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Episodes
Wednesday Oct 05, 2022
Wednesday Oct 05, 2022
Every interview that happens in your company needs to have a purpose.
There is a specific purpose for the phone screen, which is positioning & quality of the individual.
The onsite interview’s purpose, does this person align with our company values and finally, the skills interview’s purpose is to determine if the person has the capacity to thrive in the role.
Too often the directive is given to “have a conversation to find out if you would like to work with this person”. And it is in this non-structured format that bias and discrimination fester because the interviewers don’t understand the interview’s purpose.
Guest Bio:
Robert Hudock founded Hudock Employment Law Group in 2015 to deliver tailored legal services to California companies that thrive in vibrant, creative work environments. His clients are often companies looking at new markets and competitive opportunities, that want to recruit the best talent available while avoiding distracting workplace issues or lawsuits.
Robert is also a competitive triathlete, which requires careful planning, attention to detail, and dedication. He uses those characteristics in his professional life for his client's benefit.
TODAY WE DISCUSS:
- Employment law issues in the hiring process you may not know–but should.
Challenge?
- The 3 most common recruiting and hiring functions in which employment-related issues can arise are: (1) job posting/advertisement, (2) interviewing, and (3) assessing fitness for a position (e.g., any criminal history, drug screening, physical capabilities, psychological health).
- California’s anti-discrimination laws explicitly apply not only to employees and termination of employment, but also to applicants and “refusing to hire” based on a characteristic protected under the applicable antidiscrimination laws (e.g., age, disability, gender, race, etc.).
Why is this important to the company?
- Consider a scenario where your company spends significant time and resources on employment law compliance and protecting itself from lawsuits, only to be subject to an employment-related claim that could have been prevented but for a gap in general knowledge and available preventative strategies relating to recruiting and hiring. Today we’re going to introduce you to the topic and some possible preventive measures.
How do we solve the problem?
- Interviewing: any non-job-related inquiry that "expresses, directly or indirectly, any limitation, specification, or discrimination as to” any protected characteristic is prohibited
- Common implicated categories: age, disability, national origin
- Some examples may surprise you - you may have been asked such questions and you answered without a second thought, the questions are relatively common, or are common topics of conversation:
SUBJECT |
ACCEPTABLE |
UNACCEPTABLE |
Age |
Virtually nothing - but allowed when law requires it |
|
National Origin |
Inquiries re verification of legal right to work in US |
|
Marital Status/Family |
Virtually nothing |
|
Religion |
Statements re regular days, hours, or shifts of the position |
|
- Identify and define, BEFORE interviewing, any legal justification for discriminating with respect to a protected category
- As with job postings, antidiscrimination law does not categorically preclude any and all inquiries into matters relating to protected categories, or lawful discrimination. For example:
- AGE: When a law specifically requires a certain age for job, or requires keeping records re employees’ ages or related information
- RELIGION: When an inquiry directly or indirectly relates to any religious belief or practice does not have any “exclusionary effect”
- DISABILITY: An inquiry re physical capabilities legitimately related to ability to perform an essential job function
- Proper education and training of all interviewers
- How to respond when applicant volunteers information
- Let’s say an interviewer and interviewee are discussing where the interviewee obtained his/her undergraduate degree
- The interviewee, making friendly conversation, says tongue-in-cheek: “...that’s hard to remember for an old guy like me, but I’ll never forget these seemingly endless stairs going up to where I met with my “Campus Christians” group. It was like running a marathon once a month because of my knee injury” → just that short aside references three protected categories (age, religion, and disability)
- In these types of circumstances, the interviewer should (1) steer the discussion away from references to any protected category, and (2) and at some point identify the company’s commitment to equal opportunity
- E.g., “Interesting. That story makes me think about how this company supports equal opportunity and has a strong policy against discrimination.” Let’s move on to your work experience.”
Rick’s Nuggets:
- Teach your people the purpose of each stage
- What data are they expected to gather during the conversation
- Provide a script to each person
- Behavioral interviews
- Tell me about a time when…
- How did that work?
- Walk me through that…
- What steps did you take…
Key Takeaways that the Audience can plug into their business today! (Value):
- Develop job descriptions and use them as a foundation for interviews; this can help interviewers remain focused on job qualifications and duties
- Education/training of anyone who will be conducting an interview; e.g., covering the topics we’ve been discussing today
Guest Links:
- LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/hudockemploymentlaw/
- Company: https://hudockemploymentlaw.com/
Host Links:
- LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/rick-girard-07722/
- Company: https://www.stridesearch.com/
- Podcast: https://www.hirepowerradio.com
- YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCeEJm9RoCfu8y7AJpaxkxqQ
- Authored: "Healing Career Wounds" https://amzn.to/3tGbtre
- HireOS inquiry: rick@stridesearch.com | www.intertru.ai
Show Sponsor:
- www.stridesearch.com
Thursday Jul 28, 2022
Thursday Jul 28, 2022
Doom & gloom is the impending economic forecast according to the media. Having flourished through two previous recessions, I have learned to look for the opportunity that comes with the adjustment.
And when it comes to hiring, the opportunities to thrive are bountiful!
One trend that I have personally observed throughout the years is that companies like Google & Facebook silently ramped up passive recruiting during those times and were able to come out of the adjustment even stronger.
Today I challenge you to recognize the opportunity that lies ahead and to commit to the growth of your people. This can and will only have positive results for them and the business.
Today’s Question:
- How do you build a stronger company in tough economic times?
Today we’re going to discuss:
- Why it is critical that you continue hiring activity
- How to hire effectively to increase the productivity & retention of your people
Challenge today?
- Keeping your High performers engaged
- Your best people are MORE valuable!
- They will be hunted by your competitors
- Hiring stronger people challenges & motivates the people you already have
- Your best people are MORE valuable!
- Growth through an economic downturn
- Look for the opportunity for your people
- People become fearful and move to more “stable” environments
- Recruiting remains a reactive activity
- We only hire when we feel the pain
- Hiring happens regardless if you chose to participate
- Participate
- Look for the opportunity for your people
Why is this important to the company?
- Downturns are opportunities for growth!
- The people onboard Fuel or Stifle growth
- Fear drives people to make poor decisions
- Poor decisions kill business
- Avoid being forced to hire anyone who is willing to accept your role… because they need a job
-
- Due to attrition
How do we solve the problem?
- Perspective
- Understand the value of continuously hiring
- Higher bar, less volume
- Opportunity to opportunistically hire
- Attract people who will elevate performance in the organization
- New ideas, new energy
- Understand the value of continuously hiring
- Increased Communication to retain your current people
-
- Career pathing
- Know the “What’s in it for me” for every one of your people
- Planned exits
- Promote purpose
- Engaging New People
- Dedicate 1-2 hours a week
- Passive talent engagement; NOT RECRUITING
- Reconnect with past talent
- Ask for new referrals
- “Get to know you for the future”
- Commit to 2 meetings a week with potential hires - Coffee ok
- Use Discovery Call script
- Purpose: positioning & value alignment
- Empower the hire
- Communicate timeframe and allow the person to be proactive
- Pull the trigger!
- Dedicate 1-2 hours a week
Key Takeaways -Value:
- Proactive hiring: Commit to 1 hour a week to expand your talent network
- Communication: Recognize the opportunity for your people and the business to thrive
- Action: When the opportunity arises to hire a high performer, embrace it. Allow the new person to fuel the energy of your team
Host Links:
- LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/rick-girard-07722/
- Company: https://www.stridesearch.com/
- Podcast: https://www.stridesearch.com/hire-power-radio
- Authored: Healing Career Wounds (Amazon)
- https://www.amazon.com/dp/B094TL14CD/ref=dp-kindle-redirect?_encoding=UTF8&btkr=1
- HireOS inquiry: rick@stridesearch.com
Show Sponsor:
- www.stridesearch.com
Thursday Mar 31, 2022
What Makes People Stay or Jump Ship with Nicolas Vandenberghe of Chili Piper
Thursday Mar 31, 2022
Thursday Mar 31, 2022
In 2021 38 million people left their jobs and found new ones. This accounts for 57.3% attrition for US-based companies. It seems as the trend continues as 4.3 million people quit in January of this year as well.
A lot of companies are experiencing turnover today and It makes one wonder, who is winning?
The companies that are winning today are those that focus on their people. Focusing on setting systems to enable productivity, fostering personal growth, career-pathing, and quite frankly, listening to what their people want.
Gone are the days of providing free snacks and providing a ping pong table. What people want is much deeper now and requires more effort. what are you doing that is improving their lives and professional growth? If you are unwilling to provide it, they’ll just go somewhere else.
Guest Bio:
Nicolas Vandenberghe is the co-founder and CEO of Chili Piper, a SaaS platform helping B2B companies double their inbound conversion rates. Since its founding in 2016, the SaaS platform has thrived with a 100% remote work culture.
Nicolas is a four-time serial entrepreneur, in diverse verticals from consumer software to biometrics. He builds his companies under the principles of flexibility, professional growth and communication.
Today we discuss:
- What makes people stay or jump ship
- How to make your company sticky for retention
Challenges today?
- Great resignation
- People quit managers
Why is this important to the company?
- Internal promotions keeps people growing
- Teaching management
- Avoid hostility in communication
- Non violence communication training
- Especially applicable to managers
- Avoid conflict without avoiding disagreements
- Conflict around the disagreement- NOT GOOD
How do we solve the problem?
- Flexibility
- High performers - no barriers
- Anywhere in the world
- No schedule requirement (exception) scheduled meetings
- Open & accepting of everyone
- Unlimited vacation schedule
- *** Professional growth- formailized
- Quality of the work focus
- Okr’s - not kpi’s- Actions to yield to projected outcome
- Avoid ultimatums, were expectations correct
- Hired 3 coaches
- Developing a piper plan
- Getting it out to eht puclic
- Abolish performance review
- Proactive
- Communication hostility avoidance
- Method to rethink your engagements
- Training everyone on the book
Rick’s Nuggets
- Career pathing - Huge retention
- Link everything to help- core value
Key Takeaways that the Audience can plug into their business today! (Value):
- Professional development. Work on the foundation
Guest Links:
- LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/nvandenberghe/
- Company: http://www.chilipiper.com/
- LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/company/chilipiper/
- Twitter: https://twitter.com/chilipiper/
- Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/TeamChiliPiper/
Host Links:
- LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/rick-girard-07722/
- Company: https://www.stridesearch.com/
- Podcast: https://www.hirepowerradio.com
- Authored: "Healing Career Wounds" https://amzn.to/3tGbtre
- HireOS inquiry: rick@stridesearch.com
Show Sponsor:
- Criteria Corp: https://www.criteriacorp.com/
Friday Jul 31, 2020
Friday Jul 31, 2020
Key Points for Episode:
Timeline for Video Interviews - 72 hours
1- 45 minutes
2- 45 minutes
3- 45 minutes
4- 45 - 60 minutes
Decision - 24 hours from Final Interview
You must have your questions pre-written and assigned to the individual Interviewer
Questions designed to gain evidence of cultural alignment
** DO NOT just pick random behavioral questions!
They must have purpose and be tied to your company values!
Behavioral Questions
Follow up each question with the “How & What”
The purpose of each interview is to get to the “truth” of who this person is and how they align with company core values. Our goal with each question is to find hard evidence one way or the other. Past performance is a key indicator of future performance. We are going granular to understand the core of who this person is to fill your gut with accurate information to make the correct decision.
The Behavioral Interview: The simplest way to learn the behavioral model is to use STAR methodology. Let each interviewee outline the Situation & Task first. This is just the background of the story that you need to know to make the story make sense. Clear context! Look for difficulty, complexity or size of the challenge. What was the person trying to accomplish and why?
Approach: This is where we focus on the actions taken to address the issue, complete a task, solve a problem or improve the situation. We focus on the WHY here!
Focus in on this area the most and poke holes in the answers.
Each answer needs to be tested and must be followed up with why.
Look for Key details and explore them!
Why did you take that approach?
Why was that important?
Why did that work?
Results: What is the positive outcome for the story? What were the issues? Where did they fail? We are looking for tangible, supported evidence.
Video Interviews (Same Day Ideal)
- Ideal to line up back to back
- Schedule back to back or split them up 2/2 or 3/1
- Build a knockout question for each interviewer
Interview 1 - Cultural Value Alignment I
Interview 2 - Skills Screen
- Live working session to evaluate skills/communication
Interview 3 - Cultural Value Alignment II (optional) 24 hours from interview 2
Final Interview - Cultural Confirmation III & Offer preparation (Decision Maker)
Decision / Offer (24 hours max)
- Best to give immediate feedback
- Time kills hires, be decisive
Role Play
Interview Questions
Walk me through the steps you took to prepare for your last project / client presentation (preparation)
- What made those steps the most efficient?
- How did you do it specifically?
- Timeline set?
- Potential Challenges identified and how were they prioritized for consideration?
- What were the things you missed?
- What was the result?
- Why was this important to you?
**Give me an example of something you tried that failed miserably (keep light & fun)
(innovate without fear)
- What were the circumstances that justified the risk
- How was it implemented?
- What was the potential upside if it worked?
- What was missing?
- What would you have done differently?
- Why did it fail?
- What did you learn?
Tell me about a time when it was necessary to admit to others that you had made a mistake. (accountability)
- What was the specific mistake
- How did you identify the mistake?
- How did you handle it?
- Why did you choose that particular approach?
- What was the lesson learned?
- What did you do differently going forward?
Tell me about the last project you worked on where you were major time constraints (own it/quality effort)
- What steps did you take to ensure quality?
- What shortcuts were taken?
- What mistakes were made
- How did the client receive the work?
Thursday Nov 21, 2019
Thursday Nov 21, 2019
Telling a story is the quickest way to gain a person’s attention. The challenge in recruiting is telling a story that is compelling to the person you need to hire. And to top it off your story is just like everyone else and it is all about you!
What if we wrote each story differently than everyone else. Would we get better results? Damn right you will, and today my guest and I are out to prove it!
Today’s Quote:
"Storytelling is the essential human activity. The harder the situation, the more essential it is." - Tim O'Brien
Our guest today: Michael Goldberg, Founder & CEO of Hiring Transformed
Recruiting Strategist, Talent Finder, and Hiring Manager Whisperer all describe Michael who advises and coaches Talent Acquisition Leaders through roadblocks. The biggest obstacle is the ability of both recruiters and Hiring Managers to tell stories that are authentic and engaging. Michael also assists talent organizations with strategies to increase productivity, create strong recruiter/hiring manager partnerships, and lead change management initiatives.
Today we are going to cover
- The importance of storytelling in recruiting
- How to tell a better story and the framework for recruiting success
Why is storytelling important?
- Give me people now, make sure they are qualified and let’s just get them in the door and we will be able to close them.
- Don’t take the time to engage, just jump in and let’s go
- Don’t know how to kick off relationships.
- Jump right into it about the position
- Most people are not responded
People don’t respond to your messages... Why?
- Very overwhelming
- 4-5 times a day
- Information overload
- The same exact message
- Timing
- Area of interest
- Miss-targeting, misinformed
Rick’s Input
- Text, email, social feeds (paid media)
How do we do it?
- Start with a Story
- The story is told voice to voice!
- Humanize it
- Don’t run the story at 30,000 feet
- Capture their attention in a job posting or messaging
- Could be done as a video or as a blog
- Goal is to get to a phone call
Structure of the story
- Create the Hero- someone within the company
- A successful employee
- Should be a peer
- Makes it more relatable
- Mission or goal and share the obstacles are/were (targeting)
- Immediate and concrete to create rapport to create a connection
- “Have you been in a situation like this before?”
- Resolution (get over the obstacles & hit goals… or it didn’t work out, what would you do differently
- About showing, not just telling
- “Imaging yourself just completing X. You have worked with Sally and Joe and were able to overcome these major obstacles. You were able to deliver X with your team....Like selling a car “Imagine yourself behind the wheel of…”
Rick’s Nuggets
- The story should not be about you
- Try to make the person you are trying to recruit the hero
- Design the story to a specific pain that the person may have
- Make it relatable to that specific person
- Tool for crafting messaging
- Crystal Knows- messaging
Key Takeaways:
- Build trust through strategically crafted stories and will help recruiters differentiate themselves from others.
- Storytelling can take different forms depending on where the storyteller plans on sharing info. Videos, Blogs, & Social Media posts but videos prevail because it is the best way to create trust between the recruiter and the candidates.
- Storytelling should be told throughout the recruiting process. Not only by recruiters but by hiring managers and would-be peers
Thursday Oct 10, 2019
The Challenges & Benefits of Hiring Refugees with Chris Chancey of Amplio Recruiting
Thursday Oct 10, 2019
Thursday Oct 10, 2019
We are in a negative unemployment market and there are just not enough workers on the open job market. The solution might be taking a different avenue... Hiring Refugees.
There is great value to expanding beyond your scope of the limited talent pool into unfamiliar waters. Consider people who are motivated, engaged and reliable to elevate company performance.
This show is proudly sponsored by Vidoori
Today’s Quote:
"We must find a way to balance our tradition as a state welcoming of refugees while ensuring the safety and security of our citizens." Bruce Rauner - Former Governor of Illinois
Guest Bio:
Amplio Recruiting is a staffing agency placing refugees into jobs across the US. Chris Chancey launched Amplio in 2014 after moving into a refugee community outside of Atlanta, GA and now leads a team that has placed over 5000 refugees from 40 different countries into full-time employment at over 300 US companies.
As a social entrepreneur, venture capitalist and author of Refugee Workforce, a book articulating the economic impact of refugees in America, Chris believes in leveraging business to create greater stability for the 70M displaced people around the globe.
Show Highlights:
- Why refugees make great hires
- Dispel some of the beliefs
- Provide a How-to guide to locate and hire
Why is this a good pool of talent?
- Legal to work
- High retention (80% @ 3 months & 70% after 1 year)
- Drug-free- zero
- Increase of productivity - high growth mindset
- Company's reporting back double quota
- Mostly Congo, Burma, middle east
What does a company need to know about hiring refugees?
- Language barrier
- They learn English faster when they have a job
- Software to help train
- Transportation
- Rely on public trans
- Mostly blue-collar
- Only 10-20% have advanced skills
- Cultural Awareness
- Diversity welcome
How does a company tap into the Refugee pool?
- First, open the culture to diversity thinking
- Are safety and other relevant signs posted in the native languages of employees to assure a full understanding of a safe environment?
- Do you have an intra-company multicultural calendar to avoid scheduling important events or meetings on major cultural holidays?
- In the onboarding process, are materials offered in both English and the employee’s native language?
- Are meet-and-greets, building tours, team lunches, and other activities in place to ease the new employee into a comfortable atmosphere?
- Are training materials or presentations reviewed before introducing them to employees of different cultures to see if anything needs to be modified or explained in a different way?
- Top-down approach
- Promote inclusivity: the focus is not diversity, the focus is inclusivity
- Specific examples:
- Systems in place to accommodate onboarding:
- Slow onboarding time: What you would typically cover in two days, with a traditional employee, spread it out over a week or so. It’s better to over-communicate on the front-end than have to make amends for lost time, resources and relationships on the back-end.
- Don’t leave anything to chance: Communicate, communicate, communicate. Be direct with instruction and don’t assume the other person immediately understands. Overstate tasks and ask questions to assess comprehension. Avoid demeaning tones and be patient with questions, and don’t assume employees understand even the most basic cultural norms.
- Second, search “refugee organizations near me” on google to connect with local non-profit refugee agencies. They will be willing to educate you on the community and can invite you to local community events. If you share a job description with them, they can help refer to potential candidates.
Key Takeaways:
- Recognize the value of refugee community (buy the book)
- Connect with your local refugee community
- Consider ways you can employ refugees at your company
Thursday Aug 29, 2019
Thursday Aug 29, 2019
We have all experienced it….Trying to coordinate calendars to accommodate an interview. It is a BIG time suck from someone’s day!
How to eliminate some of the administrative tasks and shift into more productive work that moves your business forward.
Today’s Quote:
"There's a lot of automation that can happen that isn't a replacement of humans but of mind-numbing behavior." - Stewart Butterfield
Guest Bio:
Olivia Melman leads DigitalOcean’s Recruiting Operations team, having joined the company as the People team’s first Program Manager in March 2017. In addition to managing the Recruiting Coordinators, Olivia is focused on automation and collaboration within the full-cycle recruitment process, and owns all data and tooling associated with recruitment strategy. She also manages DigitalOcean's external partnerships with talent acquisition and branding vendors, and runs point internally on headcount planning alongside the FP&A team. Olivia started her career in Financial Services as an HR Management Analyst, and most recently, was a Customer Success Manager for LinkedIn’s Talent Solutions business.
Show Highlights:
- The issues around Calendar management
- The challenges with just coordinating & scheduling interviews
- Solution to optimize your interview calendaring issues
What are the challenges in scheduling interviews today?
My team’s responsible for coordinating interviews -- at a really high volume (averaging 200 hires a year), but the challenge we’ve run into is really how to maximize time in meaningful ways.
- Limited interviewer availability and limited candidate availability -- coordinating calendars effectively becomes really difficult
- 70% of my team’s days are spent browsing Google calendars to schedule interviews (more specifically, onsite interviews where we are bringing candidates in to meet several people from our hiring teams)
- Interview scheduling ties to candidate experience, employee experience (hiring teams) and the experience of those on my team (it’s frustrating staring at Google Calendar all day!)
Why is it important?
- Time spent where people are not contributing their maximum potential/value to the team -- once you’ve mastered how to schedule, you don’t learn from each instance
- At this kind of junior level role, it’s important to me that my teams gaining relevant experience beyond the task at hand (scheduling) -- and is in fact as an operations leader, I need them to gain system implementation experience -- program management and change management experience so that I can effectively delegate down the road
- (personally, I want to make sure that everything my team is doing is contributing to their individual growth and development).
- Navigate gaps- communication upfront
Rick’s Input:
- Always one person- have an alternate
- A bench of back-up dancers (interviewers)
How do we solve this problem?
- Using a new technology platform to automate interview scheduling and eliminate the “calendar Tetris” of trying to schedule onsite interview panels / back to back interviews.
- The tool essentially enables the user to build the interview panel or team (select interviewers, interview duration, format, location -- set times) and then the tool does the work for us by using AI to pull in Google Calendars and find time slots where the selected interviewers are available back to back and for the assigned formats/durations.
- Cut to 40% of the time using system administration skills rather than scheduling role (30% time savings)
How did we go about finding a solution?
- Discovery and assessment -- figuring out exactly what the workflow looks like now (in terms of people, process, and systems)
- People -- do we have the right people executing? Who are the stakeholders? Is that who they should be?
- What activities are these individuals working on that isn’t adding value? For example, what is being executed that doesn’t bring 1) learning 2) development or maybe 3) revenue or however YOU define value for your org
- Let’s break out those individual activities we identified and first, look internally to solve with automation (an example where we did leverage internal resources was with a web-based candidate resource library -- so that we could stop attaching docs to every email and updating links in a zillion place, just have one link do.co/candidates)
- If nothing internally available, then go to market to see what external vendors or technology partners exist
- Vendor selection: Speak to DO philosophy on vendor selection (simple and elegant, ability to inform product design, contribute to vendor success) → this led us to Interview Schedule!
Rick’s two cents:
- Standardize a process where anyone can step in
- Assign questions to each person in the process
- Evaluate based on the company values
- Pre-schedule days for interviews
Key Takeaways:
- People, process, then systems -- nothing will work if you don’t have the right people in place
- Implementation -- making sure you think through user adoption and change management
- Metrics for success -- any time you are investing in automation ($$), making sure you have a clear vision for what success looks like
Thursday Jul 25, 2019
Martin Herrington: I'm Down With H1B... Yea, You Know Me!
Thursday Jul 25, 2019
Thursday Jul 25, 2019
Going old school with the title, don't judge!
STEM (science, technology, engineering & mathematics) hiring today is brutal as there are just not enough people to support the demand. Without bringing policy into the conversation we are going to tackle the challenge of how to hire around the limitations.
Today’s Quote:
"To maintain their own competitiveness, workers need to attain and stay current on the qualifications needed to advance in a constantly evolving economy." - Elaine Chao - Secretary of Transportation
Guest Bio:
An avid entrepreneur from University onward, Martin Herrington established a service industry business before graduation, partnered a real estate development company, and co-founded The Herrington Teddy Bear Company to move to the United States, creating a multinational sensation. As Chief Financial Officer and Managing General Partner, Martin was responsible for all aspects of the business including Sales, Production, HR, IT, and operations of the corporation before seeking additional challenges. Mr. Herrington holds a very distinguished record of service in non-profit organizations in Canada and the U.S. with his most recent focus growing the Youth Motivation Task Force of Orange County. An entrepreneurial graduate of the prestigious Haskayne School of Business at the University of Calgary with a Bachelor of Commerce, Martin also advanced his education credentials into the Series 7 and Series 66 US Securities Licenses and held the Wealth Advisory Associate role with Morgan Stanley before becoming a Financial Advisor as part of his creation strategies.
Martin is currently a founding partner and Vice-President with TEKCORUS Consulting, a Recruiting & RPO Agency based in Orange County, California specializing in recruiting high tech talent Recruitment Process Outsourcing Services. Martin has been a Toastmasters International member for many years, and speaks regularly at community events, business meetings, and consistently competes in Toastmasters International speaking contests.
Show Highlights:
- What an H1 is
- The benefits & challenges to hiring
- How to effectively hire someone under H1 status
Problem:
What is an H1?
- Long Term but not permanent work authorization / visa that is sponsored by employer.
Benefits of Hiring an H1
- Already has an h1b-
- wider pool of talent
- 3rd party intervention
- Better technical skills/expertise
- Better rate
Things to be Aware?
- Beware of agents
- Lying
- Different people showing up for different parts of the interview
- H1B is looking for a path to Green Card only
Quirks of Engineers - Knowing the individual to prepare for the interview
- Biggest challenge
- -Technically sound
- -asking basic questions
- -build a database of technical questions
How to sniff out the quirks, personality & culture fit
- Problem lies where
- Creating the right environment for an interview
- Knowing enough about your clients to be able to properly prepare candidates for interviews
Rick’s Input:
- Hire people who are already holding an H1b- Transfer
- Timing is S L O W - elimination of premium processing
Steps to Hire H1’s
First step - Go over resumes
- Watch for duplication - some resumes look too “familiar” or even identical!
- Look for excessively long resumes - ie. filled with same info. at each job experience
Second Step - initial phone call - screening for good communication skills - can be a challenge and if you cannot understand them, then your client or the team will likely not be able to either
- Go over each job experience by asking what they did and what technologies were used - making sure that it matches the resume, dates, etc.
- Listen for delays or background talking; candidate should know all details her/himself
- Confirm relocation details - do they have friends/family in New City; what is the likelihood that they will actually show up in New City? (ie. verify “Relocation Anywhere” and vet out tire kickers.
Third step - in-person or Skype interview
- Making sure the same person from phone call shows up for the in-person/Skype
- If by Skype - Watch for lip syncing, other people in the room speaking or signalling;
- Screening for communication,
Fourth step - get commitment for duration of contract;
- If necessary, contact Agency holding Visa to confirm
Rick’s two cents
- Communicate!
- No assumptions
Key Takeaways:
- Be diligent in your communications
- Find out Visa details; request copies of Visa/paperwork; allow extra time!
- Coach candidates through interview process
Thursday Jun 27, 2019
Thursday Jun 27, 2019
Engagement!
Well, not the type of engagement you might be thinking of.
Engagement in the business sense. Employee engagement is the one critical element that leads to the success of your business! Which I believe starts from the first point of contact with your organization… yes before someone is hired!
Today’s Quote:
“Not what you say, not what you do but how you make people feel.” - Maya Angelou
Guest Bio:
Steve Higginbotham is the Branch Manager of Volt Workforce Solutions. As an executive business partner and inclusive leader, Steve brings two decades’ of experience leading organizational transformations with leading companies. Changing the way Staffing Companies engage with their customers is vital. Having a deep connection with your business and an inclusive approach will continue to add value through a Total Talent Management partnership. Steve has expertise in Technical Recruiting, Business Development, Technology Consulting and Human Capital Solutions. He continues to deliver immense value to companies and business leaders through his strategic partnerships. Steve believes in a customer service approach for business success.
Steve has experience leading multiple types of organizations from Fortune 100, mid-market, private equity, & VC backed start-ups. In addition, Steve has developed 15 different divisions within eight different businesses while managing large business units & increasing enterprise accounts. His track record includes leading, coaching, mentoring and developing people into highly successful business leaders.
Steve has spent his career aligning business professionals with career opportunities. The value that he brings to companies identify with their strengths and opportunities for growth. Steve's experience coaching individuals helps improve communication. He has also conducted numerous presentations to board members and C-Level professionals with highly respected clients and industry associations.
A people oriented leader who drives business collaborative to maximize team performance while mentoring & coaching individuals through aligned approaches to achieve desired results.
Show Highlights:
- What Engagement is, what it isn’t
- Why engagement is critical today
- How to engage people to create emotional attachment!
What is engagement and why is it important? Engagement
- How you communicate with your company
Hiring managers - I want to hire the best talent, retain top talent
- What happens in the middle from what you want vs what you are getting
The company gave 3 hours of training, no orientation, on the job training.
- Employees responsibility - Who owns engagement??
Problem
3 sides of the engagement - Who’s responsibility is it these days
- If a person is not engaged correctly, they are going to bounce quickly… first 30 days.
- The company needs to train leaders to be better leaders
- The dual partnership between the company's & managers
People leave quickly or they stay and are just there because of the paycheck
Belief in mission, vision values.
Outlining issues that you cannot control
- Employee: losing engagement with the job… nothing more that is being contributed
Rick’s Thoughts
- Engagement starts with your job posting, email or phone call
- Critical in attraction & retention
- When you care, you win
Human Contact is the key
- 1:75 people call back.
- There has to be a personal approach.
Steps to maximize engagement
- Sources are not recruiters…
- Everyone with at least relevant experience NEED to be called
- train recruiters on what needs to be asked
- Discuss career worth
- Poor career planning. No mentoring, support or growth
Once they start:
- Not scaling back on your onboarding process
- Social media posts are not onboarding
- Clearly, have a process
Train your recruiters
- What information to gather
- The importance of a conversation
- Reward finding gold nuggets!
- Create a hiring bonus for people who were passed over because of a resume but are actually good
Pick up the phone and call people!
Key Takeaways:
- Differentiate yourself from the standard hiring process
- Create a structured and standardized interview process
- Train your employees to be Talent minded
Remember in engagement – how you make the candidate feel is more important – please be genuine in your approach, efforts and ensure timely and responsive feedback – always
Thursday May 23, 2019
Marinela Gombosev: An Alternate Route for a Startup to Hire Salespeople
Thursday May 23, 2019
Thursday May 23, 2019
Alternative ways to hire salespeople when your company is getting started. Sales are the lifeblood of a company but what do you do when you need to grow revenue but have a limited budget? You get creative. Today we are talking about an interesting alternative to driving sales in the form of Independent sales reps.
Today’s Quote:
"Pretend that every single person you meet has a sign around his or her neck that says, 'Make me feel important.' Not only will you succeed in sales, you will succeed in life." - Mary Kay Ash
Guest Bio:
Marinela Gombosev is the President & COO of Evoke Neuroscience, a commercial-stage diagnostic company focusing on early detection of Alzheimer’s and other dementias with a vision of ultimately eradicating dementia. Marinela is a roll up the sleeves leader who strives to work across all levels of the organization, lead from a place of authenticity, and effectively represent the company to its clients, partners and investors.
Over 50,000 patients have been assessed using Evoke’s technology and under Marinela’s leadership, the company has twice been ranked in the Inc. 500|5000 fastest-growing private companies.
Show Highlights:
- The good bad & ugly of hiring independent sales reps
- How to hire them in the most efficient manner
Problem:
Why hire Independent sales reps?
Independent manufactures reps?
- Upside
- No money to spend, a great way to get growth
- Don't pay anything until they close a deal
- Fast
- Rephuner.net
- Downside
- Control or visibility
- Way to monitor, don't want to be managed
- Misunderstand the product, regulations, Get burned a lot
- Can put you in a legal liability
- Misrepresentation of contacts & skills
Solutions
How do you hire them?
- Dirty secret: You are buying their relationships
- Hiring because they are trained. Many are pretty bad. Where she has been successful are the ones with relationships. Once they sell their relationships.
- Similar types of products.
- Who are your call points? Personal network? Other reps that work with you?
- Place an ad and make sure profile is written for reps
- Who are you selling to, what are you selling, how much $ am I going to make
Schedule call
- Evaluate call points
- Level of interest
- Product Understanding
- Amount of time they can invest
- How many other clients they have
- Where am I on the priority scale
Hire
- Sign NDA
- Disclose comp plan
- Sales rep agreement
Comprehensive Training Plan
- On boarding program & test
- Access to all the training materials
Rules
- No exclusive territories
- Lead registration program / lead protection
- Demo product
- Short term play once the network is exhausted they usually burn out
- Internal expertise helps to close leads
- *One to Two phone call hire
- 3-4 hour time investment per person
- Product margins to support it
- A revolving door of recruiting. Have to constantly recruit
- Need 50 because most of them are not selling
- 80/20 rule
- *** Prepare for a love/hate relationship
Wednesday May 01, 2019
Mitch Balzer: Comparison Shopping has No Place in Your Hiring Process!
Wednesday May 01, 2019
Wednesday May 01, 2019
Not making a decision quickly is one of the biggest mistakes a hiring manager makes. Often the fear of making the wrong hiring decision leaves people in limbo and ultimately turns them off from working at your company.…....Wanting to see a “comparison candidate” is a clear indicator of a broken interview process!
Today’s Quote:
"Passion provides purpose, but data drives decisions." - Andy Dunn - CEO of Bonobos
Guest Bio:
Mitch Balzer is the Co-Founder & Executive Vice President of Agema Technology Inc, an Orange County based Professional Services focusing on enterprise business systems like Oracle and SAP, Virtualization, and IT Security. Since starting Agema in 2012 he has overseen many of the Fortune 500 clients in the Information Technology, Government, Insurance, Finance, Utilities and Oil & Gas industries ultimately delivering a 77th ranking on the Inc. 500. Prior to Agema, Mitch started his career with a national, publicly-traded technical services firm rising quickly through the ranks. In 2002 he helped start another staffing company driving revenue and delivering a top 100 Inc. 500 ranking before departing to cofound Agema. Mitch Balzer and Agema also hold a Secret Clearance.
Show Highlights:
- The Comparison Syndrome
- Why this is detrimental to your business
- How to structure your process to avoid this costly mistake
Problem:
Why is this important? FEAR
- Fear of a bad hire for a mid-level manager.
- Want to see another resume, comparison candidate
- **Making a decision on the hire - biggest mistake a hiring manager makes!
- Setting expectations- pre-commitment, you trial close a candidate (at least you should be) when you have them interview by asking will you take this job if offered? You need to do the same with the hiring managers, if a great candidate that fits X, Y, and Z comes in tomorrow can you offer them the job right away?
- Ham & Egg - one good resume with one the recruiter knows isn’t a great fit
- Resources
Why this is Bad for your business?
- Ramifications of waiting – time kills all hires
- Outcome - sent lesser people
- Prioritization of the roles – your openings will be a much lower priority whether its an external or internal recruiter
Rick’s Input
- Stalling the process kills Momentum, Interest & Engagement
- Result of poor planning
- Defining “WHO” is needed
- The reason you are unsure is due to the poor interview techniques/process
- Gathering the right EVIDENCE in the interview
Solutions:
How to Structure for a decision
- Who has the ultimate authority to make the decision?
- Disconnect in communication and should be involved in the process
- Clearly defined process. Get commitment to timelines on resume review, interview scheduling/process, and feedback and final decisions on a candidate.
- Feedback channel (ghosting)
- Pulling the trigger! Close, Close, Close
Everyone wants to go to heaven but nobody wants to die -Tom Delaney… you all want the best candidate but you can’t be afraid of making a decision.
- If you are not sure… try contract to hire or hourly w2 consultants
- Don’t treat people like everyone else. Keep it tailored to the individual
- As a recruiter or service provider ask your clients what turns you off and then make sure you don’t’ do that?
- Also, make sure you know how you can provide the most value to them.
Rick’s Input
- Mindset:
- Approach each person with Intention to Hire
- Only Choice
- Easier to say Yes than No
- Plan & Know what you need
- Structure the interview to surface:
- Cultural / Values alignment
- Evidence of transferable accomplishments/impact
- Skills
- Behavioral interview structure to make a data-driven decision
- Communicate: pace, timing & what happens next
- Unsure?... follow up call to address the issue (next day)
Key Takeaways
- The harsh reality is that all sales/hiring processes have a cadence. If you have properly qualified your target, and then stay within that cadence, there is a reasonable chance you’ll get to “yes.” But if not, you are almost certainly going to, eventually, get to “no.”
Thursday Mar 14, 2019
Erik Huberman: Dissecting a Hire Gone Wrong
Thursday Mar 14, 2019
Thursday Mar 14, 2019
The mistakes we, as entrepreneurs and hiring managers, make when building our companies. Often our need to fill overrides our logic in determining the fit between both parties and as result Core Values are often ignored. Assumptions, unclear expectations, and lack of diligence make for a perfect storm of a disastrous hire.
Today’s Quote
"Hiring people is like making friends. Pick good ones, and they'll enrich your life. Make bad choices, and they'll bring you down." - Jason Fried
Show Guest
Erik Huberman is the founder and CEO of Hawke Media, the fastest growing marketing agency in the United States. Launched in 2014, Hawke Media has serviced over 1000 brands of all sizes, ranging from startups like Tamara Mellon, SiO Beauty and Bottlekeeper to household names like Red Bull, Verizon Wireless and Alibaba. Hawke Media has taken home numerous industry awards including inclusion on the Inc. 5000 2017 list of “Fastest Growing Companies”, Fortune Magazine’s “50 Best Workplaces in Southern California” and Forbes’ “Content Marketing Companies to Check Out in 2018."
"Prior to Hawke, Erik founded, grew and sold two successful e-commerce companies. Huberman is the recipient of numerous awards including Forbes “30 Under 30,” Inc. Magazine’s “Top 25 Marketing Influencers,” and Best in Biz North America’s “Marketing Executive of the Year.” A regular contributor to major publications like Forbes, Entrepreneur and CS Q. Huberman is also a well-known keynote speaker.
Episode Highlights
- Break down one of your early hires and talk about the decisions that were made and why
- What we learned and how you can avoid making our mistakes
Making a wrong Hire: Walk through the story
- Hired an executive, all-star, great background
- “Why would you buy a dog if you're the one barking on the corner”
- Discussing expectations, but not the HOW.
- Had a budget, revenue numbers, really clear…
- Takes time for executives to ramp up
- Hired from a large company- a different mindset
- Taking people through a more formalized process.
- Properly frames the mindset as a professional environment
- You are taken more seriously
- *Onboarding Process
- Didn’t have a process. Throw people to the wind
- Unprofessional entrance + people didn't view it professionally
- Made the mistake of selling perks
- Hired 7 people in the beginning, only one stayed past 6 months.
- Bridging the gap with the business.
* Post hire, you are not done once you made the hire. Once someone is hired, real-time investment into their success.
Rick’s Hiring Mistake
- Hiring Friends without clear expectations
- created an expectations document
Key Takeaways
- Stick to a hiring process - It must be Professional
- The more senior the hire, the more time investment to align expectations - May take up to a year to come up to speed
Thursday Nov 08, 2018
Lindon Crow: The Anatomy of a Recruiting Call. Stop Triggering Fight or Flight!
Thursday Nov 08, 2018
Thursday Nov 08, 2018
The Anatomy of a Recruiting Call. People do not respond to you because you are sending the wrong message! What do You Say that is Triggering a person’s Fight or Flight Response?
Today’s Quote:
“Human behavior flows from three main sources: desire, emotion, and knowledge”. - Plato
Show highlights:
- What happens in the brain when someone is trying to recruit you
- What Triggers Fight or Flight response
- Techniques to approach the conversation to avoid triggering negative responses
I call you to recruit you for a new job.
- What happens in the brain
- What is naturally desired by people - intrinsic desire
- What choices or options mean to a mind. What too many/too few options means
- What motivates people - primal instinct, reptilian brain
- Tune out to the sales pitch
- How do I get rid of this person?
What triggers Fight or Flight response?
- Recruiting is disruptive to the brain. It breaks safety
- Create environment of loving, self esteem, self actualization
The Conversation
- Creating a process that creates a sense of Familiarity & Achievement
- Authority (achievement) Daniel pink's Drive
- $ is a motivator up until $70k
- Positioning:
- Purpose of the call is to get to the Truth
- It’s not about you!
- Listening:
- Stop Fishing
- People are busy and don't care about what you are selling
- “What's happening in your current role…”
- Test the waters - Question the timing & the Why
- Lead the Path:
- What problem needs to be solved?
- How they desire it to be fixed?
- Wound, Desire, Achievement - like Plato’s emotion, desire, knowledge
- Celebrate their wins
Lindon Crow is the President of Productive Learning. As a workshop facilitator and trainer, he has helped more than 2,500 clients achieve higher levels of emotional awareness, self-mastery, and personal fulfillment. Lindon is known for his provocative, straightforward, and compassionate communication style and his keen ability to forecast potential outcomes. This helps his clients make better educated decisions about their current directions and opportunities for growth.
Thursday Sep 20, 2018
Shawn Andrews: What Is Emotional Intelligence And How Is It Relevant To Hiring?
Thursday Sep 20, 2018
Thursday Sep 20, 2018
Why should we care about Emotional Intelligence when building a company today? People with high EQ, work better with others, manage customers more effectively and cultivate an accepting company culture.
Today's Quote:
“Emotion is more powerful than logic” - Albert Einstein
Show Guest:
Dr. Shawn Andrews is a keynote speaker, organizational consultant, and the founder and CEO of Andrews Research International. She serves as adjunct professor at Pepperdine Graziadio Business School, where she teaches courses on Organizational Behavior, Women in Leadership, Diversity in Organizations, and Leadership and Ethics. She was the 2017 Diversity & Inclusion columnist for Training Industry Magazine, and is the author of the book, The Power of Perception: Leadership, Emotional Intelligence, and the Gender Divide (Amazon.com)
Episode highlights:
-
- EQ, What is it?
- How to you get it?
- Incorporate into your hiring
What is EQ?
Set of emotional and social skills that collectively establish how well we:
- Perceive and express ourselves
- Develop and maintain social relationships
- Cope with challenges, manage stress and make decisions
- Use emotional information to guide our thinking and action
- Managing emotions
- Manage stress
- Overcome obstacles
- Inspire toward collective goals
- Self perception, Self expression, interpersonal, decision making, Stress Management
- Tied into core company values
Why is it Important?
- Low Emotional Intelligence breeds bad cultures
- “Hire hard, manage easy”
What if you don’t have EQ? How do you get it?
- Get EQ assessment
- Read a book
EQ for different roles:
Leadership:
- Interpersonal relationships
- Assertiveness
- Self-awareness
Sales:
- Self-actualization
- Assertiveness
- Happiness
Marketing / Creative:
- Optimism
- Reality testing
- Independence
Customer Service:
- Stress tolerance
- Assertiveness
- Happiness
Product Development /Manufacturing:
- Flexibility
- Problem solving
- Independence
Interviewing for EQ
- Behavioral Interviewing
- Comfortable candidate- feel conversational, warm & informal
- Start: difficult challenge that was solved, commend… then go granular
- “Hire hard, manage easy”
- Deep reference checking
- Evidence of low & high EQ behaviors
Thursday Sep 13, 2018
Darrell Gurney: Breaking Bad, Career And Hiring Habits!
Thursday Sep 13, 2018
Thursday Sep 13, 2018
Why is it that we put more thought into lunch choices than we do our career or hiring decisions?
Today we are going to discuss the top three bad habits that both candidates and companies do throughout the hiring process that kill their ability to make a smart decision.
Today's Quote:
“To change habits, we must study the habits of successful role models.” – Jack Canfield
Show Guest:
Darrell Gurney is a career expert, executive coach and authority in supporting people through successful transitions. He brings back the power of social connection by teaching professionals that you’re simply one face-to-face relationship away from your dream job life.
He is the author of the Amazon bestseller “Never Apply for a Job Again: Break the Rules, Cut the Line, Beat the Rest."
As founder of both CareerGuy.com and TheBackForty.com, Darrell’s motto for both career and life is, as Frank Sinatra sings, “the best is yet to come, and won’t it be fine!”
Episode highlights:
- The top 3 bad habits we need to stop right now!
- Why these habits are so detrimental
- Good habits to replace the bad
Hiring bad habits from both sides:
Darrell’s top 3:
- 1. Looking to see what jobs are available & Going through the front door by applying for open positions.
- Take charge of their career path vs be at the effect
- Get out of your box: the house, the computer screen, the phone, and get in front of people.
- 80% of all jobs are filled before they are ever advertised by the people in the know bringing in the people they know
- 2. Failing to develop relationships beyond the job search process.
- Never submerge in your job or your life. Get out, be making connections, be talking to people about your interests and passions
- 3. Not treating yourself like a business
- Realize that you have your own business, and you always have -- you simply lease out your employable assets
- A business owner is always concerned first and foremost about two measures: ROI (Return on Investment) and ROE (Return on Equity). You want to similarly always watch, manage and monitor your own Return on Individuality and Return on Effort.
Rick’s top 3:
- Winging it-
- company values -clueless
- Not clear on what the business needs
- Work that needs to be accomplished
- Listening!
- Interview Process
- Not clearly defined
- Following the pack -
- Accepting the Status quo
- Testing people before engaging
- Transactional relationship
- Not understanding the person across from you
- Focus on skills
- Protective of the culture
Why are these habits bad?
- How can you get where you are going when you don’t know where you are?
How do we fix these habits?
- Winging it- not clear on what the business needs
- Build preparation time into your schedule
- Define what the business needs (not your wants) and who you need to take you there
- Interview Process
- Structured, Organized, Timed & Purpose Driven
- Get to the Truth!
- Transactional relationship
- Heal the person’s wound with your opportunity
Thursday Sep 06, 2018
Thursday Sep 06, 2018
Founders need to build the cultural foundation before building the product! Building the right team is more important than just any team.
Today's Quote:
“Alone we can do so little; together we can do so much” ― Helen Keller
Show highlights:
- The importance of taking the time to select the right team
- Recognizing the team challenges
- How to set the right foundation for building a great team
Challenges we see with teams:
- What you really need in a team...Taking anyone is not the right thing to do
- Hiring anyone or for skills dramatically increases the likelihood of failure.
- Founder need to develop their muscles to make smart hiring decisions
- The foundation- transparency & culture
- Purpose- What's in it for me?
- How and who makes decisions?
- Most importantly, How does the team solve problems?
- Develop the EQ to have the difficult conversations
Framework for Building the Right Team from the Beginning:
- Establish mission, vision & values (as a team)
- Communication standards
- Foster transparency
- Business Model Canvas (product driven)
- Establish process
- Define who you are BEFORE you make your first hire
- Only hire people who mirror your core values and align with your vision
- Great things often come out of conflict
Takeaways:
- Culture first
- Transparency
- Hire people who will take you where you want to go
Melinda Kim is the Executive Director, co-founder of PeopleSpaceOC, an incubator and workspace located in Irvine, Ca. She is a proven executive/entrepreneur who facilitates collaboration and innovation between developers and business entrepreneurs from around the world.
Aside from her responsibilities, Melinda is also a Startup Weekend Facilitator and NASA Space Apps Lead. She specialize in Statistics Driven Product Analysis, Business Strategy, Growth, Community and Social impact.
Thursday Aug 09, 2018
Thursday Aug 09, 2018
Don't underestimate the power of giving and receiving feedback in the interview process. Feedback helps your company improve your hiring process and it provides a positive “candidate experience” for the interviewee!
Today's Quote:
“Feedback is the breakfast of champions.” – Ken Blanchard (one minute manager books)
Show highlights:
-
- The Whys’ of interview feedback
- Giving & receiving feedback
- Provide the tools to create feedback channels into your Interview process
You must first have an interview process:
- Feedback is process improvement
- Candidate Experience
- Time management &
- Candidate Attraction
Feedback Challenges:
- Don't have it - Go get it!
- Have it but not sure how to deliver it
- Companies not required to provide feedback
- Legality of feedback - fear of litigation
- Fear of Discrimination lawsuit
- Not everyone can accept feedback - low EQ
- CASE STUDY: 70% of companies do not provide unselected job applicants with any feedback
- Make feedback a constant throughout the process- give & receive
- Is there any reason why you would not hire me
- Is there any reason why you would not accept an offer with our company
*Mystery creates distrust
What you can and cannot give as feedback:
- Skills
- Problem solving abilities
- Interview Preparation
- Alignment with Cultural/Values
- Evidence based feedback
- Discriminatory in nature
- Your too Old
- Never give a woman feedback that she is not assertive enough
- Body odor
Aaron’s process for giving & receiving feedback:
- Balanced
- Build in feedback time (10 minutes after the interview has ended)
- Feedback based on competency - bullet points, not short stories
Rick’s process for giving & receiving feedback:
- Feedback starts at the first contact (gauge ability to give/receive feedback)
- discuss concerns & fit between career & company goals
- Ask Questions:
- What are your thoughts?
- How do you feel about that?
- Why is that important?
- Assign a facilitator of Feedback
- Ie: recruiter or admin
- Provide something constructive
- Give & Get feedback in Real Time -interview wrap up
How to professionally release a person from the process:
- Call Them!
- A 5-10 minute phone call to ensure a positive image of your company.
- Be specific. Facts without any value judgment.
- Help people to learn. Focus on improvement & help them to find the right fit
- Be empathetic.
The candidate experience: Integrity & Transparency in the hiring process creates less likelihood of a lawsuit, especially when you leave the door open.
Erin Wilson is the Co-Founder & Talent Engineer of Hirepool, Inc. He has personally interviewed more than 10,000 job seekers. Erin has helped build a company that exited for $640M, and just released a consumer Interview preparation software product (Hirepool.io) being used by job seekers around the world.
Friday Jul 13, 2018
Anita Kanti: Abolish the Resume!
Friday Jul 13, 2018
Friday Jul 13, 2018
A majority of the most talented people have terrible resumes. Why? Because they are busy making things happen!
Companies miss out on great people because they never make it past the resume screen. Automating the process and screening for buzzwords is just not an effective tool for finding the right people for your business. We are in the people business when we recruit. So, pick up the phone and judge based on your conversation and not the resume.
Today's Quote:
"Insanity is knowing that what you're doing is completely idiotic, but still, somehow, you just can't stop it."
- Elizabeth Wurtzel
Show highlights:
- Positive points of resumes
- Everything wrong with a resume
- Alternate solutions to resumes - solve the resume black hole
What resumes are good for:
- Contact information
- Career History
- The “white space”
What is wrong with the resume:
- Keyword dependent -wrong keywords or no keywords
- Designed to match with wish list of skills
- Too heavily relied upon in the interview process
- People lie
Alternate options to a resume:
- Video clips
- Video talent snapshot (resume) - Why is this a good idea?
- -discrimination bias?
- - how can a 1 minute video give you an accurate picture?
- AI
- Actual assessment - conversation
- Wound, Desire, Accomplishment
Effective use of a resume and how to identify great people:
- Just a tool, not a wall
- A guide to formulate skills based questions - Transferable skills
Anita Kanti is the Executive Talent Manager of Huawei Technologises. She is a global business partner and senior manager supporting executive leadership deliverables' for leadership talent acquisition needs for the US and China marketplace.
As both a motivational life coach and strategic talent manager, Anita Kanti offers progressive solutions to help her company and clients optimize their strengths and create a pathway of success. Anita is a proven expert in talent recruitment, both in leading corporations such as Broadcom Inc., and United Healthcare, as well as building a company of her own, Anita K Solutions. Anita K has combined her expertise in talent development and leadership with her training in motivational techniques to create a unique and effective life coaching philosophy.
Thursday Jul 05, 2018
Thursday Jul 05, 2018
Public sector VS private sector! We put on the gloves in an epic showdown of today's episode, to settle the differences and find out the better career option. Let's see who will come out victorious!
The 3 rounds for the undisputed championship:
- Round 1: Brenda - bashes up the logic behind joining a startup
- Round 2: Rick - negatives of the public sector
- Round 3: Each counter the punches from their opponent
Round 1: Why do you think it is silly to work for a startup?
- No career security
- Lack of stability
Round 2: Cons of working for the public sector (federal, state, county, city)
- Slow moving
- Not entrepreneurial, Doesn’t attract the strongest people
- Clamored with politics and red tape
- Ability to innovate severely limited
- Mediocre Pay / No Stock Options
- Not sexy… at all (unless you are an officer or firefighter)
Round 3: Counter Punches! Closing argument Evidence
- Pace
- Innovation
- Career Growth
- Challenging
- Compensation & Benefits
- Attractiveness- to attract talented people
- Engagement- the perception of each worker
- Brenda’s Knock out Punch! *Interview Process - You probably do NOT have an effective process!
Brenda Diederichs has been serving as the Chief Human Resources Officer for the County of Orange since June 2016. Brenda began her HR career at San Bernardino County, while earning her BA in Political Science, from California State Polytechnic University Pomona. She next worked for the Southern California Rapid Transit District for 10 years in both HR and Labor Relations. While there she earned a law degree from Loyola Law School.
Brenda went on to practice labor and employment law providing and serve as the labor and employment law department chair for two major public law firms for 10 years, before returning to public service as the Executive Officer for Labor and Employment, Human Resources and Training for the Los Angeles County Metropolitan Transportation Authority. She opened her own law firm in 2007, which she operated until returning to public service in 2014 as the Human Resources Director for the City of Riverside.
Thursday Jun 21, 2018
Mark James: Preparing for Your Interview is the Key to Winning a Great Hire!
Thursday Jun 21, 2018
Thursday Jun 21, 2018
Today’s show is all about Preparation! Preparation is the first step in conducting an effective Interview. Both interviewer and interviewee parties need to be prepared. Just showing up without an idea of where you are going is the quickest way to lose an opportunity. An Interview without Preparation is really just PreparationH! In this episode we stressed the importance of preparation and how it needs to happen.
Show Guest:
Mark James is the Founder and President of Hire Consulting Services and the author of his new book, “Keys to the C Suite”. (Amazon.com) Mark is a Certified Personnel Consultant and has been providing executive career transition coaching and executive search consulting services for over 20 years. He is also a Certified Partner with the Predictive Index suite of behavior assessments. Mark coaches executives in career transition on a daily basis which makes him an expert in today's topic.
Episode highlights:
- Interviewee/candidate preparation
- Hiring manager preparation
- Provide a process for how each party needs to prepare
Why is it important to prepare for an interview?
- Preparation puts you in the right MINDSET … sets the tone, eliminates surprises
- Set proper objective - get the offer/make the hire
- Being prepared = being impressive- demonstrates success
Interviewee:
- Research the company to determine something that the company may not know themselves
- Not prepared to tell their story
- Ask for the interview schedule & format
Hiring Manager (company):
- Research the person
- Knowing what needs to be accomplished
- Prepare your interview team
The dangers of not preparing for the interview:
- Wasted time, frustration
- Inaccurate picture of who you really are
- Lose the person
- Increase the likelihood of making a bad decision
How to best prepare to get hired:
- Self-assessment, presenting yourself, researching the company
- Research company
- Ask targeted questions
- Know how to showcase your accomplishments to make them relevant to the company mission
- Proactive
Best preparation practices to attract the right talent:
- Schedule time to prepare - assuming all else has been covered
- Review assessment notes, LinkedIn profile, social channels, resume- look for commonalities, interests & data points to cover
- Prepare interview team- provide targeted behavioral questions
Look for cultural fit, evidence of success & transferable skills:
- Performance Metrics- what needs to be accomplished
- Have a plan: Connect the dots- competitive advantage
- Give & receive feedback -in real time
Friday Jun 15, 2018
Nicole Arvizu: Human Resources VS. Recruiting. Who Will Come Out Victorious
Friday Jun 15, 2018
Friday Jun 15, 2018
We are putting on the gloves in an epic showdown today. Answering the age-old question of Why we can't just get along.
3 rounds for the undisputed Podcast championship:
- Round 1: What Human Resources dislikes about Talent Acquisition
- Round 2: Recruiting issues with HR
- Round 3: Solutions to get the two working together
Round 1: Issues that HR has with Recruiting
- Fixing problems or adding to the problem
- Spray & Pray
- Transactional
- Low hanging fruit
- Clear expectations of what is acceptable
- Understanding our business
Round 2: Recruiting perception of HR
- HR doesn't really understand or care about hiring
- Relationship with Hiring manager(s)
- No understanding of the Job description
Failure to Communicate:
- Blame game
- Market conditions (low unemployment)
Round 3: Working effectively together
- Control
- Restructuring HR bonus structure (cost per hire)
- Separating responsibilities
- Trust
- Structure
Nicole Arvizu is the Chief Human Resources & Compliance Officer for MeriCal, Inc. She is a very progressive and disruptive HR leader! Nicole is a change Agent who joined Merical in January 2017 and has done an amazing job of transforming the organization to bring in HR as a business partner rather than an administrative arm.
She loves to geek out with her quest for scientific knowledge and is also a surfer!
Wednesday Jun 13, 2018
Event Interview:Paul Pickle From Octane OC's Technology Innovation Forum
Wednesday Jun 13, 2018
Wednesday Jun 13, 2018
Paul Pickle, Former President & COO, of Microsemi & MC of Octane OC's 2018 Technology Innovation Forum. We discussed the future of Semiconductor and whats on the horizon.
Monday Jun 11, 2018
Event Interview: Ryan Permeh From Octane OC's Technology Innovation Forum
Monday Jun 11, 2018
Monday Jun 11, 2018
Ryan Permeh, Co-Founder & Chief Scientist of Cylance! I had the pleasure to sit down with Ryan for a quick interview at Octane OC's Technology Innovation Forum Event. He shared some great Insight on Leveraging the Cybersecurity hub in SoCal.
Thursday Jun 07, 2018
Thursday Jun 07, 2018
Picking the right recruiter partner is not easy. Today’s episode is all about the different options available and how to find a search firm who has your company’s best interest at heart. Start by establishing the following.
Show highlights:
- Defining & understanding your company - values, culture, & plan
- Expectations of your team, company goals, needs
- How to evaluate a search firm and chose the one that best fits with your organization
Begin with the root of where we should start. As a company, who are we?
- Company’s core values
- Culture
- Plan for success
Understanding your Company’s “Needs” and defining expectations:
- Needs vs. Wants - your company needs trump ego
- Speed vs. quality
- Recruiting mentality Driver vs. Order Taker
Determining the best type of search for your specific needs:
- Staffing
- Contingency
- Retained
- In House
How to pick the right recruiting partner:
- Process
- Cultural & Business understanding
- passion
Tom Chaparro is the Executive Vice President and General Manager of The Newport Group - Executive Search Consultants.
As EVP & GM, Tom is responsible for firm-wide management of day-to-day operations and quality control, as well as providing leadership and training to managers and staff.
Mr. Chaparro combines deep, hands-on expertise in a variety of verticals, with an uncanny business insight for the international marketplaces in which his business partners operate. With proven executive search experience, and an unmatched knowledge of the real estate development, construction and oil & gas industries
Thursday May 31, 2018
Thursday May 31, 2018
On Average 20% of your company provides 80% of your value. Which poses the following questions that we covered on today's show:
- How many A&B players would you need to produce 100% of the productivity generated now
- If everyone in the company were A&B players what would be the capacity?
- Solutions to transform and/or hire top performers
On Average how many people at a company are A players?
- 20% produce 80% of the work…
- Startup should be flipped
Can we transform people by just moving them to a different seat? How?
- Aligning passion & growth
Why is important to shift people to a different seat rather than letting them go?
- Shows commitment to people in company and doesn't downgrade the morale of the company
If everyone in the company were A&B players what would be the capacity?
- Increase ROI by 300-400% with the same people every time. Just moved people in the right position.
- Most people are in the wrong seat
How do we transform current under performers into A players?
- Job description process: be able to show what is really needed in each role
- What needs to be accomplished and when it needs to be done
- Growth, Attitude & Passion
- Clear statement about the most important contribution will the person make and how much $ does that turn into with an A-player.
- Prioritize responsibilities & percent of time doing each tasks.
- Where are they, what do they have as tools, & the biggest task (4-5 kinds of tasks) of everyday-functioning at the task level
- Type of communication- break down (telephone, data)
- Who I am matched with these areas- deliver core value energy
- Weave CVI and detail the How
Lynn Taylor is the President and CEO of Taylor Protocols, Inc. He is a business optimization expert in the areas of human capital, C-level performance, executive coaching and organization design. Lynn is a creator of the Core Values Index (CVI), the only assessment to identify the unchanging human characteristics that dictate future job performance and align these with the responsibilities of a given role for guaranteed success.
Lynn stakes his company and his reputation around his “right person, right job” mission. He has performed more than 200 successful turnaround projects over the past 20 years.
Thursday May 24, 2018
Thursday May 24, 2018
Is your benefits strategy the right one to land great people? Highlights discussed on the show:
- How Benefits drive Retention
- Effective vs. Ineffective benefits
- How Benefits can help land Talent
How benefits drive retention
- Hard for employees to leave when employers demonstrate the value. Employee feels like they can not get as good of a package somewhere else.
- Total compensation statements- powerful tool
What benefits are Effective? Ineffective?
- What people expect & at what level?
- Strategy for different company sizes
- Botique benefits- pet insurance, Financial well being.
How do benefits help land talent?
- Reduces days to fill
- Impact cost to hire associate
- Strong release pitcher role.
- Medical needs
Ron Herrera is Vice President of Consulting Services with the Precept Group, a national employee benefits consulting firm and insurance brokerage. Precept offers a variety of services including health and welfare consulting, health management programs, benefits administration and technology, retirement plan services and more.
Ron partners with employers across the United States to reduce healthcare expenditures and stimulate organizational culture. Prior to joining Precept, Ron led Human Resources operations in Vice President and Director roles with multiple healthcare organizations.
Check out the Blog on the Stride Search, Inc site for the supplementary “show recap” article with detailed takeaways/insights from the interview.
Thursday May 17, 2018
Richard Franzi:Unintended Consequences Of A Poor Hiring Process
Thursday May 17, 2018
Thursday May 17, 2018
Bad hires are the negative effect of a unstructured hiring practice and will manifest itself in the performance of your company. So how do you minimize the risk of bad hires? A hiring structure needs to be in place to drastically increase the chances of making a great hire.
Show Guest:
Rick Franzi is the Founder & CEO of Critical Mass for Business. He is the author of the best selling book “Killing Cats, Leads to Rats” -Mitigating the unintended consequences of Business Decisions.(Amazon.com)
Rick currently chairs CEO Peer Groups® throughout Los Angeles and Orange County, CA through his partnership with Renaissance Executive Forums. He is the host of Critical Mass Radio Show & Podcast here on OC Talk Radio.
He is a nationally recognized thought leader on the power of peer learning for CEOs and business executives. Rick's work has been featured in national media forums such as Forbes & Inc.com
Topics covered in “unintended consequences”:
- Symptoms
- Diagnosis: the disease is not Hiring with a process
- Secure Model for Hiring
- Prescription
What are the symptoms (issues)?
- Company’s hire for Skills
- Winging it
- Asking the wrong questions
- Down hiring
The diagnosis: disease is not having a hiring process. Why?
- Repels great talent (unstructured is unimpressive)
- Unstructured interview (only a 6% chance of making the correct hire)
- Bad hire will infect 30% of the people around that person - drop in performance
Prescription/solution - implementing the SECURE Model
- S stands for slow down the decision-making process.
- E stands for expand your knowledge.
- C stands for clarify the desired outcome.
- U stands for unify the team
- R stands for retain control of the process.
- E stands for ensure you stay outcome focused.
Check out the Blog on the Stride Search, Inc site for the supplementary “show recap” article with detailed takeaways/insights from the interview.
Thursday May 10, 2018
Thursday May 10, 2018
True transparency maximizes trust and enables a company to thrive! Vincit promotes proactive leadership and a bottom up leadership approach. The results: a rediculously successful business with no attrition and incredible engagement and productivity.
Episode highlights:
- True Transparency- what it looks like to a company that is thriving
- Proactive leadership
- How this structure attracts outstanding people!
Explain what transparency looks like in you company
- Publish Salaries openly- colleagues nominate for raises. Twice a year
- Satisfaction guarantee for new employees. Pay people to leave within first two months
- Eliminated middle management
- Company credit card
How does transparency Maximize Trust?
- Bottom to top approach to leadership - focus on listening and reacting. Leadership as a service- created a platform. LaaS
- Increase Management workload? - lowers load because you are not predicting situations to handle situations. Individualize the model. People end up managing themselves
Transfer into your hiring process?
- What do they do in hiring?
- Screening to eliminate the mediocrity? they test interviews in teamwork based situations.
- Look for collaboration, skills and cultural fit. Have to be able ask questions, “having dialog”
Results?
- Attrition
- Engagement
- Productivity
Ville Houttu is the Founder and CEO of Vincit California, Inc. Previously, he helped to take it public in Nasdaq First North marketplace. After the IPO, Ville moved to California to start Vincit’s local subsidiary. During the first year of operations he built a team of 20 developers in Irvine and acquired OC’s hottest digital branding agency, XTOPOLY. The team operates in Irvine and Palo Alto, where they help companies such as Logitech and Yamaha to develop their mobile apps and digital services.
Ville is passionate about creating lean working environments and scaling operations without creating policies. He is also one of the few Ironman triathletes who plays steel guitar on several albums on Spotify.
Check out the Blog on the Stride Search, Inc site for the supplementary “show recap” article with detailed takeaways/insights from the interview.
Friday May 04, 2018
Friday May 04, 2018
We all have unconcious bias. It is important to recognize and identify them, especially in the workplace. When we acknowledge these biases, then they can be eliminated in the interview process, creating smarter hires for your business.
Episode highlights:
- What Unconscious bias is
- How to acknowledge it
- Eliminate it from the hiring process
What is Unconscious Bias?
- Relative to gender, race, age
- We all judge but the key is not to pass judgement until…
- Unconscious (or implicit) biases are learned stereotypes that are automatic, unintentional, deeply ingrained, universal, and able to influence behavior
How do we recognize and identify our bias?
- EQ, Self Awareness
- Roots
The value of Bias in the workplace
- Diversity in thinking
- Leverage Enlightenment
How do we Eliminate Unconscious bias from the interview process?
- Understand the value around bias in the workplace
- Harvard Business Review:
- Seek to understand- “Organizational conversation”,
- Job descriptions- perception words, gendered words-balance:”build and create”
- Blind resume review- ignore the name
- Accomplishment focus
- Structure Interviews
- Value fit
- Diversity goals
Chris Steely is the Managing Director of GPS Business Group. He is a transformational business leader, author, trainer, and business coach, who has trained thousands of business leaders worldwide on how to refine and apply optimal capabilities to their business. Chris focuses on delivering business effectiveness services to clients across the globe. He’s co-authored two books, and has been featured as a business expert on countless international stages.
Check out the Blog on the Stride Search, Inc site for the supplementary “show recap” article with detailed takeaways/insights from the interview.
Thursday Apr 26, 2018
Thursday Apr 26, 2018
Insights on Proper Interview Communication and the ways to incorporate them effectively for the Hiring Process:
- What are the broken issues in the Interview communication
- Fix the crucial areas
- Utilize Solutions and Tools that are available to enhance communication and overall candidate experience
With all the technology & tools available, Why is this still a problem today?
- We try really hard to take out the human element from the process
- Lost art
- Transactional
Where the challenges lie
- Recruiter & Interviewee
- Recruiter & hiring manager
- Interviewee & hiring manager
Forms of Communication & Issues
- Video interviewing vs phone interviewing, Video cons: implicit bias
- Chatbots- engagement /screening tool
- Text messages
How do we make interview communications effective?
- Recruiter & Interviewee
- Recruiter & hiring manager
Tools
- Interview Data/Evidence
- Remember your Conversations
- Reduce misinterpretation and bias
- Remove redundant interview steps
- Other Tools:videos, Chatbots
- Technical tests
- Take home tests
Nick Livingston is CEO of Honeit Software. He has been scaling recruiting teams and companies in San Francisco and New York City for 15 years. Nick started his career as a technology headhunter in NYC. After a successful IPO at TubeMogul (now Adobe) while attending business school at UC Berkeley, he co-founded Honeit Software to rethink interview communication and simplify the hiring process. At MTV, Nick was the Recruiting Director responsible for digital media and interactive technology talent. Nick worked at HR Technology companies Taleo and NextSource. He received his MBA from Berkeley, with BS in Applied Mathematics.
Check out the Blog on the Stride Search, Inc site for the supplementary “show recap” article with detailed takeaways/insights from the interview.
Thursday Apr 19, 2018
Todd Raphael:Hiring Practices That Are Driving Great People Away From Your Company!
Thursday Apr 19, 2018
Thursday Apr 19, 2018
Companies complain that they can’t find people yet they do a lot of alienating of potential hires through their actions. Identifying and fixing what drives people away in each stage of the interview process, looking at data of where the best hires are produced, and learning the trends in the Industry will increase the pool of better candidates for your business.
Episode highlights:
- What drives candidates away?
- How do we fix these issues
What drives people away?
- Job description- selfish, not engaging,
- First contact - too selling job focused
- Interview - prepared, structured, Format
- Follow up process
Hurdles in Applicant tracking systems/Interview process
- Tests
- Missing human connection
Job boards are getting less traction
- Evolution of video interviews & ai… matching
- Candidate experience- cannot do @ scale
- Automated process & gaming
Look at your data. Where are the best hires produced?
- Changing the mix of were you recruit. *do the opposite of what you are doing now!
- Job ads- alienating people….need to Engage people, *contact & follow up
- Blind resumes? *eliminate bias
- Messaging- party environment
- Getting past bias
What needs to be fixed?
- Job description
- First contact
- Interview
- Follow up process
Trends in the Industry
- What’s working & What’s not
Todd Raphael manages global publications and conferences for ERE Media, a global community of recruiters and others in the talent field. He has appeared on Sirius XM, VoiceAmerica.com, Wall Street Journal, Time, Forbes, and more.
Todd was named DevSkiller's 2016 "50 Most Game-Changing Influencers In Recruitment." Named Glassdoor's "2015 HR & Recruiting Thought Leaders" and HR Examiner's "Top 100 Influencers" list in employment/human resources and its top 25 Online Influencers.
He was listed on Mike Vangel of TMP's "60 Or So True Influencers In Social+Mobile Media and/or Recruitment."
Check out the Blog on the Stride Search, Inc site for the supplementary “show recap” article with detailed takeaways/insights from the interview.
Monday Apr 16, 2018
Monday Apr 16, 2018
Brenda Diedrichs, Chief Human Resource Officer and Hilda Gracia, Employee Relations Analyst of County of Orange
Monday Apr 16, 2018
Monday Apr 16, 2018
Ryan Logan, Certified Financial Planner & CEO of RAL Financial & Insurance Services
Thursday Apr 12, 2018
Thursday Apr 12, 2018
Leisa Reid: The 3 Keys To Transformation For Yourself And Your Business!
Thursday Apr 12, 2018
Thursday Apr 12, 2018
The 3 keys to transformation and how to apply them for success:
-Understanding of yourself (past)
-Awareness (present)
-Compelling vision (future)
Leisa Reid is a presenter with Productive Learning, a boutique personal growth company founded in 1992, and has trained thousands of people on the power of the mindset. After 20+ years of Management, Sales and Executive Leadership, Leisa dedicated her life to assisting others invest in their personal development. Why? Because she personally experienced the powerful results as a client of Productive Learning. She loved the company so much she joined them in the pursuit of living an extraordinary life.
Leisa is also the Author of the book “Manage to Success: A Guide to Cultivating Happy & Productive Employees” (Amazon.com)
Check out the Blog on the Stride Search, Inc site for the supplementary “show recap” article with detailed takeaways/insights from the interview.
Thursday Apr 05, 2018
Thursday Apr 05, 2018
It is important to have a proactive talent strategy when planning and building your pipeline for your hiring process. Know when and how to tap into the pipeline. Developing a solid foundation, always recruiting by using your referral resources, and utilizing the tools and changes that companies can make promotes successful hiring searches.
Show Guest:
Ken Schmitt grew up in an entrepreneurial household with a father who was a Jack in the Box franchisee for 25 years, and a mother who left the accounting world to become a real estate agent. After spending 9 years working for a local boutique firm and one of the world's largest Executive Search firms, Heidrick & Struggles, he launched TurningPoint Executive Search in 2007. The past two Years, TurningPoint has been ranked one of the Top 150 Fastest Growing Private Companies in San Diego (SDBJ).
Ken is also the Founder and CEO of the Sales & Marketing Leadership Alliance (SMLA), and the annual Sales & Marketing Leader of the Year Awards (SMLYs). Ken is a thought leader in executive search and takes a high touch, concierge-style approach to placing first class talent. Which makes him the perfect guest for today’s topic! He is the Author of LinkedIn Hiring Secrets for Sales and Marketing Leaders. (Amazon.com)
Episode highlights:
- The importance of a proactive talent strategy
- Building your pipeline
- When & How to tap into the pipeline
The Why… Process is Reactive
- Starting at Ground zero (Avoid reinventing the wheel with each new search)
- Pre plan questions
- Organize- time, pace, resume/profile
Foundation - Developing The Plan
- Proactive mindset
- Always be recruiting (ABC….)
- Consistent message, not being transactional
- Look at recruiting as a revenue generating or sales process.
Building the pipeline. Always be Recruiting
- Employee referrals
- Industry leaders
- Top performers
Tools & Tweaks that companies can make to succeed
- Simple spreadsheet on excel
- Poor job of mining their own data.
- Someone owning the process.
- Employee referral program- on going notification
Check out the Blog on the Stride Search, Inc site for the supplementary “show recap” article with detailed takeaways/insights from the interview.
Friday Mar 30, 2018
Friday Mar 30, 2018
What is needed to attract investors, the importance of a team, and how to enagage the right people for your company. Develope a plan that will scale. Hire the needed technical, marketing and leadership expertise to raise capital and to build the business.
Episode Highlights:
- What is needed to attract an investor
- The importance of the team
- How to attract and scale your team
The Foundation - What really needs to be in place to attract seed round investment?
- Pick up 1-2 key customers with a working prototype
- Seed round: Have team, some customers, some revenue, working model. & need funds.
What is typically the right scenario for a TCA investor?
- TCA- a 20-40% small percentage are open for execution delivery role.
- *Understanding, awareness & belief
What is the biggest hurdles you see from entrepreneurs?
- Giving up equity is often the big issue.
- Angel members open to teaming up as a co-founder.
Building the Team - How do we attract the right person?
- Resources
- How to scale a team. Long term engagement, needs of the business.
- Operator, needs to give up “control”.
- Use advisors to vet talent, first reluctant to bring in the help.
Scale
- When to start?
- Evaluation & Planning
- Analogy of championship sports teams- key pieces of the puzzle but not all the right pieces at the right team.
Hicham Semaan is an experienced CEO, GM, senior executive, angel investor, senior, and board member to CEOs, management teams, private equity, startup companies. He is a respected leader with strong vision, value creation, turn around, and acquisition expertise, and has successfully grown and exited businesses. Hicham is considered an expert in the technology, education, and real estate industries and has been a featured speaker at several industry events.
He is the newly elected Tech Coast Angels-Orange County President and has received the “Excellence in Entrepreneurship Award” from the OCBJ and was recently named “New Investor of the Year” by Tech Coast Angels.
Check out the Blog on the Stride Search, Inc site for the supplementary “show recap” article with detailed takeaways/insights from the interview.
Thursday Mar 22, 2018
Thursday Mar 22, 2018
All interviewees should be treated with the same positive hiring experience, rather they be an active or passive job seeker. When you eliminate pre-judging and biases, build rapport, and follow up with your candidates, it creates positive results: brings the truth, leads to referrals, and produces positive reviews.
Episode highlights:
- How to treat all candidates
- Contact & Feedback
- Results
What is a Active job seeker vs. a Passive job seeker?
Why do we treat an active job seeker and a passive job seeker differently? What are companies missing?
- Eliminate: Pre judging & Bias
- The Resume… laziness by not calling. Leads to referrals if not a fit.
Why no feedback when I apply to an ad?
- Eliminate: Pre-judging & Bias
Act as if you are the candidate… Process for relationship building.
- Looking for value in the conversation.
- Follow through… set timeline, being considerate
Results
- The truth
- Referrals
- Positive feedback (Glassdoor)
Deborah Kantor is the President of Kantor Sales Associates. She has mentored and trained countless sales professionals in her four-decade-long sales career path. Deborah has been a student in every aspect of the sales cycle, from prospecting to close, and in the building of trusted partner relationships along the way. She has been a top performer in the staffing and real estate industries prior to her current coaching/training business. Beyond the sales skills necessary to open doors, Deborah is passionate about knowing how to present VALUE PROPOSITION, and communicate the WHY.
Check out the Blog on the Stride Search, Inc site for the supplementary “show recap” article with detailed takeaways/insights from the interview.
Monday Mar 19, 2018
Monday Mar 19, 2018
What should a proper Interview Structure should look like, how to Prepare and Plan the candidates for the Interview, and the right way to Execute the interview process. Having the right hiring structure will audition the interviewee for the company's cultural fit and determine those that may or may not be congruent to your organization's core values.
Episode highlights:
- What a proper Interview Structure should look like
- Preparing & Planning for the Interview
- How to Execute an outstanding interview process
The Foundation - How should an interview be Structured?
- Timed with a person leading the process
- 3-5 individuals, auditioning for cultural fit
Preparation
- Pre plan questions
- Organize- time, pace, resume/profile
What does an interview plan look like?
- Share the plan with the candidate before hand
Executing the Interview
- Alleviate the pressure … keep congruent with your environment
- Conversational
- Knock out questions
- Testing & digging
- Wrap up… set timeline
Checking References & Referrals
- Challenge the white space
Scott Kuethen is the CEO at Amtec, Inc., a professional recruiting organization specializing in placing professionals in Contract and Regular-Full-Time positions with companies ranging from small entrepreneurial start-ups to the fortune 100. He is an avid teacher, and writer in the areas of talent acquisition and selection, organizational planning, and business management. Scott’s life purpose is helping people find meaning in their work.
In his spare time, Scott enjoys photography, SCUBA diving, swimming, drone flying, and other activities that keep him young-minded.
Check out the Blog on the Stride Search, Inc site for the supplementary “show recap” article with detailed takeaways/insights from the interview.
Thursday Mar 08, 2018
Thursday Mar 08, 2018
A 5x tech entrepreneur and his unique approach to hiring great people for his companies, using the 3 C’s: Culture, Capacity for Mastery, and Craft. Utilizing this interview methodology can take your company from good to great!
Episode highlights:
- What the 3 C’s are?
- Apply this methodology to your hiring for your company
A really unique approach to hiring, the 3 C’s
- Culture: Values- evolution of culture, Ethos (montrose), Traits
- Capacity - critical thinking & problem solving skills
- Craft- skills (not defined by)
How to apply this methodology
- Narrative arc interview
- White space interview
Jordan Ritter is an accomplished entrepreneur and technologist, having co-founded several companies including music company Napster, messaging security platform Cloudmark, labor-as-a-service platform CloudCrowd and most recently, personal digital search engine Atlas Informatics. He also served as the CTO of entertainment company Columbia Music Entertainment, as well as fan interaction platform Zivity. Jordan is also a regular open-source contributor, having authored free software commonly included in modern Linux distributions as well as Windows software licensed by Microsoft. Several of his projects have been featured in well-known publications and books, and incorporated into University-level curricula.
His works have won numerous nominations and awards spanning across Comdex, DEMO, SIIA, PC World, PC Magazine, and WIRED. Jordan speaks at technology conferences around the world on topics ranging across entrepreneurism, startup culture, AI, computer and messaging security, and the music industry.
Check out the Blog on the Stride Search, Inc site for the supplementary “show recap” article with detailed takeaways/insights from the interview.
Thursday Mar 01, 2018
Jean Latu: Fractional Leadership As A Viable Option In Building Your Business!
Thursday Mar 01, 2018
Thursday Mar 01, 2018
The benefits of fractional help in your organization. Fractional work can bring important value while companies are experiencing change, such as a new leadership, merger and acquisition, or a resignation. Knowing when and how to engage a fractional person will provide the solutions needed for your company.
Episode highlights:
- What is Fractional - High end Temps!
- When & how to engage fractional help
Jean Latu is the Founder & CEO of Ingenio Solutions, a consulting firm focused on accounting and finance. She leads a talented team of experts in finance and accounting who work with clients to solve problems, create efficiencies, and improve the bottom line.
Jean has worked on projects for companies like CarrAmerica, Coldwell Banker, and Marriott as a consultant. She joined Jefferson Well as a Director of Finance Operations and led their finance and accounting practice. She grew the practice to 40 consultants from 5 and increased annual revenues to $10M from $1M in 3 years.
Check out the Blog on the Stride Search, Inc site for the supplementary “show recap” article with detailed takeaways/insights from the interview.
Thursday Feb 22, 2018
Thursday Feb 22, 2018
How to use analytics tools to first understand the role you are needing to fill. The importance of placing the right language to attract the right person to your job description. We share a format to make your company stand above the pack in impressing and engaging passive talent!
Robert Curtis is the Founder and CEO of Alpha Quantix, a leading provider of people analytics, metrics, performance solutions, and consulting and training. Alpha Quantix is a certified partner with Predictive Index. Robert actively engages business owners and senior management, both direct to management and jointly with industry-specific consultants, in a variety of capacities focused on: hiring the best people, developing employee engagement and delivering employee performance, and generally shaping organizational culture to help companies be the best they can be.
Check out the Blog on the Stride Search, Inc site for the supplementary “show recap” article with detailed takeaways/insights from the interview.
Thursday Feb 15, 2018
Thursday Feb 15, 2018
Gamification is leading by using the best ideas from games. Companies are using loyalty programs and behavioral economics to drive performance and engagement in their employees. Gamification in the workplace has been around for a long time but what's new is the introduction of tools, technologies, design disciplines and frameworks that are allowing us to do gamification in the workplace in a more scalable and repeatable way.
Brian Andersen is Founder and CEO of Telecomprehensive Solutions, a telecommunications & technology brokerage headquartered in Orange County. Brian is a keynote speaker and Chair of the Business & Workforce Development Committee for the Greater Irvine Chamber of Commerce. He leads Business Attraction & Retention efforts to unify our local Startup Ecosystem, connect business & provide education to empower Orange County's Workforce and other strategic Economic Development initiatives. In addition, He also serves on the Advisory Council for the Southern California Hospice Foundation.
Check out the Blog on the Stride Search, Inc site for the supplementary “show recap” article with detailed takeaways/insights from the interview.
Thursday Feb 08, 2018
Thursday Feb 08, 2018
Ineffective communicators can shut down an audience in seconds! Especially with nervous, outdated or too technical presentation styles. This translates throughout your business and can definitely kill your ability to raise funding and hire top talent.
Stephanie Paul is the Founder and CEO of Stephanie Paul, Inc.. Stephanie has an expertise in Working with people who have a significant message that needs to be inspirationally transferred to a variety of audiences. Helping clients get away from "Selling" to Storytelling and turn facts and figures in to "Edutainment". All this with a professional, entertaining, funny and unique style of coaching. Her clients have FUN while being coached ultimately learning how to communicate on a deeper more connected and entertaining level. Bringing a new refreshing air to the culture of the traditional corporate "Bored Room".
From an international background as an actress and a comedienne, including producing and directing Stephanie Paul has combined her knowledge and experience with writing, acting, presentation and production for both on camera and the speakers stage, to bring the “Mastery of the Message” to her clients. Executive Producer and Co-Organizer of TEDx Mission Viejo 2016, Official TEDx Orange Coast Presentation & Connection Coach 2014, 2015, and Official TEDx - Kish (Iran) Presentation & Connection Coach April 2015/16.
Check out the Blog on the Stride Search, Inc site for the supplementary “show recap” article with detailed takeaways/insights from the interview.
Friday Feb 02, 2018
Friday Feb 02, 2018
It is imperative to have comprehensive job descriptions! Robert Yonowitz and I discuss why this is important and how they are used in the workplace. Lawsuit prevention, ADA accommodation, Performance Reviews and disciplinary action are the cornerstones of why. Learn the components of an effective "defensive driving" job description and a description that attracts top talent!
Bob Yonowitz is a partner in the Irvine office of the national law firm of Fisher Phillips, one of the oldest and largest firms in the country practicing exclusively in labor and employment law representing management. Prior to practicing law, he also worked for the United States Senate Judiciary Committee Subcommittee on Courts. Yonowitz has proven expertise in many aspects of labor and employment law including litigating harassment, discrimination, retaliation, wrongful termination and wage hour class action claims, drafting key executive employment agreements and incentive compensation plans. Robert developed and is the co-chair of the firm’s nation-wide Unfair Competition and Trade Secrets Practice Group and has published numerous chapters, articles and lectures on the benefits of arbitration, drafting employee agreements, and prevention of employee theft of trade secrets.
He is a member of the California Bar, and the Labor and Employment Law Section of the American Bar Association.
Check out the Blog on the Stride Search, Inc site for the supplementary “show recap” article with detailed takeaways/insights from the interview.
Thursday Jan 25, 2018
Thursday Jan 25, 2018
Emotional Intelligence, or EI, describes an ability or capacity to perceive, assess, and manage the emotions of one's self, and of others. Our EQ, or Emotional Quotient, is how one measures Emotional Intelligence. EQ is the Motivation, Empathy, Self Awareness, Self Regulation, and Social Skills. Emotions have the potential to get in the way of our most important business and personal relationships. But understanding the importance of EQ and having an in-depth process in place to evaluate each component, will uncover the truth and reveal any red flags of your candidates, preventing a hiring mistake for your company.
Rodney Burris is the President, COO and Co-Founder of Care Partners at Home. Founded in July 20, 2016, Care Partners At Home and its parent company, Post-Acute Care Partners Inc., was a career-long vision of Rodney's, a healthcare leader looking to turn his personal stories of caregiving and love into a completely different approach. His professional philosophy focuses on compassion and love, yet is built on a foundation of skilled associates with true expertise, delivering exceptional care.
Over the past 15 years, Rodney has had the opportunity to serve as a leader in Regional, Executive and Board Member roles across a spectrum of Healthcare organizations. These ventures have spanned from large corporate structures to small start-up companies. His intensity, drive and passion to care for others is a derivative from playing the role of “patient” many times throughout life. These events have inspired Rodney to build high performance teams that desire to broaden their positive impact through creation and innovation.
Check out the Blog on the Stride Search, Inc site for the supplementary “show recap” article with detailed takeaways/insights from the interview.
Thursday Jan 18, 2018
Thursday Jan 18, 2018
How do you REALLY discover if the person you are trying to hire is competent? Great incites shared by today's guest to avoid this major hiring mistakes that those before you have made. Besides having a Hiring Plan in place, providing in-depth evalution of your candidates, and implementing the right questions, will help hire the right people for your company.
Craig Cooke brings more than 20 years of interactive, marketing and management experience to Rhythm. As CEO, Craig drives the direction of the company through his vision, strategic planning and execution. He is actively involved in marketing initiatives, research and development, business development, vendor selection and strategic partner development. He also participates in hiring and producing high-quality solutions that deliver true value to clients. Craig takes a consultative approach to problem solving with clients. Essentially, he believes in helping people, delivering quality, demanding excellence and being accountable.
Craig’s leadership has driven Rhythm to be recognized as a fastest growing private company for five years in a row by Inc 5000, Orange County Business Journal, as well as a “Top Places to Work” in Orange County by OC Register and Orange County Business Journal.
Check out the Blog on the Stride Search, Inc site for the supplementary “show recap” article with detailed takeaways/insights from the interview.
Friday Jan 12, 2018
Friday Jan 12, 2018
It is pertinent for companies to manage properly the rate of their spending through the varies stages of the business life cycle. Each level of growth, development/seed, startup, growth, expansion, and maturity has its monetary and talent challenges. But incorporating specific plan of expectations at each stage, hiring and delegating experts, and monitoring the burn rate accurately will encourage growth and success of your business without breaking the bank.
Karl Hardesty is the CEO and Founder of Hardesty LLC, a national executive services firm providing both executive search services and on-demand executives to companies. The Hardesty firm has built their reputation in the CFO space based upon their rapid deployment of experienced financial management resources through interim and project based engagements. Hardesty also specialized in other C-Suite rolls including CEO, COO, CIO and VP of HR.
Hardesty has grown rapidly since its inception in 2011, making Orange County’s Fastest Growing Company list for 2014 and 2015. The firm and it’s affiliates currently have offices in 10 major markets in the US.
Check out the Blog on the Stride Search, Inc site for the supplementary “show recap” article with detailed takeaways/insights from the interview.
Thursday Jan 04, 2018
Paul David: Start Caring About Your People! Watch Your Business Thrive!
Thursday Jan 04, 2018
Thursday Jan 04, 2018
To build an outstanding Company, you need to start caring about your people. That is to listen, understand them and achieve mutual loyalty. Caring about your employees can be incorporated through Leadership, Investing time to get know the person at the Interview Process, having an Interview Structure with Behavioral Questions, and focusing on Engagement and Growth. When you really appreciate your employees, it transfers to your customers and the business!
Paul David is the founder and CEO of Identified Talent Solutions, an Irvine, California-based recruitment and human resource consulting firm. Paul has been featured in numerous business publications, and his firm was named one of the "Fastest Growing Private Companies” by the Orange County Business Journal and listed on the “Inc. 500” by Inc. Magazine as part of its annual list of “America’s Fastest Growing Private Companies.”
Check out the Blog on the Stride Search, Inc site for the supplementary “show recap” article with detailed takeaways/insights from the interview.
Thursday Dec 21, 2017
Thursday Dec 21, 2017
There are two types of engagement, before the hire and while employed. Recruiting is not about you or your needs anymore. The proper engagement in the recruiting process is focusing on work life balance, social consciousness, benefits… opportunity for growth.
To retain talent once you have a person as an employee, you need to build the right cutlure by providing growth, communication, and having a Purpose, Intention, and Execution process in place.
Deena Brown is an Executive Director and certified speaker, coach, and trainer with The John Maxwell Team. She is an international best-selling author, The A-Z Guide to Mindful Leadership (Amazon.com) and has been featured on ABC, NBC, CBS, and Fox as a highly sought keynote speaker, business and leadership growth expert.
She is affectionately known as The Millennial Whisperer. Her clients have identified her as The Catalyst because she makes Shift Happen. She is the founder of the Millennial Leadership Institute that provides leadership development and lifestyle coaching to Millennials. Her signature C3LeadershipTM Program helps professionals have more Clarity, Confidence, and Consistency by teaching how to Communicate with Influence, Connect Authentically, and Collaborate Strategically.
Dr. Brown’s expertise helps organizations and individuals build a clear path to significance that bridges their philosophy, vision, mission, and goals to their optimal organizational identity.
Check out Blog A and Blog B on the Stride Search, Inc site for the supplementary “show recap” article with detailed takeaways/insights from the interview.