By Lauryn Franzoni

Usually we speak in these pages about getting a job. Today, I'd like to look at things from the perspective of the person doing the hiring. To start off, here's a note that I recently received from a SafetyXChange member:

I'm new in my job and I need to expand the team around me to meet some new challenges, namely a growing firm and some new product lines. Can you give me some good HR/hiring/interview tips to help me find the best people and matches for my team?

Thank you for your question! As your note rightly suggests, good hiring involves assessing both the skills of candidates and their personalities. Even the most competent persons may prove to be disappointing as employees if they are uncomfortable with the culture of your team and/or your leadership style. To make sure you select the individuals who will best fit the job and the organization, it can help to focus on two key issues: Outcomes and type/temperament.

Outcomes

All too often, hiring managers fail to select the best candidate, because they confuse a candidate's interviewing skills with their potential job performance. They select the person who is most comfortable answering their questions or with whom they have the best rapport, rather than the person who can best do the job.

To avoid that trap, identify one or more specific outcomes that you want the new hire to achieve. Then, use the interview to probe each candidate's ability to meet those objectives within the time period and according to the quality standards you establish.

For example, a new supervisor must be able to learn your organization's accident reporting and investigation system and be prepared to execute it without significant error within 30 days of starting work.

Type/Temperament

Another key factor affecting the ability of job candidates to be effective employees is their compatibility with the organization and with the person to whom they'll be reporting.

One way to assess the likelihood that a candidate will fit in is to draw a model of what temperament to look for based on the characteristics of your most effective employees. You can use Myers-Briggs, the Kiersey Temperament Sorter, DiSC, or a similar instrument to evaluate the type and temperament of your best performing employees occupying positions identical (or close) to that which you are filling. Then, use the same instrument during your candidate evaluation process to determine which prospects "match" that type and temperament. Sometimes, the greatest value in these assessments is finding that you have a "cluster" of types and actually want to add someone with a much different profile to add balance to your team.

Conclusion

As my colleague Pete Weddle (www.weddles.com) says, "No single factor can identify the individual who will become your team's next superstar." To achieve the best selection results, therefore, evaluate candidates with multiple factors that are both job-related and integral to high performance.

Wishing you career success!

Lauryn Franzoni
ExecuNet
www.execunet.com.

WHEN GOOD PEOPLE END UP AT BAD COMPANIES

Phil Wells' article of last week entitled, "Working for the Wrong Company" generated a lot of mail. Here's one of the coolest letters we got.

Unhappy Landings

Mr. Wells' story brings back memories of my "bad company" experience. I too had been out of work for many months. The bank account was getting smaller and the insurance was about to end.

But just as the wolf was getting his nose in the door, I took a job as safety/environmental manager for a small, family-owned company that made specialty chemical products. Daddy started the company many years ago and built it up, but didn't follow too many environmental or safety rules. As a result, the children, taking over from Dad had their hands full with environmental cleanups and a production facility with no safety rules.

When I arrived, there were people doing confined space entry to clean process tanks, with a flammable solvent, no lockout and only a rope around their waist to pull them out if they got into trouble. Forklifts that were not tuned-up; spewing fumes into a closed warehouse. Flammables stored in all areas of the plant and an open trench, in the middle of the production floor, which contained waste products and spilled materials. That trench had not been cleaned out for over 10 years.

I tried to take charge of the environmental cleanup of solvents in the groundwater and PCBs in the cooling water lagoon but the children didn't want to listen to me. They only listened to a high-priced legal lawyer, using him to direct an environmental engineering company.

Just like Mr. Wells, I knew after two weeks that I shouldn't have taken the job. But I didn't get out until two years later when they let me go. I had been trying to find another position continuously looking for those two years. After only a few months that time, I landed a much better position. It all works out in the end.

GO FIGURE

22

What does this figure represent?

a. The percentage of the U.S. workforce that works on a freelance or contract, rather than a full-time basis
b. The percentage of safety directors who currently earn more than $100,000 per year
c. The number of times the average safety professional changes jobs during his or her career
d. The percentage of American CEOs who admit to lacking computer skills

Answer: a. This is the finding of a recent study by Kelly Services, Inc. www.kellyservices.com. According to Kelly, 87 percent of these "freelancers" are extremely or somewhat satisfied with their position.

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