- Measure hiring success
- Define: A players as the top 10% in the market; B as players 65th to 90th percentile; C players as below 65th percentile
- Understand the competencies held by you A players that your C players are lacking
- Create a job scorecard
- Identify 3-5 mission critical competencies in the following categories (a) selling skills & knowledge (b) intellectual competencies / soft skills (c) personal & interpersonal competencies
- Specify performance objectives the candidate will be expected to meet. For example, for salespeople: activities (# calls per day); average transaction size ($50K per deal); wallet retention (110%); etc.
- Develop your virtual bench
- Recruit known A players (a) directly (b) via your current A players (c) via external “connectors” (d) by asking customers who their favorite salespeople are
- When you hire new salespeople, ask them to connect you with the A-players they know; offer a referral bonus
- Screen with the TopGrading career history form
- This is simply a job application with full work history including (a) compensation history (b) names of former bosses (c) self-appraisal of what the liked and disliked about jobs
- Seek new hires (a) whose comp has been increasing (b) who sell similar products as yours (c) whose tenure shows job stability (d) company’s value prop (e) major competitor’s value prop
- Conduct telephone screening interviews
- Ask candidate to describe their (a) territory (b) quota system (c) performance vs. target (d) compensation plan (e) top objections they must overcome and how they overcome them (f) typical day and week (g) what you like most and least about your job (h) what you like and dislike about your boss & what your boss would say are your strengths, weaknesses, and overall performance.
- Provide a “TORC” – threat of reference check – by stating that they will be required to provide references of former bosses prior to receiving an offer. This will generally weed out C players.
- Conduct competency interviews
- Conduct 4 round-robin interviews focusing only one competency per interview
- Interview anthropologically to understand what they have done rather than what they would do — “Tell me about a time when you demonstrated [specific competency]”
- Each interview should be 1 hour, allowing 15 mins for candidate questions
- Conduct tandem (2-person) TopGrading interview
- What were hour accountabilities/targets?
- What were your successes?
- What were our failures?
- Why did you leave?
- Who was your boss? What were her strengths and weaknesses?
- What would your boss say were your strengths, weaknesses, and performance?
- In a tandem interview, one person is primary and the other person is secondary; interviews may run 3 hours
- Adhere to laws when asking probing questions
- Master advanced interviewing techniques
- Write a draft executive summary
- Candidate arranges reference calls with former managers and others
- Strive to speak to all bosses going back 10 years
- Verify fit and accuracy relative to (a) critical competencies (b) ability to hit specific performance objectives (c) past performance (d) strengths & weaknesses
- Coach your new hire
- Onboard expertly
- Start coaching 2 weeks after your new hire starts
- Create an individual development plan
- Coach daily as needed and formally on a quarterly basis.
- Ask A players to take the lead in summarizing their results, strengths, and development opportunities
- Spend your time with A players (minimize time with B & C players)
- Nudge out low performers (by putting pressure on them)
- Measure hiring success annually