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#Leadership : #Recruiting – Here are the Benefits of #Hiring Someone Outside of your Industry… Hiring Outside of your Industry can Bring Unique Values that you May Not Get Within your Own Sector.

August 24, 2018/in First Sun Blog/by First Sun Team

Many employers feel they need to hire candidates who know their company’s industry like the back of their hands. But hiring outside of your given industry scope often can bring unique value that you might miss out on by hiring within your existing sector.

After all, a diversity of backgrounds and opinions is key to innovation. If you’re thinking about hiring someone from a different field, consider the following.

The candidate works in an adjunct industry where they currently are on the receiving end (customer) of the hiring company’s product or similar products from another company. While this candidate has service-industry experience, and the hiring company’s ideal position description seeks someone with manufacturing experience, they are open to those with different backgrounds.

Perhaps the candidate provides unique insight not only into what they like or don’t like about the product, but also about competitors’ products. As such, they can offer competitive intelligence that may be challenging to find elsewhere.

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2. HIRE A SALES CONSULTANT

The candidate has worked at an unrelated industry startup where they wore all hats, from sweeping the floor to managing the front desk, training, setting up sales calls and everything in between. While their official title is something like front office manager, it may be that they have been selling ideas or services throughout their tenure, without the title.

Bypassing them for a sales role because they don’t have the moniker or the specific industry experience could be a big mistake. Consider their ability to survive a startup, as well as influence the performance and operational success within a loosely defined, fast-paced structure that may drive revenue through the hiring company’s sales engine.

3. HIRE SOMEONE TO PAVE NEW REVENUE CHANNELS

The candidate has sold ABC widgets that are quite different from the DEF widgets the hiring organization markets. However, there is a specific channel of widget warranty sales (e.g., financial) experience that the candidate accrued that would transfer well to the hiring entity.

The candidate has a consistent record of skyrocketing sales and exceeding goals in every company they’ve worked, based largely on this unique financial acumen. If the hiring manager and this candidate can hammer out a deal contingent on their bringing that same expertise into a new widget market, then it could definitely be a win-win.

4. HIRE AN IDEAS PERSON

The candidate knows technology, and they’ve innovated repeatedly, applying their tech expertise in new and changing spaces within hypercompetitive environments. In some instances, the innovative ideas have been a shot in the dark and fell flat; but mostly, their ideas have culminated into revenue- and profit-generating coups that ultimately lined the pockets of ownership while also converting to salary security and long-term retention for the team members. For hiring companies in less innovative industries now finding themselves in increasingly competitive waters, the innovator candidate may be the answer.

5. HIRE A CHANGE LEADER

Inspiring leaders know not only how to capitalize on their reputation but are also genuine, thus getting people on board with change. The fact that they arrive from an unrelated industry is a clear advantage to their success as they won’t be bogged down in the industry politics otherwise associated with key leadership players.

6. HIRE LEADERSHIP WITH KEY CUSTOMER INSIGHTS

The candidate’s past manufacturing leadership role collaborating with executives and decision makers in top banking organizations could be helpful to a consulting company whose sole clients are financial institutions. The fact the candidate “gets” bankers and their core needs will be instrumental in closing large accounts and growing revenue.

FastCompany.com | August 24, 2018 | BY JACQUI BARRETT-POINDEXTER—GLASSDOOR 3 MINUTE READ

#Leadership : #HiringEmployees – Here’s What Most People get Wrong about “Passion”….These Days, many People See Passion as Something they Either Have or Don’t Have. Here Are the Reasons Why That’s the Wrong Mentality.

July 29, 2018/in First Sun Blog/by First Sun Team

Yes, it’s cliché. But while we all seem to get that marriage requires more than a little love and affection, there’s still this pervasive myth that passion is the secret key to your career.

Don’t get me wrong. Passion counts for a lot, especially if you’re tasked with convincing someone to give you a shot.

When it comes to making career transitions for happiness, I’m not just a poster child–I’m a freeway billboard. In my own work, I’ve made not one pivot but three, and in each of those instances, I convinced someone to take a chance on me despite an unconventional resume. They saw something that didn’t fit on one page of cream-colored paper, and I benefited from that. So talking the talk definitely counts for something.

But there’s something about this post-millennial era that’s got it twisted (post-millennial Rihanna reference definitely intended). Too many of us have lost track of the nuances.

With the rise of buzzwords like “manifesting” and “passion projects,” there’s another underlying belief system at play: that wanting something badly enough actually makes you qualified to have it.

Much like a happily-ever-after plot line, underneath all the talk about boundless passion or a candidate’s personal goals-slash-dreams, there’s just not much meaning.

THE MYTH OF THE BIG ENTRANCE

I often see this mentality in cover letters when we’re hiring. Sentence after sentence argues (usually incredibly articulately) about how transcendent the experience of working with us will be.

“There’s nothing I’ve ever wanted more than to work at Career Contessa improving the lives of women every day.”

These are lovely words, and I imagine many people automatically react to them the same way I did: It feels good to hear that the work your company does means so much to someone. And it’s easy–especially after that ego boost–to think that their chutzpah equals professional tenacity. But does it really?

I’ve had an interview where someone told me I should hire her because she was ready to harness her abundant creativity. Others have told me they can’t wait for a flexible work environment that will let them explore their outside interests. Once, a 23-year-old told me that getting hired would help her grow her personal brand and following (lucky me?).

As I’m listening, there’s a common thread that’s hit-you-over-the-head clear, and it’s not “this person is star employee material.” It’s more like: me, me, me.

“I want a career that fulfills me.”

“I love that this job gives me flexibility, so I can work on my other projects.”

“This is the perfect stepping stone toward my ultimate goal of working for myself.”

It’s not that these are bad things to think, exactly–it’s that there are more complex thoughts and conversations to have. Thoughts like these are big-picture thinking taken to extremes like a climactic scene from some ’90s Meg Ryan movie. Much like a happily-ever-after plotline, underneath all the talk about boundless passion or a candidate’s personal goals/dreams, there’s just not much meaning.

Almost every time I’ve hired someone who sells solely their unbridled passion, breezing over their past work, or concrete experiences, I’ve come to regret it.

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CUE THE FLAGGING DEDICATION

What these conversations lack is the collaborative element that real, lasting professional relationships need. Because if work is about innovation and empathy, there’s more to it than what any one of us wants to do. It’s about how we can adapt and change each other and do real work together.

There’s this inherent privilege in the passion-is-everything perspective, and maybe that’s why it bothers me so much. If you’re responsible for making rent and paying down student loans, you don’t get to plan your life solely around your passion projects. You earn time to focus on those, courtesy of a whole lot of hard work. So this idea that passion is The Answer, that’s reserved for a very few people–the ones who can “just quit” when the going gets tough.

Almost every time I’ve hired someone who sells solely their unbridled passion, breezing over their past work or concrete experiences, I’ve come to regret it.

They fail to meet deadlines. They balk at busy work. They give notice after three months because they’ve committed to too many other side projects. They’re the sort of personalities who wind up with two- or four-month jobs on their resumes and not much more. They fall through.

When you’re focused solely on the personal endpoint–your own success, full stop–how can you make space for all the work that needs to get done in between? And if your eye is only on the prize, how are you supposed to stay energized when the process takes longer than expected?

Newsflash: It always does.

AND THEN THERE’S THE PASSION JUDGMENT

There’s more to it than that as well. There’s also the fact that many of us don’t know what we’re passionate about, and thanks to the rise of the passion-first mentality, we tend to feel like we’re failing if we don’t. We look at others with all that conviction and energy, and we think they must have it figured out. That comparison can affect us in various ways, but the scariest is that it threatens to have an adverse effect: It can stunt our growth.

If you approach every job with an open perspective, chances are the experience will help you with your growth. Even a terrible job can teach you what industry suits you or make you realize what you’re innately great at. But if you don’t give it a chance–because it’s not what you think is your passion, right now, right this second–how will you ever really keep evolving?

Passion these days is a black-and-white myth. We tend to believe that either you have it or you don’t. And like most things, inflexible thinking will ruin us.

Work first, passion second. Because what is passion, really, if you’re not willing to fight for it?

GIVE ME THE DEDICATED DOERS, NOT THE PASSIONATE DREAMERS

I’m not interested in the passionate dreamers or the “currently working on” hustlers as much as I’m interested in the people who work in the gray zones somewhere in between. These are the people who never cease to impress and surprise you. They’re also the ones who challenge you. They make you think–and work–differently.

A friend of mine, a creative director for a fashion brand, once listened in silence as a 19-year-old told her that once her modeling career finished, she’d “just become a creative director since I love styling.”

Just become.

That friend climbed ranks over a decade one production assistant job at a time, worked 60-hour weeks or more, and moved across the country twice for new opportunities. She loves her job today more than anything, precisely because she worked her ass off to get there. Passion came later.

Work first, passion second. Because what is passion, really, if you’re not willing to fight for it?

There’s a similar adage that goes something like this, “Don’t do anything for five minutes that you wouldn’t do for five years.” It’s one that people rarely linger on, maybe because it makes us uncomfortable. Such a span seems dramatically out of sync with our iPhone-laden era. And that’s precisely why the five-plus-yearers are that much more impressive to me.

It’s not that I’m asking people to give up all their passion or to stick it out in a job that makes them miserable. But when I think about the sort of people I see with flourishing careers, they’re never the Passionates, they’re the Commitments. The ones who don’t treat “passion” as their everything but simply as the product of putting effort into working, questioning, and exploring. They’re not the biggest show-stealers, but they’re doing more than alright.

FastCompany.com | July 29, 2018 | BY KIT WARCHOL—CAREER CONTESSA 6 MINUTE READ

#Leadership : Three Ways To Improve Your #InterviewProcess So You Can Make Better And Faster #HiringDecisions …These Things Might Not be Rocket Science, But they are Surprisingly Not Done with as Much Consistency or Rigor as you Might Think.

April 25, 2018/in First Sun Blog/by First Sun Team

Interviewing may not be the most effective way to evaluate candidates, but it is still the most common. There are other better predictors of job success, but some of those methods require more resources to manage than your company many have.

If the interview is all you’ve got, it doesn’t mean that you are relegated to a life of bad hires or lots of first year turnover. It just means that you have to get really good at interviewing.

Some of that comes down to building your skills as an interviewer, which can only really happen with a lot of real skills practice (Effectively “probing” a candidate for more information is easy in concept but is far from easy in reality).

Beyond building your skills, some of it comes down to building the right interview process.

The Point Of The Interview

As my wife frequently complains about, I’ll start with a bold statement of the obvious:

The purpose of the interview is to facilitate a discussion with the candidate so that you leave that discussion with the right information you need to make a hiring decision.

I’m certainly not going to win any business innovation awards for that statement. Here’s the thing, though. Everything that happens in the interview should directly help you achieve that purpose. Unfortunately, in my work with clients on their interview process, there are often parts of the process that aren’t actually helping them achieve that purpose, or there are key parts of the process that could help but are missing.

Three Ways To Improve Your Interview Process

These aren’t rocket science concepts, but doing them well requires some focus and diligence:

1. Have a pre-interview preparation meeting with whoever is involved in the interview

This important step is often overlooked. It is understandable. Business life is always busy. Many of us are cramming interviews into already over-booked calendars.

The problem of not taking a few minutes for a team preparation meeting is that it doesn’t give you and other interviewers the opportunity to get aligned on what you are all looking for. This often results in different expectations of the candidate, how he or she answered the questions, and ultimately whether the candidate was what we were looking for.

When combined, these often cause frustration with the process, delays in making hiring decisions, bad hires, or letting good candidates move right past you.

A good preparation meeting gets in front of these problems. Here are three key things to do during your preparation meeting:

Do a quick group review of the candidate and the resume
Do an overview of the role the candidate is interviewing for
Get alignment on the key questions you want to ask – both technical and cultural – and what kinds of answers you are looking for

To do it well only takes a few minutes but is invaluable in going into the interview aligned and focused.

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2. Have a post-interview calibration discussion with all of the interviewers

Post interview calibration sessions often don’t happen for the same reason that pre-interview preparation meetings get pushed aside. It feels like we just don’t have enough time. The interview is over, and you’re running to the next meeting (or interview).

When you don’t do them, though, you miss valuable opportunities to get multiple perspectives about the candidate from co-workers who sit in different roles. You also lose the opportunity to sort out and gain alignment on what was good or bad about a candidate so that you can apply that to others you are interviewing for the same role.

Without calibration, I’ve seen clients continue to miss opportunities to refine their candidate search process or criteria for who makes it to the face to face interview stage. And all of this equates to an unnecessarily elongated interviewing process, frustrated interviewers, and a belief that interview process just isn’t working.

3. Focus the interview on personal attributes and culture fit

There’s an important quote from Jim Collins, business consultant and author of the New York Times Bestselling book, “Good-to-Great.” In his work around what separated great companies from good companies, he noted:

“In determining the right people, the good-to-great companies placed greater weight on character attributes than on specific educational background, practical skills, specialized knowledge, or work experience.”

Even with that, many interviews today still focus primarily on technical skills, knowledge, and abilities. This isn’t to say that you shouldn’t care about those things because there are certainly required baseline capabilities to do the job. You can, and should, still assess those.

But use the bulk of the interview to focus on assessing attributes like learning agility, interpersonal effectiveness, and cultural fit, which have been shown to be much better predictors of short and long-term job success.

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The opinions expressed here by Inc.com columnists are their own, not those of Inc.com.

PUBLISHED ON: APR 25, 2018

Inc.com |

By James Sudakow

Author, ‘Picking the Low-Hanging Fruit … and Other Stupid Stuff We Say in the Corporate World’@JamesSudakow

#Leadership : Why You Should #Recruit #OlderWorkers …Many Older Workers are Just as Tech-Savvy and Eager to Learn New Skills as their Younger Peers.

March 29, 2018/in First Sun Blog/by First Sun Team

As labor markets tighten, finding qualified workers is becoming more of a challenge for many companies. And recruitment missteps may be making it harder to reach older workers.

Carl Dorvil, CEO and president of GEX Management, Inc., a management and professional services company based in Dallas, says there’s good reason to invest in “mentor capitalists” who invest their time and expertise in companies. When he started his company from his dorm room in college, he initially relied on his buddies to fill key roles. Then one of his own mentors reminded him that you can’t fit 50 years of experience into 20.

Since then, Dorvil has made diversity recruitment, including hiring older workers, a priority, both in his company and in the message he spreads to his clients. And now that he’s currently looking at expansion through acquisition, “We want to partner with people who have more experience and are a little bit more mature in their field. They have the relationships and networks that we think can grow our business faster,” he says.

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OLDER WORKERS ARE IN DEMAND

Workers in age groups 65 to 74 and 75 and older are expected to grow faster than any other age segments through 2024, according to the Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS). But finding those older workers isn’t always as easy as it sounds. For those hanging on to the premise that older workers are sitting around waiting for opportunities in a buyer’s market, the latest BLS data busts that myth: The unemployment rate for adults age 55-plus was 3.2% in February 2018—nearly a full point lower than the overall 4.1% unemployment rate.

Many corporate diversity programs don’t specifically target mature talent and fall into bad habits that actually make it harder to find and attract mature workers, says Peter Gudmundsson, who last year founded Dallas-based Hire Maturity, which produces job fairs and runs a job board for “mature talent”—a term he prefers to “older workers.” One of the company’s taglines is, “Are you ready to hire a grownup?” If you are, there are a few important fixes many companies need to make, he says.

LET GO OF THE STEREOTYPES

If you’re hanging on to the tired notions that workers age 60-plus aren’t tech-savvy or energetic, your bias is showing, says Heather Tinsley-Fix, senior adviser, financial resilience programming at AARP‘s Washington, D.C., headquarters. Steve Jobs would be well into his 60s now, while internet pioneer Vinton Cerf is 74.

A 2013 study from North Carolina State University looked at the reputation scores of programmers in an online forum called Stack Overflow, which has more than 1.6 million members. Researchers found that, on average, programmer reputation scores increased relative to age well into the 50s and that they exhibited expertise in more areas than did younger users.

AARP’s research shows that more than 80% of workers ages 45 to 64 say that the opportunity to learn something new is an essential element of their ideal job. In 2010, a major international study called the Cogito Study compared 101 young adults (20–31) and 103 older adults (65–80) on 12 different tasks over 100 days. Against their expectations, they found that 65– to 80-year-old workers’ performance was more stable and less variable from day to day than that of the younger group. In addition, their motivation was higher than the younger workers’, and they were less erratic. So ditch the outdated thinking about older workers, she says.

A number of job ads on several high-profile digital and social media platforms were age-restricted, eliminating them from the view of many older workers. In addition to ensuring that your job ads are reaching the greatest possible age range on every platform, expand the job boards and advertising platforms you’re using, says Jeff Zinser, principal and founder of Right Recruiting, an executive recruiting firm in Blue Bell, Pennsylvania. Workers in their 50s, 60s, and 70s may have become comfortable using boards like Monster and CareerBuilder earlier in their careers and may default to searching there first. Boards like AARP’s job board and HireMaturity are also good places to check.

When you’re writing your job ads, beware of using inadvertently ageist phrases like “seeking digital natives” or “join our young, dynamic team,” Tinsley-Fix says. Read over your job ads to be sure they’re as inclusive as possible and describe the job specifically. And don’t forget to train your recruiters and hiring managers to look beyond age when recruiting and evaluating candidates.

And beef up your in-person efforts, Gudmundsson says. In addition to recruiting on college campuses, find opportunities like job fairs targeted toward older workers. These environments can help you find the workers you’re seeking and get a better sense of the person and their strengths and abilities.

AVOID THE “CULTURE TRAP”

Many company leaders emphasize the importance of “culture fit”when hiring. Tinsley-Fix says that can be a mistake. Instead, look for “culture add,” she says. “As we know, cultural fit tends to diminish diversity because you’re just hiring people who are like yourself.”

Instead of thinking of cultural fit as age-related, look for people who are motivated to work with your company, dedicated to lifelong learning, and show a history of being creative and adaptable. Those attributes are going to be better indicators that the person will work well with your team than an arbitrary age, she says.

DON’T ASSUME YOU CAN’T AFFORD THEM

Some companies shy away from older workers because they’re afraid that all of that experience comes at a steep cost. And Gudmundsson warns that age should not be a deciding factor in what you pay your employees. While many workers in their late 50s, 60s, and 70s are interested in full-time work and a career track, some are moving to more part-time work or flexible schedules. And workers age 65-plus may choose to opt in to Medicare, reducing health insurance costs.

“All of these groups have very different needs and different requirements. That’s a good opportunity for enlightened employers to show a little flexibility.” And with that flexibility might come the experience, knowledge, and contacts you need at a compensation level that fits your company’s budget.

FastCompany.com | March 29, 2018 | BY GWEN MORAN 5 MINUTE READ

Your #Career : These Are The Five #SoftSkills #Recruiters Want Most… Things like #TimeManagement & #Organization aren’t typically Taught in School, But they are Increasingly Important in Order to Be Competitive at Work.

January 26, 2018/in First Sun Blog/by First Sun Team

While education, degrees, and certification are important for scoring an interview, a new study by the HR software provider iCIMS finds that recruiters place a higher value on soft skills. From an ability to communicate well to being organized, these intangible qualities can be tough to measure, but they affect everything from productivity to collaboration.

“Hard skills are what you do, and soft skills are how you do it,” says Susan Vitale, chief marketing officer for iCIMS. “Unfortunately, one in three recruiting professionals believe job candidates’ soft skills have gotten worse in the past five years.”

The good news for both candidates and employers is everyone possesses some soft skills, says Jodi Chavez, president of the staffing firm Randstad Professionals. “The challenge is determining which are strongest, and which are most in-demand for certain roles,” she says. “Companies can train employees in technical skills. Soft skills, on the other hand, are far harder to teach, which is why, in a low unemployment market, companies should be looking to hire for soft skills and train for technical skills.”

If you’re looking for a new job, these are the top-five soft skills recruiters are looking for:

1. PROBLEM SOLVING

The most important soft skill was the ability to solve problems, with 62% of recruiters seeking people who can find solutions, according to iCIMS. This soft skill was also the most important for the employee who wants to work in management.

“Problem solving isn’t practiced as much today as it once was,” says Vitale. “You can go to Google for answers, and we’re not challenged the way we used to be.”

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2. ADAPTABILITY

The second most important soft skill is adaptability, with 49% of recruiters looking for this trait. This skill was ranked as very important for entry-level positions.

“Larger organizations value problem solving and adaptability the most,” says Vitale.

3. TIME MANAGEMENT

The third soft skill in demand is an ability to successfully manage time, with 48% of recruiters placing importance on this characteristic.

“Entry-level workers often come out of the gate being poor at time management, but they can learn strategies on how to run their day,” says Vitale. “It’s most important in smaller organizations, because you have to pivot and wear many hats.”

4. ORGANIZATION

Being organized is the fourth most sought-after soft skill, with 39% of recruiters ranking it as desirable. It’s often demonstrated in your behavior during the interview process. The most common mistakes, according to the study, include showing up late, forgetting to thank the interviewer, and forgetting the interviewer’s name.

5. ORAL COMMUNICATION

Finally, the ability to speak in public and communicate with others is the fifth most valued soft skill, with 38% of recruiters looking for this skill.

“Good communication skills are, of course, essential,” says Chavez. “Poor communication can lead to misunderstandings and even slow down the workflow, preventing a company from moving forward.”

ROLE AND INDUSTRY

While soft skills are important in nearly every job, they can be role specific, says Chavez. “In a management position where the role requires one to lead a team, deliver on a project, or drive results, soft skills like emotional intelligence and teamwork are most important,” she says. “However, in roles where someone might work remotely from home, the key soft skills would be adaptability, communication and multitasking.”

The iCIMS study found that certain fields look for soft skills more than others, such as people who work in customer service, human resources, and sales/marketing. For technical jobs, they aren’t as vital. Nearly 1 in 5 of recruiters for IT jobs think soft skills are more important than hard skills, and 24% of recruiters weigh soft skills over hard skills for R&D jobs.

“I want my doctor to have hard skills first and soft skills next,” says Vitale. “But if they’re lacking in soft skills, I might not return.”

HOW TO CONVEY YOUR SOFT SKILLS

While we all have soft skills, demonstrating them during the job application process can be a challenge. “They don’t come across on a resume because there’s no certification,” says Vitale.

Be sure to highlight your strengths by using searchable keywords in your job description. “Whether a candidate lists their soft skills all together or breaks them out under the individual positions in which they honed them, it’s essential to include them somewhere,” says Chavez.

Recruiters will also use the screening processes to look for soft skills, so be prepared. Prior to an interview, come up with a short list of your strongest soft skills and be ready to share a few specific examples of when you showcased them in the workplace, Chavez suggests.

“For instance, talk about a time when your communication skills clarified a misunderstanding, or discuss how your leadership style came into play when they took charge of a negative situation and turned it into a positive one,” she says. “Candidates must also emphasize their ability to work well with others and should refrain from speaking poorly of a previous or current employer or company, as it will never reflect positively on them.”

Don’t be afraid to ask a recruiter which soft skills the organizations values most, adds Vitale. “Most employers fall down when it comes to transparency, and they aren’t saying out of the gate what they want,” she says. “Not all call them soft skills; sometimes they describe core competencies or workplace culture.”

In the end, candidates need to be cheerleaders for themselves, says Chavez. “Shift the conversation to highlight your soft skills even if an interviewer does not specifically ask,” she says.

FastCompany.com | January 26, 2018 | BY STEPHANIE VOZZA 4 MINUTE READ

Your #Career : I’ve Worked in HR for 15 Years — Here Are the 4 Things Hiring Managers Don’t Want You to Know…Think Hiring Managers aren’t Trolling your Social Media Accounts? Or that Having Children Won’t Impact your Odds of Landing a Great Gig? Think Again.

October 1, 2016/in First Sun Blog/by First Sun Team

An HR veteran with over 15 years of experience shares her insider’s take on what really goes down during the hiring process. Before launching my own consulting business, I earned my HR stripes working for everyone from big-name financial service companies to an equally big electronics and entertainment company.

Think you know what HR reps are looking for? Think again.

So I know firsthand the techniques that are used to vet potential employees — and it’s not all as compliant as you’d expect.

If there’s one thing my time in the trenches has taught me it’s that HR reps are willing to do a lot to pinpoint the right employee.

Think hiring managers aren’t trolling your social media accounts? Or that having children won’t impact your odds of landing a great gig?

Think again.

Take it from me: These are some lesser-known, semi-sly tricks that hiring managers resort to—regularly.

1. We dig (and I mean really dig) into your background

It goes without saying that hiring managers are going to contact your references to check whether those accolades on your résumé are legit.

But prehiring reconnaissance goes a lot further than that.

The HR community is small, and while it isn’t exactly kosher, many of us will call someone we know at a company where a candidate has worked previously.

The goal is to get “off-the-record” insights about the person’s work habits, personality, aptitude and more. We’re getting the inside scoop — from someone who isn’t on the candidate’s referral list.

Don’t believe me?

In the last month alone, I’ve received two calls from HR reps asking whether I’d vouch for former colleagues.

Another way managers dig around is through social media — especially LinkedIn.

After scanning a person’s LinkedIn network, I’ve become skeptical about candidates who don’t have enough industry connections. It makes me question if they’re overmarketing themselves.

Of course, being mindful of what you post on all of your social media channels is a no-brainer. I’ve even heard of managers who snoop on their own employees’ accounts to see if they’ve been talking poorly about the company.

Children are a factor. Getty Images/Fiona Goodall

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2. Have kids? Why you might not have the job …

Although it’s illegal for an employer to take someone’s family into account when considering them for a position, that doesn’t mean it doesn’t happen.

Personally, I don’t believe this is usually malicious or deliberate. But a candidate can’t control what might be lurking in a hiring manager’s subconscious. (“Will this person really get the job done if they’ve got little kids waiting at home?”)

And it’s not just HR managers who fall prey to this kind of second-guessing.

I once worked at a financial organization where the internal sales team was mostly comprised of guys fresh out of college. When they interviewed new employees, I found out many of them used the opportunity to suss out if a candidate had kids by posing questions like, “What do you like to do on the weekends?” It was a tactic to see if the person would bring up little league or other kid-centric activities.

Knowing that new employees would be required to work long hours, these guys assumed that children would make these candidates less committed—and less likely to party after work and wholeheartedly embrace the company culture.

Certain hiring managers (especially those who don’t have a legal background) really want to make sure that the person they hire is a good culture fit — someone who’ll make a good employee and buddy.

But this impulse can end up alienating qualified candidates simply because they don’t gel on a personal level. In the case of that financial company, it created a bias against women — and we, in HR, brought the practice to a screeching halt.

And while we’re on the topic of bias, I hate to say it, but if a woman is interviewing while pregnant, she’s probably better off keeping that to herself until she knows she’s got the job.

It’s especially relevant at the executive level, when the stakes are typically higher. While a manager would never come out and say it, my experience leads me to believe that mothers, in general, do get passed over more than childless applicants.

3. The offer you get often has plenty of wiggle room

During the hiring process, salary negotiations are par for the course. But most managers can offer you way more than they let on.

That said, they probably can’t budge too much when it comes to base salary—there’s typically a range in mind before the interview ever takes place. But they can throw in different types of financial extras.

Sign-on bonuses, for starters, are attractive to HR managers because they don’t reoccur or show up in the employee’s salary line. And many hiring managers are willing and able to throw in a onetime cash-out if that’s what it takes to seal the deal.

The same goes for relocation packages. While some companies have rigid policies in place when it comes to relocating new hires, it’s still very much a gray area that many HR managers have no problem negotiating.

The catch, not surprisingly, is that interviewers aren’t exactly eager to offer up such perks. It’s up to you to ask.

Bringing up a sign-on bonus or relocation package will likely get you more traction than if you focus on the salary alone. Even so, that doesn’t mean negotiating the base salary isn’t still worth it—but you’ll need to convince the HR manager why you should be at the higher end of their preestablished range.

I’ve even seen people successfully negotiate to have a new company match the last job’s total compensation package.

WPA Pool/Getty Images

4. Mutual exits are more common than you think

If an employee quits — as opposed to getting laid off — severance and unemployment benefits likely go out the window. So from a financial standpoint, it appears to be in a company’s best interest to have a less-than-stellar employee quit on their own.

Would a manager ever deliberately try to get a disliked employee to voluntarily hit the road? I’ve heard it happens — but it’s more likely to come from a direct manager, and the HR person may find out about it after the fact, when the manager shares that they “rode a guy hard” until he quit.

I think sometimes these managers struggle with giving feedback and coaching employees, or run into situations where they feel backed up against a wall. The end result is that they run out of patience—and make crummy management decisions.

A few of my current clients have experienced this kind of passive-aggressive approach, and I encouraged them to negotiate a happier ending by way of a desirable exit package.

Essentially, the company allows the employee to leave on certain mutually-agreed-upon terms. In some cases, it may require the employee to stay until a certain end date, finish a particular project, or agree not to take talent from the company for a set amount of time. In return, the employee receives a specific amount of money, known as a retention payment.

The deal, known as a mutual separation, isn’t considered severance. It’s also something that happens all of the time behind closed doors.

It’s yet another example of how established employees and new hires alike can even the playing field — so long as they’re informed.

Businessinsider.com | September 27, 2016 | Christine DiDonato, as told to Marianne Hayes, LearnVest

#Leadership : 3 Ways to Know If an Employee Is a Culture Fit…Many Factors Go into Making the Right Hire. Here’s How to Make Sure your Candidate is Right for your Company’s Culture.

August 13, 2016/in First Sun Blog/by First Sun Team

A good resume can blow you away. Impressive universities and company histories may be exactly what you are looking for. A job applicant might say all the right thingsin the interview, at which they’re wearing a perfectly pressed suit and spit-shined shoes. This is the new hire, right?

Except, at your company, t-shirts and jeans aren’t just for casual Fridays. Where you went to school isn’t as important as the passions you pursue on a daily basis. Every project is a cross-discipline team effort, and everybody shares credit. That’s your company culture, and it’s made your business successful. So no, that candidate, as impressive as they are, is not your new hire.

The “best fit” candidate is in the eyes of the beholder, which means you can define your ideal applicant however you want to make sure you make the best decision for your job requirement and your culture.

When it comes to fitting in with your organization, the best candidates share these three attributes:

1. They understand your culture and core values going in

A candidate should never be in the dark about your company’s core values, work style, its approach to teamwork or its methods of problem solving. That’s on you as an organization to have figured out and streamlined.

In fact, you probably shouldn’t be hiring unless you could paint a picture of your ideal candidate and exactly how they would fill a particular need. Make sure you know why you’re hiring in the first place, and not just to fill a vacant desk as soon as possible.

When you put out the call for applicants, be as specific as possible about what a prospective employee can expect should they be hired. If you’re a dog-friendly office with flexible telecommuting opportunities, say that. If working weekends is common, say that too. Never hide the truth from anyone – if you like your culture how it is, don’t run the risk of bringing in someone who will stir the pot because their expectations differed from reality.

If you’re struggling to envision your ideal candidate, take bits and pieces from current or past staffers and build a collage of sorts. What are the qualities you admire in real people you already interact with every day? Think back to when those people were hired – what did they do to signal to you that they were a good fit? Write out a list of what you’re looking for and find the candidate who most closely matches it.

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2. They have a passion for your industry, not simply employment in general

You don’t want to hire a candidate who’s only looking for a stepping stone to add to his or her resume. No matter how specific you write the job requirements in your posting, applicants who are wrong for the job (and know they’re wrong for it) will still apply regardless.

Be leery of candidates who move around laterally, taking similarly-titled jobs in a variety of industries. They may be great at certain skills like managing small teams, but if you value cultural fits and passion, you want employees who have stuck around and moved vertically within your industry.

Enthusiasm can be faked in an interview, but real passion can’t (unless you’re interviewing an Oscar-worthy actor, in which case they’re in the wrong field anyway). When you sit candidates down, ask them to tell you real stories from their work history – challenging situations, moments they felt the happiest – and see how their body language changes as they recount those times. You’ll learn a lot about their thought processes and how their passions go beyond the job at hand and apply to the industry as a whole.

3. They work well with others

If your company requires applicants to submit references along with a resume, are you actually going forward and contacting those references? How well an employee fits in with others at your company is a huge indicator of job success – in fact, it’sabout 50 percent responsible for an employee’s success within the first 18 months.

The laws of attraction apply to hiring as much as they do to relationships. Chemistry is hard to measure and harder to describe, but the concept of love at first sight applies to the application process. Depending on how good the initial spark with a candidate is, you might make up your mind to extend a job offer on the walk between the lobby and the interview room. That’s not always the wisest idea, but it speaks to the power of interpersonal connectedness when building a company culture.

One way to ensure that you aren’t blinded by a great first impression is to involve more members of the team in the interview process. Don’t just pick employees whom the candidate will report to; bring in those who will report to the candidate as well. Observe the interaction as your current employees essentially interview their potential future boss, then debrief with them afterwards to find out if they feel comfortable working under this person.

The best person for the job might not be the one with the shiniest resume, or the longest track record of success. The ideal candidate is the one you feel that intangible connection with, someone who combines acumen for the position with passion and cultural alignment in equal measure.

The opinions expressed here by Inc.com columnists are their own, not those of Inc.com.

PUBLISHED ON: AUG 12, 2016

BY JEFF PRUITT

Chairman and CEO, Tallwave@jeffreypruitt

#Leadership : You’re in Trouble if You Ignore These 5 Applicant Red Flags…I’ve Made every Hiring Mistake in the Book. Everything I’m Warning against Here, I’ve already Done. Which just Goes to Prove I’m One of You.

July 22, 2016/in First Sun Blog/by First Sun Team

Most managers/entrepreneurs learn hard lessons about hiring the right people only after they’ve hired the wrong ones. Even after realizing the mistake, business owners still can be prone to errors in judgment.

Whether you’re an established entrepreneur or an executive manager who could use a refresher or a newer entrant to business ownership, it’s worth knowing these five characteristics of potentially disastrous hires.

1. They’re job hoppers.

People who hop from job to job will hop away from you sooner or later — and much likely, it’s sooner. In this case, the past predicts the future. Every job-hopping applicant I’ve interviewed has provided an excellent reason for leaving every past employer. Job hoppers are incredibly effective at explaining their rationale.

While some industries and skill positions defy universal application of my unwritten rule, I look for people with stable, long-term employment at one company in their professional careers. To my way of thinking, that’s five or more years. Younger candidates get a bit more leeway and a lower threshold. The most important factor is a candidate’s ability to develop a relationship with a company over an extended period.

2. They can’t tell you what they did at their last job.

Watch out if the candidate’s current or previous role was amorphous, with equally unclear achievements. Entrepreneurial companies must focus on people who can increase revenue, build things or get things done. Doers might have roles not tied to revenue or products, but they should be able to explain tangible results.

While I look for stable employment within a company, I’m also aware that people with ambiguous roles can hide at larger companies — sometimes for years. Candidates should explain in clear language what they actually did and how it specifically helped the company. Think of the consultant scene in “Office Space” and the question posed to each employee: “What would you say you do here?”

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3. Their names return negative search results.

It’s an easy call if a Google search of the candidate’s name reveals he or she has been sued for skydiving naked off the Empire State Building. In real life, though, it’s rarely that simple. At minimum, vet all candidates with an online search and a thorough scan of social media platforms — within legal limits, of course.

Managers/Entrepreneurs necessarily focus on getting things done quickly. In hiring terms, that can be a huge mistake. Remember the saying: “Hire slow, fire fast.”

4. Their references give less-than-stellar feedback.

People generally don’t want to say bad things about others. During reference checks, asking a variety of subtle but probing questions could save your company money and embarrassment (or worse). I’ve noticed a tendency to downplay this phase of the hiring process. It’s become a check in a box on a form. Legitimate due diligence demands more. It’s so rare today to get any sort of negative feedback that I’m concerned when a reference contact has anything even slightly unflattering to say about a job candidate.

5. They talk negatively about others.

This one’s a dead giveaway. When candidates speak negatively about a current or former employer, colleague or acquaintance, they’re giving you valuable insight into their very characters. People who put down others will be more inclined to bring that same negative philosophy to their role, your company and your team. It is not worth the risk to hire these individuals, no matter how impressive their credentials.

Here’s another red flag that didn’t make the Top 5 list but also speaks to character or fit: They don’t do the basics. These candidates know little to nothing about your company, are rude to or dismissive of your front-office reception staff and forget to follow up the interview with a thank-you note.

Managers/Entrepreneurs necessarily focus on getting things done quickly. In hiring terms, that can be a huge mistake. Remember the saying: “Hire slow, fire fast.”

Entrepreneur.com | July 21, 2016 | Brian Hamilton

#Leadership : 4 Keys to a Killer Interview Process…One truth I’ve learned in that experience is: The Most Expensive Hire you Will ever Make is Hiring the Wrong Person.

March 9, 2016/in First Sun Blog/by First Sun Team

Throughout my career, I’ve made both good hires and bad hires, and I have helped hundreds of clients find their key staff.

One truth I’ve learned in that experience is:

The most expensive hire you will ever make is hiring the wrong person.

Culture, momentum, growth, and morale are just a few of the casualties that come in the wake of a bad hire. In the vast majority of bad hires I’ve seen, there’s one common denominator: a rushed or short circuited interview process.

The old adage is truer to me now than ever: Hire slowly, and fire quickly.

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As I continue to learn how to hire thoroughly, I’ve run across four key components of a thorough and effective interview process.

Use Video Questionnaires as Part of the Process

Simply reading typed out answers just doesn’t cut it anymore. For whatever reason, it’s easier to get a read on people when you’re hearing them talk and watching their body language. There’s no replacement for face to face interaction (see below), but a great way to filter who you should sit down with in person is by having candidates submit video questionnaires specific to the job you are filling. It might sound like a bad version of “The Bachelor,” but what you will learn in a five minute on-camera interaction will help you narrow your candidate pool in the initial stages of your search.

Do yourself, your clients, and your staff a favor, and make sure you invest in an intentional hiring process. It may take more time, money, and energy than you’d like, but it’s a decision that’s too important for cutting corners.

Meet People In Person

Video questionnaires have become a big part of our search process, but I am not a fan of virtual interviews. Why? Not because I am old school or slow to adapt. It is because over 55% of our communication is nonverbal, as Albert Mehrabian, a pioneer in body language research, discovered.

In my work with churches, I tried building a more affordable search solution by cutting out face to face interviews. It sounded like a great idea, but turned out to be a miserable failure. Even though we used the same team, the same process, and had the same database, client satisfaction cratered from nearly 99% (with face to face interviews) to 65% (with virtual interviews).

Even though you can see facial expressions over video, you cannot perceive the 55% of nonverbal communication over video. There are certain qualities, skills, and weaknesses that can only be discovered when people interact face to face.

I’ve come to realize that unless the person will be doing their job virtually, you cannot do their interview virtually.

Yes, flights are expensive and time is precious. But the most expensive hire you’ll ever make is hiring the wrong person. Do yourself a favor and take the time to do in-person interviews.

Peter Drucker is credited as saying, “Culture eats strategy for breakfast.” I believe this now more than ever.

Include Your Team

Earlier in my career, I thought that doing 360 degree interviewing was an abdication of leadership and a sign of indecisiveness. I was so wrong.

Nowadays, my team has incredible weight and influence on the people we hire on. There are a couple reasons for that.

First, every department lead I have knows the needs of their team better than I do. We’re all on the same page in vision, mission, and values, and they’ll know who will make things run better and fill in the gaps we have as a company.

Secondly, they may be able to pick up on some good or bad traits a candidate has that I might miss.

Finally, including your team in the interview process will protect your culture better than anything else. Nobody will produce better hires for your company than the best hires you have made. Don’t overlook including your key team members in the hiring equation.

Culture Over Competency

My friend Cliff Oxford wrote a great column some years back titled, What Do You Do With The Brilliant Jerk? I hired way too many of those over the years. I saw a rock star and hired them irrespective of whether or not they would fit our team. I’ve vowed not to make that mistake again. It’s never worth it.

Peter Drucker is credited as saying, “Culture eats strategy for breakfast.” I believe this now more than ever. If you ask our team what our five year plan is, they would look at you like you were speaking a foreign language. But ask them what our culture is like, and they will rattle off our nine values and how they see them lived out at work. Culture is at the core of who we are, and that’s a huge reason for the success we’ve had.

When I hire new people, my first thought is “Do they fit our culture?” When I include others in the hiring process, it’s to protect culture. If they do, then I’ll take a look at things like skills and competency. If they don’t, it’s not even worth a look. The team is more effective when everyone is on the same culture page; and when the whole team works more effectively, the business thrives. Hire strategically. Hire competent workers. But in my experience, if the culture piece isn’t there, the rest is all for nothing.

You can teach skill, but you cannot teach cultural fit.

Do yourself, your clients, and your staff a favor, and make sure you invest in an intentional hiring process. It may take more time, money, and energy than you’d like, but it’s a decision that’s too important for cutting corners.

Forbes.com | March 9, 2016 | William Vanderbloemen

Your #Career : 5 Hiring Trends To Watch In 2016… #3- Social media will be Increasingly Used to find Candidates. (i.e. your LinkedIn Profile)

February 19, 2016/in First Sun Blog/by First Sun Team

As 2016 gets into full swing, we’re beginning to see several key hiring trends develop. Based on my insights as a former recruiter, I believe these themes bode well for job seekers looking to make the most of their career this year by finding a new job.

Here are five trends job seekers can leverage in finding their next great role:

1. Job offers will include more perks and benefits. According to Mercer, salary increases this year are projected to be 2.9%. So, if you’re planning on remaining in your current job, chances are your raise will not be significant (if you receive one at all).

As such, job seekers looking to increase their earning power by pursuing external opportunities should also focus on negotiating more bells and whistles in their offer. In light of the current talent shortage, employers are generally hungry for quality candidates. Seekers should leverage this not only in negotiating financial benefits like base compensation, a sign-on bonus and relocation allowance – which may be more difficult to attain in the current economic climate – but also for perks like flexible work schedules and additional time off. Candidates can expect to see offers that include ramped up benefits like unlimited personal time and extended maternity and personal leaves.

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2. Increased interest in boomerangs. The trend of employees considering returning to their former employers is on the rise. In a recent Monster poll, more than half of participants revealed that they’d consider returning to a former employer.

To that point, an additional 28% reported that they are already boomerangs. As more recruiters (and therefore employers) tap into this potential gold mine of rehires, they’re discovering the benefits of a former employee: boomerangs already know the company culture and infrastructure, which can help reduce their time to hire as well as their ramp up period.

We can expect to see more companies hosting in-person and virtual alumni events to network and re-establish rapport with their former employees, and, most importantly, build a pipeline of valuable potential rehires.

3. Social media will be increasingly used to find candidates. Back in the day, employers could only rely on resumes and cover letters to get a sense of a candidate’s qualifications. As we all know, the Internet and social media have made it much easier for them to find and research potential candidates – especially elusive talent that may not be actively looking for a job.

While resumes and cover letters are still staples of the process, expect recruiters to check out your online profiles in addition to what you have submitted – or even before you submit anything at all.

The really good news? Whether you’re looking for a job, applying or simply networking, having an active, polished online presence can make it easier for recruiters to find you and reach out about opportunities you may not have even known existed. Be reachable and, more importantly, be responsive to their emails, even if you’re not interested at the time.

4. More lucrative employee referral programs – and beyond. When I worked in corporate recruiting, all of my hiring managers shared one common hiring metric: the number one source of new hires was employee referrals.

In 2016, it’s likely employers will ramp up their referral programs for employees, as well as start extending referral bonuses externally, such as offering $100 to $500 to friends of the company and former employees. As the war for talent heats up, keep your eyes open for opportunities to refer friends and colleagues.

5. More offers will include flexibility. Until recently, it was common for candidates to be nervous about asking potential employers for flexible work arrangements.

Now more and more employers are offering flexibility as part of their employment package up front. And the options will continue to expand this year – from occasional telecommuting to staggering work hours and more. As the workplace continues to evolve, hiring practices will change along with them.

Vicki Salemi is a career expert for Monster, author, public speaker and columnist.

Forbes.com | February 18, 2016 | Vicki Salemi