Hiring: Beware the “ACE OF SPADES” – by Patrick Valtin

There are four aces in hiring. It is not about playing cards, it is about picking people who will help you win – and won’t make you feel like you lost your last dollars playing poker. Use the four aces of selection to systematically evaluate each applicant: Performance mindset, willingness, know-how and personality. Like playing cards, these Aces are your most important “hiring cards,” yet they are not equal in value. You must know exactly what you want to measure and in which sequence.

• Performance mindset: Your Ace of Diamonds. Detecting top players who are naturally high performers is your highest priority. Use “detectors” suggested by our No Fail Hiring™ System in the interview to estimate if an applicant has a strong performance mindset – or not. This factor is the most important one – you hire people for results, not for just “doing things.”
  
  
• Willingness: Your Ace of Hearts. To a large degree you can improve technical skills; but how do you improve attitude? Never compromise with this vital fact: people get hired for their hard skills and get fired for their lack of soft ones. A positive attitude is such a vital soft skill
  that you want to measure it as soon as you can in the hiring process. Willingness to learn, to do new things, to do more than what is expected, to handle problems, etc. are so important! Is estimated that over 77% of hiring failures are due to lack of willingness.
  
  
• Know-how: Your Ace of Clubs. You want to have competent employees who can at least master the basic technical skills as required on the job. The golden rule is: never trust what they say, always test what they should be able to do. Know-how is measured in the doing, not in the talking. you want to know if an applicant can do accounting? Put him or her to the test for 5 to 10 minutes, by challenging hi/her on a practical accounting issue.
  
  
• Personality: Your Ace of Spades. We measure personality last; not because it is the least important evaluation criterion but because if you let yourself be influenced by a “nice” personality, it could offer trouble, or even, potentially, destroy your business! The golden rule is:
  never trust what you see, because you don’t know if it is real! Too many employers fail to detect the difference between temporary personality and the lasting one. don’t fall in the trap of the visible – it might change the next day or week. 

COMING UP
Detecting if an applicant possesses the right hard and soft skills in less than one hour is hardly an exact science. But you can maximize the objectivity of your evaluation with the No-Fail Hiring System. Attend out upcoming workshop on September 8, 2011: visit www.nofailhiring.com/events.php  to find out how you can double or even triple the effectiveness of your hiring procedure.

To your success,
Patrick Valtin President/CEO
M2-TEC USA, INC. Author of “No Fail Hiring”

Hiring: Do it the “Steve Jobs’ way" – by Patrick Valtin

I just finished reading a great and wonderfully inspiring book, “The Innovation Secrets of Steve Jobs,” by Carmine Gallo. I can’t recommend that you read this book enough – and I can’t help but share with you some vital points on hiring that Steve Jobs has constantly applied on his way to build the most respected and admired business in the world.

Apple success over time and Steve Jobs’ reputation as the best entrepreneur of our time can be summarized in a few words: he and his top execs never compromised with the talents and qualifications required of their employees. But they always considered very different qualities in people than most business owners do. When you thoroughly analyze Apple’s philosophy of hiring, you find out that there has always been fundamental and un-compromising attributes needed to get a job at Apple:

• Vision-minded. Everyone joining the company must have a clear picture of its Management vision – and fully agree to fight for it, to defend it and to live with it every day. Applicants who do not seem to get it are systematically rejected.
• Innovation-minded. Steve Jobs has always emphasized the vital importance of hiring people who are innovative – willing to create something from nothing. Applicants are first chosen for their ability and willingness to constantly create, rather than for their technical competence. 
• Future-minded. Employees at Apple are driven by their leader’s vision of the future and they contribute everyday to CREATING the future, more than just beating the competition. Each of them owns the future of the market because they know they can contribute to creating it.
• Passion-minded. Steve Jobs’ first principle is: “Do what you love.” People are hired because they love the product, the company and its vision. Applicants who do not demonstrate a genuine passion and “love” for the company’s purposes and business philosophy will never make it.
• Contribution-minded. Sharon Aby worked 3 years as a recruiter for Apple. Her statement is clear enough: “We didn’t want someone who desired to retire with a gold watch. We wanted entrepreneurs, demonstrated winners, high-energy contributors who defined their previous role in terms of what they contributed and not what they titles were.” ⁽¹⁾
• Engagement-minded. Over two thirds of Americans are not engaged in their workplace.⁽²⁾ Apple Management is strict on employees’ level of commitment. Committed individuals who are inspired by a grand purpose make the whole difference in the most competitive conditions.
• Excellence-minded. Steve Jobs is known for his passion of perfection. The company always tries things out until they are perfectly done. The same attitude is expected of every collaborator. Applicants who do not share that passion for excellence do not have a chance.

This is not an exhaustive list of hiring attributes presented by Apple, but a limited set of vital soft skills required by its management of any applicant – not just senior management or high technical positions.

See how you can think with it for your business. And if you wonder how you can detect such attributes in the frame of one hour interview, well… think about NO-FAIL HIRING. It is indeed our specialty to help you detect those invisible soft skills that make the difference between a happy hire… and the start of a non-ending nightmare.

The upcoming one-day “No-Fail Hiring” workshop will be held in Clearwater, Florida, on September 8, 2011. See the details of the program here. And if you are planning to hire at least 5 new employees in the coming 3 to 6 months, you might rather consider an in-office, customized No-Fail Hiring training. Send me a note and I will contact you to find out how I can best help.

You are as successful as the people surrounding you desire to make you and your company successful. So don’t take the chance: Surround yourself with dedicated, productive, loyal and honest people who will share your passion for performance, purpose and profits.

NOTE: not sure if you need this? Do the test!

Patrick Valtin,

Author of “No-Fail Hiring.”

(1)     Carmine Gallo, “The Innovations Secrets of Steve Jobs,” page 31. 2011, McGraw-Hill Companies.

(2)     Nancy Mann Jackson, “Wanted: Fully Engaged Employees,” Entrepreneur, April 26, 2010.