Dan Hanyzewski, Managing Partner, West Shore Partners LLC

The title of this piece could easily represent a number of volumes but I am going to humbly attempt to crystallize it in several paragraphs.

In one of his classes, Deepak Chopra, the founder of the Chopra Foundation, talks about what he calls “the soul of leadership” and says “that leaders appear when awareness meets need.” He goes on to suggest that there is a hierarchy of needs that contributes to what roles a leader has to address once that person steps into this void. Even though this premise feels reasonable and pragmatically comforting I am not at all convinced in the practicality of this theory in real terms. Are leaders really made not born? In the midst of chaos and stress can someone who knows what a group needs really prioritize and fill the Leadership Vacuum?

If you were to ask the pedestrian person what the Vacuum is and why it continues to persist in numerous aspects of our lives, I am certain you would get a myriad of answers that have a great deal of emotion attached to them with little in the way of consensus on how to fill the Vacuum. Therein lies the key, in my opinion, as to why the Leadership Vacuum is a real phenomenon and will continue to challenge our humanity.

In “Primal Leadership,” Daniel Goleman, Richard Boyatzis and Annie McKee describe six styles of leading that have different effects on the emotions of the target followers. The whole science of EI (Emotional Intelligence) has given way to great understanding of how emotional intelligence contributes to effective leadership by focusing on five essential elements of leader effectiveness: development of collective goals and objectives; instilling in others an appreciation of the importance of work activities; generating and maintaining enthusiasm, confidence, optimism, cooperation, and trust; encouraging flexibility in decision making and change; and establishing and maintaining a meaningful identity for an organization.

Chuck Ballard PE (“A Leadership Vacuum”), along with many other authors, has an interesting take on this phenomenon and suggests that it is the displacement of Leadership with Managership. Drawing on his experiences with Fortune 500 companies across the country, Ballard’s book examines trends in American business today that act to de-emphasize leadership in favor of management techniques and practices. The de-emphasis of leadership has accelerated and could inevitably bring American business to second-class status in a global economy. The reason for this is that leadership, in Ballard’s view, is a dying occupation in American business.

The same dilemma could be identified in politics, sports, education, and in most places we are craving to identify and revere Leadership.

So, is this a creation of generational shift? Is this happening because of negative ramifications for taking a Leadership role? Is it the apathy and numbing of our emotional cortex? When did it start? How do we impact a change in the outcome? As I mentioned earlier, this could be a number of books but I will attempt to give you some answers from one person’s perspective.

Some will say our world faces a moral crisis. We are in a cultural war against principles—lacking a moral compass to evaluate our direction. The AIDS pandemic in Africa, the sex trade among children in Asia, terrorism in the Middle East, drug traffic in Latin America, poverty in half the world’s nations, and a significant moral vacuum in America and Europe are pleas for dynamic, effective leaders to provide direction. Even in the U.S., more than 60% of children are being raised without their biological father. Values are hard to identify. It isn’t enough to add followers. We desperately need to generate class leaders.

In approximately15 years, 40% or more of the current workforce in the U.S. will be evaporating. The Baby Boomers, which are the majority of this group, will be retiring and vacating their roles in business, government, education, churches, and as missionaries. These vacancies must be filled by young, trained leaders. Why? Leaders provide solutions. According to research done by the Higher Education Research Institute at UCLA, leadership qualities can no longer be the property of the elite minority. In today’s world, every student will need to learn and develop leadership skills.

Today, almost one half the world’s population is 21 years old or younger. This means that three to four billion people need to be provided and immersed in leadership skills. Prepared or not, they will attempt to lead our world into the future. The millennial generation (born between1984-2002) is passionate about changing the world. While they can seem to be self-absorbed and impatient, they are optimistic, relational, and adept with technology. It is our responsibility to prepare them to lead the way. It is more effective to influence a young person than it is to reshape an adult.

I would offer up that what I have suggested simply reflects to some, myself included, a rudimentary responsibility that was established in the DNA of centuries of generations in our past. I would like to think we who have experienced great Leadership and understand its magnanimous importance would act as stewards and impart this to our future leaders. One of my significant heroes in life and a great leader who has been studied by many, Vince Lombardi, said, “Leaders aren’t born, they are made. And they are made just like anything else, through hard work. And that’s the price we’ll have to pay to achieve that goal, or any goal.”

To fill this Vacuum we should take stock in our individual responsibility to do what we can and set a course for greater things and many more Leaders to come. The Leadership Vacuum is not only apparent but in practical terms it has been a devastating phenomenon to global aspirations. We look around us and we instinctively can easily identify the impact of the lack of leadership in all things that pertain to the human condition. On a macro level we have seen giants of industry crumble under the direct implications of this Vacuum. We have been impacted personally by policies that have lacked Leadership in the face of partisanship and we have seen the horrors of the Vacuum affect millions in countries defined by tyranny.

To eradicate this void will take an enormous amount of hard work, courage, desire, and vision. By doing so we will be gifted with solutions to problems we have yet to understand and solutions to those we choose to ignore until they become intolerable. It is reasonable to suggest that if we choose not to inspire those willing to step into the fray to fill this void we will all be doing a great injustice to the world we occupy.

Dan Hanyzewski is Managing Partner of West Shore Partners LLC / Redmitten.com, a niche consulting firm focused on delivering high-end solutions to a range of Human Resources, Procurement, Operational, and Finance clients. He is currently engaged by  Sunrise Systems as a principal to aggressively grow that firm and Kelly Services (NASDAQ: KELYA, KELYB) to assist Kelly’s Outsourcing and Consulting Group build out additional capabilities in employment branding, recruitment strategy, and contingent workforce management.

Jeff Davis, Recruiter, Career Strategies, Inc

Whoever came up with the term “tough love” clearly met my father.

I never had any doubt that my dad loved me. He would always plan family vacations and would give my sister and me anything we ever wanted. There was a saying in my house that the Davis children weren’t spoiled, just well taken care of.

And sometimes being well taken care of meant going to live theater. I was completely taken with the magic of theater and the arts but, as my father found out as I got older and started to think of a career, cultivating my love of the arts had some undesired consequences.

I remember when I was a junior in high school my father asked me if I had given any thought to what I would do after graduation.

“Yes,” I said, “I’m definitely going to college.”

His eyes lit up.

“And I’ll study to become…AN ACTOR!!!”

At this, the light left his eyes and he started to give me a stern, sullen look. Now, while my father has many strengths, delivering his opinion with tact isn’t exactly his strongest suit.

“Jeff,” he said. “Well…how should I put this…you can’t act. I saw your last high school play and let’s face it. You’re no Tom Hanks. Hell, you’re not even a Tom Arnold. You’re just not good enough to compete in the entertainment industry. Your mother and I think you should be a lawyer or a businessman. Maybe you should consider that.”

And so the conversation ended, and though my ego was slightly bruised, the more I thought about it, the more certain I was that a traditional corporate desk job wasn’t for me. I knew I wanted to be an artist because art has the ability to make people see the world differently and change people’s lives. I knew I wanted to do that. I had to find a career where I could make an impact, so a while later I came back to my father saying,

“Dad! I’ve got it. I’ll go to school and study to become…A SINGER!!!”

At this he gave me the same stern, sullen look.

“But Jeff…well…how should I put this. You can’t sing. I can hear you singing in the shower in the morning and…well let’s just say you don’t have perfect pitch. You’ll face a lot of competition as a singer, and quite frankly I don’t think you’re good enough to compete. Once again, your mother and I think you should be a lawyer or a businessman. Maybe you should consider that.”

And so the conversation ended, and though my ego was slightly bruised once again, I thought about the matter a bit more, and a while later I came back to my father saying,

“Dad! This time I’ve really got it. I’ll go to school and study to become….A DANCER!!!”

At this he gave me that same stern, sullen look, which now looked a bit tired and frustrated by the whole situation.

“Jeff, there’s really no good way to put this. You’re a terrible dancer. I’m surprised you could even do the Macarena at your cousin’s wedding. Really, think about the doctor or lawyer or businessman thing.”

And so the conversation ended, and though my ego was really bruised now because I rocked that Macarena out, I thought about the matter a bit more and came back saying,

“Ok, Dad. I know you’re getting tired of this, but really, I’ve got it this time. I’ll go to school and study to be…A DIRECTOR!”

This time, my dad didn’t give me the same stern, sullen look. Instead, his response shocked me. He said, “Well, you’re stubborn, you can be bossy, and you’ve got an ego the size of Texas. You’d be fine as a director. I still think you’ll face a lot of competition, but if you apply to the most prestigious theater school you can think of and can get in, you have my blessing.”

And so I applied to the UCLA School of Theater, Film, and Television and lo and behold, I got in! I finally would get the chance to be around creative, narcissistic artists just like me, and I would study under even more.

One of those narcissistic artists I would study under was Michael Hackett. Michael was a legendary director who directed productions all over the world and had even worked as a director for prominent LA landmarks like LA Opera and The Hollywood Bowl. If you ever forgot any of his resume, not to worry. Michael would remind you.

Michael was my professor for my Shakespearian directing class. The curriculum for the class was very simple. There were no textbooks, no tests, and no finals. The only assignment was to direct a 10-minute scene from a Shakespearian play, bring it in for the class to see, have the class rip it to shreds with their critiques, and then bring it back in after another week of rehearsals for some more criticism.

Before we could bring in our scene, we had to get it approved by Michael, so one day I walked into his office and said enthusiastically, “Michael! I know what scene I want to direct!”

“Great, Jeff!  What play is it from?”

“My favorite Shakespearian comedy, ‘Titus Andronicus,’” I said sarcastically.

“Uh, that piece of garbage?” Michael exclaimed. “No one ever does that play.”

“I know. That’s why I want to do it.”

“And what scene do you want to do from it?”

“The one in which Lavinia’s tongue and hands are cut off.” What can I say. I had a very interesting sensibility at the time.

“I really don’t want to see that,” Michael said authoritatively. “Go back to the drawing board and come back to me tomorrow.”

So I came back the next day and said, “Michael, I’ve got it!  I’ll do Petruchio and Kate’s introduction scene from ‘Taming of the Shrew.’ I’ve always loved that scene, and I really want to work with something that’s so physical and slapsticky.”

“Ugh. Why are all my students so obsessed with that scene? Someone brings that in every year. Try something original.”

Instead of arguing with Michael that it’s tough to be original with Shakespeare considering that the source material has been around for 400 years, I went home and came back in the next day.

“Hey Michael. What about ‘Midsummer Night’s Dream’?”

“Ugh Jeff.  That one’s overdone too.” He went to his bookshelf, grabbed his copy of “Henry IV, Part 1,” and said “Here, do a scene from this one.”

And two weeks later, I walked into class with a scene from “Henry IV.” I will admit, my scene was held together with nothing more than duct tape and hope. After watching the five minute long train wreck that was my scene, Michael turned to me and said, “You know Jeff, I didn’t see a lot of you in this piece,” and he gave me a C minus.

While I completely agreed with him that my scene was awful, I was infuriated with the whole situation. College theater should have been my time to take on any project I wanted without any rules or boundaries. This was supposed to be my time to discover my voice as an artist and be myself. I expected to have complete freedom to create anything I wanted to and to express myself without hearing the words, “you can’t.” Instead, I found college theater to be unbelievably constricting and political. This was not what I signed up for, and if it was any indication of what to expect in my career, I was in trouble.

I thought about giving up as soon as I realized I wasn’t getting what I expected, but I decided that I’m not a quitter. I carried on and stayed in the Theater Department, but everything changed one night in the fall of my senior year. I decided to order a pizza during a night of late night cramming, and the pizza delivery man just happened to be someone I recognized. No, it wasn’t Professor Hackett, but it was a recent graduate of the UCLA Theater Dept directing program.

I was staring at my future, and he was holding my meat lover’s pizza.

At around 10 o’clock that night, I called my father, crying as I ate my pizza.

“Jeff? Why are you calling at 10 o’clock at night? Are you ok?” my dad said in one of his rare panicked tone.

“No,” I managed to get out between tears. “I’m—I’m gonna end up a pizza delivery man and I’m scared.”

My dad asked me to explain, and eventually dad was able to calm me down.

The following day, my dad called me.

“So Jeff, are you ok?” he asked in a gentle tone.

“I’m ok,” I said. “Still about worried, but I’m ok.”

“Well I have some ideas for you,” dad said, in his patented problem-solver tone.

“Dad, I really don’t want to be a lawyer or a businessman,” I said back.

“Well what about Human Resources?” he asked.

“What the hell is that?” I asked. I had never heard of Human Resources before, and it sounded like it dealt with illegal black market organ trading.

After Dad gave me a brief definition of Human Resources and explained how my outgoing personality, my passion for solving problems, and my desire to help others would be an asset to that field, my ears perked up.

“I really think you should take a class in this,” Dad said. “You’ve got nothing to lose.”

A few weeks later, I started my Introduction to Human Resources course, and I immediately fell in love with it. A few months later when I took my first recruiting class, I became obsessed. The idea that I could make a positive impact on someone’s life by finding them their dream job—and by using nothing but my personality, my communication skills, and my gut instincts—inspired me more than anything I learned in four years in the UCLA Theater Department.

I finally found my calling, and I’ve never looked back since.

I have, however, thanked my dad profusely for his years of tough love. At the time, my ego got a bit bruised, but in hindsight, I realize that my dad was always trying to guide me into a career that would make me happy and successful. He understood and recognized the skills and talents I had when I was focusing on the skills and talents I coveted but never really achieved.

I’ve meet a lot of successful HR and recruiting professionals so far in my career, and none of them dreamed of a career in that field as a kid. They all fell into it by accident. I didn’t fall into it. I was pushed through some tough love and pizza, and I am damn grateful for both.

So, dear reader, I hope you can learn from my story. We all have goals, dreams, and aspirations, but those goals, dreams, and aspirations can change over time. I’ve heard time and time again that when it comes to your career, you should follow your heart and the money will follow. I completely agree, but I will add that sometimes people have a change of heart. That’s ok. If your heart is no longer in whatever you’re doing as a career or you feel you’d rather do something else, then do something new. You’re not trapped, and you’re not quitting. You’re just continuing your career in something different and new and daring. And pay attention to those voices in your head (or if you’re like me, the voice of your father) that tell you you’d be better suited for something else. Sometimes that voice, whether it’s internal or external, is onto something.

Jeff Davis is a graduate of UCLA and has an extensive background in Human Resources and Recruiting. He currently works for Career Strategies Inc (www.csi4jobs.com), a staffing firm specializing in direct and temporary placements in corporate capacities.

Bill Humbert, Recruitment Consultant

When trusted employees are promoted into management, generally what is their first task? Replace themselves. How do they interview candidates for their replacement?  Go to HR and ask for a list of acceptable questions to ask. If they are lucky, HR has a list of “approved questions.” Are the questions targeting the skills required to be successful in the position? Generally not, they are simply acceptable interview questions. Do those questions include, “If you were an animal, what would you be?”  Probably not, those questions are usually created by managers who feel they need to ask something more in order to get a better picture of the candidate. Is interviewing taken seriously in corporate America? If it were, hiring managers would be trained to be more effective in the interviewing process. As a matter of fact, trained and “certified” hiring managers from every company function would be developed. For instance, there would a certified interviewing manager in accounting, another in marketing, another in sales, etc.

If executives truly understood the cost of hiring the wrong person for a job, they would require the same or greater due diligence on the selection of a new employee as they require on the selection of a new corporate acquisition. This due diligence would include a meaningful job description, a meaningful interviewing process, and meaningful due diligence on the selected candidate after the interview.

Let’s examine the cost of hiring the wrong person. The first assumption is that they are in the position for two years before they make the grievous mistake that gets them fired (after being put on plan). Let’s say that person is earning $60,000 per year plus full benefits. They are in a decision making position, possibly team leader/supervisor. Let’s also say they have some client contact (customer service is full-time client contact). Does this begin to sound like someone your company has hired?

What are your hard costs of this hire? Did you pay a recruiting fee, relocation, advertising for the position (Internet postings, newspaper, other), attend career fairs, etc.? What time was spent by individuals in your company during the interview process? Did you need to pay the candidate expenses to interview them in person? Did you need to call in an employment attorney prior to letting them go? Did you pay severance? Were you sued by the candidate for wrongful termination when they were let go?

Many companies will glance at their hard costs of letting someone go but never even consider their potentially catastrophic soft costs.

Let’s examine the soft costs of someone who has been in a position for two years but is only doing part of their job – and not doing it that well. What is the cost of the work that is either not done – or done by another member of the team? What is the cost of their disruption to the team? What is the cost of the credibility of the manager for hiring someone like them? Have they driven away a customer or other employees? What is the cost of managing, coaching, and correcting them? What was the cost of the management time spent interviewing them; and then their replacement? Has their employment affected your brand as an employer? How has that affected recruitment? There may be many negative impacts.

On one occasional, I conducted an interview training session with a small consulting firm. The attendees included the CEO and CFO. At the beginning of the session, I asked the previous questions. The table with the CEO and CFO estimated that the potential damage to the company could reach to $1 million over two years. Imagine hiring just four people like that over a couple of years. Potentially that could make the difference between profit and loss – even between staying in business and going out of business. That is how important interviewing and selection skills are.

10 Tips for Successful Hiring Manager Interviews:

1) Create effective job description that includes the three, six, nine, and 12 month goals for that specific position (http://www.recruitingtrends.com/building-an-effective-job-description). This exercise makes the skills and experience necessary to be successful the first year crystal clear. Then the manager is able to focus questions on those skills and experience.

2) Use the goals and the departments this position interfaces with to create an interdepartmental interviewing team that focuses on its specific area and general corporate fit.

3) Create an interview that combines behavioral interviewing with 1 and 2 step interview questions to probe skills and experience.

4) Each interviewer focuses on their skill area – and reports how well the candidate would do in their area.

5) Treat the candidate as a potential client – they may be in the future if they are not already.

6) After the interview and within 24 hours, the interview team meets and discusses the candidate. Each member of the team gives thumbs up or down. The hiring manager accepts their opinions and makes the final hire/no hire decision after the reference check/drug test/background test processes.

7) The hiring manager is taught how to conduct reference checks since they know everything the candidate will need to accomplish. Remember, they make critical decisions every day that impact the company. They will conduct a more meaningful reference check than anyone else. Coach them as you would for interviewing.

8) Once the reference check/drug test/background check processes are complete, the final hire/no hire decision is made.

9) Based on the information collected during the interviewing and reference checking processes, create an offer based on corporate compensation, budget, and scarcity of candidates.

10) Begin your offer process by selling the candidate on the position again, asking how they will handle the counter offer, and extending the offer.

Using this straightforward process will improve your company’s candidate selection process—and, as a result, improve employee retention.

Bill Humbert is an expert nationally based Recruitment Consultant and the author of “RecruiterGuy’s Guide to Finding a Job.” His business, RecruiterGuy.com, specializes in recruitment continuous process improvement, employment branding, creative candidate sourcing, interview training, and how these tie together to attract Impact Performers.

Sara Sutton Fell, CEO/Founder, FlexJobs

2.8 million Americans now consider their home offices to be their primary workplace and 27 million Americans have flexible schedules. Between 2005 and 2009, telecommuting grew 61 percent and is expected to grow another 69 percent by 2016. Despite the rapid growth of remote work and flexible jobs, they continue to be discussed by many employers as though they are a scarce, and perhaps even scary, way of working.

New data, however, shows that remote work and flexible jobs are available in a wide variety of industries heading into 2012. The Flexible Job Index (FJI) for December 2011 shows that the top five industries with the most flexible jobs are all over the place, from health care to education and everywhere in between.

The top five fields with the most flexible jobs include:

1. Medical & Health – 7.6% of total job listings

2. Administrative – 7.1%

3. Education & Training – 5.6%

4. Computer & IT – 5.1%

5. Sales – 5.0%

Flexible job listings in the medical & health career field rose 21% in December, helping the category regain its long-standing position as the top job category after coming in second to administrative jobs in November. In addition to the medical & health career field, account management jobs saw a large jump with an increase of 22%, and nonprofit & philanthropy jobs saw a 24% increase in listings.

In contrast, it’s been a tougher month for job seekers hoping to secure flexible employment in several fields which saw a decrease in job listings. Drops include graphic design jobs, down 39% despite their popularity in the telecommuting arena, as well as bilingual jobs (-28%), website and software development (-25%), and art and creative jobs (-20%).

The FJI is compiled and released every month by FlexJobs, the leading website for flexible job listings, and details the top 25 industries with available flexible jobs. The jobs in the report include remote work or telecommuting jobs, part-time jobs, flexible schedule jobs, and freelance jobs.

While people generally expect that jobs in computer and information technology translate well into remote work, some very surprising, more traditional jobs exist in the remote work and flexible jobs arena. In the past few months, FlexJobs researchers have found openings for these traditional roles being filled as telecommuting or remote work:

• K-8 Teacher
• State Director of Nursing
• Business Process Quality Manager
• Insurance Inspector
• Chief Executive Officer
• Paralegal
• High School Math Teacher
• Regional Human Resources Representative
• Attorney

With more and more traditional jobs being listed as remote work or flexible jobs, it’s a great sign that all industries increasingly see the value in remote work for businesses and employees alike.

Sources:

Flexible Job Index, December 2011
WorkShifting.com
Bureau of Labor Statistics
Telework Research Network

Sara Sutton Fell is an online job market expert whose company, FlexJobs, is the leading career website for telecommuting, flexible, part-time, and freelance work opportunities. FlexJobs is a free resource for employers to source, screen, and recruit top-notch candidates for telecommuting and flexible jobs. Twitter @FlexJobs

Barbara Bruno, President, Good as Gold Training, HRSearch Inc.

The competition for top talent will continue to increase as the job market improves. Most hiring authorities have been in the driver’s seat for the past two years and have not had to sell their opportunity or company. This is not reflective of today’s reality.

It is important for you to attract, interview and present the best talent available. Part of your job is to excite the job seeker about your company and opportunity. It is also important that you begin to prep your hiring authorities.

Inform your hiring authorities that there is competition for top talent. As a result, it is important that they accomplish the following:

• Understand the hot buttons of each job seeker (what would they change about their current job if they were their boss?)
• Show how their opportunity answers what is most important to the job seeker
• Sell their company culture and reputation
• Stress the retention of current employees
• Share their story and the reason they love the company
• Share success stories or testimonials from current employees

In the not too distant future, many hiring authorities will be more interested in the candidate than the candidate will be in the opportunity. This is why it is so critical that hiring authorities realize there is increasing competition for top talent.

It is estimated that job satisfaction of current employees is at historic lows. Many employees have not received raises, are doing the work of what used to be two people and have not received promotions. Individuals have been afraid to leave their jobs due to the unstable job market. As the job market improves, you could experience higher levels of turnover.

Whether you are hiring full time employees, contractors or temp workers, these individuals will be attracted to the companies who offer what is most important to them. The more you can share the hot buttons of these candidates, the better chance you have of extending an offer that is accepted.

Obviously, you are not going to tell a hiring authority that you need to prep them for an interview. You will tell them that you have inside information about what is most important to your candidates, which will help them attract the person they want to hire. This approach will make your hiring authorities much more receptive to this process.

It’s time to add the extra step of a thorough interview prep to your process so you can identify, interview and attract the top talent your company needs to hire today and in the future!

Barb Bruno, CPC, CTS is one of the most trusted experts, speakers and trainers in the Staffing and Recruiting Profession. Barb has spent several years helping Owners, Managers and Recruiters increase their Sales, Profits and Income with her top-rated web based training Course, the Top Producer Tutor.

Tony Lee, Chief Alliance Officer & EVP of East Coast Operations, Adicio

It’s normal to be nervous before any interview, but some job seekers are especially affected, and so are many of the recruiters who interview them. In fact, at many small companies where hiring exactly the right person is so important, interviewers fret for days before each meeting with a top candidate. Some people are so fearful and apprehensive before any interview that they become tongue-tied, talk too much or say the wrong things.

To be sure, a manageable level of stress can actually improve interview performance. “It quickens our mind, sharpens our conversation and pumps more adrenaline into our system,” says Arlene Hirsch, a Chicago career adviser. “If you don’t feel any stress, you may not be ready to perform well.”

On the other hand, if your blood pressure rises too much and your palms become too clammy, you need to control your reactions. The key to calmness is learning not to exaggerate an interview’s importance. Lowering the stakes can reduce your stress level considerably.

In contrast, if you believe that you must succeed at all costs, your tension level will soar. You’ll be a self-conscious spectator of your behavior, watching and judging every word you say. Not only does this make you more anxious, it also divides your attention.

Excessive self-consciousness is most common among perfectionists who feel they can’t afford to fail. Any real or imaginary deviation from their self-imposed, often unrealistic, standards triggers more nervousness and self-critical ruminations.

“The self-imposed pressure of trying to ace an interview can make someone focus too much on how he looks and acts,” says Ms. Hirsch. “Research has shown that this self-consciousness not only can prevent you from responding to questions with confidence, it can actually cause you to perform at levels below your demonstrated capabilities.”

Even preparing your responses in advance can hurt if you’re too anxious. You’ll tend to be over-prepared, which chokes your spontaneity and your ability to field unexpected questions.

Nothing to Fear

Remind yourself that whatever happens, you’re sure to survive another day. And the less you worry about making mistakes, the less anxious you’ll be. Worrying about an experience is always more unpleasant than the experience itself.

Also be careful to never confront candidates, regardless of how tense you’re feeling. Instead of making them the butt of your misdirected anxiety, tell yourself that they’re only human and treat them as friends.

Another way to reduce stress is to visualize how you want to come across, then separate yourself from your performance. Develop an image of an ideal executive, then model your behavior after this image. Just as an actor or actress creates the character in a script, you must try to create a character for the task of interviewing others.

To reduce stress, some recruiters practice relaxation exercises before interviews. For instance, try to visualize a serene and beautiful scene, such as a moonlit beach, while becoming aware of your breathing rhythm. As you inhale, think “I am.” When you exhale, think “calm.” Breathe at least 10 times, then recall a successful interview experience.

A more advanced breathing technique would be to relax and exhale completely. Next, close your mouth and place your thumb of your right hand on your right nostril so that it’s completely closed. Then slowly and deeply inhale and exhale through your left nostril at least 25 to 30 times. This allows you to tap into the right hemisphere of your brain, say stress experts, particularly the limbic part that governs emotions. You’ll experience an immediate reduction of your anxiety level and feel more relaxed and controlled during the meeting.

Power of Visualization

Many top athletes use visualization techniques to reduce anxiety, improve concentration and enhance athletic performance. Tennis star Chris Evert, for example, says she tried to visualize opponents’ shots, form and strategy before championship matches. She then pictured how she would counter their maneuvers.

Jack Nicklaus gives the following description of how he programs his internal “bio-computer” before golf tournaments: “I never hit a shot, even in practice, without having a sharp, in-focus picture of it in my head. It’s like a color movie. First, I ‘see’ the ball where I want it to finish…I ‘see’ the ball going there: its path, trajectory and shape…the next scene shows me making the kind of swing that will turn the previous image into reality.”

As in sporting events, when interviewing candidates, a high level of performance is required for a short period. Thus, using visualization techniques can help build confidence and reduce anxiety. The trick is to create a memory of a successful meeting. When interviewing, you’ll feel a sense of déjà vu, as though you had the experience before. Stress counselors say the following steps are helpful when trying to visualize:

• Find a tranquil, quiet place where you’ll be totally undisturbed.
• Purge your mind of ordinary concerns, worries and preoccupations. Eliminate thoughts that aren’t directly pertinent to your visualization and find a quiet mental space.
• Lie down with your legs uncrossed and your arms at your sides. Close your eyes and inhale slowly, expanding your chest and lower abdomen. Pause for a moment. Then exhale slowly and relax your chest and abdomen. Inhale and exhale until you feel deeply relaxed. As you become more tranquil, breathe more slowly and evenly.
• Relax your feet and legs and imagine that they’re becoming heavy. Say to yourself, “My feet and legs are becoming more and more relaxed. They’re now deeply relaxed.” Pause, then repeat this on your ankles, thighs, pelvis, stomach, back and chest. Rest a moment. Then repeat it with your hands, forearms, upper arms and shoulders. Pause, then relax the muscles of your neck and jaw. Allow your jaw to drop. Relax your tongue, cheeks, eyes and forehead. Rest and enjoy a totally relaxed feeling.
• To relax more deeply, imagine that you’re alone in an elevator. Visualize the doors closing, then the numbers showing the floor level. Imagine that you’re on the tenth floor and going to the first. Feel the descending motion as the elevator drops. As the elevator passes each floor, you’ll enter a deeper, calmer mental state. When you reach the first floor, your mind will be open and tranquil. When the elevator doors open, imagine that you’re sitting in a comfortable chair in a dimly lit room. Picture a large screen on a wall. You’re now ready to begin visualizing.

Repeat these steps at least three times before any stressful interview, visualizing for as long as you like. With repeated visualizations you can enrich the scenes with more detail and perfect the outcome. When you want to resume normal consciousness, mentally return to the elevator and ascend to the tenth floor. When the door opens, open your eyes. Chances are you’ll feel rested, strong and determined.

Interviewing skills improve with practice. As your fear subsides, you’ll perform better. You’ll gain confidence in your interviewing skills and, ultimately, you’ll be performing as well as the person you visualized.

Bill Humbert, Recruitment Consultant

It is interesting to listen when companies complain they have difficulty attracting candidates from out of state. With a little research, a consultant may easily determine why they are experiencing those problems.

Relocation of candidates requires an understanding of psychology, an understanding that recruitment is a sales process, and a recruitment process that does not interfere with those understandings.

One of my clients decided to transition an important IT organization from Washington, DC to Cedar Rapids, IA in the early 1990s. I was tasked to develop the recruitment strategy; and developed these tips. As a result, we recruited 200 IT professionals for Cedar Rapids in 20 months (prior to the Internet as a widely used sourcing tool). Of those 200 IT professionals, we needed to relocate approximately 145 individuals and families from cities all over the United States. I like to think we could have done it more quickly today because sourcing is so much easier and more targeted. However, the other side of that sword is absorbing and effectively orienting those new employees, especially since we also needed to recruit senior managers and orient them.

Fortunately my client was very light on its feet and welcomed innovation. Otherwise, we would have failed. We changed parts of our strategy when they were not as effective as they once were – while keeping the strategies that continued to work. The strategy was developed so it fit within my client’s basic needs of personal interviews, reference checking (very valuable), background investigations, and drug testing. Otherwise we were able to change the process as needed.

The following tips will help your company succeed in attracting top talent that needs to be relocated.

1) Examine your current recruitment processes. If you put up roadblocks to top talent, you will have difficulty attracting them. For instance, do you require candidates to complete an application prior to a conversation to develop mutual interest (a la the 1960s personnel department)? This practice is clerk recruiting at its worst. Professional recruiters talk to candidates first and develop an interest prior to any applications.

2) Avoid asking candidates to make a big decision. Keep asking for small decisions until relocation is a logical next step. People resist making big decisions without enough information – and asking them to pull up roots and move is a very big decision because it potentially impacts a whole family. Do you tell candidates in the first conversation that they must move to your town? If so, you are probably making relocation a more difficult issue.

3) Will the candidate be viewed as a diversity candidate? If so, they will be concerned about what happens if they move and the work relationship fails. They will also be concerned whether or not they will “fit in” with the company, neighborhood, schools, etc. It is important to introduce them to other similar employees in your company or area.

With all of the potential complications, what process works? Remember first of all, this is a sales process. Therefore you want to ask the candidate to make small easy decisions with each one leading the candidate to the next obvious conclusion.

You need to determine if the candidate is qualified. In your introductory phone call you discuss your company/client and the specific position to see if there is interest. It’s important to honestly sell each – company and position. It is good to mention the location of the position but that’s not important yet. What is important is their interest level in a position like that and in your company. At this point if they say I don’t want to move to (Park City/Washington, DC/Iowa, etc.), you reply, “I understand. What’s more important at this point is if you are interested in this position and the direction of the company. We don’t even know if you qualify for this position yet. When is a good time to sit down to discuss your qualifications?”

Set up a phone screen. At the beginning of the phone screen, refresh their memory about the position and the company. Be sure to add some new information that will keep their interest. Once you have decided they are qualified, then you may say, “The next little step is to have a phone conversation with the hiring manager. Would you prefer to have that conversation during the day or in the evening?” If they object that they do not want to move, simply say, “I’m not asking you to move. It doesn’t cost you anything to talk. Let’s just chat with the manager to see if this type of position is interesting to you.” You want them thinking about the next easy decision – when to phone interview with the manager. Once you have a mutually agreeable time, contact the hiring manager to set up the call and coach them about the next steps.

After the call with the hiring manager, ask how it went. Find their level of interest. If it is high, the next little step is to meet with the manager in person and meet people on the team. Then a tour of facilities, followed by a tour of the area by a chosen professional real estate agent who is there only to sell the area but not a property (that may happen later). The real estate agent will ask them during the tour what they would like to see – schools, playing fields, cultural locations (museums, live theaters – repertory or off-Broadway), hiking/biking trails, etc. While they are conversing, the real estate agent should ask them if they like what they’ve seen – in other words, understand their objections. This is key to your success because candidates will tend to be more open to discussing concerns with someone who is not connected directly to the company.

Once you know their true objections – and if the hiring manager really wants to hire this candidate – you may be able to answer that objection in your debriefing conversation. For instance, they may say they won’t make a decision without their spouse seeing the area. One client answers that objection early by inviting the spouse/significant other to the onsite interview trip. They tour while the candidate interviews. After the interview, the other person joins them and is shown what the first liked the most about their tour (and will probably talk about their interviews).

After the real estate agent debriefs you, you can debrief the candidate. If there is an objection, treat it as important but not a show stopper (the person could just have a little cold feet). If there is mutual interest at this point, the next little decision is an offer. At this point, it is expected and the move will seem like a smaller decision because of the additional information since the first conversation.

If this is a key position, companies need to have some flexibility on relocation benefits (especially in this housing market), signing bonuses, and compensation/title (it still needs to be within the compensation structure). How much is this empty position costing the company per month?

Before the offer is extended it is important to review all of the reasons why the candidate should strongly consider the position and get their agreement on those reasons. Then, with excitement, extend the offer to them. Once they accept, negotiate a start date and coach them on the counter offer again – but that’s another article!

Bill Humbert is an expert nationally based Recruitment Consultant and the author of “RecruiterGuy’s Guide to Finding a Job.” His business, RecruiterGuy.com, specializes in recruitment continuous process improvement, employment branding, creative candidate sourcing, interview training, and how these tie together to attract Impact Performers.

Patrick Ropella, Founder & Owner, Ropella Group

It’s hard to hide unprepared, unqualified interviewers. They bring little value to the interview process and, as a result, stick out like a sore thumb. What can be done at your organization to ensure those on your selection teams conduct the best, most well informed interviews? Read on!

Resumes are very poor ways to assess a candidate’s fit. A resume is simply a display of knowledge. It’s information presented in a raw form. Like the job application you filled out for your first job, the resume provides only a very superficial way to screen candidates.  And that is why interviews are key. Make your interviews powerful by getting fully prepared for them and using pre-interview information gathering and a skills survey. Then, collect your pre- and post-interview review data on a grading sheet.

First Things First: The Skills Survey

Before you even think about scheduling an interview, you must be sure to collect all of the information or “knowledge” you will need to create job search materials that bring in qualified candidates and help you make informed decisions. You do this by creating a “customized job application” or what I call a skills survey.

Interviewing is about finding out the depth of a candidate’s skills, aptitudes, and attitudes in relation to how they fit your work and your culture. Having candidates complete a skills survey allows you to focus more time on these issues and aspects of their experience during the face-to-face interview.

The skills survey is very different from a standard job application or one that human resources might use at the end of the selection process. Yes, it is yet another step in the hiring process, but it is one that is hugely valuable and actually very easy to execute (I promise!).

Here’s how to create a skills survey:

1. First identify the outcomes you want your new employee to achieve. For example:

• Ability to solve problems
• Flexible with rotating schedules
• Able to multi-task and stay very organized
• Well-adjusted and able to handle high pressure moments.

2. Now flip these outcomes into questions. For example:

• Describe an example or two of the most significant problems you’ve solved. How did you identify the problem(s) and go about solving them?
• Have you ever worked nights or weekends? If so where, and for how long at any one stretch?
• Are you well organized? What methods do you use to stay organized?
• How do you cope with or regulate stress and emotions? If you were training someone who is new to this type of high-pressure environment, what would you suggest to them to help them deal with the stress and emotions that come with it?

By now you should be getting a flavor for how easy creating a skills survey can be. In our experience, it is best to keep the number of questions between 10 and 15. As a rule of thumb, the greater the “needle in a haystack” nature of the search (i.e. level of specificity), the greater the number of questions.

Working through the process of completing the skills survey forces candidates to really think through the key roles they’ll be responsible for on a daily basis in the position. In other words, it helps them really assess whether or not the open position is the right job for them. It helps them determine whether they are under-qualified or overqualified and their true level of interest. It helps them dramatically improve their preparation for the interview process. Emphasize to them that completing the skills survey in writing helps them to think through the key topical areas that will be focused on the most during the interviews.

Also keep in mind that the best interviewers are not always the best candidates, just as terrible interviewers can be great candidates. The skills survey levels the playing field for all candidates no matter how good they are at interviewing.  Interviewers often have limited time to find out the depth of a candidate’s skills, especially as they relate specifically to the open position. The skills survey process forces candidates to focus, in writing in advance of the interview, on the most important aspects of their experience and skill set. You can then build on the information they’ve provided in the skills survey when you are in a face-to-face interview by asking more detailed, behavior-based questions. The skills survey also provides you with much more time in the interview to dig deeper into their relevant background, experience, and skill set because you do not have to use valuable interview time to do basic information gathering.

Creating Clarity: Requesting a Cover Letter

Now there’s one other information gathering step that, depending on the results of the skills survey review, you may want to use on a case-by-case basis. Follow-up cover letters can be requested at very different times throughout the interview process. Typically they are used very early on in the process to clarify whether a candidate should even be asked to complete a skills survey. Sometimes a cover letter is also helpful after candidates have completed the skills survey. At that stage, the cover letter can be used to address remaining concerns about a candidate and to find out details such as why they are interested in your opportunity and/or how well they feel they fit the role.

The request for the skills survey normally comes as a part of the screening process before any interview starts. But, cover letters can be asked for at any time. Sometimes you’ll ask for one upfront on one issue, and another cover letter on a different matter after the final interview, and maybe even another one right before the final candidate selection takes place.

When asking for a cover letter, you might say to the prospective candidate, “Before we proceed further into the process, we want to give you an opportunity to address, in the form of a cover letter, an issue we are concerned about. Please give me a paragraph answering the following question.”

Then you take the concern and put it in the form of a question, asking the candidate to focus on answering with one paragraph or two at most. Getting a candidate to answer in writing allows the entire selection team to hear the candidate’s own words and allows you to make a hiring decision based on logic, not uncertainty, assumptions, preconceived notions, or lack of information. It also tells you a lot about the candidate’s communication style, follow-up and organizational skills. Candidates will also accept being screened out with much greater grace when they see you’ve really given them a chance during the information gathering and interview process.

Making the Grade: Use Evidence-Based Grading Systems to Compare Candidates

You now know how to come up with valuable information. The next step is learning how to quantify or measure its value. By this point in the selection process, you will have at least a resume and a completed skills survey and maybe even a cover letter and some notes from your original introduction to the candidate. Note that you will have yet to do an actual interview but you’ve already collected a good bit of information that will make the interview process a whole lot more productive once you move to face-to-face interviews.

The grading sheet is a customized form you complete and then use for every candidate you have screened as a potential fit. If through a superficial quick review of the resumes you can tell that some of the candidates are probably C level in comparison with the others, set those aside for now and grade the rest. The grading sheet will help you objectively weigh all the outcomes and even the preferences in such a way that at the end of the grading process you can be pretty sure who the A+ candidates are, who the A candidates are, and who the B candidates are. Then you focus on scheduling interviews for the A’s, set aside the B’s as backups (for now), and release the C’s.

The grading sheet is also a good retention tool. Reviewing the grading sheet during a quarterly performance appraisal is another step that can be taken towards making sure there is still a good fit between existing employees and the current roles they’re assigned to. People change and their interests, skills, and abilities change with them. If the position a person is in doesn’t change, then you need to stay tuned in to the person so when he has grown beyond a certain role you can move him into more fulfilling work as soon as it’s available. In the meantime, you may even want to assign special projects to keep employees motivated. Fail to notice the subtle changes in a person’s motivation or attitude and you will experience excessive turnover.

What you learn from people about why they are interviewing, what they like and dislike about their current organization, how their organization asks them to do things, and how their organization is structured, etc. can be very valuable information. Knowledge is power… so capture as much as you can during the interview process for continuous evaluation and redeployment of talent and even for competitive intelligence purposes.

Patrick B. Ropella is Chairman & CEO of the Ropella Group, a 25-year-old international Executive Search, Leadership Transformation, and Corporate Consulting firm in Florida with clients among the world’s most prestigious corporations. The Ropella Group focuses on working with mid-level management and executive-level leaders regarding their search, leadership, and/or consulting needs across most roles and functions.

Embracing diversity, retaining equality, and upholding strong ethics

Joan Francis, Consultant /Researcher

The pressure for the recruitment industry has never been as tough and competitive as the present date (except of course during the great depression of the 1930s). The need to deliver your best candidates on time and all of the time, screened and scrutinized to fulfill the total profile required by the customer for the candidates, then to compete against (volume) other equally qualified candidates from various other agencies can often prove disheartening for all, especially when the candidate is continually competing against many over-qualified individuals per position.

My personal view as a consultant is to have a broader knowledge of my own area and locality in the ‘Big Society’ within my catchment area and truly embrace diversity as a whole. To be able to diversify in a competitive climate can create an additional edge for your business.

So what do I mean by diversifying whilst retaining an ethically and equally balanced approach within the job market?

If we take, for instance, the caliber and type of candidate walking through our doors these days, the majority of them do have the ‘wow factor’ with CVs that in past would have guaranteed an immediate interview with an immediate job, placement or contract. Unfortunately, the present day delivers an overflow of such candidates with a minority of positions for them to fill. Therefore, we are left with surplus candidates entering unchallenging and unrewarding positions (if lucky enough) for the sake of being employed, having a job.

Can we as consultants counteract this and support the candidate towards better things? I believe that we can. As qualified and trained consultants we should be able to offer diverse and alternative support if we feel that we cannot accommodate that particular candidate at that particular stage. We should be our own ‘personal entity’ with the ability to identify both verbal and non-verbal communication, strengths and weaknesses, and other observational traits within the initial interview process.

High on the agenda should be the opportunity to offer the candidate significant solid and sound advice and perhaps a provisional redirection to alternative companies or bodies within our own network of businesses or support groups. Our network of a large number of organisations should not just be  organisations looking for staff, but bodies such as volunteer bureaus, local government bodies, support groups for self employment, additional training groups for updating skills, networking and talk groups – literally everything your candidate may require to retain interest and maybe even to regain self-worth if they have been unemployed for sometime or maybe unsuccessful in finding a first position since leaving university or college, keeping them in a loop.

It is so easy for the initial flame of enthusiasm to burn out through unsuccessful interviews or continual rejections.

All potential candidates should be valued as they are our future placements. What we do not want to create for the recruitment industry is a reputation of being unsupportive, uncaring, and disconnected from the real world.

Offering advice and support does not mean you will be overrun with a database of unsuitable candidates that cannot be placed. What it indicates is that you have taken the time to screen and profile your candidates’ needs and requirements, fulfilling your side of the bargain in these tough times. As a consultant this indicates you also understand the needs of your client and will not send just anyone along for the interview but a candidate whose profile best fits the position. This process also means that you will throw your net further to screen the perfect candidate increasing your success rate. You will broaden your opportunities by further networking with a variance of businesses outside your normal contact base; you will be extending and diversifying your own empire.

To be perceived as cocooned and insular in this day and age is non-beneficial to business strategy, and approaches to winning new business need to be continually reviewed and adapted to remain competitive.

The best form of advertising in any business is word of mouth which comes from clients, customers, candidates, and alternative bodies. Therefore, thinking outside your own box and networking with the alternative business could prove to be your winning card.

Joan Francis, MIRP CertRP, has been a member of the Recruitment Employment Confederation UK for the last 9 years supporting the biggest lobbying voice for the recruitment industry within the UK, a recognized and significant body. By trade, Joan is a Consultant /Researcher who enjoys a range of independent projects, independently sourced, which include research, investigation, consultation, and analysis.

Barbara Bruno, President, Good as Gold Training, HRSearch Inc.

It is extremely important for you to uncover the real reason your candidates have given you their resume. Have you ever heard your candidates say, “You called me, I wasn’t looking!” If the truth be known, this person has thought about a job change and some have been quitting for months, even years, but didn’t know where to start. They realize you have access to opportunities and as a result sent you their resume.

If you want to know the real reason someone is contemplating a change, ask them the following question:

• If you could change five things about your current position (if you were your boss), what changes would you make?

If the only changes are money and advancement, you need to walk away. This person will accept a counter-offer.

The answers to this question provide you with the information you need to close this candidate throughout the placement process. They will address issues that cannot be solved by more money or their next promotion. You will hear answers including:

• We need to update technology
• Management needs to communicate
• We are understaffed and they are still cutting back

In addition to asking what they would change about their current job, you need to ask them why they accepted a job in the past and what must be offered by a new company to motivate them to make a career change. People are creatures of habits and many times what is most important to them stays consistent throughout their career. There must be a strong interest and excitement about your new opportunity to enable this candidate to go through the trauma of a job change.

Throughout the entire placement process utilize the phrase, “I take my direction from you.”  These words empower your candidates and help them realize you are focused on their best interests. Their priorities become your priorities and the foundation of a trusting relationship is established.

Once you have identified their real reason for contemplating a change and their hot buttons, you are on your way to making an appropriate match and fill with one of your hiring authorities.

Barb Bruno, CPC, CTS is one of the most trusted experts, speakers and trainers in the Staffing and Recruiting Profession. Barb has spent several years helping Owners, Managers and Recruiters increase their Sales, Profits and Income with her top-rated web based training Course, the Top Producer Tutor.