also the same for international employees.

©Jeannette Seibly 2023 All Rights Reserved

Jeannette Seibly is The Leadership Results Coach. She has over 30 years of award-winning international experience as an executive consultant, speaker, and business author. Her clients surpass the norm by working through sticky situations and challenging relationships to become positive influencers. Contact Jeannette for a confidential discussion.

A note from Jeannette about Quiet Hiring: This old employment practice of moving people temporarily into different positions now has a new name: Quiet Hiring! Before you jump on this latest trend, understand the legal, practical, and employee impacts before using! Then, contact me to talk through your hiring and selection challenges!

NOTE: Do you want to win? All leaders who are winners have coaches! I love coaching leaders and have for over 30 years! Contact me if you want an in-depth, one-on-one hour over 13 weeks. Having a coach speeds up your ability to influence others, hire the right people, and coach your team for unprecedented results.

Announcing New Workshop! Traditional leadership (e.g., formal, metrics-driven) is being replaced with human leadership (e.g., focus on the human dynamics that impact results). For example, “That’s how it’s always been done.” vs. “Great idea. How do you recommend we implement it?” However, your managers and directors are being overlooked regarding the training required to be an effective boss and leader. Read about my newest workshop: Are Your Managers and Directors Effective Leaders?

How to Test Your Hiring Process to Eliminate Costly Problems

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“To hire the best, you must consistently use best hiring practices!” Jeannette Seibly

Many job seekers love to share their stories about their horrible experiences when applying for jobs. Or, thankfully, share about losing out on a job due to the hiring boss’s poor interviewing behavior.

Stories hiring bosses love to share include nixing a person because they didn’t carry a pen to not hiring candidates that failed to answer non-job-related questions with responses they wanted to hear (e.g., most recent books read or movies seen).

As a hiring boss, you may not be aware of your biases. But they exist, many times unconsciously. And cost you time, money, and sleepless nights. (Example: Making your decision in 4 to 15 minutes of meeting people whether or not to hire them.)

Here’s a great way to determine if your company’s hiring and selection process needs help: use secret job seekers. (Similar to retailers using secret shoppers.)

How to do it: Secretly, without letting hiring bosses know, have friends, trusted employees, and business associates apply for open positions. Have them change their names on their resumes; use fictitious company names, job titles, and educational degrees; and provide pay-as-you-talk cell phones.

Most likely flaws you’ll uncover:

  • Difficulties using your ATS (applicant tracking system)
  • Inconsistencies of questions asked during interviews
  • Not using qualified job fit assessments (Note: Not all assessments are created equal and most do not comply with Department of Labor guidelines for pre-employment use).

The surprises (or maybe not … but now you have factual data required to make needed changes): you will discover the costly mischief about your company’s hiring practices and what is causing the company’s bad reputation.

Common issues will include:

  • Promises made during interviews and not kept when making job offers
  • Having too many interviewers or having team interviews with people not on the same page
  • Job descriptions are too long and uninspiring
  • Job postings are boring
  • Links and QR Codes don’t work
  • Inconsistencies when hiring managers conduct interviews (e.g., asking inappropriate questions or not asking the same structured questions of candidates for the same job)
  • Poor due diligence practices due to not thoroughly checking the backgrounds of all candidates

The key to fixing these issues is to design a strategic job fit selection process and use the best tools (e.g., ATS, structured interview formats, qualified job fit and core value assessments, and consistent due diligence practices). Note: Guidance on how to select the best tools can be found in Hire Amazing Employees: How to Increase Retention, Revenues, and Results.

This is critical and often overlooked! Conduct training programs for all hiring bosses, and provide intra-company access to all required tools and procedures to ensure consistent hiring practices. Also, have a key executive hold all hiring bosses accountable for following all the policies and procedures in the spirit of hiring the right person for the right job the first time!

Training will reduce costly hiring problems and ensure the best hiring practices.

The results? When you implement this secret job seeker program, you will attract and hire better candidates that stop ghosting you! As a result, your company will thrive by increasing retention, revenues, and results. And you may become the best employer in 2023.

©Jeannette Seibly 2023 All Rights Reserved

Jeannette Seibly is The Leadership Results Coach. She has over 30 years of award-winning international experience as an executive consultant, speaker, and business author. Her clients surpass the norm by working through sticky situations and challenging relationships to become positive influencers. Contact Jeannette for a confidential discussion.

A note from Jeannette about testing your hiring practices to eliminate costly (and avoidable) issues: It makes good business sense to ensure your company uses consistent, reliable, and valid hiring practices. Contact me to talk through hiring challenges and how to overcome them. It’ll save you time, money, and your customers!

This week’s PODCAST: Listen to Grow your side hustle into a full-time job with my guest, Bobby Crew on The Entrepreneurial Leader.

NOTE: Do you want to win? All leaders who are winners have coaches! I love coaching leaders and have for over 30 years! Contact me if you want an in-depth, one-on-one hour over 13 weeks. When you have a coach, it’ll speeds up your ability to influence others, hire the right people, and coach your team for unprecedented results.

Learn How to Spot Toxic Future Employees During Job Interviews

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“Toxic employees diminish trust while sabotaging the company, customers, and team.” Jeannette Seibly

A leader recently asked me, “How do you spot a narcissist during a job interview?” He’d just fired one. I shared that they and other types of toxic employees can be challenging to spot. “It’s why using a structured interview approach, and a qualified assessment tool are important to help you spot them.” My recommendations are shared in this article.

Learning how to spot toxic future employees before hiring them can be tricky. However, it becomes easier when you use a well-defined strategic selection system and interview process. The challenge is, listening and not explaining away apparent signs.

“Toxic employees create discord, crush morale and reduce coworkers’ productivity.” (Insperity)

Many toxic workers have the skills to do the job. But due to “you owe me” attitudes, poor emotional intelligence, and not being coachable, they create unhealthy work environments. As a result, they diminish trust while sabotaging others’ work and the company’s growth.

Tips to Conduct Interviews to Uncover the Truth  

Listen and Be Present! You are more likely to spot toxic behaviors and attitudes if you do.

  • They change their story or lie about the facts
  • They answer your questions with questions
  • They are evasive in their answers
  • They tell you what you want to hear and blame others
  • They are always right
  • They make snarky or inappropriate comments

These job seekers may have the job skills but rarely fit into a healthy workplace.

Use a Structured Interview Focused on Job Skills. Their responses reveal their actual ability and interest in doing the work. Use the Rule of 3 to deep dive to understand their responses. Avoid asking about favorite colors, books read, or music they enjoy! Their responses can be misleading and cover up their genuine willingness to do the job.

Ask Interview Questions That Invite Negativity. Allow candidates to share experiences they’ve been coached not to talk about. But don’t ask more than two of these types of questions to prevent true top talent from ghosting you!

Two great questions:

  • “Tell me about a conflict you had with your boss or coworker.”
  • “What did you do when you received feedback you didn’t like from your boss or team?”

Listen for: blaming others, being unable to admit mistakes, or how people “should be.” Or conversely, “I always get along with everyone.” These are red flags!

Use a Qualified Job Fit Assessment. These tools have behaviorally based interview questions to help you uncover a person’s fit with the job. While they are not designed to state if a person is “toxic or not,” the questions help you learn more about the essential qualities the person will bring to the job.

I recently talked with a job candidate for a manager position. The person had an answer for everything and frequently spoke about enjoying conflict and debates with others. While these traits can be great in negotiations, most employees will revolt working for this type of boss.

Don’t Rely on Only One Interview. Many toxic people love to gossip or have other problematic attitudes they can turn on and off. Conduct several well-structured interviews instead of relying on your intuition or gut. During the process, you’ll learn more about the person’s true beliefs, work ethic, and ability to work with and through others to achieve intended results. Use a well-designed strategic selection system and follow it; most toxic future employees are less likely to stick around.

Don’t Dismiss Warning Signs. People’s choice of words conveys their thoughts, feelings, and opinions. Many poor job performers use negative words when talking about coworkers and bosses. They speak as the victim, are judgmental, and cannot empathize. They talk in absolutes: always and never. Don’t overlook their choice of words or explain them away.

Remember, toxic employees cost you time, money, and sleepless nights. A well-designed strategic selection system is a powerful tool to help you avoid hiring them.

Source for this article: Hire Amazing Employees: How to Increase Retention, Revenues and Results!

©Jeannette Seibly 2022 All Rights Reserved

Jeannette Seibly is The Leadership Results Coach. She’s celebrating 30 years as an award-winning international executive consultant, speaker, and coach. Her clients value the listening and positive difference she brings to any conversation. Feel stuck in a sticky situation or in challenging relationships? Want straightforward counsel to blast through it? Contact Jeannette for a confidential discussion. PS: She’s also a two-time Amazon International Best-Selling Author!

A note from Jeannette about how to spot toxic future employees during job interviews: The challenge is that they often have the skills to do the job. But due to poor attitudes, being self-centered, and not being coachable, they can create unhealthy work environments. Need help upgrading your hiring practices? Not sure where to begin? Contact me for a confidential conversation.

Leaders need to influence others to be successful. But many times, their blind spots speak too loudly and get in the way. For actual professional growth, use objective data to discover your blind spots now, before it’s too late:  https://bit.ly/BeEffectiveLeader

How Do You Use Interview Time Effectively?

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“If you continue asking irrelevant job interview questions, you’ll continue to lose talent, customers, and money.” Jeannette Seibly

Many hiring managers believe relying on their instincts, and intuition/gut saves time and gives them all they need to make good hiring decisions. They think they’ll know the right candidate when they meet them.

Unfortunately, there are many problems with this belief. It creates:

  • Unconscious bias
  • Ghosting by job candidates and new hires
  • Turnover of talent, loss of customers, and litigation (think money and reputation)
  • Removal of a bad hire which can take up to 18 months (think again money and reputation)
  • Bad company reputation when making decisions without factual data … (Remember, this job candidate could become a future customer or decision-maker for a sales contract or award.)

Be Clear! Your Goals During the Interview Are to Determine:

  • Can the job candidate do the job?
  • Will the job candidate do the job?
  • Can the job candidate do the job in this company?

When you answer the above three questions in writing, you get real about the actual competencies required. Remember, business is changing, and so have business requirements.

  • What actual competencies are required?
  • What does the right candidate need to accomplish in 30-60-90-180 days?
  • What job fit assessment is best to see the “whole person?”

Example, if you’re seeking a salesperson, does s/he need to generate leads, close, and provide good ongoing customer care?

Preparation is Critical for Effective Interviews  

  • Ask job-related questions (not about the latest book read, hobbies outside work, etc.)
  • Create a structured interview with job-related questions

Review interview questions to ensure they do not create unconscious bias. Too often, we ask about recent books read, movies seen, and hobbies. These can get you in legal trouble. Why? You are inferring characteristics from their responses without factual data.

As you already know, stay away from questions about a candidate’s lifestyle, childcare, age, race, religion, etc.

Example, a hiring manager asked a candidate about the most recent book he’d read. He said, “Jaws.” She refused to talk with him further inferring he was an angry person. (Yes, this actually happened.)

Four Tips to Improve Your Interview and Selection Results

Note: Interviews should be only one-third of a well-designed strategic selection process. The other key parts include assessments (1/3) and due diligence (1/3). (Hire Amazing Employees)

1. Listen to their responses. Hear what they are saying. Don’t fill in the blanks with what you want to hear. Instead, ask questions for clarification before moving on to the next question.

2.Use Rule of 3 to determine the depth and breadth of job experience and skills.

An example of using the Rule of 3 to hire a project manager:

1) How do you handle team conflict? Can you give me an example?

2) What were the results?

3) If I talked with the team, how would they describe your leadership skills?

3. Ask about their coachability, how they handle mistakes, and flexibility with new assignments. Many will respond, “no problem.” Again, use the Rule of 3 to deep dive. You’ll hear their genuine willingness or unwillingness to answer these questions. Their core behaviors seldom change regardless of what they say.

4. Ask for examples. When asking job-related questions, always ask for examples. Example: Tell me about your working relationships with previous work teams, bosses, and customers.

Many years ago, I conducted a final interview with an experienced general manager for a business owner. I learned by asking for examples that each time she talked about her past three jobs, she expressed her upset with the business owners’ demanding ways. When I asked if she was aware of her upsets, she answered me honestly, “no.” I then shared that working with this business owner would be no different … he was very demanding too.   

©Jeannette Seibly, 2021-2022 All Rights Reserved

Jeannette Seibly is The Leadership Results Coach. She has been an award-winning international executive and family business management consultant, keynote speaker, and author for over 29 years. Her focus is to guide leaders to make a positive difference. Feel stuck moving your team forward? Want straightforward counsel on how to do it? Let’s chat! Contact Jeannette for a confidential conversation.

A note from Jeannette about using your interview time effectively: Many hiring managers rely too much on their intuition or gut, which leads to disastrous results: top talent and great customers leave, and the company’s bottom line looks grim. This week’s article covers the basics of conducting effective interviews. When done right, it saves time, money, and sleepless nights. Have questions? Most do! Let’s chat now!

Are you asking good, job-related interview questions? When hiring new employees or rehiring former ones, ask about their ability to handle mistakes. Why? 90% of new hires fail because they dismiss coaching or advice about how to improve. Get your copy of the newly released, Hire Amazing Employees: How to Increase Retention, Revenues and Results! and suggested interview questions to get you started.

What Do You Need to Do to Improve the Most Overlooked Part of Hiring?

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“A hearty welcome to new hires impacts their longevity with your company.” Jeannette Seibly

According to several studies, well-designed employee orientation and onboarding can improve employee retention by more than 80%. 

“Sally started her new job on a Monday, excited to be working for a company that had a great selection process. But she learned an hour after arriving that her boss was too busy to talk with her until later in the week.

Todd was assigned to get her started and to show her where everything was located (e.g., office, laptop, passwords, restrooms, lunch room). But he didn’t know much about her job duties. He could only help get the items she needed for her desk.

So, Sally started talking with her new team and coworkers in different departments. Everyone had a different point of view as to what her priorities should be. Then, her vice president and the CEO each had conversations with her, but offered different opinions about where her focus should be.

On Friday afternoon she resigned, clearly frustrated by the lack of a cohesive onboarding process.” (Hire Amazing Employees: How to Increase Retention, Revenues and Results!)

New hires decide how long they will stay during the first few hours and days, often subconsciously! As a result, companies that fail to provide employee orientation and onboarding programs experience higher turnover! Remember, when these new hires leave, they take along other top talent, and customers too!

What To Do!

Create employee orientation and onboarding as part of your strategic selection system.

Start employee orientation the minute they apply. Use your Applicant Tracking System (ATS) to send job applicants short videos about the company, interview guidelines, and brief written material about the company’s products, goals, and employee benefits.

Have all “paperwork” completed online! Do this before the new hire’s first day. Have a designated person available to answer all questions and handle benefit enrollment.

Schedule the all-important 1:1 meeting with the boss on day one! Review expectations to ensure both of you are on the same page. People will forget … so this is critical! Share (again) the 180-Success Plan*, goals, and expectations. Then, have them put together the Action Plan required to fulfill it.   *Chapter 6, Hire Amazing Employees

Help the new hire meet and greet coworkers. Designate someone to make introductions to key people and coworkers in the company. Organize lunches and get-togethers during the first month to meet others. The purpose is for the new hire to learn about the company and its customers, internally and externally. Remember to include remote employees too!

Ensure the new employee meets 1:1 with team members. Encourage meetings virtually and onsite. Provide a short list of suggested questions so that s/he can learn more about the company.

  • Tell me about you!
  • How long have you worked here?
  • What do you like most about the company? Your job?
  • What do you like least?

Very Important Note: Remind each new employee to listen more than talk. Many employees, managers, and executives in new positions attend meetings not to listen and learn, but to state what they will be doing and changes they will make in the future. This often shortens the new person’s longevity with the company and is avoidable!

Schedule meetings with key employees in other locations. This is often overlooked or put off until a future date. The problem is that the new manager or executive dismisses the importance of meeting people in their business locations. This is often interpreted as a lack of respect. And creates future problems when addressing issues and implementing policy changes.

Provide an inside mentor and outside executive coach. New hires must have someone to ask for help so s/he can learn more about the company and industry issues (mentor). Also, provide someone to talk them through the inevitable challenges s/he will face with people and in sticky situations (coach). Discuss these expectations before hiring the person … not everyone sees the value of having a mentor or coach. And it’s important to learn during the interview if the person will ask for help and is coachable.

Don’t provide company information all at once! Take days and weeks to discuss the company’s policies, procedures, and employee handbook. Also, review company etiquette, history, mission, values, and communications in 1:1 meetings and group training. Finally, provide an organization chart and brief written material about each department and location. Remember, keep it simple and easy to read since the average reading level is 6th grade!

Remember, as the boss, work the plan with the new hire for success!

(Content for article taken from Hire Amazing Employees: How to Increase Retention, Revenues and Results!)

©Jeannette Seibly, 2022 All Rights Reserved

Jeannette Seibly is The Leadership Results Coach. She has been an award-winning international executive and family business management consultant, keynote speaker, and author for over 29 years. Her focus is to guide leaders to make a positive difference. Feel stuck moving your team forward? Want straightforward counsel on how to do it? Let’s chat! Contact Jeannette for a confidential conversation.

A note from Jeannette about improving employee onboarding: Did you know only 12% of companies onboard effectively? It’s why many new hires leave! What do you need to do to improve (or create) your employee orientation and onboarding processes for new hire success? This information comes from the newly released, Hire Amazing Employees: How to Increase Retention, Revenues and Results! Have questions? Most do! Let’s chat now!

Why do new hires leave so soon? There can be many reasons. But it’s often due to NO (or the poorly designed) new employee orientation and onboarding program! Be part of the 12% that onboards effectively! Want ideas to help you get started? Get your copy of the newly released, Hire Amazing Employees: How to Increase Retention, Revenues and Results!

 

Many Hiring Failures Are Due to Being Uncoachable

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Why are so many new hires failing in their jobs? The #1 reason? They are not coachable!” Jeannette Seibly

Poor interpersonal skills are why there are so many hiring failures today!

The #1 reason? They are uncoachable.

Here are shocking stats:

  • Almost 90% of the time, it’s due to the new hires’ attitudes and poor interpersonal skills.
  • Only 11% of failures are due to technical skills.
  • Almost half of new employees today will fail within 18 months of hire. (Leadership IQ)

Why is being coachable important? It reflects the ability to accept and put in place feedback from bosses, team members, customers, and others! (Leadership IQ) Being coachable is why leaders and teams succeed in business!

Many hiring managers admit overlooking or explaining away flaws they saw during interviews. But they were unsure what to do with these insights or biases. Moreover, they lacked objective data from qualified job fit assessments that would provide the boss critical on how to coach these new hires for success.  (See Chapter 9, Using Qualified Assessments and Skill Testing in the newly released: Hire Amazing Employees: How to Increase Retention, Revenues and Results!)

So, they default to selecting job candidates based on technical and other hard skills. But, then, these new hires are fired due to poor interpersonal skills! So, it’s time to improve your selection system and use your interview time effectively.

How to Hire Coachable Employees

  1. Job Fit Is #1. According to a Harvard Business Review study, job fit is why people succeed! Use a qualified job fit assessment to ensure you’re seeing the whole person objectively. When using real and consistent data, you can delve deeper and learn more about the person before hiring them! This avoids surprises!
  2. Ask These Two Very Important Interview Questions. A coachable person is looking to improve and is willing to ask for help.

Ask: “When was the last time you made a mistake?” and “How did you handle it?”

Then, listen for:

  • “What did s/he learn?”
  • “Who did s/he talk with?”
  • “Why did the mistake happen?”
  • “What were the results?”

This is perhaps the most critical and revealing part of the interview.

  1. Gain Additional Insight During Reference Checks with Previous Co-Workers. Ask this question: “Would you work for this person? Why?” Listen. I’ve found this question to be a good indicator of a person’s on-the-job interpersonal skills.
  2. Focus on Results Required for the Position. Put together a 180-Day Success Plan. Share it during the final interviews with the job candidate and listen. The person’s reactions may change over time, so it’s essential to address any change of attitude asap. Remember, you’re not hiring lone rangers that want to do it their way! You need team players with the attitude of, “I’m open to learning from my mistakes and contributing to the success of everyone.”

©Jeannette Seibly 2021-2022 All Rights Reserved

Jeannette Seibly is The Leadership Results Coach. She has been an award-winning international executive and family business management consultant, keynote speaker, and author for over 29 years. Her focus is to guide leaders to make a positive difference. Feel stuck moving your team forward? Want straightforward counsel on how to do it? Let’s chat! Contact Jeannette for a confidential conversation.

A note from Jeannette about how to hire coachable employees: One of the top reasons new hires fail is being uncoachable! During the hiring process, ask the job candidates about mistakes they’ve made and how they were handled. Want to improve your hiring success rate? Grab your copy of the newly published book, Hire Amazing Employees: How to Increase Retention, Revenues and Results! Have questions? Most do! Let’s chat now!

Did you know your interview questions are costing you top candidates? How do you ask job-related questions? What are useless interview questions? Why should you only use the interview as 1/3 of the hiring decision? Get your answers, suggested interview questions, and so much more! Grab your copy of the newly released Hire Amazing Employees: How to Increase Retention, Revenues and Results!

How to Reduce Interviewer Bias

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“A well-designed interview keeps everyone focused on selecting new hires that are productive and keep customers happy.” Jeannette Seibly

“The candidate interview, the most common component of the hiring process, continues to be a source of inconsistency, inefficiency, and unreliable data.” ERE – Recruiting Intelligence

Did you know that 90% of the time, hiring managers rely on interviews as the major determinant of who to hire?

Why is this important to know?

Most hiring managers do a poor job of interviewing. They don’t prepare, ask useless questions, and rely solely on their intuition. As a result, decisions are made within the first 4 to 15 minutes of the interview. Inherently, this creates unconscious bias, poor retention, low productivity, and costly loss of talent and customers!

“The interview should ONLY be 1/3 of the hiring decision. The other two-1/3s should be using qualified assessments and completing a thorough due diligence.” Jeannette Seibly

Critical factors in reducing interviewer bias:

  • Use a structured interview approach. Good interview questions protect you legally and help you objectively compare candidates.
  • Ask the same basic questions of each candidate. This removes unfavorable reactions from job candidates.
  • When the interviewer is prepared, and questions are written down, s/he feels comfortable and comes across as professional.
  • Be sure to ask all the questions in the order you’ve written them for all the candidates you interview.
  • Focus on asking questions essential for getting the job done, keeping customers happy, and making the company profitable.
  • Ask job-related questions. This allows the conversation to focus on the quality of job skills and the results achieved (e.g., “Tell me about your experience using Excel.” “How did you use it?” “Did you have any difficulties setting it up?”).
  • Stay away from useless questions. Questions about color preferences (e.g., green, gold) or recent or favorite books read (e.g., mystery, business) are not job-related. Any inferences from the job candidates’ replies can reflect the unconscious bias of the interviewer and be construed as illegal.
  • Use your qualified job fit assessment selection report with each candidate. Ask all the questions provided. They are designed to help you get underneath what is written in the resume and the applicant’s well-rehearsed ability to answer common interview questions.
  • Remember, the interview is only 1/3 of the hiring decision. So give equal weight to the assessments and due diligence results too! (Yes, this was important to repeat! Without all of these three important components, your bias will take over.)

©Jeannette Seibly 2022  All Rights Reserved

Jeannette Seibly is The Leadership Results Coach. She has been an award-winning international executive and family business management consultant, keynote speaker, and author for over 29 years. Her focus is to guide leaders to make a positive difference. Feel stuck moving your team forward? Want straightforward counsel on how to do it? Let’s chat! Contact Jeannette for a confidential conversation.

A note from Jeannette about how to reduce interviewer bias: The truth is that most hiring managers do a poor job of interviewing. They don’t prepare, ask useless questions, and rely solely on their intuition or gut. So how can you overcome these inherent challenges during your selection process? This information is from the newly published book, Hire Amazing Employees: How to Increase Retention, Revenues and Results! Have questions? Most do! Let’s chat now!

Have you considered that when job candidates ghost you, it’s because of your interview process? How do you improve it? Why is it essential to use the interview as only 1/3 of the hiring decision? Get your answers, suggested interview questions, plus so much more! Grab your copy of the newly released Hire Amazing Employees: How to Increase Retention, Revenues and Results!

Not All PreEmployment Assessments Are Created Equal

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“Did you know using qualified job-fit assessments can greatly enhance any company’s selection process? The right ones can provide objective data to ensure employees are productive and are in jobs they enjoy.” Jeannette Seibly

There are over 3,000 assessment tools on the market today. The challenge? Most do not meet the minimum standards set by the Department of Labor for preemployment and selection use.

Why is this important to know?

Many applicants have been well trained on how to be interviewed and how to answer frequently asked questions. They know how to say the right things, make promises you want to hear, and provide great work samples. However, these conversations do not accurately predict what the person can and may do on the job in your company.

Qualified assessments provide objective data and information that most job candidates won’t tell you and may not even realize.

As a potential employer, you only see 10% of the person based on the quality of the resume, interviews, and reference checks. But, if you are like most interviewers, you make many assumptions about the job candidates’ suitability for the job.

What’s missing? Objective data! The 90% that is hidden will provide you predictive information on whether they can and will do the job and do it successfully in your company. Objective data includes qualified job fit assessments, in addition to a well-structured interview and thorough due diligence.

The purpose of using qualified job fit assessments is to get real about the applicant’s fit with the job responsibilities. Jeannette Seibly

What types of qualified assessments predict a candidate’s success on the job?

  • Thinking Style (Can they do the job?)
  • Interests/Motivations (Will they do the job?)
  • Behavioral Traits (Can they do the job here?)
  • Job Matching (Will they fit successfully in the position?)

The benefits of qualified assessments:

  • Provide the highest level of valid and reliable information due to thorough research.
  • Predict success in a specific job.
  • Provide a technical manual* for your review.
  • Verify or contradict your “gut/intuition.”
  • Prevent “biases” from getting in the way.
  • Are tested to be nondiscriminatory.
  • Help you meet all federal, state, and local statutes. (For international candidates, check with that country’s requirements.)
  • Validate the quality of information the candidate is providing: Is it accurate, or what they think  you want, or what they wish they were … or a mix of all three?
  • Used as directed, they work!

*The first step when selecting a qualified job fit assessment is to review the Technical Manual.

To ensure each assessment tool is valid and reliable for preemployment and selection purposes, request a technical manual from the publisher or vendor for the assessment product.

A technical manual documents the research and development required to meet the Department of Labor (DOL) Guidelines (Testing and Assessment: An Employer’s Guide to Good Practices), Equal Employment Opportunity (EEO), Americans with Disability Act (ADA), and other requirements for the assessment to be used for preemployment and selection purposes. It helps you determine if the assessment meets minimum validity and reliability requirements for use in your specific employment location(s).

Beware: some vendors may provide a letter from their attorney stating the assessment meets all applicable laws for hiring and selection purposes. That letter protects them, not you. Do your homework!

So, what questions help determine validity and reliability of a qualified assessment?

The following questions are not inclusive when deciding which assessment to use. These are suggestions to get you started.

  • Does it assess job-related skills?
  • Does it meet all legal requirements for your work locations?
  • Does it have recent validity and reliability tests?
  • Does it provide predictive validity, high enough to meet DOL standards?
  • What are the sample sizes and makeup for those tests (e.g., Is it validated with a large sample of working people, or a small sample of college sophomores)?
  • Is it appropriate for preemployment selection and hiring purposes?
  • Are you planning to use it for its intended purpose?

Note: Just because an assessment is being used for training or coaching purposes and shows differences in people, does not mean that it can be used for preemploy­ment and selection purposes. Not only is using the correct assessment of legal importance, but it also ensures that you are using tools with the validity and reliability required to accurately and objectively measure the person for the job.

Content for this article is taken from: Hire Amazing Employees: How to Increase Retention, Revenues and Results!

©Jeannette Seibly 2022 All Rights Reserved

Jeannette Seibly is The Leadership Results Coach. She has been an award-winning international executive and family business management consultant, keynote speaker, and author for over 29 years. Her focus is to guide leaders to make a positive difference. Feel stuck moving your team forward? Want straightforward counsel on how to do it? Let’s chat! Contact Jeannette for a confidential conversation.

A note from Jeannette about why preemployment assessments are a must: There are over 3,000 assessments on the market today. Most do NOT meet the Department of Labor’s minimum standards when using them for preemployment and selection purposes. So, what do you need to know, and how do you select the right ones? The information in this article is taken from the newly published book, Hire Amazing Employees: How to Increase Retention, Revenues and Results! Have questions? Most do! Let’s chat now!

Are your job candidates saying, “I didn’t get the job! But I dodged a toxic boss!”? If yes, your hiring process needs help immediately! Grab your copy of newly released Hire Amazing Employees: How to Increase Retention, Revenues and Results!