Hire With Your Head Using Performance-Based Hiring to Build Outstanding Diverse Teams

Discover the secrets of one of the world’s leading talent acquisition experts

In the newly revised Fourth Edition of Hire With Your Head: Using Performance-Based Hiring to Build Great Teams, influential recruiting and hiring expert Lou Adler delivers a practical guide to consistently identifying and hiring the best people and scaling that process throughout your company.

This book will help you address your hiring and recruitment issues, not just by making you more efficient, but also by reforming your entire process to align with how top talent actually look for new jobs, compare offers, and select opportunities.

You'll discover:

• Discover what it takes to ensure more Win-Win Hiring outcomes by hiring for the anniversary date rather than the start date
• How to use a "High Tech, High Touch" approach to raise the talent bar
• Expand the talent pool to include more outstanding, high potential and diverse talent by defining work as a series of key performance objectives

Perfect for hiring managers, recruiters, and HR and business leaders, Hire with Your Head is a must-read resource for anyone seeking to improve their ability to find, attract, and retain the top talent the world has to offer.

LOU ADLER is CEO and Founder of Performance-based Hiring Learning Systems, a firm that shows recruiters and hiring managers around the world how to source, interview, and hire the strongest and most diverse talent. He is the author of Hire with Your Head and The Essential Guide for Hiring & Getting Hired.

FOREWORD        8

INTRODUCTION   PERFORMANCE-BASED HIRING FOUR EDITIONS LATER   9

A Short History on the Importance of Hiring Top Talent   9

Being More Efficient Doing the Wrong Things Is Not Progress       10

Creating a Win-Win Hiring Culture            11

The Big Three Hiring Challenges  12

Clarifying Job Expectations Upfront Is the Key to Hiring Outstanding People           12

Why Performance-based Hiring Is the Right Business Process for Hiring    13

CHAPTER 1   DEFINE YOUR TALENT STRATEGY BEFORE YOU DESIGN YOUR HIRING PROCESS               16

Stop Making Tactical Excuses for a Strategic Problem        16

The Importance of Having the Right Talent Strategy          17

Supply vs. Demand Needs to Drive Talent Strategy            17

Comparing the Scarcity of Talent vs. a Surplus of Talent Strategies             19

Win-Win Hiring: Hiring for the Anniversary Date, Not the Start Date          20

Develop an Ideal Candidate Persona to Achieve More Win-Win Hiring Outcomes 20

Remove the “HAVING” Mindset and Shift to a Performance Qualified Screening Standard               21

Negotiate with the End in Mind  22

More High Touch and Less High Tech – Convert Strangers into Acquaintances        23

CHAPTER 2   STEP-BY-STEP THROUGH THE PERFORMANCE-BASED HIRING PROCESS            24

Win-Win Hiring: Hire for the Anniversary Date, Not the Start Date             24

Performance-based Hiring Is Designed to Raise the Bar    24

Suboptimization Prevents Win-Win Hiring Outcomes        24

Benchmarking How the Best People Find Jobs and Get Hired         25

Hiring a Great Person Starts with a Great Job       25

Define Success as Performance Objectives, Not Skills and Experiences       26

Source Semi-finalists       26

Conduct the Two-way Performance-based Interview        27

Measure and Predict Quality of Hire        28

Close on Career Growth, Not Compensation Maximization             29

Use Onboarding to Clarify and Prioritize the Performance Objectives         30

Deliver on the Promise   31

Summary             32

CHAPTER 3   THE BEST CANDIDATES ARE OFTEN NOT THE BEST HIRES       33

The Worst Candidates Are Often the Best Hires   34

Category 1: Great candidates must have all of the basic skills listed on the job description.               34

Category 2: Great candidates must agree to the terms of an offer before knowing the job.               35

Category 3: Great candidates need to be prepared, make a great first impression and be good at presenting themselves              35

Some Great Candidates Become Great Hires, but Many More Don’t          36

Great Hires Are Easy to Define but Hard to Hire   36

Category 4: Great hires deliver the results without making excuses.          36

Category 5: Great hires collaborate with others and build strong teams.  37

Category 6: Great hires effectively organize and manage themselves and their teams.       37

Who would you rather hire, a great candidate or someone who delivers the results?         38

Summary – Avoid the 90-day Wonders    38

CHAPTER 4   DEVELOPING A BIAS-FREE HIRING PROCESS  40

Conduct a Pre-hire Performance Review 40

Never Meet Anyone in Person Before Conducting a Phone Screen              41

Only invite semi-finalists for the full interview      41

Use Organized Panel Interviews  42

Then eliminate the 30-minute one-on-ones          42

Script the Interview and Give Candidates the Questions   42

Wait 30 Minutes Before Making Any Yes or No Decision  43

Be a Juror – Not a Judge 43

Use Reverse Logic to Reveal and Reprogram Your Subconscious Biases     44

Treat Candidates as Consultants 44

Kill the Gladiators            45

Use a talent scorecard to share evidence               45

Measure First Impressions Last  46

Summary             46

CHAPTER 5   USING THE BEST TEST TO REDUCE UNCONSCIOUS BIAS          47

Two Huge Flaws in Personality Assessments That Are Often Ignored          47

Statistical Validation Understates the Impact of False Negatives  48

Personality Assessments Are Valuable When Used Later in the Hiring Process       49

Take the BEST Test Before Interviewing Anyone  50

Changes in BEST Style Reveals Growth and Flexibility        51

Assess Team Skills by Observing Changes in BEST Type Over Time              51

Assess Flexibility by Observing Changes in BEST Under Stress        52

Increase Interview Accuracy by Becoming Your “Least BEST”        52

Summary – Use the BEST Test to Confirm Rather Than Predict      53

CHAPTER 6   THE HIRING FORMULA FOR SUCCESS             54

Win-Win Hiring Begins with the End in Mind         54

Predicting Hiring Success Requires Much More Than Assessing Ability       54

The Hiring Formula for Success Captures the Dynamics of Actual Performance      56

The Big Four Fit Factors Drive Motivation to Excel             57

Define the Fit Factors as Part of the Job Description          57

The Fit Factors and Their Impact on Job Performance       58

The Impact of Managerial Fit on New Hire Success            59

Job Fit: Intrinsic Motivation to Do the Work Actually Required      59

Team Fit and EQ               60

Cultural Fit is More Than a Value Statement         60

Summary             61

CHAPTER 7   UNDERSTANDING THE REAL JOB STARTS WITH A PERFORMANCE PROFILE     62

Define the Work Before Defining the Person Doing the Work        62

Hire for Performance to Attract Outstanding Talent          63

The Legal Validation for Using Performance-based Hiring               64

Shifting to a Performance Qualified Definition of On-the-Job Success        65

Different Techniques to Develop Performance-based Job Descriptions      67

Take a Tour of the Factory and Call Me in the Morning     68

Basic Techniques for Determining the Key Performance Objectives            69

Use the Process of Success and the Timeline to Determine the Key Subtasks          69

Benchmark the Best People Doing the Same Job 70

Convert "Having" to "Doing"        71

Use the Four Work Types to Map Performance Objectives to the Company Lifecycle          73

Use the Master Checklist to Develop the KPOs     74

Job Branding – Creating the Employee Value Proposition (EVP)    76

Prioritize the Performance Objectives      77

Convincing Hiring Managers to Use Performance Profiles               77

The “no time” rebuttal.  77

The “When are you going to tell the candidate?” approach.          78

The “become a top manager” rebuttal.   78

Conduct an “A vs. B” test.            78

Tell some stories about people who have been promoted.             78

Dealing with the diehards.            78

Summary             79

CHAPTER 8   CONDUCTING THE EXPLORATORY PHONE SCREEN    81

The Exploratory Phone Screen Drives Hiring Success         81

The Phone Screen Is the “Swiss Army Knife” of Hiring       82

With a Phone Screen You Only Need 3-4 Semi-finalists to Make One Great Hire    83

Use the Phone Screen to Find and Recruit Semi-finalists  83

Conducting the Phone Screen Work History Review          85

Semi-finalists Must Answer These Two Questions              85

Assess the comparability of the accomplishments to the KPOs.    86

Connect the two accomplishments to see the trend of performance over time.    87

Determine if the person is recruitable      87

Summary – Use the Phone Screen to Control Your Entire Hiring Process   88

CHAPTER 9  CONDUCTING THE PERFORMANCE-BASED INTERVIEW            89

Checklist: The Performance-based Hiring Interviewing Process     89

The 8-Step Performance-based Interview Guide  91

Step 1: Introduction, Review Job and Discover Motivation for Looking      91

Step 2: Put Your Biases in the Parking Lot by Measuring the Impact of First Impression      93

Step 3: Conduct a Work History Review  94

Step 4: Assess 2-3 Major Accomplishments            95

Step 4a: Assess 1-2 Major Team Accomplishments             97

Step 5: Assess Critical Thinking and Job-related Problem-solving Skills       98

Step 6: Delay the Candidate’s Questions Until the End of the Interview     100

Step 7: Determine Candidate Interest and Recruiting Opportunity              101

Step 8: Measure First Impression Again, Last and Compare            103

You can never out-yell a hiring manager, but you can out-fact them.         104

Well-organized Panel Interviews Increase Assessment Accuracy   105

The Big Reasons Candidates Should Be Interviewed by a Panel     106

Steps for Organizing a Panel Interview     107

Have all interviewers on the panel review the performance-based job description and the talent scorecard before the interview session starts.        107

Script the Performance-based Interview to use as an organizing tool.       107

It’s vital that there is only one leader in a panel interview with everyone else acting as fact-finders only.       107

Leaders can be fact-finders, but fact-finders can’t be leaders.       108

Capture everyone’s insight right after the interview.         108

Key Highlights of the Performance-based Interview Process          108

CHAPTER 10   MAKING THE ASSESSMENT USING THE QUALITY OF HIRE TALENT SCORECARD               110

Keys for Conducting an Evidence-based Candidate Assessment     110

Understanding the 1-5 Ranking System   111

Share Evidence in a Live Formal Debriefing Session           111

Invoke the NO 2s! Rule to Raise the Talent Bar    112

The NO 2s! Warning Signs for Each Factor             112

Step-by-Step Completing the Quality of Hire Talent Scorecard      114

Basic Competencies         114

Core Skills            114

Overall Experience           114

Achiever Pattern and Trend of Growth    115

Essential Core Competences        116

Situational Fit Factors     117

How to Accurately Predict Managerial Fit and Ensure a Great Hire             118

Culture & Environmental Fit        118

Addressing the Balancing Act Between Recruitability and Competency      120

Organizing the Interview to Maximize Assessment Accuracy          120

Modification for Problem-Solving              121

Modification for Team Skills         121

Summary             121

CHAPTER 11   COMPARING PERFORMANCE-BASED HIRING AND BEHAVIORAL EVENT         123

Lack of Job Analysis is the Big Gap in BEI 123

Behavioral Fact-finding is the Key to an Accurate Assessment        124

Seeking the Advice and Counsel of Sherlock Holmes Himself         125

Assess Team Skills by Finding Deductive Evidence              126

A Simple Hack to Ensure an Accurate and Unbiased Assessment   126

Summary — Performance-based Interviewing is BEI on Steroids   127

CHAPTER 12   SOURCING OUTSTANDING TALENT – BLENDING HIGH TOUCH WITH HIGH TECH               129

Semi-finalist Criteria for Prequalifying Candidates              129

Small Batch, High Touch 130

Understanding the Sourcing and Recruiting Funnel            130

Two Buyers: The Hiring Manager and the Top Person       130

Make It Personal – Let’s Go for a Career Ride       131

Sourcing Checklist            132

Implementing a Scarcity of Talent Sourcing Program         133

Think Small Batch, High Touch: Source Semi-finalists         133

Conduct a Career Zone Analysis to Find Out Where to Fish             133

Use Supply vs. Demand to Implement a Targeted Multi-channel Sourcing Plan      135

Develop an “Ideal” Candidate Persona    136

Prepare Customized and Targeted Messaging      138

Job Branding and the EVP             138

Job Postings, Job Boards and Reverse Engineering             139

Tag Lines that Speak the Language of the Ideal Prospect  139

Use Emails as the First Step in a High Touch Process         140

Direct Sourcing and Networking 141

A “Clever” Boolean Search to Learn the Basics of Direct Sourcing for Semi-finalists              142

Diversity Matters             144

Using LinkedIn Filters to Find More Achievers       145

In-direct Sourcing and Networking            145

Getting Referrals is Still the Best Way to Find Outstanding Talent Quickly 145

Convert Strangers into Acquaintances Before They Become Candidates    146

Weak Connections are Recruiter’s Gold  147

Leverage Your Employee Referral Program – Create a PERP           148

Summary – Networking Rules!    149

CHAPTER 13   START THE RECRUITING PROCESS WITH A CAREER DISCUSSION, NOT A SALES PITCH    151

Conduct Career Discovery on Your First Call         151

First, Put the Right People on the Bus – Only Semi-finalists            152

Only Ask “Yes” Questions and Don’t Take “No” for an Answer       153

Overcome Preliminary Objections and Concerns 153

How to Answer the “What’s a Career Move?” Question   154

Review the Person’s Profile Before Describing the Job      155

Build a 10-minute Relationship by Controlling the Conversation   155

Recruiting is Getting the Candidate to Sell You, Not You Selling the Candidate       156

How to Handle Compensation by Not Discussing It Too Soon        156

Gain Concessions to Negotiate the Offer as a Series of Steps         158

Summary             158

CHAPTER 14   RECRUITING AND CLOSING TOP PERFORMERS         160

The Basics of Recruiting and Closing         160

Recruiting is Not Selling, It’s Listening      160

Stay the Buyer from the Beginning of the Process to the Very End              162

Make Passive Candidates Earn the Job to Increase Its Value           163

Minimize the Negatives; Accentuate the Positives             163

Don’t Make an Offer Until You’re 100% Sure It Will be Accepted  164

Testing and Negotiating the Offer by Getting Continuous Concessions      164

Position Your Job as a Career Move          165

Avoid Job Hopping Syndrome      166

Testing Offers    167

Use 1-10 Test of Interest to Uncover Concerns    167

Closing, Testing and Negotiating Offers   168

Closing Upon a Concern 169

Use a Secondary Close to Test Seriousness            169

Use a Counterproposal to Get 100% Commitment             170

Summary             172

CHAPTER 15   LEVERAGING HR TECHNOLOGY TO IMPLEMENT PERFORMANCE-BASED HIRING               173

Using the Trickle Up Approach to Validate the Impact      173

Use SeekOut to Build a Talent Pipeline of Outstanding Diverse Talent       174

Hiretual.com Offers a Unique AI Approach for Sourcing the Hard to Find  175

Phenom Converts Workforce Planning into a Strategy Asset          176

AI for Screening Has a Powerful Tool with pymetrics.ai     177

Creating an Internal Mobility Platform Using SmartRecruiters       177

Using Greenhouse to Maximize Quality of Hire    178

Conduct a Reference Check Before Making an Offer Using Checkster         178

Use Onboarding to Start Delivering on the Promise           179

Feedback Process Control with OutMatch.com    180

Create a Win-Win Hiring Culture               181

CHAPTER 16   USE PERFORMANCE-BASED HIRING TO CREATE A WIN-WIN HIRING CULTURE               182

Deliver on the Win-Win Hiring Promise   182

The Performance-based Future of Hiring               183

Create a Win-Win Hiring Culture               183

Building a Win-Win Hiring Culture Starts with the Right Talent Strategy    184

Hiring as an Integrated System, Not a Sequence of Separate Steps             185

Benchmarking Best Practices       185

Measure and Manage Quality of Hire      186

Use High Touch to Create an Outstanding Candidate Experience  187

Take the Risk and Bias Out of the “Yes” Decision 189

Hiring Strong People Is the First Step in Managing a Great Team  190

APPENDIX            191

Performance-based Hiringsm and Legal Compliance         191

APPENDIX 2        194

Exploratory Phone Screen Talent Scorecard          195

The Performance-based Phone Screen    196

Quality of Hire Talent Scorecard 197

The Performance-based Interview (1/2)  198

The Performance-based Interview (2/2)  199

The Ideal Candidate Persona (1/2)            200

The Ideal Candidate Persona (2/2)            201

About the Author

Index

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