Talent Insights

Stay up-to-date on the latest talent trends, tips and best practices.

Upgrading Talent? The Business Case for Coaching the Externally Hired Leader

A priority for many business executives in this down economy is upgrading leadership talent in such areas as Sales, Finance, and Supply Chain. In these and other key functions, executives are betting that the external hire can outperform the incumbent, now, and in the future. As in any bet, [...]

Self-reflection for Better Leadership

As shelter-in-place restrictions are eased by governments across the country, many of us will begin to return to activities largely absent from our daily routine over the past few months. Some of the “found” time we have had by not commuting to work, going to the gym or school, dining [...]

The Discipline of Making Smarter People Decisions—Discipline #2: Establishing an Interview Assessment Process

businessman looking at hand drawn business concept sketch Several months ago, I wrote a blog entry titled, “where smarter people decisions begin.” Summarizing that entry, I suggested a leader develop a job/candidate specification or scorecard for the position as the starting point for aiding the effort to get [...]

When More Job Candidates Are Not the Answer

Let’s say a friend or colleague seeking to fill a key job has interviewed several strong candidates and narrowed their focus to one favored candidate. But they don’t feel ready to move forward with a job offer. So, they message the recruiter and other colleagues that they’d like to see a couple more candidates. Why? What will a couple more candidates do for him? Convince him the candidate in hand that meets the requirements is the best choice after all? Surface the “world-beater” candidate he hoped for all along? Simply postpone making a decision he seemed unsure of in the first place?

Interviewers: Talk less; build rapport more.

“I thought talking was building rapport”, you say. Sure, to the extent you are only talking about 15% of the interview time. While talking more may help you and the candidate feel like the interview is more conversational, it has one major drawback – you get less data for assessing the candidate.

Building rapport is about enabling greater openness and sharing. It is a critical element to enable learning about the “whole person” in the interview process. It is the “whole person” who ultimately shows up on the job and not just the polished interviewee persona.